Monday: The Scoffers
After seeking to make his readers “mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour” (2 Pet. 3:2), Peter gets into his specific warning. Perhaps, knowing how dangerous this teaching would be, he sought to impress upon it the authority with which he was writing.
Read 2 Peter 3:3-4. What arguments will skeptics of Christ’s return advance?
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There’s an important similarity between those who promoted false liberty and those who were expressing skepticism about the Second Coming. The first group walked “according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness” (2 Pet. 2:10, NKJV); meanwhile, those who were denying the return of Christ were those who were “walking according to their own lusts” (2 Pet. 3:3, NKJV). (It’s not just a coincidence that sinful passions can lead to false teachings, is it?)
The scoffers, he warned, will ask the pointed question, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Pet. 3:4). In doing so, they will challenge the long-standing belief of Christians that Jesus will return to this earth, and soon. After all, especially because he is talking about the last days, these scoffers will bring up the undeniable reality that many Christians have died, and things do indeed continue to go on as they always have.
On the surface, it’s not an unreasonable question. Even holy Enoch, Ellen G. White wrote, saw that the righteous and the wicked “would go to the dust together, and that this would be their end” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 85), and he was troubled by it. If even Enoch, who lived before the Flood, struggled with this question, how much more so those living during the thousands of years afterward, and even down to the “last days”?
And what about us today, as Seventh-day Adventists? Our very name promotes the idea of Christ’s second advent. And yet, He still has not come. And yes, we do face the scoffers, just as Peter had predicted we would.
| In your own faith experience, how do you deal with the fact that Christ has not returned yet? Bring your answer to class on Sabbath. |
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When my children ask me why Jesus hasn't come back yet to make all things new I remind them that He is giving every possible chance for the unsaved to repent. He is patient and doesn't want anyone to perish. His delay is a sign of His great mercy and loving kindness. May we pray for the salvation of unbelieving friends and family while we wait.
The delay of our Lord is only a human perception, The Lord will arrive at his appointed time. when exactly that may be is up for Question. Though we think that there is a delay , there is none. for we know he is not slack as we count slackness and his ways are not ours, We should be Diligent to be found by him in peace, without spot and blameless, ( not knowingly or willingly sinning) and to always expect his return to be soon and not late. if we say he is delaying his return then we become scoffers. for our lord will not be delaying his return. As we know that the 7th day is the Sabbath our Lord will not work on the Sabbath.
Robert, I agree that God's plans are not delayed. If we think we can delay His second coming by our laziness or lack of readiness we are sadly wrong. He is coming when He is coming. It is not for us to know when that is until after the close of our probation. Our human nature is not compatible with knowing when the time of His coming is and He knows that. He wants us to be honest with our conversion and live every day in His Spirit walking with Him continually. Watch and pray always. Be ready at all times to meet your Maker.
Let's not get upset with one another for not working hard enough and delaying His coming. Let's not think we have that kind of power to control Him and change His plans. He has always known when He is coming back and He will be here as planned with no haste and no delay just as He did the first time. We are not to know the day nor the hour this time. It is important to us to stay ready. It will make our life better to do so and we will be more likely to actually be ready if we stay ready and continually allow Him to develop His character in us.
Why not make the choice to give all our heart to Him all the time? It is our witness of living not our words that preaches the most powerful sermon to the world.
His delay as many of us put is to me means His LOVE for us. He wants to loose none of His dear children to the enemy and so He is patiently waiting/giving each one more time than we can imagine to make the right decision. His patience means salvation, he loves to save us.
I reconciled my Lord's delay by remembering what Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9 (a topic that we probably will discuss in Tuesday's lesson), "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." This is a very good reason for the Lord to delay His Second Coming.
Imagine that you have two sons, and you are going on a very important family trip by boat. You inform each son what time the boat will be departing. One of your sons has arrived on time, but the other one has not arrived yet. Will you not try to talk to the captain of the boat, in order to delay his departure to give your other son a little more time to make it? Sure you would!
That's just a short story about delay; it doesn't began to compare to the reason for our Lord's delay. He is waiting for someone to surrender their all to Him, and be truly converted, whether that person is a new Christian or someone that has been in the knowledge of Jesus for over 30 years. The disciples walked with Jesus (walk with God) for 3 and a half years, unconverted. It wasn't until after they received the Holy Spirit that they willingly surrendered all to Jesus, and was converted. They give up everything to spread the Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ alone, to every known country at that time. They give up their families (they rarely saw their families because they were always on evangelism trips), they give up their jobs (they eat whatever their host feed them), and they give up their own desires to spread God's word. Jesus is waiting for some of us, who have the Good News, to surrender our lives completely to Him. Let's surrender our ALL to Him today!
Was there a DELAY to JESUS FIRST COMING? Absolutely not! In that same way, THERE WILL BE NO DELAY IN HIS SECOND COMING! AMEN!
I totally agree with Cayla. I have been reminded of this scripture many times:
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2Peter 3:9
Scoffers make a mock of sin;they walk after their own lusts, and follow the desires of their own selfish hearts. They mock the coming of the Lord because of their determination to lead self-indulgent lives. The scoffers and false teachers mentioned earlier are thereby tied together in an umbilical cord of rebellion, deception and destruction. Incidentally this scoffing had been predicted by the apostles in (see 2 Timothy. 3:1f, James 5:3, Jude 18). They laugh at the very mention of His second coming. They mockingly ask, "Where is the promise of His coming?" To this they add that since their fathers fell asleep all things have remained the same since the beginning of the creation, v. 4. Peter pointedly rebuts this argument by reminding us all that a supernatural event which came suddenly and unexpectedly upon the world during the Flood will be followed by fire as God's the destructive force when sin will be finally expunged. The fire will be as literal as the water was durjng the Flood. And so he points to the change which God had before brought upon the world, and which these scoffers had overlooked; and now we are to think about. The apostle says of the heavens and the earth are going to be destroyed by fire on the day of judgment. Thus the final dissolution of the world and sin will be.
E. G. White makes it clear the delay is the church's fault as it has not sent the Gospel into the WHOLE World.
http://www.whiteestate.org/issues/delay.html
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1988/02/have-we-delayed-the-advent