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Lesson 12 - Hope for the Future, 2 Peter 3:3-14
(To help you answer the questions see the Notes below.
When I was a boy, my older brother used to get magazines that had futuristic drawings on their covers. Some magazines were science fiction; others were technical magazines about machines or cars. Whatever kind of magazine he bought, those cover illustrations had a mystical effect on me. They created an anxious hunger for the future, a hope for a glittering utopia of human civilization run by amazing machines.
Now, some thirty or more years later, I am still waiting for the "future." Granted we have some amazing machines, but the dawning of utopia seems pretty far off.
The Scriptures speak of the future, but its character and coming are different and far better than my childhood fantasies.
What are you looking forward to most about the Lord's return?
Read 2 Peter 3:3-14. Christians can expect to encounter scoffers in the "last days." What reasons do they give for scoffing at the Lord's coming (2 Peter 3:3-4)?
How are you affected by being around those who either scoff or doubt?
Believers, too, are tempted to discouragement and skepticism about the Lord's return. How have you handled such struggles?
Why would scoffers want to forget about the creation and the flood?
How does recalling the creation and the flood strengthen our faith in the Lord's return?
What frustrations and benefits arise from the way God measures time (2 Peter 3:8-9)?
What does Peter mean, "the day of the Lord will come like a thief" (2 Peter 3:10)?
There are groups of people who say that Jesus has already come back in secret. Based on Peter's teaching, what can we say to them?
What will the coming judgment be like (2 Peter 3:7, 10)?
God will create a new heaven and earth in place of the old (2 Peter 3:10-13). How will life on earth be different than it is now?
Thinking about our hope for the future is much more than idle speculation. How can thinking about the future practically affect your way of thinking and acting (2 Peter 3:11-14)?
3:3-4 "In the last days" scoffers will say that Jesus is never coming back, but Peter refutes their argument by explaining God's mastery over time. The "last days" is the time between Christ's first and second comings; thus we, like Peter, live in the last days. We must do the work to which God has called us and believe that he will return as he promised.
2 Peter 3:7
3:7 In Noah's day the earth was judged by water; at the second coming it will be judged by fire. This fire is described in Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:10-15.
2 Peter 3:8-9
3:8-9 God may have seemed slow to these believers as they faced persecution every day and longed to be delivered. But God is not slow; he just is not on our timetable (Psalm 90:4). Jesus is waiting so that more sinners will repent and turn to him. We must not sit and wait for Christ to return, but we should live with the realization that time is short and that we have important work to do. Be ready to meet Christ any time, even today; yet plan your course of service as though he may not return for many years.
2 Peter 3:10-11
3:10-11 The day of the Lord is the day of God's judgment on the earth. Here it is used in reference to Christ's return. Christ's second coming will be sudden and terrible for those who do not believe in him. But if we are morally clean and spiritually alert, it won't come as a surprise. For other prophetic pictures of the day of the Lord, see Isaiah 34:4; Joel 3:15-16; Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21; Rev. 6:12-17. Realizing that the earth is going to be cleansed with fire, we should put our confidence in what is lasting and eternal and not be bound to this earth and its treasures or pursuits.
2 Peter 3:13
3:13 God's purpose for people is not destruction but re-creation (see Isaiah 66:22; Rev. 21-22). God will purify the heavens and earth with fire; then he will create them anew. We can joyously look forward to the restoration of God's good world.
2 Peter 3:14
3:14 We should not become lazy and complacent because Christ has not yet returned. Instead, we should live in eager expectation of his coming. What would you like to be doing when Christ returns?
2 Peter 3:15-18
3:15-16 By the time of Peter's writing, Paul's letters already had a widespread reputation. Notice that Peter spoke of Paul's letters as if they were on a level with "the other Scriptures." Already the early church was thinking of Paul's letters as inspired by God.
3:15-18 Peter and Paul had very different backgrounds and personalities, and they preached from different viewpoints. Paul emphasized salvation by grace, not law, while Peter preferred to talk about Christian life and service. The two men did not contradict each other, however, and they always held each other in high esteem. The false teachers intentionally misused Paul's writings by distorting them to condone lawlessness. No doubt this made the teachers popular, because people always like to have their favorite sins justified, but the net effect was to totally destroy Paul's message. Paul may have been thinking of teachers like these when he wrote in Romans 6:15: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" Peter warned his readers to avoid the mistakes of those wicked teachers by growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. The better we know Jesus, the less attractive false teaching will be.
3:18 Peter concludes this brief letter as he began, by urging his readers to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ-to get to know him better and better. This is the most important step in refuting false teachers. No matter where we are in our spiritual journey, no matter how mature we are in our faith, the sinful world always will challenge our faith. We still have much room for growth. If every day we find some way to draw closer to Christ, we will be prepared to stand for truth in any and all circumstances.
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