2 Peter 3:1-13
Woe to all who have bought into the deception that comes
from the one who God calls the deceiver of the whole world. His first attack on mankind worked so
well that he has never changed his tactic; “Did God
actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis
3:1) And Eve replied to the
serpent with a list of what God had said, and look at the reply; “But the serpent said to the women, “You will not surely
die. For God knows that when you
eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil.” (Genesis
3:4-5) Eve had no concept of good
or evil, she lived in perfection, she was pure, she was without sin, but the
deceiver of the whole world set the stage of her mind to three things, she
looked at the tree and it seemed to be the most beautiful of trees, it also was
good to eat, and last, but of great importance, it would give her and Adam the
ability to be like God. To be like
God! What would you do if you were
God? Eve and Adam found out, they
traded away perfection for sin; their choices changed the history of
mankind. And since that moment man
has tried to go it alone, to be a god, to live independently from the authority
of a holy God, and on this one truth hinges all other truth. “Did God actually say,” and the answer is Yes,
God did say, and like Adam and Eve you
have a choice, and Peter in his second letter is telling you to “remember all the predictions of the holy prophets and
the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this
first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following
their own sinful desires.” (2 Peter 3:2-3)
Who is Peter addressing in this second letter? All who are in Christ, all who have
been bought out of sin by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and by their
repentance and confession of sin against His holiness. It is Christians who Peter says need to
recall what has been written, what has been predicted, and what has been
commanded by Jesus Christ through His apostles.
All truth hinges on this one truth; “In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over
the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.” (Genesis 1:1-2) So important is this truth that the
apostle Peter put it in this second letter. Also the holy prophets had much to say on this subject,
Nehemiah was one of them, listen to his words: “You
are the Lord, you alone. You have
made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that
is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and
the host of heaven worships you.” (Nehemiah
9:6) This is what Peter is telling
Christians to remember, God is big, you and I must by faith acknowledge that he
alone is God, and that He loves us.
His love is beyond our understanding, and I believe 2 Peter 3:9, gives
clear understanding of this truth: “The Lord is not
slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,
not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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