2 Peter 3:1-7 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly
We who are IN CHRIST ARE PEOPLE OF FAITH. The world cannot really believe the promise of faith in Christ: eternal life. The wicked despise the further promise of faith: eventual judgment. When Peter addressed the crowd after Pentecost, he referred to the prophecy of Joel, saying he was talking about their age, their day. We know Peter was talking about his day as well as the days to come. IN THE LAST DAYS, God says, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days (last days) I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike, and they will prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18) From the very beginning, people chose to disbelieve God’s creation of the earth and all living things. Since creation, people’s failure to obey and to respect God brought them into wickedness, waywardness, and rebellion. “Did God really say,” was the temptation that Adam and Eve could not reject. (Genesis 3:1) From the start, mankind was given the authority over all life on Earth. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (Genesis 2:15) However, the Tree of Good and Evil was beyond their control. The serpent used the knowledge of something kept from Adam and Eve to birth rebellion against God’s control. As they sought to serve themselves rather than God, they made a decision beyond God’s will for them. Because of their intransigent decision, God forced Adam and Eve out of the Garden. Out in the world, rather that creating new life, we see Cain kill his brother. His allegiance to mankind’s fallen nature brought death, not life. Eventually, we find the fallen nature of the ancients brings cruelty and meanness to the world. They forgot their Creator and did not accept the biblical account of creation: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” (Genesis 1:1-5) In their wayward thinking, they made images and depictions of God, constructed from their own imaginations, including many gods. Of course their god or gods would promote unbelief in the only true God and wipe out subservience to him alone. As Paul writes, they knew better, but their rebellion to God took them away from the truth. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:20-23) Paul knew their hearts had been darkened by their Adamic nature: they became their own authority, traveled their own way outside of God and his control.
From the dawn of creation, mankind scoffed at God, living opposite of his nature of grace and mercy. Violence and wickedness flooded the earth, causing God to destroy mankind in a flood. Only Noah and his family were saved. Even though the flood at God’s hands was in their history and culture, people continued in their rebellion against God. We see them building the tower of Babel in an effort to be as God, to take the reins of creative authority away from the God of creation. But God thwarted their efforts by providing in their community a variety of languages, breaking down the oneness in their attempts to build the tower. Their efforts to be like God were disassembled. But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. (Genesis 11:5-6) The people God created in his image were so powerful in their creative ability that they could do anything they desired. Their scoffing at God now was coming to fruition, replacing God with their own creation. Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. From the beginning we see humans striving to be like God, developing a way of living different from God’s design. The scoffing Peter describes is a scoffing that goes beyond a spiritual reality that there is any purpose to the design of man and to the creation of earth. Where is this God? Why should we respect anything about the so-called holy scriptures. Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. This idea that Jesus is coming back to Earth to gain control of mankind and to set things under God’s authority is silliness to the scoffers. They say, we have gone through many millenniums since the prophets predicted the return of the Messiah to set up his kingdom. Mankind rejects this message and the authority of God. All through the generations there have been scoffers, people who have laughed at the idea that there is a God to serve, a God who determines the fate of whether men will live with him forever or not. In our present time, this turning away from the theological determination of life is even more widespread. The ancients left the God of creation and followed their own rebellious ways, making their own gods to follow, imaging their own wicked hearts and inclinations. Today, the aspect that there is a God is in question worldwide. Within the present culture in the elite, educated circles of the world, the sophistication and the understanding of the physical nature of existence has spawned many scoffers, many atheists. People know more about the nature of things than ever. We measure the stars and galaxies by light years to find their distances from us. We can determine the ages of rocks by radioactivity. DNA denotes our ancestry; our biological existence is better understood. Our understanding of the physical nature of existence has not drawn us closer to God, but in fact has separated many from the idea that there is a God to serve and to glorify. The scoffers in our day are even more fervent in their denunciation of God and his existence. A recent poll in the United States of about 5,000 people indicated 56% of them believed in God. What do the other 44% have as a foundation for their lives?
However, we who are IN CHRIST live not by the nature of things, or by the knowledge and wisdom of the world. As the Bible says, For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. (1 Corinthians 3:19) Paul goes on to say that God sees the best thoughts of the world as worthless, and we should not boast in them. Certainly, understanding the physical nature of things is important and necessary to help us maneuver through life. This knowledge gives us insight into life’s necessities on the planet Earth. But this knowledge has no spiritual or eternal value. We will never escape the surface of this planet if we place our hope on the wisdom and knowledge of mankind. The scriptures point us to an eternal life, one that demands faith. Faith has a reality all its own. For we live by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) We know from reading scripture that God met Abraham at least nine times, telling him that a new life was necessary if he was going to escape the nature of his idol worshipping ancestors. God intervened in Abraham’s life. God’s activity, even anthropomorphic activity, was necessary to bring to life a faith-driven existence for Abraham. He believed in God rather than in his physical realities. He believed that there was something more real than the realities of this physical world. This faith of his in God’s word, brought God’s purposes in his life. We who are CHRISTIANS believe in Christ’s work. We read in the New Testament of Jesus’ works and teachings. He was the Son of God in the flesh, walking and living as the flesh does. As in Abraham’s day, the divinity of God in the flesh came to walk with mankind. God’s Spirit was intensely involved with Jesus. Later, to carry on the Good News of Jesus Christ and his life in us, we discover Paul’s conversion. We see God coming directly into his life; interacting powerfully in his life. All of this was to show to people that a new way of life was coming to mankind on Earth. As with Abraham, God intervened into Paul’s life directly. Paul presents to mankind not only a faith in God such as Abraham had, but now a faith in Jesus Christ as God’s Son. And through this faith eternal life can be won. Yes, the understanding of the physical nature of life is important, but far more important is the understanding of the life of faith in Christ Jesus. The former is temporary, the latter is eternal. People cannot enter into eternity with God unless they enter through the gate: faith in Jesus Christ and his works. Jesus said, I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. (John 10:9) In the latter day, in this age of the computer, once again man has one language as in the day of the tower of Babel. Mankind will attempt to bring God down; to magnify himself above God; to take the place of God. Nothing but God’s direct intervention will stop this pervasive evil. But Jesus will, his voice is still lifted up wherever believers congregate, and He is coming back to restore his kingdom. If you are not in his pasture, enter in today and receive his blessings. Do not dwell with the scoffers.
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