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2 Peter 3:5-6
5 For [gar] this [touto] they [autos] willingly [thelo] are ignorant of [lanthano], that [hoti] by the word [logos] of God [theos] the heavens [ouranos] were [en] of old [ekpalai], and [kai] the earth [ge] standing out [sunistao] of [ek] the water [hudor] and [kai] in [dia] the water [hudor]:
6 Whereby [dia] [hos] the world [kosmos] that then was [tote], being overflowed [katakluzo] with water [hudor], perished [apollumi]: KJV-Interlinear
5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. NASB
Peter sums up the events of creation, chaos, and the restoration of the earth from days long ago.
Peter is answering his rhetorical question posed by mockers, ‘Where is this savior? Where is the God who is going to return? What has really changed in this world? Everything is the same now as it was long ago.’
When Jesus was here at the First Advent, he was asked a similar question, ‘Show us a sign. Prove that you are who you say that you are.’
And of course all of Jesus’ miracles were not enough. Walking on water, changing water into wine, healing all kinds of diseases and illnesses and restoring missing limbs, raising the dead back to life, these were not enough. Childs tricks that anyone could do … of course!
What they wanted was a really big sign. What they wanted was the Temple, the new Jerusalem, to descend out of heaven, right now, so they could see it and touch it and then they would believe.
And in the end days, the mockers will not ask for signs, or proof of Christ, they will simply ridicule the promises of the Bible as being nothing more than empty words. And in addition, they will state their subjective interpretation of history – nothing has changed, nothing is going to change.
For a people who is going to be surrounded by troubles, their outlook on life is nothing short of dismal and lacking any form of hope. So they ridicule the promises of God and then they will pursue with a passion, the promises of evil. Don’t we now reject the words in the Bible and embrace the words in the newspapers? Aren’t people ready, by impatience, to change a successful country into a social experiment that has failed every time in the past?
And Peters response to all of this is simply, ‘Your evaluation of history is in error. History has not been the same. In fact history is filled with a very obvious plan of God. You just refuse to see it.’
Peter could have gone through the entire details of the dispensations, from angelic history to mans history before the flood, to the Patriarchs, to the nation of Israel, to the development of the line of Chist, to the operation footstool, to the rapture, to the second advent, to the Kingdom of God (Millennium), to the new universe. But he did not do that.
Instead Peter explained only a couple of things.
First, God created the universe. The heavens are very old. This means that they are far older than the human race. Second, the earth came to be in a state of water. Genesis states this very simply, ‘null and void,’ ‘without form.’
And God moved over the face of the deep and moved the waters aside and dry land appeared. This is the earth appearing out of the water, by the movement of the water into the oceans.
But Peter does not stop there. The world was destroyed by water, in its first destruction, and again it was destroyed by water in the second destruction – the flood of Noah.
And Peter is suggesting here that there has been destruction before and there will be another destruction again, this time by fire (in the next verse which we will get to tomorrow). Therefore, all of you who will mock, beware, because there is going to be a judgment - again.
All is not the same. All in history is not as you make it out to be in your mockery.
And though we do have promises from God, and though they have not yet occurred, that is not a reason to discount Gods word.
The angels had the universe all to themselves, and they lost it all. We possess the promise of it all now. How and why they lost it is never revealed. We have to read between the lines and guess. Perhaps they were around for longer than human history, and just refused to obey God, refused to manage the earth responsibly, refused to do whatever was expected of them.
And is it any different for us. Does not God expect us to grow up to maturity and be responsible spiritually adult individuals? And don’t we have greater limitations than they? Don’t we have to live by faith to a greater degree than they. After all we can’t even see most of what is in this universe, let alone see the angels.
But Peter teaches us all, that just because you do not receive an immediate response from God each and everyday, that does not mean that He is not working His plan for history.
Quite the contrary, we have an opportunity to prepare ourselves for a greater life in the next life, simply by studying a single book.
How many books and printed materials has it taken you to get your education, to form your career, to help you get to know the world around you? And what have they done for your relationship with God? And what have they contributed to your preparation for eternity?
Children are impatient and need answers and action now. Mature and wise adults do not.
