In 1971 John Lennon released a song titled, “Imagine.” It went on to become the best-selling single of his solo career. The song begins, “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us; above us only sky. Imagine all the people, living for today.”
You can see why there’s a certain appeal to the song, can’t you? After all, we have seen people turn themselves into bombs because they believe something glorious is waiting for them on the other side of this life if they’ll only end their own lives in an act of war. Others have sat on mountainsides, waiting for some god to come get them. It was to a group committing an error somewhat like this that Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” He wanted them to stop taking the task of waiting and start doing some work so as to earn a living.
But on the other hand, the exhortation “live for today” is really only a happy exhortation if we are experiencing a rather stress-free life. What about the wife who is caring for her husband in the nursing home who can no longer speak, dress himself, or feed himself? Is her exhortation to him, “Live for today”? Does she rejoice in the thought of there being no hope after this life? What about entire peoples in world history who have suffered at the hands of oppressive men? Is our message to them, “Imagine this world is all there is and rejoice in being able to live for today”? Surely, we can say something more to them than that. Surely we can echo the words of Paul who said that the suffering of this world is not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us at the coming of Christ.
But John Lennon’s lyrics didn’t simply reflect the thought of modern man living at the end of the 20th century. Almost 2,000 years ago Peter wrote this letter that we’ve been studying for four weeks (2 Peter) to combat some teaching that sounds quite similar to Lennon’s lyrics. As Peter wrote, there were people saying that the return of Christ, the end of this world, and final judgment were all a farce. The world was just going to keep on going as it always had. These men, it seems from 2:10 were, therefore encouraging people to live in the “lust of defiling passion” and pursue the things of today – sensuality, riches, etc. In short, they were saying, “Forget eternity. Live for today.”
Therefore, in chapter 3 of this letter, Peter tells us that those saying Jesus is not returning simply fail to understand the Scripture, misunderstand the grace of God, and are ignoring the Lord’s commands. We might sum up Peter’s message in saying that because the Bible is clear about Christ’s return, we must live today in light of what is certainly coming. That is, we must not be people who simply live for today, but live today in light of the eternal day that is coming.
In order to see this, I want us to walk through this chapter in three sections. First, in verses 1-7, we see:
Peter begins by noting that in both letters he’s written to the churches he’s stirring them up to obedience to Christ and his commands by way of giving them reminders. That is, he’s not giving them a lot of new information but simply reminding them of what the Old Testament Scriptures said, what the Lord Jesus Christ said, and what those apostles who first came to them with the gospel taught them.
The unstated premise here is that all of these were saying the same thing. And one point the Old Testament, Jesus, and the apostles all taught was that in the end, the Lord would return to the earth to judge all men. That day was coming.
But Peter acknowledges that there were people around these believers telling them that the Lord’s return wasn’t really going to happen. Peter even tells us the kinds of things they will say. He writes in verses 3-4, “Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 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.’”
Now, what’s funny about this argument from Peter about what the scoffers will say appears so modern, doesn’t it? In essence, Peter tells us that the scoffers will say that the idea of the Lord Jesus Christ returning to judge the world is foolishness because the world is simply left to itself to carry on the course of nature, as it always has done. After all, they might say (if the scoffers were with us today), there’s a reason why you all whine about the cold weather this time of year and long for spring. It’s because you know spring is coming. It always comes, nature rolls on with each generation, and there’s no intervening of God into the world. We don’t need that idea to explain things, and we can point to God’s non-intervention as support for the claim that Christ’s return is a man-made myth.
What’s ironic is that the German New Testament theologian Rudolf Bultmann wrote in 1941 that the glorious return of Christ is “untenable for the simple reason that the parousia [i.e. return] of Christ never took place as the New Testament expected. History did not come to an end, and, as every schoolboy knows, it will continue to run its course.”1 So, nearly 1900 years prior to Bultmann’s words, Peter tells us almost word-for-word what he (and others like him) will say. And one reason Peter knows is because they were already saying these things in his day.
But Peter wants us to know in no uncertain terms that these scoffers are wrong – whether Bultmann or the scoffers in his own day. And he notes that when these men say that nature will keep running its course without intervention from God in spectacular ways (as will return at the return of Christ) they are ignoring multiple moments when God did indeed intervene into human history in spectacular ways.
He first points to the creation itself, writing, “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” (v. 5). Peter is referring here, of course, to Genesis 1. After God spoke the world into being, we read in Genesis 1:2 that the world is a watery chaos, and God begins to bring order to it. He divides the waters and makes the sky, and he pulls the waters together so that land appears. This is what Genesis 1 tells us, and it’s no doubt what Peter is referring to when he says that the Lord formed the world out of water.
So, first of all, if you’re going to say that the Lord doesn’t intervene in world history in a spectacular way, you have to ignore that he did so in creating the world itself. But the Lord’s spectacular intervening work didn’t stop with creation. Peter also mentions the flood. He writes in verse 6, “And that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.” He formed the world out of the waters, and then he judged the world with water. And that wasn’t just letting nature take its course, but it was the Lord’s judgment in the great and terrible flood.
And Peter concludes that he’ll judge the world again, but this time with fire. He writes in verse 7, “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.”
So, first, Peter wants us to know that the scoffers are wrong. They simply ignore the Bible and that what God has done in history before he will indeed do again (but this time on a greater level). Therefore, we can know for certain – regardless of how many voices try to argue to the contrary – that one day Jesus Christ is returning to put an end to all things, judge the world, punish the ungodly, and receive all of those who trust in him as the one who lived, died, and was raised for them into his kingdom.
But that does bring up a question, doesn’t it? If Jesus really is returning, then why did he first promise that he would return nearly 2,000 years ago and now we’re still waiting? I mean, if those in Peter’s day were saying, “Where is he?” how much more now that we’ve lived another 1,900 plus year? But Peter answers us by showing us in verses 8-10:
Peter begins this second section of the chapter by letting us know that the Lord doesn’t measure time in the same way that we do. He writes in verse 8, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Now, Peter’s point is not to take that literally but simply to say that since the Lord is himself eternal, a thousand years isn’t a long time in comparison, whereas for us, even a day can seem like a while. So, the Lord’s perception of time is different than ours.
This doesn’t mean, however, that the Lord is ignorant that it’s literally been nearly 2,000 years since the Lord Jesus Christ ascended back into heaven, promising his return. So, why the delay? Peter answers in verse 9, “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.”
I may have mentioned before that when I was little my parents got my neighbor’s bike after their children had gotten too big for it. And that was indeed kind of them to get me a bike. The challenging thing, however, was that the bike had belonged to their daughter, and so it was pink. Therefore, when I was a little boy, I would play war, acting like I was driving a tank as I rode that little pink bicycle that my friend would remind me once belonged to his sister!
Well, one day I had gone over to my friend’s house to play when my his mom came outside to tell me that my parents wanted me to come home. I immediately asked her why. After all, I’d only been there for a few minutes, dinner shouldn’t be ready for a while, I’d already done any tasks I had to do. I remember being pretty upset with my parents’ unreasonable demands. If you’d asked me to list why my parents were bad parents, this would have been exhibit A in my seven-year-old mind.
So, off I went, riding my pink bicycle and fuming. And when I rode up in the driveway, there, sitting right in front of our garage was a new, red, masculine, dirt bike. What I perceived as a reason to rage against my parents (their calling me home from my friend’s house) was actually a reason for me to thank them. They wanted to give me a gift and surprise me.
Well, a very similar thing is happening with these scoffers. They’re looking around as the Lord’s delay in returning, and they’re pointing to the delay as a reason to doubt the Lord, question his promises, and challenge his word all the while missing that he’s delaying his return in kindness to them. He’s delaying so that they might have time to repent so that they might not have to face his judgment.
But they need to understand that this doesn’t mean he’ll delay forever. He is coming, and he’s coming to judge. Peter describes the scene with vivid imagery, writing, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and 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” (v. 10).
When the Lord returns in judgment, the works that we have done will be exposed. All done in secret will be brought to the light. It will be a terrible day for those who refuse to bow the knee to Christ in this life.
But don’t miss the Lord’s kindness. He’s giving you time to repent. If you don’t know Christ this morning, he’s delaying judgment so that you’ll have an opportunity to repent of your sins and place your faith in his crucified and risen Son. Why would you refuse to repent and face his judgment on that day? And for professing believers this morning, maybe you’ve bought into some of the lies of the scoffers and its affected how you’ve lived. Well then, this morning, rejoice that you can repent. The Lord is delaying his judgment so that you’ll have time to repent as well so that you might walk in love toward him.
So, the Lord is coming. The scoffers are wrong. Simply reading their Bibles would have shown them this. Furthermore, the reason for delay isn’t a message the Lord isn’t returning. Nor is it a message that his promises are weak and untrustworthy. It is, rather, a sign of his patience, giving us time to repent before him and taste his mercy.
But that’s not the last place Peter leaves us. Sure, he wants the false teachers to repent. Yes, he wants us not to believe what the false teachers say. But the Christian life is about more than simply not falling prey to false teaching. In light of the certain return of Christ, Peter ends his letter as he began it, reminding us of the need to grow in grace as we wait for the return of Christ. In verses 11-18 we see:
Peter reminds in these final verses that the Lord’s return and final judgment doesn’t mean the end of all things. Rather, there will be a new heavens and a new earth. And in that new heavens and new earth there will be no more Satan, sin, or death anymore. Righteousness will dwell there always. He writes in verse 13, “But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
So, what’s his point? His point is that if there’s a new creation coming after final judgment where we will live with the world in righteousness, then we certainly ought to live in righteousness now. That’s what he’s saying in verses 11-12 – “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, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”
Now, we get it that we’re waiting for the Lord’s return. And we also probably understand that we should live in righteousness, realizing that we’ll be made righteous on that final day. But why does Peter speak about us hastening the Lord’s return? After all, isn’t the Lord sovereign? Doesn’t he determine when the end will be?
The answer is, yes, the Lord is sovereign. And, yes, he will determine when the end will be. But the sovereign Lord uses means, doesn’t he? He saved us. But when he saved us, he used the means of someone preaching the gospel to us, didn’t he? Well, the same, it seems is true with regard to the Lord’s return. He decides when he’ll return. But at the same time he asks us to pray for his kingdom to come, doesn’t he? And we must believe that if the Bible teaches us that our prayers accomplish much, then, the Lord responds to them.
So, it seems that Peter is saying that as we live lives in light of the certain reality of his coming kingdom and pray for that day to come, our lives will be used as a means to hasten the Lord’s return. Therefore, Peter writes in verse 14, “Since you are waiting for these [i.e. the new heavens and new earth], be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
Strive for righteousness. In fact, Peter ends by exhorting us to use this time of delay, the patience of the Lord, as an opportunity to pursue salvation. Yes, if you’re not a believer, use this as an opportunity to repent, believe, and be saved. But, if you are a believer, use it as an opportunity to show the certainty of your salvation. Remember back in 2 Peter 1:10, Peter had exhorted his readers to confirm their calling and election. That is, live lives that show you truly have a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, it probably is the case that some pointed to Paul’s teaching and twisted it to argue that we don’t need to pursue godliness. Maybe they noted that Paul rightly taught we’re justified by faith and used that as an opportunity to say that how we live doesn’t matter. So, Peter ends by saying that people who read Paul’s letters that way are twisting his words as they do other parts of Scripture. After all, Paul is no uncertain terms said that those who are justified should no longer let sin reign in their lives.
Therefore, Peter, in line with Paul, and the rest of the Scriptures commands those of us who are justified and who know the truth that Jesus Christ is certainly returning, to use this time disregarding false teaching, standing in truth, and growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (vv. 17-18).
As we look forward to that day when Christ will return and we’ll be transformed to be gloriously like our Lord, let us diligently labor to grow according to his grace so that we become more like him now. As we wait for the glory to which the suffering of this world does not even compare, let us now grow, as Paul says, from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18). And let us show this morning that our response to this word is “Yes and Amen” as we now come to the table. Amen.