II Peter 3

<verses 1-9>

[5-23-2010]

2 Peter 3:1-9) [GNB] My dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written you. In both letters I have tried to arouse pure thoughts in your minds by reminding you of these things.

2) I want you to remember the words that were spoken long ago by the holy prophets, and the command from the Lord and Savior which was given you by your apostles.

3) First of all, you must understand that in the last days some people will appear whose lives are controlled by their own lusts. They will make fun of you

4) and will ask, “He promised to come, didn’t he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world!”

QUESTION: What does Peter tell us concerning the motives of skeptics?

ANSWER: These are people with an agenda. Scientists, in general, have sold out. There are many reasons to question Darwin’s theory, but it remains untouchable to all who wish to be accepted in the scientific community. Why? There’s an agenda behind it. That agenda is the desire of the powerful to mold a society where “their own lusts” can be freely, and openly, played out. They want a society without the restraints that Christianity brings to bear. Consequently, they claim the debate is over. If anyone in the scientific community dares to disagree then they face persecution from the overall scientific community.

QUESTION: What new agenda has forced many in the scientific community to sell out?

ANSWER: Climate change. Once again they claim the debate is over in spite of whatever new evidence might arise to the contrary. Why? Their agenda is the leveling of the playing field for all. They believe the world will be a far better place if everyone has the same advantages. The problem with redistribution of wealth is that if you take away the incentive to excel from those gifted to excel, jobs will be lost, taxes will go up, and chaos will be the result.

5) They purposely ignore the fact that long ago God gave a command, and the heavens and earth were created. The earth was formed out of water and by water,

6) and it was also by water, the water of the flood, that the old world was destroyed.

5) [NLT] They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth up from the water and surrounded it with water.

6) Then he used the water to destroy the world with a mighty flood.

 QUESTION: What are these individuals purposely/deliberately ignorant of?

ANSWER: They’re ignorant of the fact that God has already judged the earth once.

7) But the heavens and the earth that now exist are being preserved by the same command of God, in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the day when godless people will be judged and destroyed.

Colossians 1:17) [GW] He existed before everything and holds everything together.

Hebrews 1:3) [CEV] God’s Son has all the brightness of God’s own glory and is like him in every way. By his own mighty word, he holds the universe together.

Revelation 20:11-15) [GNB] Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sits on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence and were seen no more.

12) And I saw the dead, great and small alike, standing before the throne. Books were opened, and then another book was opened, the book of the living. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.

13) Then the sea gave up its dead. Death and the world of the dead also gave up the dead they held. And all were judged according to what they had done.

14) Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire. (This lake of fire is the second death.)

15) Those who did not have their name written in the book of the living were thrown into the lake of fire.

NOTE: God is holding the entire universe, along with all creation, together simply by His powerful Word. That same Word will one day bring destruction to the world as we now know it. It appears as though this will happen at the same time as the Great White Throne Judgment takes place, meaning that no human will be on earth at that time.

8) But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord’s sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same.

1 John 1:5) [GNB] Now the message that we have heard from his Son and announce is this: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him.

QUESTIONS: Lynn is riding on a train going 90 mph. That train is about to pass Jack. It’s a passenger train with huge windows so Jack will be able to see inside the train when it passes him. In the aisle of that train 2 men are playing catch with a football. Mary is watching them play catch, so she is not looking out of the windows. The men are throwing the football back and forth at 10 mph. When the train passes him, to Jack, how fast will the football seem to be moving from the one man to the other? How fast will the football seem to be moving to Mary? Who is right?

ANSWER: Both! The speed you’re traveling affects how you see time.

NOTE: God is Light! He sees time differently than you and I see time.

MORE QUESTIONS: If Lynn rides on a space ship traveling at 99% the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second, and the trip lasts him 1 year, and Jack stays here on the good old earth for the full time of Lynn’s trip, when Lynn returns 1 year later how much older will Lynn be? How much older will Jack be?

ANSWER: Lynn will be 1 year older. Jack will be over 130,000 years older.

DO YOU WANT TO HEAR SOMETHING EVEN FREAKYER? In that 1 year Lynn would have traveled 5,869,602,600,000 miles if that ship had been able to travel at the speed of light, but the space trip could only travel at 99% the speed of light, so Lynn only traveled 5,282,642,340,000 miles on his 1 year trip.

QUESTION: What would have happened if that ship had been able to travel at the speed of light?

ANSWER: Time would have stood still for Lynn. He wouldn’t have aged a single second.

NOTE: GOD IS LIGHT!! In God’s reality, scientifically speaking, time has no relevance. He’s standing outside of time. He is Light, and therefore He exists in a realm where time, as we understand it, is standing still. God has never aged a single fraction of a second in human terms.

FINAL NOTE ON THIS VERSE: THIS IS THE AWESOME GOD WHO WE SERVE!! He will do what He will do at the appropriate time in earth years. “THE LORD IS NOT SLOW TO DO WHAT HE HAS PROMISED” [next verse].

9) The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.

QUESTION: Why hasn’t the Lord Jesus returned yet?

ANSWER: He wants many more people to be saved because He doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed.