Heavens on Fire

 

Wednesday, December 30, 2020
But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends:  A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.  No, he is being patient for your sake.  He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.  But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.  Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.  Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.  On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.  But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.  2 Peter 3:8-13

We are extremely near the end of time for year #2020, but that is nothing compared to the end of time for time.  And the comparison is the same for the events of both 2020 and the events that will flood God’s day of Judgment; 2020 has been more than challenging, but Judgment Day will have no parallel in its consequences.

Peter’s description of the heavens on fire and the elements melting away in the flames pictures a conflagration, the size of which is unimaginable.  For those who are unsure of what the future holds this is a painful, dangerous thought to entertain.  It’s not just the matter of death, or some pain, but the unknowable future; what if there really is life following this existence?  What if God really does hold us humans accountable?  What if?

Well, the what if is a certainty for those who know Jesus Christ as Lord, says the big fisherman, Peter, and we look forward to the new heavens and earth God has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. 

So, preacher, when will all this take place?  Have you got a prediction like that nutcase standing on the street corner downtown, waving his sign?  No, I don’t have a sign, and God has not chosen to tell us the ETA on our GPS.  But what God has chosen to tell us is to be prepared so, when it does happen, we won’t be like those surprised and losing all hope of eternity.

There are those who argue that, since it hasn’t happened for thousands of years, its not a concern for this week…or even their lifetime.  But that is just a matter of Biblical ignorance.  Peter tells us that God is not a slave to clocks or calendars.  God is on His own schedule, and the reason for this time of awaiting Christ’s return is God’s patience.  God wants all humans to be saved, sins forgiven, souls secured for eternity.  But the very mention of judgment, of the heavens on fire, is that there are those who reject, and will continue to reject God’s offer of forgiveness.

God is patiently waiting, but that will end at some point.  Frankly, if you die before the Lord returns, Scripture tells us there will be resurrection day.  And, more precisely, there will two resurrections^{(see Revelation 20)}.  The first resurrection will be of those who died faithfully believing in Christ.  The second resurrection is of those who rejected the offer of salvation by simply refusing to confess their sins and the fact that they are estranged from their Creator.  Listen to how the Apostle John describes that first and second resurrection:

And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it.  The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide.  I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne.  And the books were opened, including the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.  The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead.  And all were judged according to their deeds.  Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire.  This lake of fire is the second death.  And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:11-15

For You Today

The promises of God in Scripture (not what you feel, or think is right, but God’s Word), are certain.  Some are difficult to hear, such as judgment day.  But that is only so if you haven’t accepted Christ; to those who have the promises are life!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image:  via Pixabay.com   W  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For another post on this text see End of the Road and Faith or Terror?   

 

A Thousand Year Day

[1]

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends:  A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.  No, he is being patient for your sake.  He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.  But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.  Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.  Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live,  looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.  On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.  But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.  2 Peter 3:8-13

Stories abound about God seeing time in that relative description of Peter’s where he tells us God’s view is who cares whether it’s a thousand years or a day.  One of those stories is about the guy who wanted to get rich.  He had a thousand dollars, and he wanted a million…quick.  So, he prayed, trying to strike a bargain with God.  He promised the Lord he would sing in the choir, work two days a week at the soup kitchen, and work tirelessly for world peace if God would only multiply his thousand by a thousand (that’s a million for those of us who aren’t math majors!).  But it didn’t happen.  When the man complained to God, he pointed to the verse where Jesus said to ask anything…God answered…OK…that’s in there, I’ll do it.  The guy thanked God profusely and asked, by the way, can you do that today…I’ve got some bills due.  After all, said the schemer, if a thousand is like a day, it shouldn’t mean anything to take a thousand and make it a million.  To that God said, sure; just wait a minute.

Sometimes – no, a lot of times – because we don’t see like God sees, we tend to doubt the way things are.  We see in a linear fashion; we remember yesterday, experience today, and wonder about tomorrow.  As Creator, God transcends time; he is not constrained to dwell within His own creation.  Rather he gave us time as a gift to deal with our fallen nature.  Had we continued as Adam and Eve were created, with immutable bodies not subject to disease and death, we would be consigned to spend forever in what Paul called the body of this death.  For me that would mean an eternity with a bad back, and forty extra pounds; I am a big fan of new heavens and earth, and the transformation from this old body to the new and improved!

And therein we find the gift that transcends the body of death; in the same way God is above time, space, and our imagination, what He has prepared for those who love Him is immortal, immutable, and glorious beyond description when, as resurrected, we walk with the Lord in the heavenlies, surrounded by His righteousness, splendor, and grace.

For You Today

Peter urges us to live our lives preparing for that day.  Whether it happens this day, or in a thousand years, it will be more than worth whatever you leave behind to follow Him.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of  Pixabay.com     Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©