Do you really believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ?
Here we are two thousand years after the Lord Jesus Christ's first coming, and for some, the time lapse makes it hard to believe that He will come again. However, our contemporaries are not the first to ask this question. It was raised even when the apostles were still around to deal with it.
In Peter’s second letter he talks about scoffers who will come along living only to please themselves and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." (2 Peter 3:3-4)
So the argument that unbelievers put forward is that from time immemorial the routine cycles of day and night, summer and winter, birth and death have gone on. They see this as evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ has not kept the promise of his return. But Peter goes on to respond to them, saying that in making this case, they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (vv 5-7) This is a reminder that, in fact, all things do not continue as they were from the beginning of creation. The normal flow of life was interrupted by the flood of God’s judgment in Noah’s time and at a future day God’s judgment will fall again. Hence we must not be too cocky in making assumptions about how things have been and how they will be. In the past, God has intervened and suspended the normal cycles of life for his purposes. This has happened not only widely as in the flood Peter cites, but narrowly as well when He touched specific geographic areas, nations, and ethnic groups.
Lastly, Peter goes on to write some things to believers. It is in a sense a word of explanation, but more a word of encouragement. He wrote But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (vv 8-10) Peter counters the scoffers with two arguments. First, he reminds his readers that God does not experience time in the same way we mortals do. God is outside of time. What seems like a long time to us is short to Him , and conversely, what seems like a short time to us can be long to Him. Peter basically tells us that we cannot use the argument of time because God’s perception of it is so radically different from ours. Peter’s second rebuttal touches on God’s motives for delaying the return of his Son. The scoffers say that God is slack concerning his promise. That He has forgotten about it or changed his mind. That He will not keep it. Peter says that it is not negligence on God’s part that has kept Jesus from returning to earth. Rather it is God’s enormous love for his creatures. He keeps extending the period of grace in which we live so that more can come to the safety of the cross – putting their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose death paid the redemption price to set them free. Peter concludes his arguments against the scoffers by affirming that the world as we know it will one day come to an end.
But once Peter had opened up the subject, he didn’t stop after he had supported the idea that Christ will return and that one day the last chapter of human history will be written. He continued by asking a question. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? (vv 11-12)
Peter’s consuming interest in treating this issue was that the truth of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ would make a difference in the lives of everyone who read his letter. First, he wanted to convince unbelievers of the truth of the fact that Jesus would return to earth and they would have to face Him. Before that happened, they still had the opportunity to repent, that is to turn from their life of sin and receive the free gift of eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Second, he wanted to remind those who already believed that they should live blameless lives in view of the fact that they to would soon meet their Lord face to face. Christians should become neither lax nor impatient, but understand that the patience of God is salvation to those who believe in these closing moments before the great end-time events are set in motion. For without God’s stretching this period in the divine timetable, many would be forever lost.
There are many other parts of the Bible that address the issue of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. Yet, even standing on its own, this passage from 2 Peter which we’ve considered together can do a lot to correctly shape our answer to questions about the second coming of Christ and its significance. I would encourage you to respond as Peter hoped you would and live your life in the light of the knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ is about to return. Maybe today.
