GEMS FROM THE ENDINGS OF THE EPISTLES

Part XX: Gems From The Ending Of 2 Peter, A. D. 67-68

(2 Peter 3:1-18)

I. Introduction

A. The epistle of 2 Peter was written by the Apostle Peter in A. D. 67-68 shortly before his martyrdom by Rome’s Emperor Nero when the Church faced persecution and false teachers (B. K. C., N. T., p. 434, 862).

B. Peter’s purpose in the epistle was to prepare believers “how to live when surrounded by the problems and perplexities of the end time” (Ibid., p. 859, 862), an issue that concerns many believers in today’s world.

C. The epistle’s ending at 2 Peter 3:1-18 captures this theme, so we view it for our application and edification:

II. Gems From The Ending Of 2 Peter, A. D. 67-68; 2 Peter 3:1-18.

A. To prepare to address the problems and perplexities of the end time, Peter told his readers to recall the words of the Old Testament prophets and the apostles, 2 Peter 3:1-2. God has given the Church all the information it needs in Scripture (2 Timothy 3:15-17), so He wants us to turn to Scripture for His insight in turbulent times!

B. Peter then provided invaluable insight on the rise of uniformitarian ideology that is behind evolutionary thought that we face today, exposing and critiquing its error (as follows), 2 Peter 3:3-9:

1. Peter predicted that in the last days, scoffers would arise living in line with their lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his (Christ’s) coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,” 2 Peter 3:3-4 KJV. This is the ideology of uniformitarianism, “that the cosmic processes of the present and the future can be understood solely on the basis of how the cosmos has operated in the past” (Ibid., p. 875). Such a view counters belief in divine miracles or God’s intervention in the universe, so this view naturally denies that Christ could come to earth again, Ibid.

2. Peter countered this view by using the evidence of God’s divine intervention first to create the universe and then to destroy the first creation through the Genesis Flood, 2 Peter 3:5-6:

a. Such scoffers would be willingly ignorant of the fact that by the Word of God the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and with water, 2 Peter 3:5. This statement refers to “the land appearing from the water on the third day of Creation (Gen. 1:9-10)” (Ibid.).

b. Peter added that the world that God had created was overflowed with water in the Genesis Flood, 2 Peter 3:6 with Genesis 6:1-8:19. Evidence of worldwide catastrophism in the Flood abounds as noted in the fossil record and geological data and as reported in the book The Genesis Flood by John C. Whitcomb & Henry M. Morris and as validated by Ken Ham’s “Answers In Genesis” ministries.

3. The Apostle Peter then added that the current universe by the Word of God that called it into existence are being kept for destruction by fire when God judges and destroys ungodly men, 2 Peter 3:7.

4. In countering the opposition of the uniformitarian critics, Peter addressed their criticism that God is slack in fulfilling His promise of Christ’s return. Peter clarified that God is not slack in keeping His promise like men view slackness, for with God, His patience and longsuffering are so great that one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day with the Lord, 2 Peter 3:8-9. God knows the difference between a day and a thousand years, but Peter is using a figure of speech called a simile here to teach that God is graciously longsuffering in giving sinners time to repent before He administers His judgment!

C. Peter then described the future destruction of the universe by fire that occurs in Revelation 20:11 (2 Peter 3:10): The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night when the universe suddenly passes away with a great noise, the elements melting with intense heat and the earth and its works being burned up.

D. In view of God’s coming destruction of this current universe that is affected by sin, we believers are to live godly lives in anticipating the new universe that God will create where righteousness dwells, 2 Peter 3:11-14.

E. We must view God’s longsuffering as an opportunity for people to be saved, 2 Peter 3:15a. Peter added that Paul taught this view, that all of Paul’s epistles were God inspired with the “rest” of the Scriptures, and both sets of writings were distorted by the ungodly, 2 Peter 3:15b-16. (The Greek for “rest” here is loipos, meaning “remaining,” that is, others of the same kind, so Paul’s epistles are God inspired like the rest of Scripture.)

F. Peter then closed this his last epistle with a final admonition that we believers must avoid false teaching and grow in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus and God’s grace, 2 Peter 3:17-18.

Lesson: Peter urged believers facing turbulent times to recall Scripture and to live by faith in God’s promises.

Application: May we handle uncertain times by recalling and heeding the divinely inspired Word of God.