Anticipators of the Second Coming (2 Peter 3:11–18)
All good things must come to an end—and as 2 Peter closes, the apostle shows us how to live until the end comes. Since we believe Jesus is coming again, we are to be anticipators of his coming: a repenting people, counting the patience of our Lord as salvation; a holy people, diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish; a forward-looking people, waiting for and even hastening the coming of the day of God; and a growing people. Peter’s last words are the theme of his whole letter: “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.”
Introduction
The fourteenth century poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, said, “everything comes to an end.” From this we get the saying, “all good things must come to an end.” As we end 2 Peter, I pray that it’s been a good thing for your mind and heart. We began in chapter 1 with the certainty of the Second Coming and call to lead a godly life in view of Jesus’ coming again. In chapter 2 we dealt with false teachers in the church. In chapter 3, we’ve been dealing with scoffers of the Second Coming, believers of it, and now that we are anticipators of it.
Let me again highlight the context of Peter’s teaching on the Second Coming: four times in just this chapter he calls his readers “beloved.” We see that in verses 1, 8, 14, and 17. Agapetoi is what God the Father called his Son and because we are joined to Jesus by faith, we too are beloved by God. The whole context of the Second Coming is gospel or good news to us. This is how our beloved Heidelberg Catechism speaks:
How does Christ’s return “to judge the living and the dead” comfort you?
In all distress and persecution, with uplifted head, I confidently await the very judge who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me. Christ will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but will take me and all his chosen ones to himself into the joy and glory of heaven.
Theme
So, in contrast to the scoffers of the Second Coming we’ve learned that we are believers of it and this morning, that we are anticipators of it. Let’s listen to what the Spirit has to say to us.
A Repenting People (vv. 9, 15)
Being an anticipator of the Second Coming means being a repenting people. Look at how in the context of answer the scoffers’ objection that the Lord hadn’t come and probably wouldn’t come, Peter says, 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 our vantage point he’s being slow. That’s what a scoffer sees. I remember on our honeymoon in Maui, we took a snorkeling trip and one of the workers was pointing out different buildings along the coast, including a church that had on its roof: “Jesus is Coming Soon.” I remember her saying in a sarcastic tone: “And don’t you agree?”
But look at how Peter says the Lord’s slowness to us is actually his patience to save. I think too often in modern Reformed culture we miss this. We speak of the sovereignty of God. We talk about the holiness of God. We talk about the law of God upon our sinful generation. But where’s the patience of God with sinners? Where’s his call to all that they repent and believe his wonderful salvation? Look again at verse 15: count the patience of our Lord as salvation. He's writing first and foremost to a congregation or congregations. He’s saying that all within the community need to repent and make sure they’re in relationship to Jesus Christ. That call is to us inwardly.
But also outwardly, we need to be busy in the work of the gospel, bringing the patience of God to the lost. We do this publicly in preaching and privately in our lives. If you’re here today and you haven’t yet decided to follow Jesus, perhaps because you’ll do it at a later time when you’re ready, let me say to you that God is being very patient with you. Embrace his patience as salvation!
What is “salvation?” In Peter’s two letters, he uses this word five times, including here.
In 1 Peter 1:5 he speaks of “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” He means the end of the line or our glorification.
In 1:9 he speaks of the end as well in terms of “obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
In 1:10 he says “concerning this [ultimate] salvation, the prophets…prophesied about the grace that was to be yours.”
Finally, in 2:2 he described his readers as being “like newborn infants,” and exhorted them to “long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.”
A Holy People (vv. 11, 14)
Being an anticipator of the Second Coming means being a holy people. In view of the cataclysmic and climatic way Peter describes the Second Coming, he asks his readers a question: what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness (v. 11). He actually sues two plurals here: holy conducts and godlinesses to bring out the many way this is expressed.
In 2 Peter, to summarize, we hear about sanctification in three ways:
First, it’s a response to the gospel or good news. This is how we usually think of it. Look at verse 14: be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. As we are beloved in Jesus because he is beloved, so too as he is the lamb of God that is “without blemish or defect” (amomou kai aspilou; 1:19) we are to seek to be without spot or blemish (aspilou kai amometoi). This is sacrificial language. Jesus gave himself up to God in sacrifice for us; in response, we lay ourselves down before God as sacrifices. In contrast, the false teachers were called “blots and blemishes” (2:13).
Second, because of the context of the Second Coming, sanctification is a preparation for eternity.
Third, it is a demonstration to the world of what God can do in the life of a sinner.
Note, we are to be at peace with Jesus: be diligent to be found by him…at peace (v. 14). As Paul teaches us, on the one hand we’re already at peace with God (Rom. 5:1) but we’re also to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:19). Again, this is a call to you as well, who may not believe yet. If you don’t, Jesus says he did not come to condemn the world because you’re already under condemnation. But be reconciled! How? Through Jesus, the sacrifice that absorbs your curse so that you can be blessed instead.
A Forward-Looking People (vv. 12, 13, 14)
Being an anticipator of the Second Coming means being a forward-looking people. We are to be waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God (v. 12). Waiting for is “looking forward,” so we are to have a forward-looking faith. He further explains what that day will bring in verse 13: according to his promise we are waiting for,or, “looking forward to,” new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Again, in verse 14: since you are waiting for, or, “looking forward,” to these.
Imagine yourself out in the desert looking towards Big Bear. Big Bear is eternity. In between, you have to cross the desert, cliffs, rivers, and obstacles. The key is to find a fixed point and look forward to that point moment by moment so you don’t wander in circles.
What about hastening or “speeding” the coming of the Lord? The same root verb was used in 1:5 of making every effort. In Acts 20:16 Paul sailed past the port city of Ephesus because he was “hastening to be at Jerusalem.” From God’s point of view, there is a set day and hour for the Lord’s return. From our vantage point, since we don’t know that, we strive forward towards it in the experiential sense that our faith, hope, and love will bring it down quickly! We pray this way, don’t we? “Thy kingdom come” (Matt. 6:10). We preach this way, don’t we? “The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).
A Growing People (vv. 17, 18)
Being an anticipator of the Second Coming means being a growing people. In light of all the errors he’s exposed, he says negatively: therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability (v. 17). The lawless people are the false teachers who deny the Second Coming and scoffers who say it isn’t coming. Don’t be carried away by them, but be rooted in the certainty of Jesus’ coming that we saw in chapter 1. In contrast, positively: grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (v. 18) by repenting, living holy lives, and looking forward.
Conclusion
2 Peter. What a little letter about Jesus and his coming again! We come its end, which is a good thing for us: to him [our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ] be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. And all of God’s people say, “Amen!”