Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Sermon: The foremost conflagration (2 Pet 3:10-11)

WHAT IS FOREMOST?
The Foremost Conflagration (2 Pet 3:10-11)

pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2013
(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to
each of the sermons in the series will be found here
as they are posted.)
One of the many challenges we face these days is how to deal with a changing world.
A shipwrecked sailor spent several years on a deserted island. Then one morning he was thrilled to see a ship offshore and a smaller vessel pulling out toward him. When the smaller boat grounded on the beach, the officer in charge handed the marooned sailor a bundle of newspapers and told him, "With the captain's compliments. He said to read through these and let us know...if you still want to be rescued."
One of the many challenges we face these days is how to deal with a changing world. At times we might prefer avoiding the challenge altogether. While avoidance might be possible in some situations, it will not be possible when God unleashes The Foremost Conflagration.

We noted last week that in Peter's second epistle, the apostle addresses doubts some people are raising about "the day of the Lord," when God will wrap up His program. Given the delay since Jesus' departure, perhaps the divine plan has changed.1 Peter assures his readers that the plan is still on track and that any perceived delay is not a problem with God's program but with man's perception, because the Lord's view of time is very different.

2 Pet 3:8b With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
Peter then presents The Foremost Consideration, which explains any apparent delay, as one realizes the patience of God in "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Pet 3:9). Lest a few of the apostle's readers think this delay represents a change of mind on God's part, that His offer of amnesty will always be available, Peter assures them that is not the case, that the offer is for a limited time only, and that the rest of God's plan is on schedule, including...

* LXIII. The Foremost Conflagration2

...which signals...
  • The prompting of God (2 Pet 3:10-11)
...as He offers one last chance for repentance before the end. Please turn to...
2 Pet 3:10 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.
This sounds like bad news, really bad news, unprecedented cosmic devastation. What difference does it make how people conduct their lives now, if it is all for naught in the end? Peter's advice should rather be, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."3

The phrase "the day of the Lord" is one the prophets coined and used often, always with the same negative connotation.4
  • Isa 13:9 ...the day of the LORD is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger....
  • Ezek 30 :..the day of the LORD is near...a time of doom for the nations.
  • Joel 1:15b ...the day of the LORD...will come like destruction from the Almighty.
  • Amos 5:20 ...the day of the LORD [will] be...pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness.
  • Obad 15 The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you....
  • Zeph 1:14b The cry on the day of the LORD will be bitter....
According to these passages, the day of the Lord is both unpleasant and unavoidable.
  • It is a term that can refer to God's judgmental activity in the past, when He used the forces of Babylon to bring destruction on Israel and its neighbors for their rebellion against Him.
  • It is also a term that can refer to God's judgmental activity in the future, when He will use the forces of nature5 to bring destruction on humanity as a whole for its rebellion against Him.
Peter is describing that latter judgment.6

Keep in mind that "the day of the Lord" is not the day of Jesus' return to reign. It is after the Messianic Age and after Satan's final rebellion. It is also what John records in his Revelation.
Rev 6:12b The sun turned black...the...moon turned blood red, 13a and the stars in the sky fell to earth.
Even if this is figurative language, it portends an unprecedented, cataclysmic event. Will people be ready?

Paul uses this same metaphor in his letter to the church at Thessalonica,7 describing the public reaction to these events: The apostle writes in...
1 Thess 5:2 ...the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
That is, it will catch most people by surprise.8 As Paul continues his description of that period, however, he adds an important caveat.
1 Thess 5:4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you.
Unlike most individuals, who ignore the indicators God has placed before them, you are paying attention to them.9

Picture yourself standing with a group of people at the end of a long, dark tunnel, and you are the only one who realizes (or cares) that the light at the other end is a train bearing down on you. That is the situation Peter (also Paul) is describing.

1. Your knowledge of the future includes the final destruction (2 Pet 3:10)
...that the light at the end of the tunnel is a freight train bearing down on you (although again, n. 9).10

Is knowing what is heading your way good news or bad news? ...It is certainly bad news if it catches you by surprise, because you ignored the signs of its coming: the ever-approaching brightness of the light, the ever-increasing rumble on the tracks. It is good news, though, if it means you can prepare for the train's arrival,11 which is possible because...
2. Your knowledge of the future includes the final instruction (2 Pet 3:11)
...that Peter offers: "You ought to live holy and godly lives." Like the train bearing down on you from the other end of the tunnel, the "the day of the Lord" is advancing inexorably toward you. The destruction that attends its arrival, though, will be a positive development for believers, and is something they can and should anticipate by living well.

The day of the Lord will spell doom for some but not for all, not for those who heed the apostle's advice. As I mentioned last week, God's sense of time is different from man's sense of time. Therefore, we do not know when "the day of the Lord" will arrive.12 Even if it is not in your lifetime, though, God still expects you to use that time well. So, are you preparing for the day of the Lord? If you were to stand before Him today, would He characterize your life as "holy and godly"?13 These are attributes Paul also encourages in his letters.
  • What does it mean to be holy, to reach that state of separation?
  • Achieving holiness is a gradual process, one that requires resolute devotion. Paul says...
Rom 6:19b ...offer [the parts of your body] in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
Rom 6:22 ...now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness....
Achieving holiness is a process.
  • Achieving holiness is an actual possibility, one that is available to all believers.14 Paul says...
1 Thess 4:7 ...God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
2 Tim 1:9a [God] has saved us and called us to a holy life...
Achieving holiness is a possibility.
  • What does it mean to be godly, to aspire to spiritual maturity?
  • Advancing godliness is evident in your commitments, in what you consider worthwhile. Paul says...
1 Tim 4:8b ...godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
1 Tim 6:6 ...godliness with contentment is great gain.
Advancing godliness is evident in your commitments.
  • Advancing godliness is evident in your conversations, in what you do not talk about with others. Paul says...
1 Tim 6:20b Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,
2 Tim 2:16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Advancing godliness is evident in your conversations.
Peter and Paul say that you should be both holy and godly. Would the people who know you best—those who see you in a variety of settings—would they say that you display these two attributes, not perfectly but predominantly? That is the "kind of [person you] ought...to be," as you wait for "the day of the Lord."

However unpleasant this period called "the day of the Lord" may be for others, it will not be so for the redeemed. At that point, they will be in their resurrected bodies and not subject to the forces of God's judgment. They will, instead, be awaiting their final transition to the New Heaven and New Earth, the eternal home of God's people.

As Peter dispels false notions about "the Day of the Lord," he advises his readers how they should be conducting themselves while they await The Foremost Conflagration. Wherever you are when that time comes, the apostle's recommendation applies now: "You ought to live holy and godly lives."

Having considered The Foremost Conflagration, we will look next at The Foremost Congregation, which unites the people of God, in Rev 7:9-12.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted)

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