Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: 2 Peter 3 | Date: August 20, 2023 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

This is now the second letter that I’m writing to you, beloved. In both of them, I’m stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where’s the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. By the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as a day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in the lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn? According to his promise, we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace, and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand. I think Peter has a lot of guts saying that about Paul. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability, but grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Let’s look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we are so grateful to have your word. We’re so grateful that you have let us in on your saving purpose. You’ve told us what you have planned for this world and for history. We’re eager to see it come to its culmination in the return of our Lord. Pray that you will, as Peter has written here for his readers, you will strengthen our minds and our hearts through this reminder this morning. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Inaugurated Kingdom

One massive New Testament teaching, which from an Old Testament perspective was certainly stunning for the first-generation Christians, particularly Jewish Christians in the first century, is the return of Jesus Christ in glory to bring the kingdom of God to its consummation. From an Old Testament perspective, there was the anticipation that the Messiah would come, of course, but when he came, he was to establish the kingdom of God, destroy his enemies, the righteous would be vindicated, and the kingdom of God would be brought on earth, and we’re done.

Now, there were clues otherwise, but that’s the overarching impression that was left, and that certainly was the anticipation. And when we come to the New Testament, in the birth and the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus and His ascension, we do have that eschatological moment. That was what was anticipated. It came, He came. He ushered in the new age. He was raised to new life and to the age to come, and he has inaugurated—that’s the word—inaugurated the kingdom of God. The new age is here, the kingdom of God has come, but only in its inaugurated form.

We know that because his kingdom, his rule, is still being contested. There’s still sin, there’s still suffering, the reins of the government don’t belong obviously in the hands of Jesus; they belong to evil men who rule over the righteous many times to oppose them and to oppress them. The kingdom of God is here. It has been inaugurated. The King is in heaven. He’s at the right hand of the Father. He rules, but that rule is being contested. All of the sin and suffering, we see that the kingdom has not come in its fullness and its full glory.

That was part of the importance of the teaching of Jesus’ parables of the kingdom in Matthew chapter 13. He had to show us the mysteries of the kingdom. There’s this mystery aspect to it, that the kingdom did not come immediately in its full glory. The kingdom of God now, here, now, grows, but it grows slowly and imperceptibly through gospel advance, and a sower will sow the seed, and the kingdom grows that way. Meanwhile, the wicked one sows weeds among the wheat, and there’s still all kinds of trouble like that, until finally, in the very end, the weeds will be gathered up, or in the other parable that he tells, the fish will be gathered, and God’s people will be safe, and his enemies will be judged. In the meantime, then, we wait with an eager hope that Christ will return, that he will come a second time and bring this kingdom that he has established to its final culminating glory, and that is the hope of the church.

The Scoffers And Their Denial

Peter writes about that in 2 Peter 3. He has written this letter, 2 Peter, to encourage his readers in the faith, and particularly to encourage his readers with regard to false teachers that have come into their presence. You’ll read 2 Peter and then read the epistle of Jude. You’ll notice some massive overlap between them. One of them borrowed from the other, not just borrowed from, but actually repeated the other. Peter borrowed or repeated from Jude or Jude from Peter, we’re not sure which. There’s been discussion on that, which one was written first and who borrowed from whom. We don’t know all of that, but one obviously borrowed from the other with the same intent to warn about false teachers who have come.

In particular, Peter is warning not only of false teachers generally, but of a particular false teaching that had come in to affect his people, and that is this false teaching that denied the return of Jesus. Some time had passed since the ascension of Jesus, enough time evidently to allow Peter’s hearers to question whether or not the return would actually be a thing that will happen. Peter writes, probably from Rome, here to answer that problem in the church. His focus is not just false teaching generally when we get to chapter three, but especially with focus to those who deny the return of Jesus Christ.

Verse three tells us that, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing. In verses one and two, he says he’s eager to remind us of a blessed hope that we have. He tells us to remember these promises and these prophecies that we’re familiar with from the Old Testament prophets, from Jesus himself, that have been given to us by his apostles. And he affirms that they have a sincere mind. That’s the phrase he uses here: “to stir up your sincere minds.” That is, evidently they have not yet been contaminated by this false teaching. So he’s not writing to correct and rebuke them. He’s writing to strengthen them and to stir up their sincere minds with regard to truths that they already know and he wants to remind them of to deepen their convictions—stir up their minds with things that they believe and ought to believe, but in reference to these false teachers.

Verse 3 gives us a brief glimpse of these false teachers, “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing.” That is, they not only deny the return of Christ, they mock the idea. “Come on, you really think that Jesus who was here 2,000 years ago is going to come again? What planet are you from? You really think that?” There might be just naturalistic influences in their thinking; there’s other that’s going on that we’ll see here in just a second, but they’re just mocking the idea of the return of Christ. And the reason they argue is verse 4. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” That is, “You really think Jesus is going to come and bring this cataclysmic judgment? That has never happened. And you think it’s going to happen? There’s no precedent for that. God has never intervened in human history in such a way as that. You really think that’s going to happen?”

And the bottom line of it is, there’s not going to be some judgment. “You really think that’s going to happen, this idea of judgment coming against people who make mistakes?” And you’ll notice in verse 3 how Peter characterizes their motives. “Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” That is, there’s a moral dimension to their denial of the return of Christ. And that’s pretty obvious. If you are determined to pursue your sin, the last thing you want to believe is the return of Jesus and the coming judgment. You’ve got to get rid of that. And so let’s not just deny it. Let’s mock it, make it incredible, and so it won’t stand in the way of our behavior. And Peter writes, “Beware of these people. Remember, remember that our Lord warned us about them. He said they would come, they’re here.”

Three Truths They Intentionally Forget

Well, that’s verses one to four. In verses five to nine, Peter gives us his response to these false teachers. There are basically three responses, but let’s look at verses 5 to 9 again. “They deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Notice how he begins this in verse 9: “They deliberately overlook this fact.” They intentionally forget. That doesn’t really make sense, but they intentionally forget. They deliberately overlook. That is, there are some considerations which, in order to maintain their denial and their mocking of the return of Christ, there are some considerations that they have to ignore. They would get in the way. This is what rips me, actually. This is the same thing from liberal critics ever since. Part of the comfortable thing about being a critic and a liberal, a critic of the scriptures, is you don’t have to listen to the facts. You don’t have to do the work. Just make your denials and act as though you’ve got the truth, and especially if you say it smugly, then it works.

And it’s been the bane of existence for evangelical scholars that they have to spend so much time answering the critics. And so often it’s answers that have been long given and it’s arguments that are tired and worn out and evidently they’re unaware of them or they’re just ignoring them, deliberately forgetting them. And so the evangelicals have to come back and say, “No, you’re forgetting this, you’re forgetting this, you’re forgetting this, you’re forgetting this.” And you pile up the evidence and they just scoot that aside. Warfield made a wonderful comment about that one time. He said, with a Herodian indifference—with a Herodian indifference—they have murdered a thousand facts that stand in the way. That’s been the critics ever since. Just ignore what you need to ignore in order to maintain the denial that you are advancing. So they conveniently overlook some specific things that would hinder their case. Now remember their argument: one, there’s been this long delay; “You really think it’s going to happen?” And two, all things continue as they were. “God’s never intervened in history before. You really expect that to happen now?” That’s their argument. And Peter says they intentionally forget three truths.

First, God Has Intervened In Human History Before

Number one, verses five to seven, God has intervened in human history before. “They deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. And that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. By means of the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”

He’s obviously referring here to creation and the flood. Creation, Genesis 1, as we read this morning in our scripture reading; Genesis flood, Genesis 6 through 9. The very waters that God used in the creation of the world were later used to destroy the world. And the sinfulness of man got so bad that God finally steps in and he destroys them all, except for Noah and his family. And the world that then was, he says, is gone, perished. And the world that now exists is stored up for judgment also by the same word that destroyed that world. You sit back comfortably in your smug unbelief, but it’s only because you have conveniently ignored your history. The point is, then, that Peter is making in these verses, verses 5 to 7, is that God has not left himself without a witness. There is real precedent of God’s intervention in human history.

Peter might also, at this point in history, he might have pointed to a number of other interventions of God in history. Some predicted, some brought about by natural disasters, some brought about by other means, through warfare or whatever. God has made himself clear in judgments in history past, but Peter instead just overlooks all of those. He could have pointed to Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Medo-Persia, Rome coming. But he overlooks all of them. He points to the big one: Genesis 6 to 9. God came in judgment as he said he would. So Peter’s first response is, the promise of coming judgment is not without precedent. God has interfered and intervened in human history before.

Second, The Delay Of Christ’s Return Has Really Not Been That Long

Now in verses eight and nine, Peter takes up the question of delay. It’s been so long. And so he tells us, this is his next point that they forget, verse eight: the delay of Christ’s return has really not been that long. “Do not overlook this one fact.” They overlook facts. Don’t you overlook this fact, beloved, “that with the Lord, one day is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years as one day.” Citation here is from Psalm 90, the psalm that extols the eternality and self-existence of God. Psalm 90 and verse 4: “a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it’s past, or as a watch in the night.”

Now, Peter, and for that matter Moses in Psalm 90, is not giving us strict mathematical calculations that one year equals a thousand years for God, or one day is a thousand years for God. He’s simply stating the fact that God is eternal, that he sits above time. One of the most mind-bending aspects of the doctrine of God is the timelessness of God. Don’t ask me to explain it in depth; it bends my mind just like it does yours. God is not subject to time. He’s eternal. Time, in fact, is His creation. He sits above time. He’s not subject to time. He, of course, knows the difference between what has happened and what will happen, but God sits over time watching it all. Maybe it’s right to say as an eternal present. He’s eternal. He’s independent. He’s self-existent.

God sees the end from the beginning. He tells the end from the beginning, and he tells the end from the beginning because he’s decreed the end from the beginning. All that comes about is his decree. He has worked it out. And God then is not subject to time as we are. God is neither helped nor hindered by time. Unlike you, God is never in a hurry. And really unlike you, he’s never late. Time is a different thing to God. And so patience with God is not a great thing. He sees the whole as present. You think it’s been a long time since he has come? Well, not even a day has passed. It’s not been that long. From God’s perspective, his patience, which is eternal, his patience is an easy thing because he sees the end from the beginning and he’s not affected by time as you and I are.

Third, God Has A People Whom He Intends To Save

So, number one, Peter says, “You’ve forgotten history. God has intervened.” Number two, it’s not been that long for an eternal, timeless God. And then number three, his third reason for this delay, verse nine: God has a people whom he intends to save. Verse nine: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Patient toward you. I think the NIV translates that “patient with you.” I think the ESV gets the sense a little better here, “patient toward you,” patient with regard to you. I think the idea is God is patient for your sake. God is patient for your sake. I think the Greek manuscripts that lie behind the King James Version read differently here, and it says God is “long-suffering to us-ward.” He’s long-suffering to us, not you. I think the net is the same. He is speaking of those who are saved. God has been patient with those who are to be saved.

God’s purpose in this age is to save a people for himself, and he’s patient to carry out that purpose infallibly. In fact, God has a purpose in this age to save men and women from every nation and tribe under heaven. That was the promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12: “In your seed, in your offspring, all of the families of the world will be blessed.” In Luke chapter 19, Jesus tells a parable. And he gives us the clue to the parable. It’s this parable about this landowner and he leaves for a long time on a journey and leaves his tenants, his servants, in charge of the whole estate. And he tells this parable; Luke gives us the clue to it. He tells this parable because some thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. And to correct that notion, he tells this parable. The landowner goes away, leaves his servants in charge, and the point is very obvious that he has left us in charge in this age during his physical absence to serve him through the advance of the gospel and through living for him.

Then in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus tells us this gospel of the kingdom. This is the great Olivet Discourse telling us the course of this age. This gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come. Paul spells that out in detail in Romans 9 to 11. This gospel has been dammed up in Israel for too long, and God has a universal cosmic saving purpose. He’s going to save from all of the families of the world. And so now Israel’s been set aside for a time, and the gospel has made its way out to the Gentiles, and it’s making its way around the world. And after that, Israel will be saved and we’ll have universal salvation. Not every last person, but God will save the world and reclaim the world through a sampling of men and women from every nation and tribe under heaven.

And this then is why the delay. God has a purpose to save the world. He has a purpose to save people from every nation. He has sent his son to die for them. And the reason he hasn’t returned yet is that, well, the word he uses here is they’ve not yet reached repentance. Not all of them have come in yet. As he says in verse 15, “count the patience of our Lord as salvation.” This is the doctrine of election. This is the doctrine of God’s sovereign saving purpose. God has chosen a people whom he will save from the world over and nothing will interfere with that. Even the increasing wickedness of the world, God is patient with it because of you. That’s what Peter says. He’s long-suffering for your sake. I was saved in 1964. I’m really glad Jesus did not return in 1963. God is patient for your sake. So why is God holding back? We see the evil rampant in our world and its increasing advance. The question that often comes to mind to me: how can God be so patient? Peter gives the answer: it’s for your sake. He has a people whom he’s going to save, and he will save all of them.

The Day Of The Lord Will Come

Now this brings to mind some questions. What will it be like when that last one comes to repentance? Then the end will come. And he emphasizes then in verses 10 and following, that day will come. The Lord Jesus will return. And the point of verses 10 and following is that when he comes, there will be no mistaking it. Verse 10: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar.” I’ve just got to tell you the Greek word here, roizedon. It’s an onomatopoeic word. It’s one of those words that sounds like what it means. Kind of like “roar,” if you say it right, it just sounds like what it is. The heavens will pass away with a roar. And the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed.

So he’s speaking then in terms of the signs in the heavens, the cataclysmic judgments associated with the return of Christ. Jesus spoke of that. Peter has alluded to the Olivet Discourse before already. He’s doing that here. In Matthew chapter 24, verse 27, Jesus says, “as the lightning comes from the east and shines from the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” There’ll be no mistaking it. Remember that passage in Matthew 24? Jesus talking about his return, and he says, you’re going to have false teachers come and false prophets come, don’t worry about it. They’re going to come and tell you, “Hey, he’s come already, come on out in the field, I’ll show you.” Or, “Hey, he’s come already, he’s up in the room at our house, come and see.” Don’t bother. When I come, you’ll know it. There’ll be no mistaking it.

And that’s what Peter is driving here. Jesus in Matthew 24 says, “from one end of heaven to the other.” That’s what Peter has in mind here. That day, notice he says, “will come,” it will come. And when it comes, there’ll be no mistaking it. It’ll be sudden and it will be cataclysmic. Now there’s been discussion among interpreters: how do we take this destruction language? Do we take it in an exactly literal way, that a fire will consume the world, entirely dissolve it, will be some kind of nuclear meltdown, the elements burning, God’s going to cremate this world and replace it with something? Is that how we’re to understand this? I doubt that that’s the way it is to be taken. I don’t think that’s what Peter or the other passages in scripture that speak of this have in mind, even though they use destruction type of language. I don’t think it’s intended to convey the idea of a complete destruction and replacement, but it’s speaking of a restoration of the world.

For example, back in verses 6 and 7, he speaks of the then-world before Noah that was destroyed. Well, those elements are still here. It’s not annihilation and replacement; it’s a restoration, a complete redoing of the entire world. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 65, which has this new creation theme explained at some length, we have the new heavens and the new earth explained almost entirely in terms of the present order of things, a restoration of what’s coming. And I think what’s very appropriate here and relevant is Romans chapter eight, where Paul speaks of the groaning creation waiting for liberation, not replacement—for liberation. That this world will undergo some kind of great renovation and it’ll be renewed. It is like with the resurrection of the body. It is important that resurrection of the body be part of the saving process because God is intended to restore the whole man, and so with creation itself. God is intended to restore this world. Created purpose will not fail. Satan will not win. He’ll win back this world, and he’ll restore it.

And the idea then is one of a judgment scene, a dissolution of the old way, of the old order, the sinful and fallen world, and a new world order has begun. That term was popular in politics sometime back. This is the new world order that will come and commence with the return of Christ. Now we, in this inaugurated form of the kingdom, we have sensed already all things being made new. That is the character of the Christian life. We live in this present evil world, and yet we’ve been caught up into the age to come in Jesus. And we find ourselves living with this tension between two worlds. We’ve tasted the powers of the age to come. We’ve been there. We’ve gotten there. And yet we haven’t. And we’re caught between these two worlds. And what he’s telling us here is that one day that new world order will come in its fullness. Jesus will come. And that old world will be destroyed. And he will bring in this new order. And verse 13 tells us, notice, “a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Can you imagine it? Can you imagine describing this world now in these terms? This world’s characterized by righteousness. It most certainly is not. But one day it will be. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That day, Peter says, will come.

What Sort Of People Ought You To Be

Eschatology in the scriptures is never for its own sake. It’s never just speculative. It’s meant to impact us in our daily lives, and so in verses 11 through the end of the chapter, Peter here presses the implications of all of this. Notice the words at the beginning of verse 11, 14, and 17. Verse 11: “Since,” and he’s going to draw a conclusion. Verse 14: “Therefore.” Verse 17: “You therefore.” So you see where Peter is going with all of this. He’s drawing some implications for all of this about the return of Jesus and this judgment scene that is coming. What are they? How do we live in light of Jesus’ return? That’s the subject of these verses.

Verse 11: “We live as people who know God and who have been transformed by his grace.” “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?” Living then as people who are transformed by grace. And we do that by waiting, eagerly waiting for, and notice that other word in verse 12, “hastening the coming of the day of God,” speeding it up. How do we do that? Has God not fixed a day when that day will come? How do we not just wait for it eagerly, speed it up? All I can think is that Peter is using this language here to speak of our activities in serving Christ and living for Christ, as he defines in verse 11, living in holiness and godliness. In terms of God’s saving purpose, it is being diligent in the advance of the gospel until that last one reaches repentance. How are we to live in light of Christ’s return? Verse 11: live as people who know God and are transformed by his grace.

Verse 14 explains that further: “Therefore beloved since you are waiting for these be diligent to be found in him found by him without spot or blemish and at peace.” In light of Jesus’ return, we are responsible to be diligent—notice it, to be diligent—to be found by him how? Without spot or blemish and at peace. That is, at peace with one another. Here’s how we are ready. Verse 17 goes further. We are ready for the return of Christ when we are steady in faithfulness. “You, therefore, beloved, know this beforehand. Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your stability, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

So there’s a negative and a positive aspect or side to this exhortation. One, don’t be seduced by this false teaching. Maintain your steadiness in the gospel. And two, in fact, so far from falling away, grow and increase your understanding and stability in the things of Christ. Peter says, this is what you and I ought to be doing in light of Jesus’ return. Live as people who are transformed by grace. Wait eagerly. We ought every day to live in light of that day. Shame on us that we don’t. Stand firm and, in fact, grow and increase in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As we do these things, we’ll be ready when that great day comes. Amen.