A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): What is taking so long? Has that thought crossed your mind in relation to the second coming?

Guest (Male): God is completely outside of time. From man's perspective, we live in time, but God is outside of it. He is in eternity now. He's outside of it. We can't fully comprehend it. But from heaven's perspective, one day is as a thousand years. We're saying, "Lord, when are you coming back? It's been taking forever."

Well, it all depends on whose timetable we're talking about. From my perspective, it's been 2,000 years since Christ's death, resurrection, ascension, and His promise to return. That's a long time. But from heaven's perspective, it's actually been about two days. He's coming soon. But from heaven's perspective, God being outside of time and everything is and has been as it were, not from heaven's perspective. We're going into day three. Things are about to happen.

Guest (Male): Jesus is coming again. If you believe that, it should be seen in how you live. But not everybody believes it. In fact, some will mock and ridicule the very idea of Jesus returning and of a coming judgment. Today on A Daily Walk, we pay a visit to 2nd Peter chapter 3, one of many places in Scripture that speaks of the second coming of Christ. Pastor John Randall places special emphasis on the first ten verses.

John Randall: Second Peter chapter 3, as we consider together the Day of the Lord. Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior.

Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

One of the greatest, perhaps most incentivizing biblical truths that will make a profound impact on your life as a Christian is if you live in light of the fact of the return of Jesus Christ, if you live with eternity in your heart. Although no one knows the day or the hour, we can see the signs that Jesus gave us in His word and that the time is drawing near for the return of Christ.

The Lord has revealed to us in His word those things that will soon come to pass in this world. In 1st Thessalonians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul wrote that there was coming a day when the trumpet of God would sound and the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive and remain will be caught up, snatched away. The Latin Vulgate translation says raptured, and we will be with the Lord.

But following the rapture of the church will come a seven-year tribulation period, and a satanic one-world government and a one-world religious system will emerge and begin to temporarily rule upon the earth. A counterfeit Christ will be raised up, an Antichrist, and he will rise to power and he will be the devil incarnate.

He'll solve the Middle East crisis between Muslims and Jews. He'll actually rebuild the temple there in Jerusalem. According to the book of Daniel, he will establish a covenant with the nation of Israel for seven years. In the midst of that covenant, three and a half years in, he will go into the rebuilt temple and he will demand to be worshipped as God and he will commit what Daniel referred to, what Jesus referred to, and what the Apostle Paul referred to as the abomination that brings about desolation.

During that time, the Lord will begin to judge a Christ-rejecting world. John records in Revelation that the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, followed by the bowl judgments, will be poured out from the throne of God. These judgments will increase dramatically with intensity. At the end of that seven-year tribulation period, the Bible tells us that the nations will gather in the Valley of Jezreel for one final battle, the Battle of Armageddon.

Jesus then will come back in power and His glory, riding upon a white horse, clothed for battle. Alongside of Him will be believers, His saints. The Bible declares that with a sharp sword, it will proceed out of His mouth. In other words, He speaks a word and the battle is over. Once the battle has ended, we will then enter into the Millennial Reign of Christ where our Lord will rule and reign with a rod of iron.

Satan is bound for a thousand years. But following that Millennial Reign of Christ, Satan is released one final time and again he goes out to deceive the nations, which is followed by one final conflict. Then the devil is cast into the lake of fire. Of course, the Antichrist and the false prophet will be there. The Great White Throne Judgment will follow. Death and Hades will give up their dead, and all whose names were not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity.

John tells us then in Revelation chapter 21 and 22 that there will be a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem. He even attempts to describe what it will be like and he lists seven new things that have never been seen before. What he describes is overwhelming. There is no picture you could paint, there's no adequate words to completely articulate the wonder and the glory that awaits us, for our Lord will make all things new.

Because this is God's city, He will be dwelling in it. Many things will not be there in God's city. There will be no more sorrow, no more death, no more sin, no more pain, no more suffering or tears. All of the former things from this life are passed away. They fade from view. They're not even a memory. As wonderful as this new creation will be, the real glory of heaven is going to be seeing Jesus face to face.

They shall see His face, the Bible says, and His name shall be upon their foreheads. John tells us in 1st John chapter 3, verse 2, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Friend, that is your future. That is the hope of the believer today.

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, it hasn't entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him. With all of this knowledge, with this revelation we have received, Peter now writes concerning our responsibility, what we are to do with what we know. Being aware of the return of Jesus encourages and reminds us as a church how we are to live in light of the fact that Jesus is coming again.

I'd like to begin first of all by sharing with you number one, a reminder of the day approaching. A reminder. It says in verse 1, "Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior."

Perhaps you've heard it said that repetition is the best teacher. The Apostle Peter is repeating what he had written earlier concerning the last days in his first epistle. It's called 1st Peter. Peter had told the church to gird up the loins of their mind, to rest their hope fully upon the grace of God that would be revealed in the future.

The purpose of this reminder, he says it here again, was to stir up the mind so that they would be mindful of what was written in the Word of God. The words "stir up" mean to awaken from sleep. Some of you right now, both literally and spiritually. Peter is seeking to stimulate his brethren from the potential of spiritual sluggishness. Peter, of all people, knew what it was to nod off physically and spiritually.

He is saying by way of reminder, do not let the Lord's delay of His return cause you to fall asleep spiritually. He's saying the Lord's return is near. Have this mindset and this mentality and it will affect your conduct. It's easy. It is easy to become drowsy, to become lethargic in this world. We can become inoculated, desensitized to all that goes on around us. The truth is we need to be awakened.

There may be some this morning who find yourself slowly drifting into apathy. Subtly, it is creeping in and you have to fight, we have to battle the inclination of our flesh. It is a war, but if you are filled with the Spirit of God and armed with the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word, you will win the day. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 14, Paul said it this way: "Therefore He says, 'Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'"

Now Peter points out that it is the Scriptures that are our source and reminder concerning the coming of the Lord. Notice that he mentions here the holy prophets. Who are the holy prophets? This is a reference to Old Testament scripture. Both the major and minor prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi, there is a reminder, there is a theme that is woven throughout the Scriptures concerning the Day of the Lord.

There are moments when you find the Old Testament writers writing about something that was happening presently or in the near future and then right alongside of it in the next chapter, they're writing about something that's going to happen in the distant future that they always didn't necessarily comprehend or understand. Yet, they were writing it prophetically.

Peter says look back at the Old Testament and be reminded of all that they have said. The reminder, the words, the things that have been spoken to us concerning the return of the Lord. In addition to the Old Testament, he references the apostles, which would be a reference to the New Testament. The early church, the Bible tells us in the book of Acts, they kept themselves in the apostles' doctrine.

That is the teaching of Jesus. The things that He said, the things that the apostles were taught. 23 of the 27 books in the New Testament explicitly refer to the Lord's return. In 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are about 300 instances in which Christ's apostles make reference to His second coming. And I'd like to go through all 300 right now.

We're not going to do it, but it's there. What keeps us sharp mentally, spiritually alert, is daily being in the Scriptures and being reminded of what God promised concerning the fact that He is coming again. He says it over and over and over again. Why? Because He doesn't want us to forget. He wants us to remember. He wants us to live in light of that fact that He is coming.

The Bible is this inexhaustible resource of spiritual direction and wisdom and comfort and strength and it will take us from now until we go home to be with the Lord. How am I to live in light of what I know? There is a need to be continually reminded of the day approaching. The way that our minds are stirred is when we consistently read through the Word. Living in your Bible, then you will not forget because you are repeatedly being reminded.

Peter points out if they would keep the precious promises at the forefront of their mind and truly believe it, then the Lord would sanctify that truth, set it apart in their heart and they would live as though Jesus was coming. I don't know if you have exited this side of the building yet, but when you leave, if you go out that way or if you come in that way, there is a massive picture, a message on the side of the wall that states Jesus is coming.

Why do we say Jesus is coming? Because we don't want you to forget. When you walk in, when you walk out. That's right, that's right, He's coming. Be reminded. But even though we live with eternity in our hearts, there are many in this world, and Peter points this out, that ridicule the day that is approaching. They ridicule the day that is approaching.

Verse 3, knowing this first. Here's what you know: scoffers. Scoffers are going to come in the last days and they're going to walk according to their own lusts. This is what they're going to say: "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

Peter accurately predicted that scoffers, mockers, haters are going to come. As they were in Peter's day, so they have successors in our own day, mocking the truth of God's word concerning the return of Jesus. Why is it that they scoff? Why? He tells us why. He says here because they walk according to their own lusts. That's why. It's another way of saying they live in sin.

Why do they mock? Because of their sinful lifestyle. They don't want to believe that the Lord's coming because that would mean they'd have to change the way that they live. So they mock it, they scoff at it, and they continue to pursue the lusts of the flesh. That's why they live the way that they do. Maybe some of you, maybe some of us, at one time we were scoffers.

Christians would come to us and we'd say, "You guys are so pathetic." We'd make fun of them. Did you make fun of Christians? You just bag on them, you just give them a hard time, ask them questions that they couldn't answer. "Did Adam have a belly button? Hmm?" You know, all these kinds of deep questions that you'd ask, try to stump them. Ha ha, yeah, whatever. You made fun of them and then you got saved.

You went from being a scoffer to a believer. What a difference the Holy Spirit makes. You used to make fun of Christians and now you are one. But this mocking will only increase as the world grows darker. Did you know that it's only a sign that Jesus is—His return is even nearer than when we first believed? Men's hearts are growing increasingly cold, the Bible tells us.

Charles Spurgeon said this, I love it. He said, quote, "Every time a blasphemer opens his mouth to deny the truth of revelation, he only helps to confirm us in our conviction of the very truth which he denies. The Holy Ghost told us by the pen of Peter that it would be so." So there will be mockers. There always have been. Notice their argument: "Where's the promise? Everything's going as it's always gone. So nothing's really changed and you keep saying this and nothing's different."

This kind of rhetoric, this kind of speaking, is a belief known as uniformitarianism. That's a big word, I know. But according to uniformitarianism, it's assumed that the processes that govern nature today—and people will say, "You know Mother Nature." Can I let me just pause and say there isn't a Mother Nature. There's a Father God Creator. So stop saying that.

I always cringe when Christians say, "Well, you know Mother Nature." I'm like, no I don't. I do not know Mother Nature because she's not real. Okay? So just be mindful of that. Let me get back to my first point. They believe that the processes that govern nature today have always been the same in the past, so that the present is really the key to the past.

These scoffers, they take what is called the so-called scientific approach, examining evidence and of course drawing their conclusion. Oh, you Christians, it's so sad that you so weak-minded believing in some fairy tale of a Savior coming back. Please, that's absurd. The basis of their argument for saying things like that is nothing has changed.

It was Harry Ironside, that great commentator of the Scriptures, he said this concerning such people. They insist that there is no evidence whatever in the history of the past or in conditions prevailing at the present that indicate any fulfillment of any prophetic declaration. Though they may be wise in worldly things, they are culpably ignorant of biblical truth.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way concerning such individuals. He says this: even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they have become fools. Peter now silences the argument of the mockers by pointing out the things that they were willfully ignorant of.

First of all, they were willfully ignorant of the destruction of the earth in the past. They say nothing's ever changed. Really, it hasn't changed? Have you ever read Genesis chapter 6? Do you know what happened there? No? Well, let me tell you what happened there. There was a massive flood. The Lord had warned the people. They had lived in violence and idolatry and immorality and the wickedness of man was only evil continually, the Bible says.

One man, Noah, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And the Lord said, "I want you to build an ark." For the next 120 years, he built an ark. It had never rained. At that time as he was building, the Bible tells us in the New Testament that he was a preacher of righteousness. But people weren't believing, they weren't listening, until it rained.

Two of every animal came on. You know the story of Noah's Ark; prayerfully you know it by now. But at the end, it says that they went into this ark and of course the floods came and the waters from below and the waters from above all came together and flooded the entire world. Jesus said in Luke chapter 17 concerning this, as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.

Where they ate, they drank, they married and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. In other words, they went on like everything had always been until it rained and everything changed. Here these scoffers are saying it's never changed. Yeah, you know something? That's exactly what they said in Noah's day until it rained and they drowned.

But not only were these scoffers ignorant of the past destruction of the earth, but they were also ignorant that God is not governed by a human timetable. For in verse 8, if you look at the text, Peter reminds us here, beloved, do not forget this one thing. Obviously, the scoffers have forgotten. That with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

God is completely outside of time. From man's perspective, we live in time. But God is outside of it. He is in eternity now. He's outside of it. We can't fully comprehend it. But from heaven's perspective, one day is as a thousand years. We're saying, "Lord, when are you coming back? It's been taking forever." Well, it all depends on whose timetable we're talking about. From my perspective, it's been 2,000 years since Christ's death, resurrection, ascension, and His promise to return. That's a long time. But from heaven's perspective, it's actually been about two days. He's coming soon. But from heaven's perspective, God being outside of time and everything is and has been as it were, not from heaven's perspective. We're going into day three. Things are about to happen.

Guest (Male): Indeed they are. So we need to be living in light of the Lord's soon return. This is A Daily Walk. Today's message from John Randall called "The Day of the Lord" can be heard again at adailywalk.org or listen wherever you get your podcasts and at oneplace.com. Another way to listen to Pastor John's teachings is through our mobile app. Just do a search for Calvary South OC.

Ever feel like you're just an ordinary guy or gal? Nothing special, and wonder if God can use you? Today we'd like to offer you a great book from John MacArthur called 12 Ordinary Men. You'll discover how God used ordinary men as His disciples to change the world. The good news is He can do the same thing through you and me. You can order 12 Ordinary Men online at adailywalk.org or call us at 877-242-0828. That's 877-242-0828 and adailywalk.org.

The cost is just $12. Anything given above that amount will be put to good use and help people all over the world grow in their daily walk as they listen to these daily studies, in some cases actually enter into a relationship with Christ. You can donate online safely and securely at adailywalk.org.

Well, we say it often around here at A Daily Walk because it's true: we want to hear from you. It lets us know where the ministry is having an impact and we also love praying for our listeners. Write to Pastor John by email today at adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com.

Well, our time together sure goes by quickly, doesn't it? We'll pick up where we left off in our through the Bible study next time. This has been A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall, where you'll never have to walk alone. This program is made possible through your generosity and brought to you by Calvary South OC.