It’s still summertime in Alabama, and even though we are heading into fall it is still hot! The term fervent heat resonates with anyone who spends any time outside in the deep South in the Summer. We seem to do anything we can to avoid the intensity of the heat. We have air conditioners in our homes, cars, work, and shopping places. We work in the yards early in the morning and do our walks early or late. We use water to cool off in lakes and pools. We even carry hand-held mini fans with us to outside events. No one likes intense heat, yet most in the world are very short-sighted. They never prepare for eternity, and they don’t understand that one day this earth will melt with fervent heat.
In II Peter chapter 3, Peter was writing to counter false teachers. Jesus had told His disciples when He left that one day He would return. Because some time had passed, and He had not returned, many teachers denied He was coming back. I’m sure that today many don’t believe in a literal return of Christ. However, their unbelief doesn’t change what will happen; it only leaves them vulnerable to God’s wrath. Many today don’t want to talk about Christ’s return because if they face the truth, it will force them to decide. However, by not deciding for Christ they have already decided.
In II Peter 3:7, Peter proclaims the Day of Judgment is coming. Earlier in the chapter, Peter warns that there will be scoffers. They will use the fact that Christ hasn’t returned to discourage others He will not return. The world is full of scoffers and mockers of God’s word today. They fail to consider the love that God has for them. He is delaying His return to give those who have not accepted Him another chance to miss the horrible judgment that is coming. II Peter 3:9 teaches us that He has not returned because He is longsuffering. He doesn’t want anyone to perish. Romans 2:4 teaches us that they abused his patience. They believed that since He was so good to them, they must be okay, and therefore they continued their path to destruction.
II Peter 3:7 “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.”
II Peter 3:9 “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.”
Romans 2:4 “Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”
It is a sad thing that people trample on the goodness of God instead of being grateful and accepting His gift of mercy and eternal life. Some may think they have plenty of time. They are gamblers, but they are gambling with their own soul for all eternity. Judgment will come with no warning and no escape. Either you will meet Him because of physical death or when He returns for His children. If you have not surrendered to Him as Lord and Savior, your physical body will be destroyed with the earth. Then your eternal soul will stand before Him in judgment to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. You cannot choose when you will meet Him, so the sure way to avoid destruction is to be ready when He comes.
Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
I Thessalonians “5:2-3 “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”
Peter addresses the question we all need to answer while there is yet time. While waiting for the end of our lives here on earth, “what manner of persons ought we to be?” How are we to act?
We are to be ready and anxiously awaiting His return. However, that does not mean that we sit and wait. We are to conduct ourselves in a manner that points others to Christ. We are to live a life that God will be pleased with when He sends His Son to gather us home. It is a horrible thought that some will neglect their opportunity to be right with God. They will squander all of eternity for a few years of doing as they chose here. One day this earth will melt with fervent heat. There is nothing we can do to change what God has placed on His calendar. For those who are right with God, Peter says we are to be looking forward to that day. For believers, it will be a glorious day of reunion with our Savior, our best friend, and our Master. It will be a day of reuniting with loved ones, a day we will receive a new body, an eternal body, and our opportunity to enjoy all that God has prepared for us will just begin. Oh, what a day that will be!
II Peter 3:11-12 “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?”
Excellent