Scripture:
Vs 1 I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder
Vs 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior …
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
Observation:
Peter is stating his final thoughts in his second letter to the faithful.
Peter wants the faithful to keep a sharp mind about them because wrongheaded and faithless people will try to influence them to live opposing God.
Peter is reminding them to keep remembering God’s Word and the promises and predictions it makes.
Jesus will return! And when He does return it will be a day of judgement and a day of destruction.
But it will be so much more! He will return with a new heaven and new earth. The old corruption will be wiped away and the earth will be made new!
So, with this sharply in his readers minds, Peter tells them “what sort of people ought you to be”.
Application:
“What sort of people ought you to be”?
This is the ultimate question of “application” of God’s Word.
“What sort of person ought ‘I’ to be”?
Fortunately, Peter immediately answers it for us: “lives of holiness and godliness”.
I’ve heard many people make the argument, “if it’s all gonna burn, then why bother”?!
In other words, if this world is going to get destroyed in the end, then why should I worry about living a decent life now? “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die”
Peter gives me the error of this thinking.
The destruction of this world is not the end of this world!
A new heaven and new earth are coming!
And it will be a new heaven and earth “in which righteousness dwells”!
This will be my permanent home.
All will be made right again.
I will want it to feel like a home, like a place I belong, and where things make sense!
If I am acting selfishly now and consumed with my own wants, and desires, and unrighteousness, then that new earth would seem foreign and nonsensical to me.
It would not feel like home.
So, Peter tells me to remember the Holy predictions and commandments.
He also tells me to live holy.
I can’t just “know” God’s Word, I must “live” God’s Word.
And even though Peter acknowledges this is a time of waiting and patience, I must “be diligent” and “at peace” … knowing one day I will dwell in the new earth and all will be “righteous”.
Prayer:
Thank you God for your promises
Help me to know and remember them
Help me to live them out
I pray your kingdom come
And your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
In Jesus name
Amen