Show me a sign!! Show me a sign, and I will believe. Sadly, one of the signs of the end is the rise of many scoffers. These are people who often once claimed to be saved, but now they are deconstructing their Christianity. They are often online, telling you that they have several degrees, or they used to be a pastor, or they were saved and baptized and served in a church for x number of years, and then they read the whole Bible, or they had to ask hard questions, and soon they had to accept that all they had believed was false, and now it is their job to help you open your eyes to the reality. You are brainwashed, blind, ignorant, or all of the above. God is all-knowing, and He warned us about these people a long, long time ago. And that warning is found in our text.
Verses 1-7: Where is the Promise of His Coming? Let us be clear: many of these folks were never saved, and there are those who were truly saved who are now turning away from what they had. Now, they cannot lose their salvation if they truly once believed. 2,000 years is a long time, and we have been waiting and waiting for Jesus to come back for a long time.
In the past few years, there has been a significant rise in violence against Christians in the world. Thousands of Christians have been killed worldwide, and I can understand the question by many, especially those who are saved and seeing a God who just allows His people to be killed and tortured, and ask the legitimate question: Where is God in all this? Why is HE not helping and rescuing? But we are told here in 2 Peter that they willfully forget; they refuse to take a look at all the pieces that are in place. God allows His plans to unfurl at the same time as allowing human free will to not be encroached upon.
The Bible says in Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast in the lap, but the decision thereof is from the Lord” (MEV).
One of the truly lacking topics in many churches is that of prophecy and what has been fulfilled. But even in our time –the rise of the nation of Israel, the recapturing of Jerusalem as her chief city, the open hatred that is seen against her –in Zechariah 12:2, we see that Israel will be a cup of trembling to all the people around her. And we can clearly see that she is.
As much as people want to discredit Jesus, truly serious scholars will tell you that his existence as a man is undeniable. Multiple secular sources can be used to prove that Jesus did live and was known in the era that the Bible states.
Hundreds of archeological finds prove the people and places of the Bible to be real. Even now, there is a real push to see if Noah’s Ark is truly buried in Turkey. And who knows, they may find nothing, but the flood still happened. There have been many tests of the Ark; universities and even the US Navy have concluded that its design is very seaworthy, able to sustain and survive in very stormy seas and waves. The Ark is rated in the top 10 of ship designs; go check for yourself. There are many studies and articles that talk about how good the actual design of the Ark was. It was built for stability and not speed.
People forget that God killed the entire planet’s population in the flood in a matter of a few weeks, and He chose to save 8 people. Now, more could have been saved, but they refused to get in the Ark. That was all that was required to live. God made salvation simple, and people still rejected it.
Verses 8-9: They forget God’s Timing and His Grace. God is not bound by time; there is no yesterday and no tomorrow. God is ever-present. He is in no rush, and that is because He wants as many as possible to be saved. That is the whole goal: to see as many as possible to be saved, and if that means that Jesus’ return takes a bit longer, then so be it. By the way, I ask those questions about God and standing by watching people die as well, but I also know that they are not suffering any longer. They are with Jesus. God is in no rush to doom more people to Hell, and neither should we.
Verses 10-13: The Day of the Lord will Come—Suddenly!! Yes, it will all happen in lightning speed. Just like the day the heavens opened up and the rain came and fell for 40 straight days. The same way that the heavens opened up and the windows of heaven dropped their water and the fountain of the deep opened and the flood came. But to us it should not be a surprise; we who live in the Bible, we who trust in His faithfulness and His truthfulness know what is coming.
We can see the framework being put in place; we can see the pieces coming into place; we can see the men casting the dice, not knowing that how they land is all a part of God’s plan. We see people living in open defiance of God and His ways. We hear people talking about how, if God were here, they would make Him answer some questions. Such drivel and stupidity. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord!!
Verses 14-18: Be Steadfast – Don’t be a Scoffer. Focus on what has been fulfilled and look around and see what else is being fulfilled as we live each day. Live in the hope that, for all the effort to prove that God does not exist, all they have done is confirm Him over and over again. There are just as many former atheists who will tell you that once they truly began to search, they found Jesus and now call Him Lord!
God will judge this earth; He will judge the people that murder His people, and He will make those that rejected Jesus’ answer for their sins. They refused His free gift of salvation and lived in wanton pride; they will be tormented forever without any grace.
Peter warns us that unstable people will twist Paul’s writing, and therefore we should be careful who we listen to. Just a few weeks ago, a lady online became famous for a moment, stating that Paul’s writings are wrong. I have heard so many call Jesus a racist or say that He hated women, and on and on we can go with this blasphemy. But their day will come; they will either repent or perish.
Keep your eyes open; God is at work, and all His things are being put in place. Even the last US elections are a part of God’s plan. Things are moving into place, and God is determining the numbers that the dice roll. Jesus will come, Jesus will rescue, and Jesus will rule.
Hold on; don’t lose hope; be steady as we get closer to the end. No matter how long it takes, each day that passes is one less day to wait. The scoffers are ALL wrong!
Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario