INTRODUCING
1ST & 2ND PETER

When I bring out a  new book, I try to grab your attention with a startling idea. But I don't have to do that when it comes to my Lights on 1st & 2nd Peter. This book is so full of shocking ideas, all I have to do is select one and let it seize your imagination.  For example...

 "With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day"

You've heard that of course, but can you explain it?  Peter does and you'll enjoy his explanation. I will open the book and let you savor what the Holy Spirit has brought forth through my rephrased text, lights and comments. This sample begins with 2 Peter  3:8.

CHAPTER THREE

8. Beloved, you must always be alert to this critical fact: That with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. 9. Don't take this to mean that the Lord is slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness, for the passing of time has nothing to do with His promises. To the contrary He is being patient, allowing time for more people to be saved. He does this, because it is not His will that any should perish, but that everyone who is willing has the  opportunity to come to repentance.

ONE DAY = A THOUSAND YEARS. Peter argues that the false teachers deliberately forget that God is patient.

 But he doesn't want us to forget it. What's more God doesn't operate according to our timetable. Time is not the same to God as it is to man. He is not governed by time. The very words "a day is as a thousand years" simply do not fit inside of time. They belong to another dimension, one of which we know nothing as of yet—but we will. So our focus can't be on days and years, it has to be on God's patience. It is obvious the Lord is holding off His return, we can see that. We can also look around and see multitudes of lost souls and thank God that He is holding the door open for those who want to come to Him—as we did. How long will it stay open? Until the last man who wants Jesus has accepted God's offer of eternal life.

COMMENT:  Is the last man known to God? Yes—his is the last name in the Lamb's book of Life (Phil. 4:3). In order to give billions of people an opportunity to live a life on earth,  during which they will have the privilege of accepting or rejecting Jesus, takes what we refer to as TIME. Changes can only occur in time, for they require a before and after. That is why God created time in the beginning (2 Tim. 1:9b). It has no other purpose. Out of all the billions that appear on the earth, only a few will elect to go through the small gate and put their faith in Jesus (Matt. 7:13-14). The rest will go down the broad road to destruction. When the human program is over, God will have screened out the faithful from among the unbelieving—and His family will be complete.

NONE SHOULD PERISH. It is not God's will that any should perish, but obviously most will.

 All whose names are NOT in the book of life will be consigned to the second death, the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15). But don't judge God for this. His offer to all men is genuine, "whosoever will may come." He wants those who want Him, and if people don't want Him, then there is no place for them in the family of God. You'd feel the same way if you were in His shoes. Who'd marry a girl that didn't want him? God can't force people to love Him and He won't go beyond the faith method in reaching out to them. He supplies enough evidence for faith to operate, but not enough to convince the unbelieving doubter. If someone wants to put the blame on God, then blame Him for giving men the freedom of choice. But don't blame Him for the choice men make in exercising their freedom. As far as God is concerned, He  "wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4).

COMMENT: The moment  the last man, whoever he is, makes his decision for Jesus God's family will be complete. The salvation program will end abruptly, for in that moment everything shifts from faith to sight! That closes the door to heaven and no one will be saved from that point on. In that same second, the Lord will appear in the sky! Millions of people on earth will see the sight in the sky and  will "mourn because of Him" (Rev. 1:7). Here God's program makes an abrupt change. The Lord and His family will descend and He will destroy the armies of the antichrist beast, wiping out millions of people (Rev. 14:19-20). With the "battle of Armageddon" over, the Lord will begin His reign over the millennial kingdom on a new earth, and a whole new kind of schooling will begin for us. We learn very little during our earthly life, but we do learn to trust Jesus and obey Him. There is much we need to learn about spirit-life and handling authority and power, and running a kingdom with Jesus is the perfect place to learn it. It will take a lot of years for us to get ready for eternity, but they'll be fun years!

10. No matter what anyone says, the day of the Lord will most certainly come and it will arrive as unexpectedly as a thief. The heavens will disappear with a tremendous flash bang while the elements vanish. In the melt down the earth will be destroyed along with everything it has produced.

DAY OF THE LORD. What did Peter have in mind when he used the term..."day of the Lord?"

 This phrase and others like it, appear more than 95 times in the Bible. Primarily it refers to the time of the great tribulation and the revelation of the "man of sin." Secondly it has to do with the glorious return of the Lord and His arrival in the world in great power and glory. Beyond that, it also refers to the 1000 year earthly reign of Christ with its abundance of peace and prosperity. As Peter uses the word here, he is thinking of Jesus' entrance into the world for the second time. Since He is going to reign over a new heaven and a new earth, some awesome changes will have to take place. The old earth and old heaven have to go and be replaced by a new earth and heaven more worthy of Jesus' glory. This world may be fine for us, but it won't do for our great God and Savior Jesus Christ!

UNEXPECTEDLY. Will there be any warning when the day of the Lord is about to break? None at all.

 "It will come as a thief in the night," to use Paul's words (1 Thess. 5:2). Who knows when a thief will strike? The Lord Jesus taught that just as the people of Noah's day were caught off guard by the flood, so will Christ's return catch that generation by surprise. Not until water began pouring down from the sky (It had never rained before) and gushing up from the earth did those people realize Noah's words were true. By then it was too late. And it will be that way when Jesus returns.  Not only will His arrival catch the world by surprise, but the cataclysmic replacement of heaven and earth will be thunderous. The deafening noise of atomic explosions will herald the end of this world system as we know it and the entrance of Jesus' kingdom to replace it.

11. Since the whole world is going to be replaced in this manner, what kind of lives should we be living? We must be committed to a godly walk that sees us constantly trying to please the Lord and busy serving Him. 12a. What good is it to pray, "Thy kingdom come" and do nothing to help it along?

WHAT KIND OF LIVES? In view of what is coming and the temporary nature of everything earthly, Peter asks his readers,

 "What kind of lives should we be living?" This is not something Peter is making up. Today men of science, including nuclear physicists and respected ecologists, agree life on earth will come to a cataclysmic end. Right now, Jesus is preparing for us a glorious future. The anticipation of that should make a big difference in the way we live. Of course it all depends on how real that future is to us. If it is not real, we won't do anything about it. If it is real, we'll want to begin preparing ourselves to live in a godly environment.

12b. Yes, the day of God is coming heralded by an enormous fireball as the heavens explode in atomic fire, vaporizing all the elements in the process. 13. But that is to be expected since we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness will be the only way of life—even as God promised.

TO BE EXPECTED. In his speech on the day of Pentecost Peter made a comment about the Lord's return and the cataclysmic shake-up of the world  as we know it.

 Notice how this great upheaval coincides with Jesus' return:

"Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets." (Acts 3:19-21).

COMMENT: See how Jesus must remain in heaven until it is time for the great restoration to occur. Just in case anyone missed how awesome the great change is going to be, Peter uses language that should make even a modern reader gasp. We know about atomic power. We know that the sun itself is a continuous hydrogen explosion. We can picture the heavens convulsing and the earth reshaped as a new heaven and a new earth just in time for Jesus and His family to touch down and set up His kingdom. So we won't be surprised by a new heaven and a new earth since we're being told about it ahead of time.

I trust you have enjoyed the taste provided by this article and will want to read the whole book. Click here for more information. I know you won't be disappointed. It can make a difference in your life and you'll find yourself enjoying the Lord more and more.

MARANATHA!

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This article is Copyright 2001 by Dr. C. S. Lovett and is found on www.cslovettbooks.com