The Day of The Lord Will Come!

2 Peter 3:1-10

Subject: The Day of the Lord Judgment 

Theme: Christ will come again to judge this world as He promised; therefore, trust Him and grow in His grace. Do not attach your hopes for a meaningful life to things that will not exist tomorrow.

Introduction: First-century Christians were familiar with the words of the Old Testament prophets about Christ’s Second Coming.  In addition there were the promises of the Lord Himself and the constant reminders of apostles.  This is where Peter begins his focus, with the Scriptures and their reliable instructions for waiting saints.    

Lecture:

I.                   Remember the Words of Scripture (2Peter 3:1-10).  Peter Issues a Reminder that “the Day of the Lord” will come as the Prophets Predicted. His purpose was to “stir up” and stimulate wholesome thinking; that is refresh their memory relative to the promises of the Lord’s Coming and provoke them to live meaningful lives in light of His Coming.  

A.     Remember Christ Will Return for Worldwide Judgment As The Prophets And Apostles Stated (3:1-2).  Peter points out the unity of this letter with the former one, and the consistency of his teaching with that of the prophets and apostles. The Bible really is the only true safeguard in days of declension.

                                                1.      Be Mindful Of The Words Of The Holy Prophets (3:2). The only way Peter’s readers could recognize the errors of the heretical teachers was to compare their teaching with the teaching of the holy prophets and apostles. Others, like Peter, referred to the holy prophets (Luke 1:70; Acts 3:21; Eph. 3:5), whose words were oracles regarding the day of the Lord and related topics (Psa. 102:26; Isa. 34:4; 51:6; 54:10; Jer. 31:35-36).  As Peter had already reminded his readers in 1:21, “holy men of God” spoke words given to them by the Holy Spirit, which were therefore utterly reliable.

                                                2.      Recall Also The Commandments Of Our Lord and Savior and Of The Apostles (3:2).  The commandment of our Lord and Savior refers to His teachings, which were then proclaimed by the apostles (Matt. 5:18; Heb. 1:11-12; 2 Pet. 3:7-12; Rev. 6:14; 20:11). These are Jesus’ teaching relative to end time events as a whole proclaimed by the apostles (Jn. 14:26). Our Lord and Saviour is the final authority behind both prophets and apostles (Eph. 2:20) and He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away” (Matt. 24: 35; Mk. 13:31; Luke 21:33): Trust the teachers of the established Christian Faith instead of these false teachers (Jude 17). This is Peter’s counsel.

                                                3.      Look to God’s Word for Completely Reliable Teaching!  Peter’s linking the prophets and apostles placed them on the same level of authority (Eph. 2:20). This also suits Peter’s earlier purpose of distinguishing the true servants of the Lord from the false. Believers do well to recall the writings of both Testaments regarding the Lord’s Return.                                             

B.     Remember Scoffers Will Attempt to Cast Doubt On These Predictions (3:3-7).  They do so because they choose to ignore the power of the Word and the Flood of Noah’s time.

                                                1.      Scoffers Deny The Lord’s Return Because Of Their Own Lustful Desires (3:3).

i.         Scoffers are the false teachers who deny Jesus Christ (2:1) and His return (3:4). Jesus had said these heretics would come (Matt. 24:3-5, 11, 23-26), and Paul had written the same (1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-9). Peter echoed these same type of warnings. The word Scoffers, together with the reference to “their own lusts” and evil desires, suggests that the false teachers of chapter 2 are still in mind.

a.       Those who give way to their own lusts always mock at any incentive or motivation to holy living.

b.       It seems they reject the prophecy of Christ’s return because of their sensual desire to live in carnality. The faithfulness and veracity of the predictions is not really the primary issue at all.

ii.       Peter understood that we are living in the last days, the period of time between the Lord’s First and Second Advents. “Knowing this first” means “above all” (as in 1:20), that which is foremost in importance. Christians are to make a priority of remember this. They should not be blown away by the arrogant and blasphemous denials of these men. Rather they should see in them a definite indication that the end of the age is nearing.

iii.      Again Peter indicated their scoffing is accompanied by “their own lusts,” that is evil desires (see 2 Peter 1:4; 2:10, 18; Jude 16, 18). These mockers follow their own passions; they are happy in their sin and love their lifestyle and do not want to change (3:3). So, having rejected the knowledge of God, they fearlessly indulge their appetites. They advocate permissiveness with total disregard of any impending judgment. It was arrogant snobbery and disdain for the idea of a coming judgment that led to their sexual perversion.

                                                2.      Scoffers Challenge The Lord’s Return To Judge The World On The Basis Of A Misconception—‘things have never changed before’ (3:4).

i.         Their primary scoff has to do with the coming of Christ to judge (3:4). Their attitude is, “Where is the promise of His coming?” meaning, “Where is the fulfillment of the promise?” But what do they mean by His coming?

a.       Do they mean Christ’s coming for His saints, which we speak of as the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:13–18)? It is doubtful that these scoffers know anything about this first phase of the Lord’s return.

b.       Do they mean Christ’s coming with His saints to set up His universal kingdom (1 Thess. 3:13)? It is possible that this could be included in their thinking.

c.       But it seems clear from the rest of the passage that they are thinking of the final judgment of God on the earth, or what is commonly called the end of the world. They are thinking of the fiery destruction of the heavens and earth at the end of the Millennium.

ii.       Their conclusion is based on the careless hypothesis that “since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” Rejecting this promise, rests on the hypothesis of uniformitarianism. They say that nature invariably follows uniform laws, that there are no supernatural interventions, that there is a natural explanation for everything. This is the view 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. There is almost an incipient deism here which rules out divine intervention in the universal order. In a universe governed by natural laws miracles, mockers argue, simply cannot happen. Therefore they say Jesus Christ could not come again.

                                                3.      Scoffers choose to ignore the Creation, the Power of God’s Word, and the former world’s judgment of the flood (3:5-6). H. L. Willington said, “They utterly and eternally close their minds to those truths revealed in both God’s world and in His word.  “For this they willingly are ignorant of” (3:5).  An agnostic is therefore not a person who says “I can’t believe,” but rather “I won’t believe.”  They are without excuse. (See Rom. 1:18-20)”

i.         They willingly ignore the reality of Creation and the pre-flood world—the heavens and the earth were created by the Word of God (3:5).  It was J. Walvoord who observed, “Peter met those arguments head on by reviewing some ancient history. Just as water by God’s command played a significant role in the early formation of the earth, so water also was the agent for destruction of the earth at God’s command.”

a.       The scoffers deliberately ignore one fact—the flood (3:5). God did intervene at one time in the affairs of men, and the specific purpose of His intervention was to punish wickedness. If it happened once, it can happen again.

b.       It is a withering indictment of these men that they are willfully ignorant. They pride themselves on being knowledgeable. They profess to be objective in their reasoning. They boast that they adhere to the principles of scientific investigation. But the fact is that they deliberately ignore a well-attested fact of history—the deluge. They should take a course in geology!—W. MacDonald

ii.       They willingly ignore the catastrophic worldwide flood of Noah’s time which altered the heavens and the earth significantly (3:6-7a).

a.       From its inception, the earth was stored with the means of its own destruction (3:6). It had water in its subterranean depths, water in the seas, and water in the clouds above. Finally God released the waters from below and above (Gen. 7:11), the land was inundated, and all life outside the ark was destroyed.

b.       “The world” (kosmos) refers to inhabitants, since the earth itself was not destroyed in the Flood. Similarly in John 3:16 “the world” (kosmos) means the globe’s inhabitants (John 1:9; 3:17, 19; 4:42; 6:33; 7:7; 15:18-19; 17:14, 21, 23, 25; 1 John 2:2; 3:13; 4:14). It is “the world” of people who “perished.”(3:6)

c.       The critics willfully disregard this fact of history. It is interesting that the flood has emerged in recent years as the object of bitter attack. But the record of it is written in stone, in the traditions of ancient peoples and modern, and best of all, in God’s Holy word.

iii.      Obviously God has intervened in human history before! God the Creator is also God the Judge. In His sovereign will, any change in process can occur at any time for He designed and controls these “natural” processes. The scoffers deliberately (“willingly”) forget God’s Creation and the Flood, an interesting contrast with Peter’s constant reminders to his readers to “remember” (2 Peter 1:12-13, 15; 3:1-2, 8). The scoffers deliberately put aside God’s Word and then complained that God was not doing anything. Interestingly Peter was both a creationist and a believer in the universal Flood (his other references to the Flood: 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5).i.          

                                                2.      Scoffers fail to realize the current world is sustained by the Word of God and will be judged by fire (3:7).

i.         Clearly the current world is being sustained by the Word of God (3:7). When God created the earth, He seeded it with sufficient water to destroy it. In the same manner, He seeded the heavens and the earth with enough fire to destroy them (3:7).

a.       In this nuclear age, we understand that matter is stored-up energy. The splitting of an atomic nucleus results in the fiery release of enormous quantities of energy. So all the matter in the world represents tremendous explosive potential. At present it is held together by the Lord (Col. 1:17, “by Him all things consist”). If His restraining hand were removed, the elements would melt. In the meantime the heavens and the earth are being reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

b.       In the past the world was destroyed in the Flood by God’s Word and by water; in the future it will be destroyed by the same Word and by fire. Having decided to judge the world (2:3-4, 9, 17), God is simply holding the earth on layaway. It is reserve, “being stored up like a treasure” for fire and kept (“guarded” or “held”) for judgment. --(Adapted from Walvoord)

ii.       Certainly this world will be judge in the future by fire in the day of judgment (3:7).

a.       Verses 7, 10, and 12 are the only places where the New Testament depicts the future destruction of the world by fire. Isaiah (66:15-16) and Malachi (4:1) associated fire with the return of the Lord. “The day of the Lord” (2 Peter 3:10) includes the Tribulation, the Millennium, the great white throne judgment, and the destruction of the present heavens and earth. At the great white throne after the Millennium, ungodly men (the wicked dead) will be judged and then thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15). This, as Peter wrote, will be their day of judgment (2 Peter 2:9) and destruction. After they are cast into fire, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed by fire.

iii.      God has the power to “break in” at any time and accomplish His will. He can send rain from heaven or fire from heaven. “But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased” (Ps. 115:3).

iv.     Obviously God is directly involved with the world currently and will supernaturally intervene again in the future. God intervened catastrophically before (in the Flood), and He will do so again.

C.     Remember God will Judge the World in His own Timing (3:8-10).  He delays judgment to save repentant sinners, but He will eventually destroy this world entirely.

                                                1.      The Lord is eternal by nature and not locked into our reference of time (3:8).

i.         Once again, Peter exposed the ignorance of the scoffers. Not only were they ignorant of what God had done in the past (2 Peter 3:5), but they were also ignorant of what God was like. They were making God in their own image and ignoring the fact that God is eternal. This means that He has neither beginning nor ending. Man is immortal: he has a beginning but not an ending. He will live forever either in heaven or hell. But God is eternal, without beginning or ending, and He dwells in eternity. Eternity is not just “extended time.” Rather, it is existence above and apart from time. Peter was certainly referring to Psalm 90:4—“For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.”—W. W. Wiersbe

ii.       Why then the long delay in God’s judgment? Why is the Lord so long in coming?  Well, we should remember that God is timeless (3:8). He does not live in a sphere of time as we do. God counts time differently than does man. After all, time is determined by the relation of the sun to the earth, and God is not limited by this relationship. People see time against time; but God sees time against eternity. In fact time only seems long because of man’s finite perspective.

iii.      With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. He can expand a day into a millennium, or compress a millennium into a day. He can either spread or concentrate His activities.

iv.     Once again Peter challenged us to know and remember this also (“be not ignorant of this one thing”). The scoffers forget (3:5), but believers should not. Christians should recall Psalm 90:4, which Peter quoted.

                                                2.      The Lord is longsuffering for the time and desires to save more sinners (3:8-9).

i.         God has promised to end the history of ungodly men with judgment. If there seems to be delay, it is not because God is unfaithful to His promise (3:9). It is because He is patient and merciful. He does not want any to perish. His desire is that all should come to repentance. He purposely extends the time of grace so that men might have every opportunity to be saved. This is the heart of God toward sinful rebellious human beings who constantly offend His gracious and holy heart!  He suffers with men and even extends the opportunity of grace so that many more will be saved. 

ii.       Since a thousand years are as one day to the Lord, we cannot accuse Him of delayed fulfillment of His promises. In God’s sight, the whole universe is only a few days old! He is not limited by time the way we are, nor does He measure it according to man’s standards. When you study the works of God, especially in the Old Testament, you can see that He is never in a hurry, but He is never late. —Wiersbe

iii.      The scoffers did not understand God’s eternality nor did they understand His mercy. Why was God delaying the return of Christ and the coming of the Day of the Lord? It was not because He was unable to act or unwilling to act. He was not tardy or off schedule! Nobody on earth has the right to decide when God must act. God is sovereign in all things and does not need prodding or even counsel from sinful man (Rom. 11:33–36).

God delays the coming of Christ and the great day of fiery judgment because He is long-suffering and wants to give lost sinners the opportunity to be saved. “And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation” (2 Peter 3:15).

God’s “delay” is actually an indication that He has a plan for this world and that He is working His plan. There should be no question in anybody’s mind whether God wants sinners to be saved. God “is not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9). First Timothy 2:4 affirms that God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” These verses give both the negative and the positive, and together they assure us that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23, 32; 33:11). He shows His mercy to all (Rom. 11:32) even though not all will be saved.

If God is long-suffering toward lost sinners, why did Peter write, “The Lord... is long-suffering to us-ward”? Who is meant by “us-ward”? It would appear that God is long-suffering to His own people! – Wiersbe, Warren W.: The Bible Exposition Commentary

                                                3.      The Day of the Lord is certain to come unexpectedly and destroy the heavens and the earth (3:10, 12).

i.         The Day of the Lord will come! (3:10)

a.       “The day of the Lord” describes end-time events that begin after the Rapture and culminate with the commencement of eternity. In the middle of the 70th week of Daniel the Antichrist will turn against the people of God in full fury (Dan. 9:24-27; see 1 Thes. 5:2; 2 Thes. 2:2-12). “The day of the Lord” also refers to any period when God acts in judgment. It was used in the OT to describe any time when God punished evildoers and triumphed over His foes (Isa. 2:12; 13:6, 9; Ezek. 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Obad. 15; Zeph. 1:7, 14; Zech. 14:1; Mal. 4:5). In the NT it is a period of time with various stages:

                                                                                                                        1)      It refers to the Tribulation, a seven-year period when God will judge unbelieving Israel (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2).

                                                                                                                        2)      It includes His return to earth when He will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus (2 Thess. 1:7–10).

                                                                                                                        3)      It is used of the Millennium when Christ will rule the earth with a rod of iron (Acts 2:20).

                                                                                                                        4)      It refers to the final destruction of the heavens and the earth with fire. That is the meaning here in chapter 3.

b.       It will be unexpected “like a thief in the night.”

                                                                                                                        1)      When the Lord does come, it will be both surprising and catastrophic. It will come as a thief—that is, unexpectedly and destructively.  This simile was used by our Lord Jesus (Matt. 24:42-44) and repeated by others (1 Thes. 5:2; Rev. 3:3; 16:15).

                                                                                                                        2)      Having refuted their false claims, Peter then reaffirmed the certainty of the coming of the Day of the Lord. When will it come? Nobody knows when, because it will come to the world “as a thief in the night.” Our Lord used this phrase (Matt. 24:43; Luke 12:39) and so did the Apostle Paul (1Thes. 5:2ff). When the world is feeling secure, then God’s judgment will fall. The thief does not warn his victims that he is coming! “For when they shall say, ‘Peace and safety’; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thes. 5:3). –Wiersbe, Warren W.: The Bible Exposition Commentary

ii.       It will cause the heavens to “pass away” and out of sight (3:10).

a.       In the catastrophic inferno at the end of the Millennium, the heavens (the earth’s atmosphere and maybe the starry sky, not God’s abode) will disappear with a fantastic roar, which in some way will involve fire (2 Peter 3:7, 12). This certainly means the atmospheric heavens, and may mean the stellar heavens, but it cannot mean the third heaven—the dwelling place of God.

b.       It will cause the very “elements” to “melt with fervent heat.” As they pass away with a deafening explosion, the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat (3:12).  The elements here refer to the constituent parts of matter. All matter will be destroyed in what resembles a universal nuclear holocaust.

c.       It will consume the earth and all the works of mankind will burn up. Not only the works of the natural creation, but all civilization will be consumed. The great capitals of the world, the imposing buildings, the phenomenal scientific productions are all marked for utter destruction.

iii.      The Day of the Lord will gravely affect the heavens and the earth (3:12).

a.       The heaven shall be dissolved with fire

b.       Many Bible students believe that Peter here described the action of atomic energy being released by God. The word translated a great noise in the King James Version means “with a hissing and a crackling sound.” When the atomic bomb was tested in the Nevada desert, more than one reporter said that the explosion gave forth “a whirring sound,” or a “crackling sound.” The Greek word Peter used was commonly used by the people for the whirring of a bird’s wings or the hissing of a snake.

c.       The word melt in 2 Peter 3:10 means “to disintegrate, to be dissolved.” It carries the idea of something being broken down into its basic elements, and that is what happens when atomic energy is released. “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” said our Lord (Matt. 24:35), and it appears that this may happen by the release of the atomic power stored in the elements that make up the world. The heavens and earth are “stored with fire” (2 Peter 3:7, wuest), and only God can release it.