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You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
2 Peter 3:5-6
5 For [gar] this [touto] they [autos] willingly [thelo] are ignorant of [lanthano],
that [hoti] by the word [logos] of God [theos] the heavens [ouranos] were [en] of old [ekpalai], and [kai] the earth [ge] standing out [sunistao] of [ek] the water [hudor] and [kai] in [dia] the water [hudor]:
6 Whereby [dia][hos] the world [kosmos] that
then was [tote], being overflowed [katakluzo] with water [hudor],
perished [apollumi]: KJV-Interlinear
5 For when they maintain this, it
escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and
the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at
that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. NASB
Peter sums up the
events of creation, chaos, and the restoration of the earth from days long ago.
Peter is answering his
rhetorical question posed by mockers, Where is this savior? Where is the God who is going to return?What has really changed in this world?Everything is the same now as it was long
ago.
When Jesus was here at
the First Advent, he was asked a similar question, Show us a sign.Prove that you are who you say that you are.
And of course all of
Jesus miracles were not enough.Walking
on water, changing water into wine, healing all kinds of diseases and illnesses
and restoring missing limbs, raising the dead back to life, these were not
enough.Childs tricks that anyone could
do of course!
What they wanted was a
really big sign.What they wanted was
the Temple, the new Jerusalem, to descend out of heaven, right now, so they
could see it and touch it and then they would believe.
And in the end days,
the mockers will not ask for signs, or proof of Christ, they will simply
ridicule the promises of the Bible as being nothing more than empty words.And in addition, they will state their subjective
interpretation of history nothing has changed, nothing is going to change.
For a people who is
going to be surrounded by troubles, their outlook on life is nothing short of
dismal and lacking any form of hope.So
they ridicule the promises of God and then they will pursue with a passion, the
promises of evil.Don t we now reject the
words in the Bible and embrace the words in the newspapers?Aren t people ready, by impatience, to change
a successful country into a social experiment that has failed every time in the
past?
And Peters response to
all of this is simply, Your evaluation of history is in error.History has not been the same. In fact
history is filled with a very obvious plan of God.You just refuse to see it.
Peter could have gone
through the entire details of the dispensations, from angelic history to mans
history before the flood, to the Patriarchs, to the nation of Israel, to the
development of the line of Chist, to the operation footstool, to the rapture,
to the second advent, to the Kingdom of God (Millennium), to the new
universe.But he did not do that.
Instead Peter explained
only a couple of things.
First, God created the
universe.The heavens are very old.This means that they are far older than the
human race.Second, the earth came to be
in a state of water. Genesis states this very simply, null and void, without form.
And God moved over the
face of the deep and moved the waters aside and dry land appeared.This is the earth appearing out of the water,
by the movement of the water into the oceans.
But Peter does not stop
there.The world was destroyed by water,
in its first destruction, and again it was destroyed by water in the second
destruction the flood of Noah.
And Peter is suggesting
here that there has been destruction before and there will be another
destruction again, this time by fire (in the next verse which we will get to
tomorrow).Therefore, all of you who
will mock, beware, because there is going to be a judgment - again.
All is not the same.
All in history is not as you make it out to be in your mockery.
And though we do have
promises from God, and though they have not yet occurred, that is not a reason
to discount Gods word.
The angels had the
universe all to themselves, and they lost it all.We possess the promise of it all now.How and why they lost it is never
revealed.We have to read between the
lines and guess.Perhaps they were
around for longer than human history, and just refused to obey God, refused to
manage the earth responsibly, refused to do whatever was expected of them.
And is it any different
for us.Does not God expect us to grow
up to maturity and be responsible spiritually adult individuals?And don t we have greater limitations than
they?Don t we have to live by faith to
a greater degree than they.After all we
can t even see most of what is in this universe, let alone see the angels.
But Peter teaches us
all, that just because you do not receive an immediate response from God each
and everyday, that does not mean that He is not working His plan for history.
Quite the contrary, we
have an opportunity to prepare ourselves for a greater life in the next life,
simply by studying a single book.
How many books and
printed materials has it taken you to get your education, to form your career,
to help you get to know the world around you?And what have they done for your relationship with God?And what have they contributed to your
preparation for eternity?
Children are impatient
and need answers and action now.Mature and
wise adults do not.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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