2 Peter 3 – Revised Standard Version
Lesson 5 Part 1 – 2 Peter 3: 1-7
1This is now the second letter that I have written to you, beloved, and in both of them I have aroused your sincere mind by way of reminder; 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3 First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, 6 through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
First Impression
It has been a while, but “all things continue as they were from the beginning” still stands out. The idea that the fundamentals of life are still the same assures me that God has not changed.
(Discuss each topic individually)
Aroused your sincere mind
The idea here is that we once determined that we accepted Christ as our savior and Peter is simply reminding us to let that fact impact us today. The whole Bible is about how we forget if we do not daily devote ourselves to this fact.
Reminder
Not that it is separate from the answer above, but all of life is either a chance to remember or an opportunity to be reminded. A former co-worker messaged me just the other day and today I learned his great grand father was a preacher out in the Tomball area back in the day. For generations, his family has been spreading the gospel in this area, and there is still work to be done.
Predictions of the holy prophets
I find this a funny word set as the prophets were not predicting the future, they were passing on the Words of God about the future. I predicted the Astros would win the World Series in 2017 is not the same as I prophesied that Christ would come again. The concept for me is that God has revealed to us many things about the past, our present and our future with the goal that we would align our walk with His and share in the knowing that all will come to pass as He revealed and we can live as if.
Commandment of the Lord
Interestingly, this is singular in this version. I see in this the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength or whatever the order is in whatever source you read. If we love God, we love others, just as He loved us and gave His Son, and just as Jesus loved us and died for our sins.
Scoffers scoff
I “love” the way logic works. If you are a scoffer, then you scoff. Its pure logic. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… People who do not have God in their lives are going to act like God is not in their life. It is a fundamental aspect of who God made us to need and to respond to. I cannot expect a scorpion not to sting me, it is a scorpion. We cannot expect those around us who do not have God to not act like they do need God. In Job 14:4 today I read about how purity cannot come from impurity. Evil or being apart from God cannot produce love or Godliness.
Where is the promise of His coming?
This really is “Why hasn’t Jesus come back yet.” The sooner Jesus comes back, the sooner those who do not believe end up in hell. Just as the original Boomer Sooners lost out on benefits by jumping the gun and moving into Oklahoma too early, sinners who want to see Jesus come back before they will believe will miss out on the biggest benefit of all.
Fathers fell asleep
Died. Fell asleep is “slang” for died. There maybe some secondary meaning like they are in some timeless void waiting for the return of Crist, but they no longer live on earth as they did before death. People lived their lives and died. It happened in the past and it will keep on happening until Jesus returns. What we know is that people do not get to keep on living because the are good or bad or have more money or have more power or anything. People live and then they die. It is simple and foundational and unlike taxes, there is no out in this world.
All things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation
Discussed above.
Ignore facts
I saw where Avis bought $4 billion dollars worth of cars from Tesla. Its 20% of their fleet and while $42,000 does not buy as much car as it used to, its not far off from the average car that people rent these days. The odd things is that tesla gained $170 billion dollars worth of value on the news. The fact is that $4 billion does not equal $170 billion. Even with a 20% profit margin, Tesla only should have gained $800 million of real value in the deal. The world is ignoring facts by valuing Tesla so high, but if people ignore the fact that the penalty for sin is death, then they too get to experience death and not just the fall asleep kind.
Water and Fire
A quick end to a long discussion. Not really, but the question was short, and the discussion and the underlying meaning seem never ending. Water is about beginnings and new life. Fire is about destruction and death. The water that killed everyone except Noah and his family was an act of God not to be repeated. It became a symbol of the rebirth. Fire is still fire, and the end is coming.
Peter has initiated his conclusion to the letter with fundamental aspects about creation that are not founded on science, but by the revelation of God. Peter has a message for believers to live according to that which we have been told. But the impact of doing so is not for our benefit, but for the benefit for those who are not yet saved and to glorify God.