The Day of the Lord - 2 Peter 3

Peter comes to the end of the letter to the church by encouraging them of the coming of Jesus’ return, something often referred to in the Bible as the Day of the Lord. Peter’s writing them to encourage them, to stimulate them to wholesome thinking. The word Peter uses for wholesome has the elements of “pure” and “sincerity” in it, calling for their thinking to reflect on truth rooted in Jesus, confessing that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. This flows out of his strong warning about the coming of false teachers. Peter’s encouraging them to not get passive about their faith, but to stay engaged in their relationship with Jesus, to keep learning and being who they’re called to be as God’s people.

The false teachers will face the consequences of their false teaching; we read about those consequences in the part of chapter 2 we didn’t focus on last week. Peter gives a strong warning as he leads into his warning, and encouragement, about Jesus’ return. The false teachers will face punishment for leading the people away from Jesus. Peter reminds them of the flood and of Sodom and Gomorrah, about the blackest darkness being reserved for them, a dark separation from the light and life of God. This is where Jesus’ return now enters into Peter’s letter.

Peter acknowledges that Jesus is taking longer to return than expected, and that the false teachers are going to use this against them, “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” They’ve no fear of consequences from God. God has no real meaning or place in their lives no matter how often they say his name; no moral or ethical foundation rooted in God’s law or Jesus’ teachings and example; no impact on their character formation. God gives us the law to shape us into his own character, calling us to holiness, to be more like Jesus; into the people God created us to be in our humanity as image bearers of God.

Leading up to the Day of the Lord, there will be increasing numbers of those who deny Jesus, who will mock believers for believing in Jesus’ return. Today, people scoff believers for believing in a God who cannot be seen, who’s only a fairy tale, an escape from reality for the weak. We need to prepare our youth for this as they enter into the world. Many people have forgotten, or dismissed Jesus’ return. The first prophet to point to the Day of the Lord is Amos in 5:18–20 “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?” The prophet Joel 1:15 also spoke often of the coming day, “Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.”

There’s no fear of punishment or consequences. Peter knows this, “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” Water and fire are about cleansing and purification. Fire purifies, think of the Old Testament’s imagery of the metal worker. The Day of the Lord is the day when God steps in to punish the world’s sin, when Jesus comes to separate the sheep and the goats, separating those who’ve accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour from those who’ve chosen themselves or other gods as their object of worship. The Day of the Lord is about both restoration and judgment: restoration for those who’ve chosen Jesus, judgment for those who’ve chosen themselves as their god.

Peter moves on to reflecting on why Jesus’ return is taking so long, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Jesus is taking a long time so people have opportunities to repent and believe, and for that to happen, followers of Jesus need to be more engaged with those who haven’t yet repented, with those who don’t really know who Jesus is, to show them the wonder, the grace, the life-changing transformation found in the hope and peace that comes from repenting from our sin; turning away from our old ways; believing in Jesus as Lord and Saviour of the world. This goes back to Peter’s call to confirm our calling and election by our life transformation that comes from growing in the fruit of the Spirit. How we live, not only what we say we believe, is important in leading someone to Jesus; they go hand in hand.

Jesus’ return will be unexpected; Peter refers to parables about the Day of the Lord that Jesus told. Peter echoes their messages, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.  That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” Because we don’t know when Jesus is returning, it’s important that we work hard at living holy and godly lives, showing the world the God we serve through how we live. My grandfather would remind us before we went out with our friends, to always act like Jesus is there with us.

This is what Paul is getting at in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Paul uses the picture of a king coming to visit one of his cities. The leaders would call the citizens to clean the city and prepare for the king's arrival. The streets were cleaned, the buildings whitewashed so that as the sun rises or sets on the city, they would shine. The king would time his arrival for sunrise and approach from the west so that the rising sun shines on the city, making it gleam. Think of the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven; gleaming in splendour. Watchers set outside the city and on the city walls let everyone know as soon the king comes into sight so everyone can go out to greet their king.

Paul warns about the Day of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 5, “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” We’re being used by God in his plan of redemption to restore and renew creation to speed its coming. I’m not completely sure what Peter’s getting at here, but it does remind us that how we live, what we do are important parts of God’s plans. So we ask questions like, “Are we ready for Jesus’ return,” “are we helping our world become ready.” It takes courage to follow Jesus, take self-discipline and a willingness to do the hard things to live true to Jesus.

Until Jesus returns, we’re called to continue growing deeper in our faith, to shape our lives on Jesus, to look and act more like Jesus each day, encouraging and building each other up in the faith; getting involved in our society and neighbourhoods as part of developing creation in the arts, culture, music, business, politics, and more to reflect God’s values and will. God gives us skills and abilities to develop and help your family, your church, your community, your workplace, your places of play to flourish, and he calls you to invest in these things as part of preparing for Jesus’ return.

What we believe matters. The Reformed view of Jesus’ return fills us with hope for the future and a call to be deeply invested in living out our faith in Jesus; good news that can shape our lives, the lives of those around us, and the flourishing of the communities we live in.