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2 Peter 3 "Don't Forget"

Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:1-7)

For the next few years, perhaps even for the rest of our lives, one of the hottest topics is going to be the Apocalypse. Many people are going to start talking about the end of the world. The reason for this is that we are closing in on the year 2,000 and people tend to think that God wants to come back on an even number. Actually there are already many, many books about this selling in the bookstores. It seems to be a regular topic on the television. But most people's attitude toward the Apocalypse is strikingly similar to their attitude toward death. They live their lives as if it will never come, and at the same time are incredibly curious and fearful of it.
If you want to make a lot of money quickly, write a book about either of these topics. Death or the end of the world. Especially if you can convince people that you know something that they don't. Peter says that our problem is that we "willfully forget". We put it to the back of our mind and let the other things that are going on in our lives crowd in front of it. And yet it still lingers there, neglected in the corner, but never really going away. Now the Christian attitude towards both of these topics is exactly the opposite. We must learn to live our lives as though Jesus could come back tomorrow. We must live day by day realizing that we do not control the time of our death, but God holds our very breath in His hands and it is His to give or take away. And at the same time the morbid curiosity, the fear of the unknown melts away as we look at both with the eyes of faith.
What the scoffers "willfully forget" is that the very world that we stand upon was made by the word of God. Remember back in Genesis. God said "Let there be light" and there was light. I don't know anybody else who can do that. I say "Let there be light" and my wife and son say "Get up and turn it on yourself." Not only did God create this world by His word, but He also sustains the world by His word. The world only continues to exist because God cares for it. So, you see when people live their lives as if God doesn't matter, when they ignore God's word thinking that the end will never come, they are also forgetting that there was another time when people scoffed. There was another time when people ignored God and God suddenly withheld His sustaining word, and the rain began.
At that time God saved Noah, and destroyed all the rest. Now, the same as then, God is preserving the world by His word. Think with me for a moment. Look at the world around you. Today we meet together in a beautiful building, but it won't stay beautiful. This place is only three years old and a lot of money was spent to make it beautiful, but think what it will look like in 20 years, 50 years, 100 years. Unless a lot more time and money is spent keeping it up, this place will become old and dirty. Everything is like that, unless we maintain it, it falls apart, breaks, wears out. But what about the earth. Why doesn't it wear out? Why doesn't it break? Everything we make or build must be maintained or else it rusts or cracks or molds or bends. And yet without a single person to tend it, a field will fill with plants and flowers and birds and insects. Why, because God is taking care of all of these. God is doing all the maintainance work for the earth for us. But dear people know this, all it takes is one day, for God to withhold that sustaining word, and the earth would perish. We get upset because of the hole in the ozone, or global warming or El Nino, but these are just small pieces in the incredibly complicated system that makes up our earth, none of which are we in any way capable of fixing. Any one thing could destroy life here, and what if God suddenly let them all break? You see behind every living thing, growing thing, the running water, the wind and rain, the stars in the sky and the very rocks we stand upon, there is that steadfast whisper, the continual creative conversation that God is holding with the creation.
We might "willfully forget", we might try to ignore God, but God does not want to be ignored. For not only does He continue to uphold the creation by His word, but He has also shared that word with us. God has used His word to reveal Himself to us. So Peter says, no matter what the scoffers say, do not forget God's word. Not the prophets who wrote the Old Testament, or the apostles who wrote the New Testament. We need to look closely at what God has promised there, and what He has revealed about Himself.

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3: 8-13)

Again Peter bids us not to forget the word of God. He says do not think that God is slow, because with Him time is different than it is with you and I. You see we are stuck in the middle of time. For us tomorrow won't come until we finish today and yesterday is already receding into our memories of the past. A thousand years into the future is just too much for us even to imagine and a thousand years in the past seems just too unimportant to think about. And yet before the very first event of history, when God spoke the world into existence, God was. And after the very last element of the earth has melted and the last burning ember dies out, God will be. God is not in time, rather He is outside time, viewing the whole course of history and future at once. So for God a thousand years is the same as a day is the same as a second. He is not constrained by it the same way as we are. And so God is never behind schedule, never late.
I was speaking in Japanese at the church in Machida a couple of years ago about God's timing and was telling them how we sometimes ask in prayer, "Why is God so slow". And I kept repeating, "Naze, Kame wa osoi". I mispronounced the Japanese word for "God" as "Turtle". And one Japanese man in the front row was deep in thought trying to figure out the spiritual significance of , "Why is the turtle slow?" It might seem to us that God is late. But what does it mean to be late. It depends on what you went to do. If I am going down to the store to buy bread and I don't come back before tomorrow, then I am late. But if I am going to America and I don't come back before tomorrow I am not late at all. Jesus went to prepare a place for us, and when it is ready He will come again. Actually I think that the place is ready but the guests are not. It is the same problem we always have with family camp. We prepare for 100 people and at the last minute 10 cancel and 20 more want to come. Jesus is preparing a place but the guest list keeps changing. And in His patience toward us, He waits just a little longer so that as many as possible can come.
The intense curiosity about the end that people have stems from fear. They think that if they could just know when it will happen that they can prepare. They hope that it won't happen during their lifetime. But God has revealed that it will come as a thief in the night. God has not revealed any dates, and there is no prophetic supplement to the Bible, no matter what some groups might claim. The only thing we are assured of is that everyone will be surprised. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night, you rub your eyes and at first everything looks fuzzy, but then as your eyes adjust to the dark you see a strange man in your room. What would be your first reaction? You would probably scream, or gasp. This is going to be every person's on earth’s first reaction to Jesus’ return. When Jesus comes back the very first thing that people say won’t be “Halleluiah”, it will be a shout of surprise. And then we will say “Oh, its Jesus”

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation-- as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:14-16)

We are to be looking for and hastening the day of the Lord. We are to be looking forward to these things. How can we look forward to the destruction of the earth? How can look forward to everything we have dissolving? How can we look forward to what can only be likened to a worldwide nuclear holocaust? Isn’t hoping for something like this, trying to hasten the day of its coming actually criminal? It sounds like something the villain would want to do in a James Bond movie.
How can we be looking forward to such a terrible day? Perhaps the best illustration of this is pregnancy. One of Keita’s friends at kindergarden’s mom just had a child. The labor lasted for 40 hours. I can’t even imagine that. Why would so many people in the world long for and pray for pregnancy? Why would so many women subject themselves to this kind of pain? How can they look forward to that day? Of course it is because they are looking past that day to what is coming after. They are looking past the pain and trauma of labor to the joy of new birth. It is the same with us. We look past the day of destruction to the birth of the new heavens and new earth that God has promised to us. And this new heaven and new earth is very different than the old one. You see it will be the place where righteousness dwells. In our world there is a constant mixture of the good and the evil, of life and death, of righteousness and sin. There is black and white and many, many, many shades of grey. In this life every pleasure is mixed with pain, every good thing must be labored for, fought over, protected from being stolen away. But in the new earth everything that was good and beautiful and right and true from this earth will be there, except that awful mixture will be missing. It will be like those famous old paintings in the Sistine Chapel that were covered with layers and layers of candle smoke and dirt. Everyone could see that they were masterpieces even despite the grime, but when finally the filth was removed and the original beauty of the paintings were restored, the difference was absolutely amazing. This world will go through the fire. Don’t let anyone fool you. Despite all the world’s wishful thinking, that day will come. Don’t let anyone try to sell you an insurance policy either. There is no protection, no advance warning and no place to run to. But after it goes through the fire all the filth of this world will be burned away and the only thing that will remain will be the pure, the true, the beautiful, the righteous. We can look forward to that day! Amen.

You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. ( 2 Peter 3:17-18)