The Apostle Peter has warned the church about false Christians, particularly false prophets whose only agenda was to lead people away from the Lord and to themselves. Peter addressed the remainder of his second letter to those leaders and their followers. Today this group includes all Catholics and Protestants.
Second Peter
Verses five through seven: Peter warned that the church people mentioned above had (and today have) deliberately “forgotten” who God is. In their quest for self-rule and power over others they ignored the fact that He created everything that was, is or ever will be, that He destroyed the earth’s surface with water TWO TIMES and will destroy it and the heavens with fire in the future, and that He keeps the universe running with split-second precision at present and will do so in the future. Notice what singular instrument He used then, now uses and will use in the future to accomplish all those things–HIS WORD (vs 5). This is the same Word by which Christ will judged every human being ever born (Jn. 12:48). Incredibly, this is the same Word that God-rejecting man repeatedly proclaims to the world is a lie. See the Introduction to this website and my first posting on my YouTube site (proveallthingsofgod) for proof of this fact. God has ordained this ministry to tell the church this truth and to give her one last warning before He returns to destroy everyone who refuses to heed His message.
Verses eight through eighteen: Here Peter is warning those who doubt the truth of God’s Words concerning His coming (vs 4), at which time He will judge the living and the dead. Peter was warning the church of his day and this day that God is giving them one final opportunity to repent, turn and embrace Him. The Day of the Lord–the last year of the Great Tribulation–is coming and will be like nothing the world has ever seen as the Lord pours out His vengeance on sinning man. Having been a pillar of “the church” will not save Word (God)-rejecters from His wrath as He pours out bowls of punishment on them and the rest of the world (Rev. 8-12). In verse 11 Peter states that, considering what is to take place at Christ’s return, “what manner of persons ought you to be in all HOLY CONVERSATION (LIFE-STYLE) AND GODLINESS?” A new earth and new heaven are coming. Let us be spiritually prepared to meet them with joy and anticipation of what the Lord has promised (13) those who, during this life, “walks as He walked” and who “purifies himself even as He is pure” (1 Jn. 2:6;3:3). In verses 17,18 Peter warned the members of God’s church about following false prophets, thereby eliminating any possibility they might have (or we will have) of receiving eternal life. The key, Peter tells them, is to continually grow in the knowledge of and obedience to Jesus Christ.
In verse 15 and 16 we find a special message that the church has chosen to ignore throughout the ages. Here Peter tells us that the letters and speech of the highly intellectual Apostle Paul are “hard to be understood.” Because of this, the “unlearned and unstable” in the church have “wrested” (twisted) his words to make them say what parishioners with itching ears want to hear (2 Tim. 4:3). The end result of this effort is the denominational system that has destroyed professing Christendom. In Jude 1:4 the Lord again speaks to this issue: “For certain men have secretly crept into the church–ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness (a license to sin), and in so doing, deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” These men, Jude tells us, are destined for condemnation on the day of judgment. Those who follow them will meet the same end. L.J.
Leave a Reply