Cataclysm by Flood and Fire
Be prepared! It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark!
2 Peter 3:1 (NIV) Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
2. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.
3. First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
4. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."
5. But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
6. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8. 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.
9. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but every0ne to come to repentance.
10. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.
12. 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.
13. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
14. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him.
Coming again, coming again.
May be morning, may be noon,
May be evening, and may be soon.
Coming again, coming again.
Oh what a wonderful day that will be.
Jesus is coming again.
Peter tells us the second coming of Jesus Christ is a sure thing. The apostles who watched him ascend into the air were told by the angels that he would come in the same manner they saw him leave them. The Bible makes it very clear: Old Testament prophets predicted it; Jesus emphasized it and so did his apostles. Christians are to live as if that day were today.
Scoffers go about denying the prophecies of Christ's return as if they think their talk can alter the future. In verse four it seems these same scoffers acknowledge the creation. Even that has changed. Evolutionists throw out God, creation, the Bible, the Great Flood, Christ's redemption plan, and ridicule all the other promises God has given to us.
Peter tries to jog the memories of the scoffers. He reminds them that God destroyed the world by a deluge. Notice the use of that word "destroyed." Some of the people who believe in the flood picture it as a long mild rain that descends, covers the earth, and then recedes, leaving everything pretty much intact. Not so. It was a seething, swirling, exploding, world-shattering cauldron that completely changed the surface of the earth. There can be no such thing as a gentle worldwide flood. The idea is ludicrous. If only the floodgates of heaven opened up, there would have been a cataclysm so powerful, so scouring of this planet that it would indeed be accurate to say the earth was "destroyed" by a flood. Just picture the power of hurricanes, tsunamis, the breaching of dams, the power of mighty rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Nile and all that and more happening over the entire face of the earth inside one year.
The Bible, though, doesn't tell us only the windows of heaven opened up. Genesis records that the fountains of the deep burst open. This world spewed out water, earth and rock? God doesn't say it was a local thing. It was a global event. What flew from beneath the crust of the earth alone could have wrecked the entire face of earth.
The apostle Peter reports that scoffers deliberately forget what happened. They don't care to think about God's absolute power over them and the rest of his creation. Do they think he will simply go away to accommodate their forgetfulness? No! They arouse the mighty anger of our omnipotent God when they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They will pay for their evil forgetfulness and lies. Romans 1 says the scoffers should be persuaded by the things that God has made that he exists. It says they did not see fit to retain God in their minds. They deliberately went about forgetting who made them and who controls the universe. There is that word "deliberate" again. That means premeditated rebellion against our Holy God. Does this sound like atheism, agnosticism, humanism, Darwinian evolution?
It happened once by water and it will happen again by fire. The significant difference is that the heavens are also reserved for destruction. We don't fully know what that means, but the earth beneath the burned-up heavens will be unrecognizable. Verse ten says the earth will be laid bare. Why? The judgment and destruction of ungodly people (scoffers included.) The old saying goes, "Forewarned is forearmed." That might work with a fleshly enemy we might once have engaged in a skirmish, but no-one defies God. No weapon formed against him or his children shall prosper. God may do whatever he chooses to do as many times as he chooses to do it. All God's enemies are puny upstarts.
Another wise saying goes, "Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it (their mistakes)." We've had a few thousand years to mull over Noah's Flood. We see the evidence of "Billions and Billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth." The Bible tells us it happened. The evidence of our senses agrees with the Bible. Our response should be to bow before the Creator and Lord of all the universe, to worship him in spirit and in truth. Problem is, most people want to believe a lie. Having itching ears they heap unto themselves false teachers, false scientists, gurus of ape-to-man theology who shrink from the cross like demons fleeing at the name of Jesus, or like the demons who would rather go into pigs and drown in the sea rather than tarry in the presence of the Holy Savior. The flooded earth was a monumental object lesson that many early cultures tried to mythologize away, and latter day scientists still try to purge from every domain of human knowledge.
God does not want anyone to suffer eternal separation from him. A thousand years means nothing to God. In fact, a million years would be but a moment, but he loves all of us. He waits. Some trust him and others mock him. Those who refuse to repent are without excuse, because God is patient and "the way is so clear that even a fool should not miss it." It is as clear as the perfect God/man coming to earth to be born as a baby in a manger, living a sinless life, showing forth the glory and power of his Father here on earth; earth-shaking as the miracles of raising people from the dead and healing all manner of infirmities; wonderful as dying a terrible death by crucifixion; awesome as rising from the grave and ascending back to Heaven so we too might follow Him; loving as sending us a comforter, the Holy Spirit, to live inside of us and guide us into all truth. Between the flood and the fire is every opportunity to be reconciled to God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Rebels won't find the way. The proud will fumble around in their self-righteousness and miss the door. But blessed are the poor spirit for they shall see God.
We are told in verses eleven through fourteen that we should look forward to the day of Christ's coming. We ought to live in eager anticipation of him breaking through the clouds, coming as the lightening flashes from the east to the west, coming like a thief in the night to usher in his eternal kingdom. We must be about our Father's business. Although many of us believe in the rapture preceding the seven years of tribulation on earth, and believe that Christ's second coming will occur at the end of that seven years, we have a mandate to carry out Christ's great commission before both events, to go throughout the world and preach the gospel so people might join us in Heaven. Nevertheless, we who desire his appearing can cry out alongside John the Revelator : "Even so, Lord, come quickly."
We make plans for many things. We plan retirement. We plan vacations-- sometimes years in advance. Some people have their funeral arrangements finalized, though not scheduled. Wills are made and beneficiaries designated. Second Peter 3:11, 12 (KJV) says something to all of us who name Christ as our Lord and Saviour: "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?" We who live in this brief time between the flood and the fire know in our hearts how we should be. Verse 14 (KJV) reminds us again: "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him (God) in peace, without spot, and blameless."
2 Peter 3:1 (NIV) Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
2. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.
3. First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
4. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."
5. But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
6. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8. 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.
9. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but every0ne to come to repentance.
10. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.
12. 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.
13. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
14. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him.
Coming again, coming again.
May be morning, may be noon,
May be evening, and may be soon.
Coming again, coming again.
Oh what a wonderful day that will be.
Jesus is coming again.
Peter tells us the second coming of Jesus Christ is a sure thing. The apostles who watched him ascend into the air were told by the angels that he would come in the same manner they saw him leave them. The Bible makes it very clear: Old Testament prophets predicted it; Jesus emphasized it and so did his apostles. Christians are to live as if that day were today.
Scoffers go about denying the prophecies of Christ's return as if they think their talk can alter the future. In verse four it seems these same scoffers acknowledge the creation. Even that has changed. Evolutionists throw out God, creation, the Bible, the Great Flood, Christ's redemption plan, and ridicule all the other promises God has given to us.
Peter tries to jog the memories of the scoffers. He reminds them that God destroyed the world by a deluge. Notice the use of that word "destroyed." Some of the people who believe in the flood picture it as a long mild rain that descends, covers the earth, and then recedes, leaving everything pretty much intact. Not so. It was a seething, swirling, exploding, world-shattering cauldron that completely changed the surface of the earth. There can be no such thing as a gentle worldwide flood. The idea is ludicrous. If only the floodgates of heaven opened up, there would have been a cataclysm so powerful, so scouring of this planet that it would indeed be accurate to say the earth was "destroyed" by a flood. Just picture the power of hurricanes, tsunamis, the breaching of dams, the power of mighty rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Nile and all that and more happening over the entire face of the earth inside one year.
The Bible, though, doesn't tell us only the windows of heaven opened up. Genesis records that the fountains of the deep burst open. This world spewed out water, earth and rock? God doesn't say it was a local thing. It was a global event. What flew from beneath the crust of the earth alone could have wrecked the entire face of earth.
The apostle Peter reports that scoffers deliberately forget what happened. They don't care to think about God's absolute power over them and the rest of his creation. Do they think he will simply go away to accommodate their forgetfulness? No! They arouse the mighty anger of our omnipotent God when they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They will pay for their evil forgetfulness and lies. Romans 1 says the scoffers should be persuaded by the things that God has made that he exists. It says they did not see fit to retain God in their minds. They deliberately went about forgetting who made them and who controls the universe. There is that word "deliberate" again. That means premeditated rebellion against our Holy God. Does this sound like atheism, agnosticism, humanism, Darwinian evolution?
It happened once by water and it will happen again by fire. The significant difference is that the heavens are also reserved for destruction. We don't fully know what that means, but the earth beneath the burned-up heavens will be unrecognizable. Verse ten says the earth will be laid bare. Why? The judgment and destruction of ungodly people (scoffers included.) The old saying goes, "Forewarned is forearmed." That might work with a fleshly enemy we might once have engaged in a skirmish, but no-one defies God. No weapon formed against him or his children shall prosper. God may do whatever he chooses to do as many times as he chooses to do it. All God's enemies are puny upstarts.
Another wise saying goes, "Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it (their mistakes)." We've had a few thousand years to mull over Noah's Flood. We see the evidence of "Billions and Billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth." The Bible tells us it happened. The evidence of our senses agrees with the Bible. Our response should be to bow before the Creator and Lord of all the universe, to worship him in spirit and in truth. Problem is, most people want to believe a lie. Having itching ears they heap unto themselves false teachers, false scientists, gurus of ape-to-man theology who shrink from the cross like demons fleeing at the name of Jesus, or like the demons who would rather go into pigs and drown in the sea rather than tarry in the presence of the Holy Savior. The flooded earth was a monumental object lesson that many early cultures tried to mythologize away, and latter day scientists still try to purge from every domain of human knowledge.
God does not want anyone to suffer eternal separation from him. A thousand years means nothing to God. In fact, a million years would be but a moment, but he loves all of us. He waits. Some trust him and others mock him. Those who refuse to repent are without excuse, because God is patient and "the way is so clear that even a fool should not miss it." It is as clear as the perfect God/man coming to earth to be born as a baby in a manger, living a sinless life, showing forth the glory and power of his Father here on earth; earth-shaking as the miracles of raising people from the dead and healing all manner of infirmities; wonderful as dying a terrible death by crucifixion; awesome as rising from the grave and ascending back to Heaven so we too might follow Him; loving as sending us a comforter, the Holy Spirit, to live inside of us and guide us into all truth. Between the flood and the fire is every opportunity to be reconciled to God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Rebels won't find the way. The proud will fumble around in their self-righteousness and miss the door. But blessed are the poor spirit for they shall see God.
We are told in verses eleven through fourteen that we should look forward to the day of Christ's coming. We ought to live in eager anticipation of him breaking through the clouds, coming as the lightening flashes from the east to the west, coming like a thief in the night to usher in his eternal kingdom. We must be about our Father's business. Although many of us believe in the rapture preceding the seven years of tribulation on earth, and believe that Christ's second coming will occur at the end of that seven years, we have a mandate to carry out Christ's great commission before both events, to go throughout the world and preach the gospel so people might join us in Heaven. Nevertheless, we who desire his appearing can cry out alongside John the Revelator : "Even so, Lord, come quickly."
We make plans for many things. We plan retirement. We plan vacations-- sometimes years in advance. Some people have their funeral arrangements finalized, though not scheduled. Wills are made and beneficiaries designated. Second Peter 3:11, 12 (KJV) says something to all of us who name Christ as our Lord and Saviour: "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?" We who live in this brief time between the flood and the fire know in our hearts how we should be. Verse 14 (KJV) reminds us again: "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him (God) in peace, without spot, and blameless."
posted by Don Daniels at
2:14 PM
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