The purpose of this epistle & Scoffing in the last days

Well, today we start the third chapter of St. Peter. And actually, this is a pretty interesting chapter. It has a lot of very familiar verses, a lot of interesting things, and some things are interesting about the last days, last times, end time events. So we'll be looking at those events for the next two weeks for sure, and then we'll kind of close it out in the following two weeks.

Oh, we also ought to pray for Bob. For Bob Echol too. He's having surgery next week. Actually, next week is today. This is normally the first day of the week. So actually, we need to pray for Bob as well. And he's actually scheduled to teach, so we'll see how that works out. So we'll roll you in here.

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you, in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets in the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water. through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by his word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

OK, so this actually this section here divides into two sections. The first two verses, one and two, talk about a reaffirmation of what Peter is about. There's handouts up here on the table. So the first two verses talk about the intent of the letter, his letters, and then And then we go into the start of verse 3 and talk about the last days, and we're going to talk about what does the last days mean.

And he kind of goes through different things that the mockers would be saying, and then he kind of has his rebuttal to that. He says, well, like in verse 5, before they maintain this, it escapes their notice that God has done the following. God's been active.

The mockers say, well, you know, things are about the same. Things haven't changed. It goes on just like it was before. Nothing's changed. And we actually see that kind of thought process in our world. Things are just going on like always. Nothing's ever going to change. God's not involved in this world. You people who believe in God, it just goes on like it is. But it's hard to imagine in today's world as chaotic as it's becoming, as frightening as it's becoming in this day, that people don't think about.

Why is it this way, Tom? It's kind of humorously ironic that all this talk about global warming. Well, it is about to come. A little bit different way than what they were thinking about. That's a good point. It's going to get pretty toasty. That's true.

But we're going to see that fire is actually one of the things that is used in terms of judgment. God's judgment. Fire is very associated with God's judgment. Think about Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire is associated with that. Fire and brimstone. So fire is one of those words that kind of stands out in God's judgment. OK, so we have a two division. So we'll look at them. And actually, I apologize.

I didn't I didn't bulletize this. You know, you have an option with these programs. You can you can bring in each line by line by line by line. And actually, that does help because it keeps your focus on that line. I didn't do that today. So I apologize. So we just got to have to. look at the whole thing in one fell swoop. Go ahead, Tom. Well, go ahead and like you said, let the blue be the bullet point. OK, well, the blue.

Actually, maybe you wonder. I'll tell you my thought. The blue is usually. from scripture, and then the part that's not blue is usually the explanation of those words of scripture. That's what I try to do. And then sometimes red I'll use as a question. I probably should have explained that about years ago. Blue is what I try to do. So you see that's just repeating the line as a part of the verse one. So that's how I typically do it. So OK, we start off. This now beloved the second letter.

I'm writing to you so beloved we see that it occurs about 60 sometimes in the New Testament and About eight times in Peter's writing and I have all eight times down there This word beloved is really a really a very warm and endearing term is it's basically it's from the word for love and it's divinely loved ones and And it speaks of this relationship we have with our Savior. And also it speaks about the relationship between the Father and the Son. So we're going to see that as well. Peter calls that verse out as well.

So it's in terms of endearment. And Peter tends to use it when he's going to talk about something, highlight something. It's like you might say to your children, come and listen to this, children. Come and listen. This is really important. And he uses that in that sense. If you look at the verses we're going to look at here, He uses it in that sense.

So let's, without further ado, let's just kind of dig into some of those. Back to 1st Peter. Could someone read 1st Peter 2.11? Whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against him before the Lord. Okay, I actually... Is that what you said, 2.11?

Yeah, that's right. That's 1st Peter. 1st Peter, 1st Peter. That's what I was looking at too. Have I missed something here? Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers, is that what you want? Yes, exactly. To abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. So here's an example, right? He's saying, Beloved ones, divine loved ones, we're aliens in this world. So he starts off with beloved, rather than just saying brethren or brothers, he says beloved. It's in a term of endearment. So he uses that to focus on, this is an important thing, this is not your home, you're aliens and strangers, and so on.

So now how about 1 Peter, not 2 Peter, 1 Peter 4.12 in this case. Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual is happening to you. Good. Right. And your version is? Paul and Christian standard. Oh, is that what it is? Okay. All right. So. So it uses that use the common word during term. Yeah. You had a question. Yeah. Mine says below it. Yeah.

And I know. But what's interesting is I'll pick up on that and they'll render it. If you're trying to expand it, expand it will render it more endearing term. When I paraphrase that I used to dearly loved. OK. That better than be loved. Beloved is just a little bit too common, I think. Actually, the problem is, I think, and I find, I read over that, I just read right past it, and I don't pick up on the, if it said divinely loved one, I would go, whoa, okay, hey, that's pretty cool. I think, you know, when a word or a phrase becomes too common, you have to change it around and make it more meaningful. To make it more meaningful, in all my paraphrases, I put, dearly loved, because God really does love us. Absolutely, absolutely. No, that's great. I think it's good.

And that's what Bible study is all about. The thing is, we read these verses, sometimes after a while you just read them and you don't see the innards, the internals, which are really great. A lot of these commonly stated phrases have been so watered down, it becomes flippant. So you just really have to go for the original languages, which is the objective of this class. Sure, sure, that's right. Okay, so let's carry on here.

How about 2 Peter 1.17? And this is going to be a little bit different, you know, it's going to be the other case I've stated here.

2 Peter 1.17.

For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." Right. So isn't it amazing that the Father calls the Son what He calls us? I mean, it shows our intimate relationship. I mean, just like in John 17, you know, it shows, it talks about if the Father calls the Son beloved and we're called beloved, I mean, that's pretty amazing. You think, well, I don't deserve to be called beloved. We don't. But, since we trusted Christ, we have a new history now. We're now a new creation in Christ.

Actually, the handout is way up here, Jeremy. Find a seat wherever you're comfortable. That's really cool. There are other ones too. I can find this just to 1st and 2nd Peter. Now, just look for example, we're going to be studying chapter 3 right now, and just look at chapter 3, look how many times he says divinely loved ones in this chapter. So it tells me that this is really important, this is talking about what's going to happen, and it's like maybe you're giving messages to your children, and they're going to live on after you, and you want them to really understand this. That's going to be important for them to know. So he really focuses on divine loved ones in this.

How about 3-1? Actually, 3-1 we just read here. This is now beloved, the second letter I'm writing to you, in which I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder. How about 3-8 in 2 Peter? But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that many people live one day like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. So once again it highlights an important fact that Peter wants to convey.

Now how about verse 14? Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, but listen to his voice. Good. Okay. And then 15? And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given him wrote to you. And then lastly, verse 17. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard, so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men, and fall from your own steadfastness. Alright, so I think we've pretty well established that beloved is an important word, and he used to convey a relationship between ourselves and the Lord.

So he's going to repeat something that he kind of has said in the past, And it says, in which I'm stirring up your sincere minds. And then in which could be rendered, and this is kind of tricky, in both of which. And so it kind of points back to the fact that he wanted to do this in both of his letters in 1 Peter 1 and 2. So it could be rendered in both of which would kind of say, OK, I want to stir up your minds in my first letter. I want to stir up your minds in my second letter, which is not surprising. Like a double whammy. And this idea of stirring up is the idea to excite, to incite, to stir up.

And we saw it back in chapter 1 of 2 Peter, I'll just read that. It's in verse 13. He says, And I consider it right, as long as I am with I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly body, to stir up you by way of reminder." It's almost a parallel to what it says here.

He's going to talk about stirring up your sincere mind. That word sincere is kind of a new idea he has. He wants to engage our minds. Scripture is so much that way. You can read Scripture. Some people I don't know how to say this the right way. I'm going to read through the Bible in a year and they're really intent upon getting through it and maybe accomplishing a goal with that.

But it seems like God is more interested in us understanding about him through his word. So it's more than just taking it in. It's more interacting with it and coming to understand it and living it and applying it. So that's kind of what he wants to shake us up a little bit. Like working off, not off the old nature, but off your transformed, as alive in Christ. Right. And that's the other part of it.

Scripture is written to us, and the only part of us, in a sense, that can accomplish Scripture is who we are in Christ. That's the only life that can live the Christian life. live the Christian life outside of God living in us. And that's actually pretty evident when you see some of the commandments we see, quote commandments, we see to us, be ye holy for I am holy. And you think, well, I can't do that. I can't be holy. I know myself. I know I can't be holy.

Well, that only can happen as Christ lives his life through you. And that's where this sincere mind is going to show up here. So any thoughts about this first part of this verse here? So basically we talked about, I've already kind of covered, which we stir up. Sincere here is the idea of moral or ethical purity.

It actually is a compound word. To judge and sunlight, to judge by sunlight, which is kind of interesting. You think about, look at all the references to Especially like in 1 John, walking the light as he is in the light. Light is a word that describes the holiness of God and the holiness that we live as Christ lives through us. We display as Christ lives through us.

So Philippians 1.10 has this word in there.

Can someone read Philippians 1.10? So that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ. Right. So the idea of being pure and blameless in the day of Christ.

So he's going to talk to our syntheses. So he's basically saying, I'm going to stir up your minds focused on how you're going to be able to accomplish this. I'm not going to speak to your old nature. has condemned that. But your new nature can live these things out and can live out what I'm going to tell you. And then he talks about by way of reminder.

And then I kind of thought at the last part of this chart here is what are some of the verses that are directed to our minds? Actually we see that in a fair amount of cases there are a fair amount of verses that talk about how we're to think, how we're to view things. So let's look at some of those Colossians three, two. And this is one of the ones I shared, actually, had a chance to fill in for Vern here, which is really a cool versus.

I like to set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. As we learn the truths of scripture, we find out that we're heavenly citizens, we find out that that's where our home is, and that's where our focus is to be, from heaven. That's where Miles Stanford gets his little phrase, keep looking down. If you believe what scripture says, you're seated with Christ in the heavenlies. So your view of all of life is from your position. You're seated with him, you look at your life, from your position, and that's kind of setting your minds on things above.

How about Romans 12.2?

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. So as I said, God's interested in our mind. So this is the idea of renewing your mind That verse has a lot to be talked about. Not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So, where our mind is, where our thoughts are, that's the director of life. Scripture says that we have the mind of Christ. That's a pretty impressive statement.

I'll read this in 1 Peter 1.13, which is almost a parallel to what this verse is saying.

1 Peter 1.13, it says, Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So it's interesting, our minds, based on the verses we read, our minds are in a place where they can be focused on on one of two places, right? They can be focused on Christ and what he's doing, or they can be focused on ourselves, on self-life. So the admonition of the scripture almost universally is keep your mind on Christ, keep your mind focused on him. And that's why we have all these verses that speak to that. Courage your mind for action, set your mind on things above. Because God realizes that our minds may be off other things.

And we see that constantly, we get distracted. So many things distract us. And that doesn't mean that you count up points. I get so many points for how many minutes of the day. If we did that, I might be disappointed. But God knows our frame. So we don't have to be worried about that. How many minutes today did I think about the Lord? You could get into math here. And you could maybe pat yourself on the back. Well, good job. 12.5 hours or whatever it might be.

He's interested in us that by his grace and by his love we focus on him because he's our life. We say, hey, Lord, you're in control. You know what's going on. You understand my frame. And you give me these admonitions to keep my mind focused on you. But you also realize that I won't always do that. Additional thoughts or questions? Alright, so next verse.

So he talked about that he's going to focus on our minds, our sincere minds. And here's the purpose of that. That you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your Apostles. He talks about remembering, being mindful. He talked about our minds and now he's going to talk about remembering. He wants us to remember. Be mindful of that. He talks about that in a variety of verses here. Let me pick one or two of those out. Let's just look at Let's look at 1 Corinthians 11 in verse 2. Now I praise you because, let's go back here to verse 1.

Be imitators of me just as I am also of Christ. Now I praise you because you remembered me in everything and hold firmly to the tradition just as I delivered them to you. So in this case, Paul is talking about being imitators of Christ, remembering and holding firmly to what was delivered to them. So remembering is important.

So maybe we'll just kind of jump from there. And then in Jude, let's look at the one in Jude, because a lot of times Jude kind of tracks with, let's look at Jude 17. Look at that for a second. You probably realize that June and 2nd Peter have a lot of similar topics in them. And June 17 says, But to you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. has a piece of the same information that we're studying in this verse. So you kind of observe two things here. The words spoken beforehand. So he has two areas. By the holy prophets, that's one area. And the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. In both cases, it's the holy prophets plural, and it's the apostles plural. I thought Constable had a good observation.

He says, again, Peter puts the teaching of the apostles, which these men received from Jesus Christ, on the same level of authority, equal with the Old Testament prophets. And we see that when Peter speaks, and when Paul speaks, they look at scripture on equal footing with all of what was given in the Old Testament. It's not like the Old Testament is a higher revelation. No, the New Testament is on an equal footing with that. And also, what's even more important, the New Testament is written to the believer in Christ, whereas the Old Testament is information for the believer in Christ, but the New Testament is how we're to live in light of what Christ has done.

So that's kind of important. And the Holy Prophets is mentioned in Luke there and actually we can look at a couple of those verses. How about Luke 1.17? And as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began. Right, okay.

So we see that the prophets are called Holy Prophets and Luke here and also in Acts that term is used and that term And it refers back to the Old Testament prophets and what they said. And the next statement is, the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. So one of the questions is, what is meant by the commandment of the Lord and Savior? What is the commandment?

You know, I keep my mind is where it used to be. He starts out with the holy prophets and then he talks about the apostles. And I've read the definition between those two. I can't remember what they are now. OK. I have a note here from times past that that particular word for The commandment has some relation to abide in me. Was that the commandment of the Lord? Okay. I didn't actually see that. Interesting. Okay.

I guess what I thought in looking at this, and I like Constable's point here, we see in the New Testament that We realize we're not under the law. A lot of times you connect commandment with the law and you make that connection. I don't think we can make that connection. We're free from the law. We're a new creation in Christ. It has to mean something else.

Let's look at a couple of verses to see if we can clear this up. We see this occur occasionally. The word commandment will come up in the New Testament. And because of what Paul taught us, we say, well, it can't be the Ten Commandments. It doesn't fit. Otherwise, all those scriptures about, we're not under law, we're under grace, what do I do with those?

So, this commandment's got to mean something else. It's got to be something else. Let's look at a couple of verses here and see if that can help. Would those be what Verne calls logical imperatives? Well, possibly. Possibly. I guess I'm thinking more of Christ repeated some of the commandments.

But he also said a new commandment I give you that you love one another even as I love you. through the Apostle Paul that we're not under law, we're under grace. So when we see the word commandment come up in terms of the believer, how do we handle that is the question.

So let's look at Galatians 6.2. There's not one particular verse that totally explains the use of commandment, but I think there's a kind of a pattern, if you will, that kind of has helped me in trying to understand what, when the Lord uses commandments, what does he mean.

And how would we read, just 6.2, Galatians 6.2? Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. Right. So you say, well, now what's the law of Christ?

Okay, so let's look at 1 John 4.21. I don't mean to take you on a rabbit trail here, but it happens many times. You look at one thing and try to keep...

1 John 4.21. And this is a command we have from him. that the one who loves God should love his brother also. So we see some of the commandments from the Old Testament come across in the New Testament. The picture is that the only way we can live the Christian life and fulfill the law of Christ or fulfill the commandments, if you will, is by Christ's life in us.

That's the only way that can happen. It doesn't happen by us obeying any set of laws. We know that's going to be a futile effort. And that's not where God wants us to be. Christ is to live his life through us. So it seems like this is a term that we've seen from other places where it talks about, just like Christ said here in John, talks about, in 4.12 there, let me just go back here for a second. Are you trying to say basically what?

Hebrews 10.16 and one other verse, I think. Okay, go ahead. It says, this is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. Now this is in the future kingdom. Yeah. But it says, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds. Well, some people do that. But I don't think that's, you know, that speaks of Israel, really. Well, it does.

But, you know, isn't it in the same sense he He reveals his will to us and we do it? Okay, I think it comes down to how do we live the Christian life? How is that accomplished? Is that accomplished by us? Really trying hard. Keeping a set of rules or laws or actually keeping the Ten Commandments?

No, it's life living through us. And we do that by faith, right? So our only requirement, our only commandment, if you will, is faith, in a sense. But there are direct and non-directives. But there are information for us that tells us how to judge our Christian life. And part of that is to love one another. There are verses that talk about that. So the Christian life is Christ's life. And his life will follow the commandments. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that when we see the word commandment show up, it has to be Christ's life living through us.

There's no other method that can happen. Because we know that keeping the commandments is not what God is about. No, of course not. But it's still, as Christ lives through us, we know what is right and what is wrong. Exactly. We follow what is right. And we reject what is wrong, we don't do what is wrong. It's still us doing it, but he's doing it through us. Exactly.

I don't know how you... I might say that I totally understand that. There's a mystery in that. Because what we say often is, well I see. Christ is living his life through us and we doubt that. I don't see that. We try to measure that. We do all kinds of things. He tells us that our part in that is by faith and trust.

I've seen this in brand new Christians. The testimony of brand new Christians. They used to live a very corrupt lifestyle. And all of a sudden when they become sick, they stop doing that, they know what is right, and they say, okay, that's wrong, I'm not going to do that. So it's like God writes his will, writes his laws on their heart, and they want to do that.

I hear what you're saying, but I think it's the spirit working in our lives, that we're convicted, right? We're convicted by that is wrong. That's not Christ's life in us. That's something else. That's my flesh doing that. So I don't think that's a picture of the laws written in our heart is a picture for the nation of Israel. And that's how they're going to That's God's plan for them. He's going to accomplish His will for them by writing the law. They won't have to be taught.

For us, we have Christ living in us. The Holy Spirit convicts us when we see something or testifies to us. How do we know each other? How do I know that you're a believer and you may know I'm a believer? Hopefully we see Christ living His life through us and that is testimony to us.

Sorry, specifically about the commandment. I don't know if it's explicit in this passage, the thing you were talking about earlier, the loving as Christ loved us. I mean, for the prophets, what did Jesus say the two great commandments were? Love God and love your neighbor. And then for us, essentially still the same, that's the outgrowth. So the law of God, and you get that in the Galatians passage, is, and so fulfill the law of Christ. And I think that's loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And it's interesting, in the first epistle, he's talking about dealing with persecution, but throughout it, he says, I forget how many times, basically take care of one another, love one another throughout this time of persecution. And in chapter 2, the essential, I guess you could say the key aspect of these false teachers and their false teaching is they're following after themselves. They're only loving themselves. So in the context of everything that he's saying, I mean he's Kind of like James, he's not so much interested in explaining to us, this is how you go about doing it.

He's just describing, this is the commandment of God. This is what life in Christ looks like. With that understanding, I think it's pretty accurate to say, love God and love your brother and sister in Christ. That's what the commandment of God is, that both the holy prophets and the apostles, everything under law and grace, I think is summarized in those two aspects there. Yes, we accomplish it in different ways, but still, if you're following these false teachers, and the false teachers themselves, they're not loving God. They're not loving any neighbor, really, especially their brother and sister in Christ.

We're supposed to remember the words, and remember this is what God has for us. That's good. I like that. So Jim, is that helping? It's beginning to, I think. I think that's kind of a separate issue to study that out. What does that mean? That comes from Jeremiah? No, that was Hebrews. It is, but I think that idea of it being written in your heart, it really refers to what's going to happen. Jeremiah was talking about that. What God wants to accomplish now is that by faith we recognize that this is what he wants us to do.

I can't truly love you unless Christ works through me and loves you. I can't really accomplish that. I've never been a person of faith. Faith is just too ethereal for me. Give me something I can put my hands on. How about this? There's like three or four words I like to think about. Faith, trust, belief. All those three words are almost the same Greek word, the same form, pistis. So, if faith bothers you a little bit, I'm going to offer, how about trust? When you put your faith and trust in Christ, it's almost like saying it's a double whammy there.

It's the same thing. You're not relying upon yourself. You're saying, Lord, you're going to accomplish this. It's your life that's going to do it. So if faith seems too ethereal, Trust maybe trust for me helps me because trust is pretty down to earth. Do you trust the Lord? Do you do I trust that? I know I trust the Lord. This is going to happen. Do I trust that? We trust a lot of things in our life. Sure. So trust it. Trust is more solid. OK. All right. Hopefully. I could do believe. Okay, okay.

Well, I'm just trying to point out that those words are very close to the original. Very, very close. We have different English words. Tom. I know there's a brief key verse in the Old Testament, the Old Testament living. Not by my power, but by my spirit says the Lord, but that doesn't work now. It's not by my power, but by Christ in you, the assured expectation of glory.

As I just was reminded, I better get going here. We actually haven't got to the meat of this first. So we better move on here. So this is what he introduces the importance of knowing his word, knowing the word. Knowing first of all. So this is a first priority. Then the last day. So quickly, without looking, what are the last days? We're living in a moment. We are.

Typically, if you look through a series of verses, you'll see the last days is actually a time period. Actually, that's almost a study unto itself. It would be good to do that sometime. The last days is a period of time from Christ's first coming to his second coming, basically. Second coming means he comes in power and glory, not the rapture. The whole period of grace, basically. So that's called the last days. So Peter's going to talk about the last days. So Peter was in the last days, and we're in the last days.

He says these mockers, or scoffers, they're going to come. And first of all, they're going to follow after their own lust. And we're going to see that shortly. So these mockers are going to come. And mockers is the idea of a scoffer. Also, it's one who trifles with, he derides. And the mockers, the false prophets fall in that category. And Jude 18 kind of parallels, very similar, talking about the last days and these guys.

So if we see that, then we see. And the mockers are doing two things. They're falling after their own lust. Did we see that? The last three or four weeks, I apologize for not being here. I had planned to be here. Jeremy filled in for me one time. I appreciate that. You guys I'm sure got tired of seeing that over and over again.

The false teachers and what's going to happen to them. They are falling after their own lust. That's the first thing they are doing. The second thing they are doing is saying, Where's the promise of his coming? We see all these promises, but he hasn't come yet. What's going on here? It's interesting. They were complaining back then. Now a few years have passed. We're so happy.

Nothing's ever going to happen. God's not going to show up. It's never going to happen. So where's the promise of His coming? The complaint is about the promise of His coming. They've seen the scriptures. They've read the scriptures, but they still aren't convinced. Where's the promise of His coming?

And this word coming is this word parousia. And it's the idea of both an arrival and a consequently presence with. And there's verses that talk about this coming. And that's actually another study unto itself, about the parousia, the coming of the Lord.

And that word is used, I believe, both of, remember, Christ is going to come in two phases, right? He's going to come at the rapture for us. He's going to come in power and great glory. what's called the second advent, when he comes with us again. And coming is actually used, I believe, in both those events. But I think here, in this verse, it seems like he's focusing on his coming, his quote, second coming or second advent with power and great glory. That's what is being spoken of here, not so much the rapture.

And I can know if you have a problem with that, we can talk. And that's kind of what I came to after looking through this. Gospel says here that the scoffers or mockers, they denied the promise of the Lord that he would return. It's like they read the scripture that he's going to return and they said, well, just because he hasn't shown up yet, that can't be true. And you kind of see that thought process.

Well, it hasn't happened yet, so it can't be true. And the longer he waits, the more evidence there is that he's not coming. Right, he comes by the very fact that he's not coming. So you use that logic, which is, well, is this God's word or isn't it God's word? Is God reliable in what he says through the apostles and through the writers of the scripture, or is he not?

It comes down to that picture. And actually, if you look down here, here are some of the promises. In John 14 he says, I will come again. And in 18 and 20, I will come to you. And all these verses talk about the Lord says, I will come again, I will come again, I will come again. So the Lord has declared he's going to come again. And he has many parts of that coming again. And we're going to be with him. And he's preparing a place for us.

So there's just so many scriptures that speak to that point. But these mockers and scoffers, they just don't They say, where's the promise of His coming? That's their view. And here's their logic. They say, well, for ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was in the beginning. Creation. They see no change.

Which is kind of amazing, because this is written in a time, Peer wrote this in a time when the Lord's death on the cross was, I don't know the year Peter wrote that, but I mean it was in Peter's lifetime and he was there when the Lord was on the cross, so it wasn't that far away. So it's amazing that they didn't see that as God working.

Now of course the scoffers in these, probably not believers necessarily. So that right there, they have a problem right there. So their argument is well, the fathers, and the fathers seem to be, and there's some contention over this, who are the fathers, and there's two possibilities, it seems like the fathers could be, as Kossel says, the fathers could be the physical fathers from the Old Testament, or could they be the first generation Christians, like James and Stephen. So it seems like it's probably the Old Testament fathers that are being spoken of here and there are a bunch of verses we can look at.

And then I have something from Vern. He says, but these mockers maintain that nothing has changed since the world began and everything has just continued as it was, implying there has never been a miraculous intervention by God in the world. And as we read scripture, we see that there's Abundant evidence of that. Miraculous. You read through Acts, like we studied through Acts. All kinds of miraculous things that happened in the world. And Peter was part of that, as we read in Acts. He was part of those miraculous things happening. I see that word, that he is coming. And he is coming right now. He's not affected by the calendar or a clock. He is coming now. You have to realize, in God's economy, time isn't a... We live in time, he doesn't. That's good. Here's what they maintain.

I almost would add, and it escapes their notice. I kind of struggled with that first phrase there. For they maintain, and it's the scholars and mockers, they maintain this. And they're maintaining, I believe, their contention is, nothing has changed. For they maintain this, and it escapes their notice. And the weasel renders it, for they willfully forget.

They don't want to remember what the scripture said. They have their own ideas, and it's sort of like in Romans there. People suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They don't want to know the truth. They push it down. They push it out of the way. I don't want to know the truth. And these mockers and scoffers are kind of in that same area, it seems like.

And it says, by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago. So what's neat is, God deals His way of doing business is that he speaks things into existence. We see that in Genesis. He says, let there be light. And there was light. Peter is referring to that. The word of God, the heavens existed long ago. The heavens came into existence long ago by the word of God.

That's from the Amplified. I forgot to put that in there. You can mark that. It's the Amplified Bible. The Hebrews talks about that too a little bit. About the heavens. And all this happened by the word of God. And we see that in Genesis, let there be light, and so on. And then it goes on. And the earth also, which was formed out of water and by means of water. And it's really interesting.

You look at there, maybe we won't take the time to read it because we don't have a whole lot of time. But if you look in the Genesis account there, water is involved in the formation of the earth. And Kosovo says, God spoke and the dry land separated out of the waters. And if you look, I suggest reading through the early part of Genesis 1, 6 through 10 there, and you'll see that water is involved in the creation of land.

And it seems like a little bit contradictory, but it is involved. And then also, water is involved in the flood, obviously. So we had water involved in the creation of the earth, and water involved in the destruction of the earth. So that's where we get this focus on water. It says, and the earth also which was formed out of water, out of water, and by means of water, through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water. So water is intimately involved in the creation of the earth and in the destruction of the earth.

OK, so here's the last verse. The last verse is clear. So we're going to talk about his word again. By his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment, and destruction of ungodly men. So the idea that there's a couple of words for but, this is day. It points to the additional work that God is going to be doing here. He's preserving, or reserving, things that are on hold, if you will. And he's going to judge the earth.

And it's going to be judged by fire. Not by water this time, but by fire. And there's just a bunch of references to fire in here, in Isaiah 615 and Daniel. All those talk about how fire is a judgment, an aspect of God's judgment. And he's going to judge the present heaven and the earth by fire, kept for the Day of Judgment, and the destruction of godly men.

So there's like two parts here. There's the Day of Judgment. And the Day of Judgment is this idea of... I think the Day of Judgment, probably the best way to look at it, I think, is basically for the unbelievers, certainly, that is the Great White Throne Judgment. So I think that's in view.

And then the second part is, which I found really interesting here, is that, and I'll just, Zodiaty says, and it's the word destruction. Actually, I want to read that in just a second here. It says, in the New Testament, destruction refers to the state after death, wherein exclusion from salvation is a realized fact, wherein instead of becoming what we might have been, it is lost and ruined.

Let's look at Revelation 17.8. This is interesting here. This is speaking about the beast in the end times.

Revelation 17.8 says the beast that you saw was and it is not and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. and those who dwell on the earth will wonder whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they see the beast that he was and is not and will come."

That's kind of complicated a little bit, but what I thought was interesting is the beast is going to come up out of the abyss, which doesn't sound like too good of a place, and then he's going to go to destruction. So it kind of gave me a new appreciation for this idea of destruction. Destruction is sort of what Zodiacus is talking about. It's this state that is separated from salvation, separated from God. Where the abyss isn't, and I haven't looked at this a whole lot, but it just kind of struck me that the beast came out of the abyss and then went to destruction. And then it talks about that's the fate of these ungodly men, destruction, which is basically separation from God, separation from salvation.

So that's the fate of a person outside of Christ, is destruction, if you will. So that's something that came out of this, looking at this. And we're going to see more next week about what's going to happen with God's judgment and the day of judgment and destruction. I apologize for having to go a little fast at the end there. Let's close in prayer. We thank you, Father. Thank you for this day, Lord. Thank you for the blessings we have. In Christ's name, Amen.