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Initially, Peter was just a simple Galilean angler,
a fisher of fish, until the day Jesus came into his life. He and
his brother Andrew was in the midst of their regular fishing duties
when they heard the voice of the Lord as he walked in their presence,
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men". Immediately,
Peter and his brother Andrew left their nets and followed their
Lord. Their lives would never be the same.
Peter and Andrew heard Jesus teach the lofty principles
and parables concerning the coming Kingdom. They saw Jesus as
he healed the sick and made the blind to see. They were eyewitnesses
of his majesty (2 Peter 1:16). Eventually, both Peter and Andrew
became part of a distinct group of men known as the Apostles.
Their job was to carry on the work of their Lord following his
ascension into Heaven. They would preach, teach, and defend the
truth of God's word.
Years of diligence, patience, and mistakes made
the Apostle Peter a man of great wisdom and spiritual strength.
At the writing of 2 Peter, he was an aged man, an elder in the
church, and an Apostle. Yet, despite his position and authority,
he identified himself as bondservant. As a servant, he would do
all that he could to protect the church against the evil men that
were present then and the ones that would be present in the future
(2 Peter 3:1) following his death (2 Peter 1:12-15).
In Peter's letter to those of like precious faith,
Peter is addressing a situation that was still in the future.
It is possible that the seeds of error and falsehood were already
present to some degree. The mockers or scoffers were probably
Christians, internal false teachers. Peter wrote, "But there
were also false prophets among the people, even as there will
be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive
heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring
on themselves swift destruction" (2 Peter 2:1). Likewise,
Jude wrote concerning the ungodly mockers who would cause divisions
(Jude 17-19).
Their mockeries would include references to the
second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They would say, "Where
is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of
creation" (2 Peter 3:4). In their minds, they had doubts
about any second coming at all. If left unabated, they could influence
others to follow in their path to destruction. Peter needed to
correct them sharply and succinctly.
Peter begins by reminding the brethren that God
is not subject to the timetables and calendars of mere men. He
is an eternal God (Ps. 90:1-2) and the inventor of time (Ex. 20:11).
In 1 Peter 3:8, Peter wrote, "...do not forget this one thing
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as one day." One thousand years is a very
long time to a human being. Our Lord came to this Earth approximately
2,000 years ago; it is like 2 days ago for God. The point that
is being made is this God is not subject to time and he is certainly
not subject to the timetables of mere men.
God's promise will be fulfilled. Until then, his
patience is being demonstrated as he waits for ungodly men to
repent. God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge
of truth (1 Tim. 2:3-4). God is even waiting for the scoffers
and mockers to repent and turn back to him. However, God's time
of vengeance and the destruction of ungodly men will eventually
come. The sands of time will eventually run out.
Peter utilizes several different terms to describe
the judgment day to come: Day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:10), Day
of Judgment (2 Peter 3:7), Day of God (2 Peter 3:12), and the
Day of Eternity (2 Peter 3:18). The final day will be an awful
day for the ungodly and the unrighteous. It will be a day that
will come suddenly, like a thief. It will be accompanied with
a loud noise as the Earth, the Heavens, and the Heavenly bodies
are destroyed with fire. Evil men and mockers of God will find
themselves in dire straits with absolutely no hope.
The 2nd coming of the Lord will be a very frightening
time for the ungodly. However, Peter instructs faithful Christians
to look forward to that particular day in the future. It will
be a beautiful day for the faithful Christian. Peter describes
that day as a time in which there will be a "new heavens
and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." The Christian
does not need to think of the last day as a day of fear; instead
he or she can look forward to it as the day of his or her complete
salvation (2 Peter 1:10-11).
Jesus Christ is going to come again! Following
Jesus' ascension into Heaven the two men in white apparel said,
"Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven,
will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."
The message of the Apostle Peter encouraged Christians then and
it encourages us today let us all strive to live our life in accordance
with God's word eagerly waiting for the day of the Lord's return.
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