Monday, October 10, 2011
What will come in the last days......
2 Peter 3:2 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,
2 Peter 3:4 and saying, “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 3:5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
2 Peter 3:6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
2 Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
The answer......Scoffers. That's what Peter says in 3:2, we know this first, that scoffers, that is those who mock and ridicule. These mockers are said to be in "the last days" Or, that period of time starting with the first coming of Jesus Christ, until His second coming. And, they will be walking according to their own lusts, or living their lives under the power of their fallen nature, ( as opposed to being under the control of, and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God ) So, we know that we are living in the last days.
And, here is what they will say. It's a mocking question, that questions the truth of the coming again of Jesus Christ, and the events associated with Christ's return. They are specifically mocking the "promise of His coming" They are mockingly saying, "well where is He, when is He going to come etc, ". And, they add, that nothing in the past has changed, things have just continued to go along as they always have, right from the start of creation. That's their argument, and that's their mockery. Nothing has changed, therefore nothing will change, and Jesus is not coming.
But, Peter adds and explains that they are willfully forgetting what God actually did. God did create the world, and God did judge the world with a global flood, and the inhabitants of the world did perish.
The last thing Peter says, is that the heavens and the earth which now exist, are being preserved by God's Word, and that He is reserving them for a fiery end of days judgement, and destruction of ungodly men.
Peter will explain more of God's plan as we move through the rest of this chapter. But, for now, suffice to say, that scoffers, mockers, are flat out denying the teaching of the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, and the destruction that is coming on the world. They make fun of this teaching, and ridicule it. They deny it. This has always been the way of satan, right from the start, please see Gen 3, where satan first appeared to challenge and deny the Word of God. This is what he does, plain and simple. God calls us to trust His Word, satan wants us not to trust it, and to not believe it etc, etc.
What a blessing to know the truth of Jesus Christ, and to know that He is coming again, and as Peter will tell us towards the end of the chapter, that if we know these things are going to happen, then, there is way we ought to be living.
Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia
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