2 Peter, Day 4
2 Peter 3 | Back to the Future
“The future influences the present just as much as the past” (Friedrich Nietzsche)
One of my all-time favorite movies is Back to the Future, in which the star is literally driven into the past and must return to the future, which would bring him to the present. In the BTTF trilogy, our hero also spends time in the future. One of the lessons of the movies is that the past defines the future.
Mankind has always had a fascination with the future. Because of this, false prophets have often arisen with their prophecies about the return of Christ. Although they have the fact of His return correct, their timing has been as far off as the valves on an AMC Pacer. Just a few decades ago, in order to counter false theories, Fundamentalists reveled in prophecy conferences, where the subject of Christ’s return was the main dish. Sadly, that topic is fading from the scene, and one rarely finds an emphasis on that which is one of the foundation stones of all Bible teaching. If Jesus is not returning, then the Bible is worthless, and the resurrection we recently celebrated is pretty much meaningless.
Why is the return of the Lord Jesus so important? Let’s ask the apostle Peter, who mentioned it in two letters.
Primarily, the apostles and prophets found it important enough to predict it and reveal the Lord’s commands concerning it (2 Peter 3:1 – 2). They warned that many would not believe and would scoff at the thought because He seems to be taking so long, so it probably won’t happen. As most mockers, they ignore the uncomfortable Scriptures to their hurt. The proof of the coming judgment is found in the past, when God destroyed the earth with water (2 Peter 3:3 – 7). If He did it once, He can do it again, and it will be by fire this time (not aerosol sprays).
The reason it hasn’t happened yet is not because God is a liar; it’s because His cosmic watch ticks at a slower speed. To His patient heart, thousands of years seem like a moment to Him (2 Peter 3:8 – 9, 15). He is waiting for a multitude of people to come to repentance so they won’t be destroyed. I wonder if He feels like many of us with unsaved loved ones feel — We are anxious for Jesus to come, but not until they are saved.
The coming of the Lord, which will eventually lead to the day of judgment, will be a surprise to all (2 Peter 3:10). This is one reason anyone who predicts the time of His coming has to be wrong (Mark 13:32). If Jesus doesn’t know, then no Internet guru can know. And what a surprise that will be! Not only will the heavens and the earth experience a genuine “big bang,” but the works therein will be exposed. All that people have worked for and trusted in will be gone, and no insurance will cover it. “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw — each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:12 – 15). Paul may have written things “that are hard to understand,” but this isn’t one of them.
Finally, this is all meant to be motivation for living a godly life. “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11). If we are to be suited “for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13), then we had better not lose sight of the return of Jesus Christ. Let’s turn our faces “back to the future”!
Looking ahead,
Alan Allegra