The Last Days and Scripture

"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after 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 the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, 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 the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless" (II Pet. 3:3-14). Who are all these supposed believers who have such a problem with fire and brimstone preaching? Whoever they are, evidently they aren't much on Bible believing. Peter, whom Jesus made the leader of the apostles, certainly believed plenty in it. He believed in it because these things were revealed to him by God, and the record of that revelation is the inspired scripture that we have just read here.

But the real point here is the longsuffering of the Lord, and that it is in fact counted as salvation as Peter said. The traditional 'scoffer' question today, and I just heard it asked earlier tonight, is, "If God is a loving God then why does he allow such horrific things to happen in the world, as we see on a regular basis?" Well, God did make the world, and he made man, and he also gave man dominion over the world (Gen. 1:1,26,28; Psm. 115:16). In giving man dominion over the world, he has given him a whole lot of latitude to handle the world and his fellow man as he sees fit. God judges man's actions in the world that he gave him, but he is not controlling and causing man's actions (Gen. 18:25; Psm. 105:7). If God were the one responsible for man's doings in the earth, then when he judges man for his deeds in the earth he should rather be judging himself. It starts getting nonsensical if you see what I mean. Instead of asking that traditionally stupid question, the scoffers should be fearing God and being in awe of how long God has put up with man's insanity, and just how much of man's wickedness he bears just in order to continue saving those who want to be saved. God can do no more for fallen man than what he has done, that being that he has sent his Son to suffer greatly and die to pay the price for the sins of mankind, so that all men could be redeemed and end up where God is at instead of in hell fire with the devil and his angels (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 8:32; Mat. 25:41). If man chooses to waste that opportunity, and turn the world into an above ground hell, that is not God's fault, and it is obviously not God's will. That is not why God sent Jesus Christ to this world. The atrocities of this world are the result of man refusing and rejecting the Son of God who died for them.

God has allowed things to continue, even though man by and large has rejected the greatest and most undeserved offering and opportunity in the history of existence; for the sake of those who DO appreciate and reciprocate that offering. The scripture is clear, including in this very chapter which I've posted from here, that God wants to save everyone and wants no one at all to be lost (Ezek. 18:23; I Tim. 2:4; II Pet. 3:9). So the reason God lets things continue in the horrific manner that man has chosen for himself is because there are a lot of people who still want to live their lives for Jesus, and long to be with him and the Father. But make no mistake about it, things will not continue on in this manner forever; and as Peter emphatically states in our text passage, God's wrath will be poured out on the wicked when the wicked have fully and totally rejected all that God has offered and will offer. The key verse in our text for those who are true, is this: "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." It's like I told a young man earlier tonight [not the one who asked the stupid traditional question], if we don't have the peace of God dwelling in us here, then we are not going to that world that is filled with his peace. Jesus died and rose to give us that divine peace, and our faith in him is supposed to produce that in our lives on a daily basis (Jn. 14:27; Rom. 5:1; Rom. 14;17; Philip. 4:7; Col. 3:15). If we expect to graduate to the land "wherein dwelleth righteousness," then we need to dwell in his righteousness while we are here; as in "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17) Amen, and may God's peace be with you and keep you.