The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all shouldcome to repentance.
As Peter concludes his last epistle, he does so with the goal of stirring up within each of us a "pure mind." He does that by bringing some things to our attention from what the prophets wrote, what the apostles taught, and the words of Jesus.
Then Peter warns us of what the last days will be like. They will be days when people will be scoffers, denying the promise of the Second Coming, verse 3. They will say, "Where is the promise of His coming?
Peter then talks about three additional events in history that those who deny the Lord's return to earth will also deny. Verses 4-7 discuss the Creation, how God brought the heavens and earth and all that is in them into existence. These same deniers will reject the historical fact of a worldwide flood and the earth-wide results of that flood.
The Biblical truth that judgment is coming, even on the heavens and the earth, which will both be burned up, will also be rejected which is a natural for someone who rejects what God did in Creation and as a result of the Flood.
Peter used the term, "willingly ignorant" to describe these deniers. I like the statement, "they will be dumb on purpose," better. That term fits people who reject the Lord and what He has done and will do. It is "on purpose" when someone will reject the Lord.
By the way, notice that these people are "deniers", verse 3, because they are "walking after their own lusts." Peter's description of the last days fits the description of the days we are living in now. There are many in the world that are "walking after their own lust." But there are many in the "church" that are also walking after their own lust today.
Today there are those that name the name of Christ and yet are walking after those same lusts that led them astray before their salvation experience. This is really evidence that the Rapture could take place very soon and it could be near to the time that the Lord could come back.
However, Peter reminds us of the reason the Lord has not yet come even though it seems like this is the time for His return. Look at verse 9 for that reason. Jesus is not willing that any should perish but all should come to Him for salvation. However, the Lord will only wait so long.
I do hope that this devotional for today did accomplish Peter's desire to stir up our minds to be pure and eagerly await His shout for us to join Him in the heavenlies.
PRAYER THOT: Help me, dear Lord, to lead others to You for salvation as I wait for Your soon return.
Peter is near the end of his many years of ministry when he writes II Peter and is working to "stir up" our memories, II Peter 1:5, and also our pure minds, II Peter 3:1. In chapter 1, Peter calls for us to remember that we have a “sure word of prophecy”, verse 19. In chapter 3, Peter “stirs up our pure minds” as we remember the truths of Bible prophecy, verse 2.
In chapter 2 and especially the portion of the chapter for our extended reading, we are “warned about false teachers”. In many locations in the New Testament we are warned about false teachers. My concern for believers today is that they do not heed these warnings and they remain under the teachings of these false teachers.
Dear friend, you stay under false teaching and false teachers to your own peril. Do not judge a church by the “personality of the pastor”, but instead by the “doctrine of the deacons”. The main ministry of the local church is to protect its people from false teaching.
Peter then gives us a warning about “judgment to come”. The Lord will judge the angels, those in the abyss, the tartaros. He will also judge the whole world as He did in the days of Noah and Lot, verses 5-6. As we wade through these waves of deception and destruction, we walk ashore on deliverance.
Praise the Lord. He knows how to deliver us and will do so. He will deliver all of those made godly by His work on the cross and His resurrection. Our Lord will keep us from the temptation, the testing that is ahead.
During the 7-year Tribulation period of testing here on the earth, we will be celebrating a “marriage” in the heavenlies. We, as the “bride of Christ”, will be married to the bridegroom, Jesus himself.
There is a parallel passage to Peter's message, written by John, a longtime friend. John says in Revelation 3:10 that the Lord will "keep us from" not "take us out of" the testing of the judgment ahead.
Of course, the process of deliverance from this coming testing is the Rapture of the Church. This Rapture of the Church could happen at any time, even today so keep looking up until.
PRAYER THOT: Thank you, dear Lord, for your promise of deliverance from the terrible Tribulation Period yet to come.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.
Peter, as he writes what many call his “swan song”, reveals to the reader of his letter a message for those of us living in the last days. It is a letter that states the ground rules for the prophets used down through the centuries.
Peter says the written word, God's prophetic passages, are better than even an eyewitness account of an event,verses 16-18. That “more sure word of prophecy” is the Bible itself. We must only study the prophetic passages found between Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21. This is the inspired word of God. Any other prophecy from man today is of “another spirit” not the Holy Spirit.
Peter's exhortation to us is to study God's prophetic scriptures, which takes up about 30 percent of the entire Bible. He says that we "do well to take heed" to this word "as a light that shineth in a dark place",verse 19.
The reason Biblical prophecy is to be studied and will be to our benefit to do so is because it did not come to its written form by the will of man but "holy men" of God "wrote as the Holy Spirit inspired, breathed into them" what to write,verse 21.
The key to understanding the whole of God's prophetic word is found inverse 20. The phrase "no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation" is an essential in any deep study of Bible prophecy.
There are 17 Old Testament books that are essentially exclusively “prophetic” in nature. The book of Revelation in the New Testament is “prophetic” along with portions of all New Testament books with the exception of Philemon.
To read and study all of these books - not one passage in any of the prophetic books can contradict the other. They must all fit like a “hand in a glove” in perfect harmony. This principle will assist your study of prophecy as we realize even though we are studying books from a number of sources there is only one writer - the Holy Spirit of God.
We must now begin the study of this "sure word of prophecy" and continue our study "until the day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts,"verse 19. That, of course, is the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
PRAYER THOT: Help me to take heed to this “more sure word of prophecy” as I wait the Lord's coming.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.
Peter, as he writes what many call his "swan's song", reveals to the reader of his letter a message for those of us living in the last days. It is a letter that states the ground rules for the prophets used down through the centuries.
Peter says the “written word”, God's prophetic passages, are better than even an eyewitness account of an event,verses 16-18. That “more sure word of prophecy” is the Bible itself.
We must only study the prophetic passages found betweenGenesis 1:1andRevelation 22:21. This is the inspired word of God. Any other prophecy from man today is of another spirit not the Holy Spirit.
Peter's exhortation to us is to study God's prophetic scriptures, which takes up about 30 percent of the entire Bible. He says that we "do well to take heed" to this word "as a light that shineth in a dark place",verse 19.
The reason Biblical prophecy is to be studied and will be to our benefit to do so is because it did not come to its written form by the will of man but holy men of God "wrote as the Holy Spirit inspired, breathed into them" what to write, verse 21.
The key to understanding the whole of God's prophetic word is found inverse 20. The phrase "no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation" is an essential in any deep study of Bible prophecy.
There are 17 Old Testament books that are essentially exclusively prophetic in nature. The book of Revelation in the New Testament is prophetic along with portions of all New Testament books with the exception of Philemon. To read and study all of these books - not one passage in any of the prophetic books can contradict the other. They must all fit like a “hand in a glove” in perfect harmony. This principle will assist your study of prophecy as we realize even though we are studying books from a number of sources there is only one writer - the Holy Spirit of God.
We must now begin of this "sure word of prophecy" and continue our study "until the day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts,"verse 19. That, of course, is the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
PRAYER THOT: Help me to take heed to this “more sure word of prophecy” as I wait the Lord's coming.
The disciple that followed Jesus Christ for three and a half years learning as he journeyed through Israel with the Master, the Messiah, the Apostle Peter finally learned how to be a true "servant" of the Lord.
In the first verse of Peter's second letter, this arrogant, loud-mouthed, mean, tough fisherman realized he was to be a “servant," a bondservant of Jesus Christ.
Notice in Peter's first letter,I Peter 1:1, he doesn't introduce himself as a servant but as an "apostle." This second letter was written not long before Peter's death and he knew that it was close, verse 14, and with that knowledge he could see things the way they really were, he was simply a "servant".
Peter tells us how "grace and peace" could be multiplied unto us through our knowledge of God the Father and Jesus the Son, our Lord. By that same knowledge, we also receive "all things that pertain unto life and godliness,"verse 3.
This chapter, our extended reading, contains "Biblical mathematics." "Multiplication" is found inverse 2,"addition" is found inverses 5-7. Notice that because we are "partakers of the divine nature,"verse 4, we can start with "faith" and then add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and finally we can add to all of the above "love."
Let's look at Peter's purpose for this letter, II Peter 1:12-15. He wants us to "remember." Peter says he will not be negligent but instead will put us in "remembrance" of the things he had just written to us.
Peter says, verse 13, he will "stir up our remembrance" so that after his death, we who read his letter might "remember" these great truths. In chapter 3 of II Peter, the apostle reveals the way he will stir up our "remembrance" is by the words of the "holy prophets", the writings of the "apostles" and the words spoken by "Jesus Christ."
Peter's second letter is the "how to's" for living in the End Times. Read these words and “remember” them for the way ahead, until He comes.
PRAYER THOT: Help me, Lord, to remember Your Word so that I will be stirred up to action in these the last days.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
As we enter this brand new year we have a clean slate on which to place our mark that will impact the world. The very best we can do with this exciting opportunity is to move through these next 365 days directed by God’s Word.
I believe a knowledge of God’s prophetic plan for the future will enhance our prospects for being successful in our adventure to serve Him each and every day of this coming year.
Our extended devotional reading for today speaks to some issues that must direct our path through this year, and in fact through all the days that the Lord allows us to have on this earth before He calls us to join Him in the air, at the Rapture.
In prospective, this first day of a new year reminds us that another day brings us another year. In the mind of Jesus it's only been several days, verse 8, since He promised to return to set up His kingdom, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
There is only one reason that Jesus has not returned to gather us to Himself with His shout, the shout of the archangel and with the sound of the trump of God, calling us to join Him in the heavenlies. At which time we'll be “caught up” to be with Him forever.
There is only one reason He hasn't called for us to join Him and that is because our Lord and Saviour is not willing that any should perish, but wants all of humankind to come to Him as their Saviour, verse 9.
Let me draw your attention to several other truths that this passage presents for us to “remember”. Verse 4 speaks of those in the last days who will question the “coming of the Lord back to the earth”.
The previous verse, verse 3, tells us why they will doubt that the Lord will come again to be among us, because they will be “scoffers, walking after their own lusts”. This statement is referring to both lost people as well as those who may be Christians, not in good fellowship with the Lord.
Verse 5 says there will be people, “willfully ignorant” of the fact that Jesus created all things, Colossians 1:16. In other words, they will be “dumb on purpose” of the Lord’s work. Verse 6 states that they will deny the “world-wide flood” and verse 7 reveals their denial of a “coming judgment day”.
These thoughts must be in our memory as we enter this “new year”. Also, as we see current events in today’s world setting the stage for all of Bible prophecy to be fulfilled, we must understand that Jesus is only delaying His return because of the lost people that He wants to see get saved.
When that last one that Jesus knows will get saved, when that one receives Him, then the shout will come for us to join Him in the air. That could happen at any moment. In fact, the truth be known, each of us could hasten the coming of Jesus Christ.
In the context of verse 12, if we are winning people to Jesus Christ, that will hasten His return. What a great goal for this New Year, winning people to Jesus and at the same time hastening His return.
Remember, everything else we do in our daily activities will be “burned up” one day, verses 10 and 11. A great plan for this coming year would be to work to “hasten His return”.
PRAYER THOT: Dear Lord, please help me to remember the things I should as I eagerly await Your shout for me to join you in the heavenlies and help me to win lost people to You, to hasten your return.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all shouldcome to repentance.
As Peter concludes his last epistle, he does so with the goal of stirring up within each of us a "pure mind." He does that by bringing some things to our attention from what the prophets wrote, what the apostles taught, and the words of Jesus.
Then Peter warns us of what the last days will be like. They will be days when people will be scoffers, denying the promise of the Second Coming, verse 3. They will say, "Where is the promise of His coming?
Peter then talks about three additional events in history that those who deny the Lord's return to earth will also deny. Verses 4-7 discuss the Creation, how God brought the heavens and earth and all that is in them into existence. These same deniers will reject the historical fact of a worldwide flood and the earth-wide results of that flood.
The Biblical truth that judgment is coming, even on the heavens and the earth, which will both be burned up, will also be rejected which is a natural for someone who rejects what God did in Creation and as a result of the Flood.
Peter used the term, "willingly ignorant" to describe these deniers. I like the statement, "they will be dumb on purpose," better. That term fits people who reject the Lord and what He has done and will do. It is "on purpose" when someone will reject the Lord.
By the way, notice that these people are deniers, verse 3, because they are "walking after their own lusts." Peter's description of the last days fits the description of the days we are living in now. There are many in the world that are "walking after their own lust." But there are many in the "church" that are also walking after their own lust today.
Today there are those that name the name of Christ and yet are walking after those same lusts that led them astray before their salvation experience. This is really evidence that the Rapture could take place very soon and it could be near to the time that the Lord could come back.
However, Peter reminds us of the reason the Lord has not yet come even though it seems like this is the time for His return. Look at verse 9 for that reason. Jesus is not willing that any should perish but all should come to Him for salvation. However, the Lord will only wait so long.
I do hope that this devotional for today did accomplish Peter's desire to stir up our minds to be pure and eagerly await His shout for us to join Him in the heavenlies.
PRAYER THOT: Help me, dear Lord, to lead others to You for salvation as I wait for Your soon return.
Peter is near the end of his many years of ministry when he writes II Peter and is working to "stir up" our memories, II Peter 1:5, and also our pure minds, II Peter 3:1. In chapter 1, Peter calls for us to remember that we have a “sure word of prophecy”, verse 19. In chapter 3, Peter “stirs up our pure minds” as we remember the truths of Bible prophecy, verse 2.
In chapter 2 and especially the portion of the chapter for our extended reading, we are “warned about false teachers”. In many locations in the New Testament we are warned about false teachers. My concern for believers today is that they do not heed these warnings and they remain under the teachings of these false teachers.
Dear friend, you stay under false teaching and false teachers to your own peril. Do not judge a church by the “personality of the pastor”, but instead by the “doctrine of the deacons”. The main ministry of the local church is to protect its people from false teaching.
Peter then gives us a warning about “judgment to come”. The Lord will judge the angels, those in the abyss, the tartaros. He will also judge the whole world as He did in the days of Noah and Lot, verses 5-6. As we wade through these waves of deception and destruction, we walk ashore on deliverance.
Praise the Lord. He knows how to deliver us and will do so. He will deliver all of those made godly by His work on the cross and His resurrection. Our Lord will keep us from the temptation, the testing that is ahead.
During the 7-year Tribulation period of testing here on the earth, we will be celebrating a “marriage” in the heavenlies. We, as the “bride of Christ”, will be married to the bridegroom, Jesus himself.
There is a parallel passage to Peter's message, written by John, a longtime friend. John says in Revelation 3:10 that the Lord will "keep us from" not take us out of the testing of the judgment ahead.
Of course, the process of deliverance from this coming testing is the Rapture of the Church. This Rapture of the Church could happen at any time, even today so keep looking up until.
PRAYER THOT: Thank you, dear Lord, for your promise of deliverance from the terrible Tribulation Period yet to come.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.
Peter, as he writes what many call his “swan song”, reveals to the reader of his letter a message for those of us living in the last days. It is a letter that states the ground rules for the prophets used down through the centuries.
Peter says the written word, God's prophetic passages, are better than even an eyewitness account of an event,verses 16-18. That “more sure word of prophecy” is the Bible itself. We must only study the prophetic passages found between Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21. This is the inspired word of God. Any other prophecy from man today is of “another spirit” not the Holy Spirit.
Peter's exhortation to us is to study God's prophetic scriptures, which takes up about 30 percent of the entire Bible. He says that we "do well to take heed" to this word "as a light that shineth in a dark place",verse 19.
The reason Biblical prophecy is to be studied and will be to our benefit to do so is because it did not come to its written form by the will of man but holy men of God "wrote as the Holy Spirit inspired, breathed into them" what to write,verse 21.
The key to understanding the whole of God's prophetic word is found inverse 20. The phrase "no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation" is an essential in any deep study of Bible prophecy.
There are 17 Old Testament books that are essentially exclusively “prophetic” in nature. The book of Revelation in the New Testament is “prophetic” along with portions of all New Testament books with the exception of Philemon.
To read and study all of these books - not one passage in any of the prophetic books can contradict the other. They must all fit like a “hand in a glove” in perfect harmony. This principle will assist your study of prophecy as we realize even though we are studying books from a number of sources there is only one writer - the Holy Spirit of God.
We must now begin the study of this "sure word of prophecy" and continue our study "until the day dawn and the day star arise in our hearts,"verse 19. That, of course, is the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
PRAYER THOT: Help me to take heed to this “more sure word of prophecy” as I wait the Lord's coming.
The disciple that followed Jesus Christ for three and a half years learning as he journeyed through Israel with the Master, the Messiah, the Apostle Peter finally learned how to be a true "servant" of the Lord.
In the first verse of Peter's second letter, this arrogant, loud-mouthed, mean, tough fisherman realized he was to be a “servant," a bondservant of Jesus Christ.
Notice in Peter's first letter,I Peter 1:1, he doesn't introduce himself as a servant but as an "apostle." This second letter was written not long before Peter's death and he knew that it was close, verse 14, and with that knowledge he could see things the way they really were, he was simply a "servant".
Peter tells us how "grace and peace" could be multiplied unto us through our knowledge of God the Father and Jesus the Son, our Lord. By that same knowledge, we also receive "all things that pertain unto life and godliness,"verse 3.
This chapter, our extended reading, contains "Biblical mathematics." "Multiplication" is found inverse 2,"addition" is found inverses 5-7. Notice that because we are "partakers of the divine nature,"verse 4, we can start with "faith" and then add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and finally we can add to all of the above "love."
Let's look at Peter's purpose for this letter, II Peter 1:12-15. He wants us to "remember." Peter says he will not be negligent but instead will put us in "remembrance" of the things he had just written to us.
Peter says, verse 13, he will "stir up our remembrance" so that after his death, we who read his letter might "remember" these great truths. In chapter 3 of II Peter, the apostle reveals the way he will stir up our "remembrance" is by the words of the "holy prophets", the writings of the "apostles" and the words spoken by "Jesus Christ."
Peter's second letter is the "how to's" for living in the End Times. Read these words and “remember” them for the way ahead, until He comes.
PRAYER THOT: Help me, Lord, to remember Your Word so that I will be stirred up to action in these the last days.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
As we enter this brand new year we have a clean slate on which to place our mark that will impact the world. The very best we can do with this exciting opportunity is to move through these next 365 days directed by God’s Word.
I believe a knowledge of God’s prophetic plan for the future will enhance our prospects for being successful in our adventure to serve Him each and every day of this coming year.
Our extended devotional reading for today speaks to some issues that must direct our path through this year, and in fact through all the days that the Lord allows us to have on this earth.
In prospective, this first day of a new year reminds us that another day brings us another year. In the mind of Jesus it's only been several days, verse 8, since He promised to return to set up His kingdom, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
There is only one reason that Jesus has not returned to gather us to Himself with His shout, the shout of the archangel and with the sound of the trump of God, calling us to join Him in the heavenlies. At which time we'll be “caught up” to be with Him forever.
There is only one reason He hasn't called for us to join Him and that is because our Lord and Saviour is not willing that any should perish, but wants all of humankind to come to Him as their Saviour, verse 9.
Let me draw your attention to several other truths that this passage presents for us to “remember”. Verse 4 speaks of those in the last days who will question the “coming of the Lord back to the earth”.
The previous verse, verse 3, tells us why they will doubt that the Lord will come again to be among us, because they will be “scoffers, walking after their own lusts”. This statement is referring to both lost people as well as those who may be Christians, not in good fellowship with the Lord.
Verse 5 says they will be “willfully ignorant” of the fact that Jesus created all things, Colossians 1:16. In other words, they will be “dumb on purpose” of the Lord’s work. Verse 6 states that they will deny the “world-wide flood” and verse 7 reveals their denial of a “coming judgment day”.
These thoughts must be in our memory as we enter this new year. Also, as we see current events in today’s world setting the stage for all of Bible prophecy to be fulfilled, we must understand that Jesus is only delaying His return because of the lost that He wants to get saved.
When that last one that Jesus knows will get saved, when that one receives Him, then the shout will come a for us to join Him in the air. That could happen at any moment. In fact, the truth be known, each of us could hasten the coming of Jesus Christ.
In the context of verse 12, if we are winning people to Jesus Christ, that will hasten His return. What a great goal for this new year, winning people to Jesus and at the same time hastening His return.
Remember - everything else we do will be burned up one day, verses 10 and 11, so let's work to hasten His return.
Prayer Thot: Dear Lord, please help me to remember the things I should as I eagerly await Your shout for me to join you in the heavenlies and help me to win lost people to You.
