Perspectives

2 Peter 3:3-8… 3) Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires, 4) 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.” 5) 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. 6) By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7) 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. 8) But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (NIV)

False teaching about Scriptural matters is as old as humankind: There were people who saw Christ and the miracles He performed, yet they denied His deity; denied that He was the Son of God. They were in fact eyewitnesses to His power. They were the leading religious teachers during Christ’s time on earth.

Peter reminds us about the second coming of Jesus Christ and what the rule of the day will be like. He reminds us that there will be scoffers, people who will make fun of our faith in what the Bible teaches. Some of these scoffers will be involved in our communities. We know there were people during the time of Christ who thought that His second coming would happen in their time. However, they misunderstood what Jesus was talking about when he said, “That His coming was soon to happen.”

Demoralizing, heartbreaking times will pave the way before the second coming of Jesus Christ. It will be a time of sorrow, especially for Christians. Scoffers, those who want to make fun of our faith in Christ, will be everywhere, laughing and making fun of our faith in a living God. They will do their best to draw our attention to the second coming of Christ; thinking that somehow, they will be able to really stick it to us. They will do their best to deny changes are occurring as Jesus predicted would happen before His second coming, thereby saying that “there is nothing to the promises found in Scripture that can be believed about His second coming.” These folks, these scoffers are foolish. However, the sad thing is that some of our own flesh and blood have latched onto this type of thinking that there will never be a second coming of Christ. Their reasoning goes something like this… nothing has happened, nothing unusual was going to take place, our weird world events, are just that, weird, and we cannot do anything about it. All the promises we talk about, are just that, just talk.”

Time is not the same for us and God. The Bible teaches that a thousand years to God is like a yesterday to Him. When we think in human terms and understand that this world of ours has been in existence for thousands of years, it is no wonder that we feel unimportant, so insignificant compared to God’s creative power. We must remember, however, that God is in no rush, He has all eternity to work out His plans. Here is another thought: We must remember when we try and compare our thinking to that of eternity it is an opportunity given to us to lead people to Christ. And should it be that we ourselves have not yet accepted Christ as our Savour… Well now is a suitable time to do so.

When the Scriptures direct our thoughts to Christ’s second coming, it does so in a compassionate, kind-hearted way. It allows us to reason in human ways. The Lord is not slow in coming as He has promised. He has good reasons why He does noy rush things, just because we think only in terms of our human time. So, he comes to us in a way that we can understand by unfolding an eternal time. A thousand years to God are but a yesterday; and He is not willing that anybody should be lost or perish. That means He is giving us more time to repent. We can not, however, think that He will never come again. His promise is sure, and one day, He will surely come as a thief in the night for those who have rejected Him. But for those of us who know Him as Lord and Savour, we should try hard to live in such a way that we do not grieve the Holy Spirit and sadden the heart of Christ. That He will be pleased with us, when He comes to take us from this earthly home… to enjoy the splendour of heaven for all eternity… To God be The Glory Great Things He Has Done…

Would you pray this prayer with me…? “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive my sins. I want my life to change. My thoughts and my attitude need to change. I do not have peace in my heart. I really want that peace, joy, and happiness that I long for. Please let the Holy Spirit help me be the kind of Christian that will bring honour to Your Name.” Amen