The Coming Day of the Lord 2 Peter 3:10-12
Dear Chosen Ones,
We look today at the drama that will unfold in the last days. Our present circumstances can be labeled the calm before the storm. To survive that upheaval, one needs to prepare beforehand. When the calamity comes upon the world, it will be too late to plan an escape.
Cataclysm (v. 10). The coming end of things as we know them will be sudden and catastrophic. It will come like a thief in the night, catching people totally unprepared. There will be no warning, even as Jesus himself taught, that as in the days of Noah, when people were about their normal business, so also the Day of the Lord will catch people unexpectedly, in their normal day-to-day business (Matthew 24:37-44).
But that day will be anything but normal. The earth as we know it will go up in smoke and great noise. We do not know how this will happen. It could be a nuclear war, and the nuclear powers of the world do have in their stockpiles enough bombs to destroy the whole earth, or it could be some debris from the sky (space) raining down on the earth; it might even be volcanic activity. The core of the earth has enough heat to incinerate the surface if it is let through. The particular mode does not matter, but we would be well advised to believe that it will happen.
Conduct (v. 11). Only a fool or mad person would know that calamity is coming and do nothing to escape the looming threat. We saw earlier that Lot escaped the fire that rained on Sodom and Gomorrah because he was righteous (2:7-9). Likewise, our lives ought to be characterized by holy conduct and godliness, if we are to escape the imminent judgment on this sinful world.
Coming (v. 12). But there is more to our future than escaping the destruction that is coming. We actually are looking forward to that day and doing all we can to hasten it. How, one may ask, is it possible to do that? Jesus actually did tell us how: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). Jesus left us the task to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) and we would do well to obey.
But why would we want the end to come quickly? We need to remember that we are “pilgrims” (1:1). This world is not our home. Trouble confronts the true believers everywhere and we are made to feel unwelcome. In recent times, the world around us has normalized what the Bible condemns as sinful and unnatural. Those who stand up for the truth of the Bible are vilified as narrow-minded, bigoted, intolerant, and hateful. Unless we compromise, this world is becoming mighty uncomfortable and unfriendly to biblical Christians. Nothing new there, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Be ever ready!
Your Loving Pastor Chris.