0Second Epistle of Peter
SCOFFERS
Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 3:3 (KJV)
The apostle warns his readers, as well as us, to expect scoffers. Not all will accept the Gospel; some will turn away with a sneer. The reason for this is that they are not ready to give up their life of lust. As an excuse for sin they belittle and ridicule Christianity.
"Knowing this first"
Peter did not want his readers to live under the false impression that they would have an easy time without opposition and ridicule. The expression, "knowing this first" indicates that he thought it important that they be warned of these things. It is often said, "To be forewarned is to be forearmed."
"in the last days"
Sometimes the expression "the last days" refers to this whole dispensation from the cross to the second coming of Christ. This is apparently so in Acts 2:17 and Hebrews 1:2. Other places, such as 2 Timothy 3:1-5, it no doubt refers to the end of the age, "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud" etc. Perhaps Peter had the end of this age in mind. He speaks of the coming of Christ in the next verse and of judgment which is to come. At the same time, it is true that there have been scoffers in every age, from Christ's time down to the present day. Peter's knowledge of conditions in the last days and the judgment to follow indicate that he was inspired of the Lord in his writings.
"scoffers"
The Revised Version reads, "mockers shall come with mockery." It has been suggested that these mockers mocked at everything. Our next verse indicates that they especially mocked at the promise of the coming again of our Lord Jesus. There were mockers even in Old Testament times (Ps. 1:1; 12:4; Prov. 1:22; Is. 28:14).
Because of their sin many hate the Gospel. They want to live without any restraint, so some ridicule the very thought that God exists. They certainly do not want to believe that He will bring them into judgment, so they ridicule anything which suggests that He might. Having no sound logic to refute it, they turn to ridicule and scoffing.
The scorn of the mocker has often had serious effects. It has caused some to fall away from the faith in these last days. It is often difficult for weak ones to withstand the profane witticisms of mockers, so they surrender. Others dread trusting and obeying Christ because they realize they will or could likely be targets of scorners. If a Christian fails, he is immediately made the butt of the mocker's ridicule, so let us all beware and walk closely with our Lord lest we give occasion to mock.
To deride Christ and His coming again is a serious offense. To deride a Christian for his faith is not only rude, but it is cruel and inhuman. Such are enemies of righteousness and the welfare of humanity. They are the chief instruments in the hands of the wicked one. The Word of God calls them fools, "Fools make a mock at sin" (Prov. 14:9). Since they have served Satan so well, these mockers need expect nothing better than to share his judgment. In hell there will be no saints on whom to heap their scorn. Not one flash of light will for a moment relieve the darkness of eternal night.
"walking after their own lusts"
Those who scorn the things of God are usually the ones who walk "after their own lusts." Scoffing and evil living go together. In fact, it is because the Gospel condemns their evil living that many deride and scoff at it. This is perhaps the main reason why some hate Christ, the Bible and Christians. These mockers say, "We will say what we please, we will mock if we want to; no one can stop us and we will continue sneering at the thought of Christ coming to punish us." "Our lips are our own: who is Lord over us" (Ps. 12:4). "We will live as we please, too, and tolerate no interference."
Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 3:43 (KJV)
This verse tells us that the special point of attack of scoffers will be the coming again of Christ. As a proof for their argument they use unchangeableness of nature. They say, "There have been no changes in things since we can remember and since the time our fathers can remember, and we do not believe there will be any changes in the near future."
"where is the promise of His coming?"
Peter wrote his epistle some 30 years after the ascension of Christ. The early Christians believed that Christ would soon come back again, and told everyone what they believed. No doubt they also told of the judgment which was to follow this coming. Perhaps some who heard them said, "All you talk about is Christ coming back again. If He is coming back again, why doesn't He come? We do not believe He is coming back at all." It is now over 2000 years later and still He has not returned. So naturally we continue to hear the same kind of scoffing. One man was heard to say, "The coming again of Christ is all I have heard since I was a boy and still he has not come." But this very statement helps to strengthen a Christian's believe that Christ will soon come, because Peter says, "There shall come in the last days scoffers...saying where is the promise of his coming?"
Even in Old Testament times many ridiculed the prophetic statements of the servants of the Lord. "Behold they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now" (Jer. 17:15). "They say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw night and come, that we may know it!" (Is. 5:19). "Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are afar off" (Ez. 12:27). No doubt when Noah built the ark many laughed and ridiculed saying, "Noah you had a nightmare, the flood will never come;" but it came. Even so, mockers still say, "Christ will never come," but He will.
One of the greatest events to ever happen in the history of this world was when a baby was born in a Bethlehem stable. This was the Creator of heaven and earth paying us a visit. "The dayspring from on high hath visited us" (Luke 1:78). The Lord came, but sorry to say, men despised and rejected Him, and nailed Him to an accursed cross. He came in humility with His glory veiled so that by dying He might be made an atonement for our sins. He is coming back again, but this next time it will be different. He will come in great power and glory. He will come to judge this whole world, and none will be able to resist Him.
The coming again of our Lord Jesus is certain. The New Testament abounds with references to this fact. He says Himself in John 14:2, 3, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Then again in Acts 1:11, immediately after His ascension, angels tell the disciples, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." The very last promise of the New Testament is, "Surely I come quickly" (Rev. 22:20). He will keep His word.
Let us briefly note some things concerning His coming. Notice John 14:1-3, where the Lord speaks of going to heaven. He tells how He will there prepare a place for His own, and then come again to take them to heaven to forever be with Him. More is told of His coming in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, where it says that the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, the dead in Christ shall rise from their graves, and the living saints shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord, not on the earth, but in the air. Apparently at this time all dead and living saints will be caught up to heaven to be with the Lord. The parable of ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13 may teach the same thing. There we find the five wise virgins at His coming taken into the marriage supper in Revelation 19:7-10, where the church is united to Christ in a special way.
Immediately following the account in Revelations 19 of the marriage supper, we read of the Lord's coming in power and glory to judge. This aspect of His coming is the one most often referred to in the New Testament. In Revelations 19:11-16, we see Him riding on a white horse and the armies of heaven following Him. These armies could perhaps be the same saints who were at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelations 19:8 especially emphasizes that "the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Both the bride of Revelations 19:8 and the armies of Revelations 19:14 are arrayed in this fine linen. Zechariah 14:5 tells us that when He comes He will have all His saints with Him. Notice Matthew 25:31, 32, where it tells of His coming in glory and how He shall sit on the throne of His glory, and how all the nations shall be called before Him to be judged of Him. Perhaps you may not fully agree with all these thoughts regarding the coming events, but perhaps we can agree that whatever actually does happen, His second coming will be a most glorious and wonderful time for Christians, both living and dead.
Many in Peter's day did not believe these promises concerning Christ's coming. Many in our day also disbelieve them. They reason He is not coming because He has not come, as though delaying the promise means it will not be kept. The main trouble was this: they did not want to believe and in order to bolster their unbelief and shake true Christians they mocked the promise of His coming. Sorry to say, some in pulpits today do not believe these promises either. Some with the wicked servant of Matthew 24:28 say, "My
Lord delayeth His coming."
There are many evidences that the coming of the Lord is close. Let us consider a few suggestive thoughts. Study the condition of the world as the Word of God pictures it just before the coming of the Lord and you will find our age fits (Matt. 24:4-12; Dan. 12:4; etc.). At Christ's coming the Jews will be back in the land, as we find them today (Is. 27:12, 13; 11:10-16). The church is certainly in a lukewarm state as is pictured in the Laodicean Church in Revelations 3:14-19. Could this possibly be a picture of the last condition of the church before Christ's coming? "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
The coming of the Lord is not something to be dreaded by true Christians. For one who loves the Lord and walks with Him, it will be a time of great blessing and reward. It is pictured as the hope of the church. However, for the unsaved it will be a time of judgment. We should always warn the unsaved to flee to Christ before he rises from His seat and shuts the door (Luke 13:25). For those outside it will be a time of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Luke 13:38). Remember, His coming will be sudden, as a thief in the night.
"since the fathers fell asleep"
When speaking of "the fathers", these scoffers may have been thinking of the Old Testament prophets who prophesied concerning the day of the Lord. They may have said, "The prophets who spoke of the coming of the Lord have been dead a long time, but the day is still not here; we do not believe it will come at all." Some have questioned whether these scoffers were Jewish, and so rather than thinking of the Old Testament fathers they suggest that they may have meant the apostles and other Christian workers who had died or their immediate ancestors, i.e., "Ever since grandfather can remember and his parents could remember, there have been no great changes in the world and we do not believe the Lord is coming."
"fell asleep"
"Sleep" was a common way of picturing death in New Testament times. The Lord says, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth" (John 11:11). We have it also in 1 Corinthians 11:30 and 1
Thessalonians 4:13, 14, etc. "Sleep" speaks only of the body, never the spirit. Paul says, "Absent from the body...present with Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8; also Phil. 1:21-23).
"all things continue as they were"
There seems to be no change in natural things. Day follows night with exact precision, and we have the same with the seasons – spring follows winter and summer follows spring. It is a good thing that this is so or we would not be able to plan. The farmer would not know when to plow or plant. The scoffers of our chapter were using this unchangeableness of nature as an excuse for unbelief. They were arguing, "Nothing unusual has happened down the years so nothing unusual will happen.
Materialists abound today. They talk of nature's fixed and settled laws. A scientist once said there had been no change in the magnetism of the world for 1,500,000 years. He said the rocks proved it. Of course he was insinuating, like our scoffers, that no change was likely to happen soon, if ever. If there is a God at all, they sometimes say, He only works along the lines of natural law. According to them, He could not intercede in a special way in His own world.
Many try to prove by scientific research that various Bible statements are not true. Darwin's writings have caused many to determine that it is unscholarly and a manifestation of ignorance to believe the Holy Bible. However, from time to time the Bible wins the argument. Occasionally, scientific research seems to prove the Bible to be true rather than untrue.
In spite of the many miraculous things in nature, some do not believe the Bible miracles. This seems strange because the world is filled with so many miracles, not the least being the human body. With that some unbeliever might say, "I'm no miracle; I was once an egg and now I'm a man." But isn't that a miracle? Isn't the human body one of the greatest miracles?
Some reason that things are only miraculous when they are above the realm of the natural. Some think that if there ever was anything super-natural, it has now been done away with forever. They argue that since there are no miracles today, there will be none in the future. Could it be that God has purposely eliminated to a great extent the super-natural because He desires that we live by faith, not by sight? However, this does not mean that God cannot at any time do what He desires in this world.
No doubt the early Christians preached judgment in connection with the coming again of our Lord Jesus, and there will surely be judgment meted out to His enemies at that time. To prophesy judgment is especially distasteful to the unsaved. When Lot came to his sons-in-law they scoffed at his statement that Sodom was to be destroyed (Gen. 19:14). Noah's hearers probably did the same upon his predictions of the flood. When sinners are warned today the result is often the same. They often say, "Judgment has not come and it will not come." They willfully forget what happened to Nineveh, Babylon, Sodom and Gomorrah. God has brought judgments in the past and He will do so again in the future.
There is no excuse for modern man to say that there have been no changes in nature since creation. There are evidences all about us that there have been many and great geological changes in the world. Geologists claim that at one time Lake Erie was a river, that its course is easily discernible in the lake bottom. This river entered Lake Ontario near where Hamilton, Ontario is now located. Some mighty upheaval caused this river to be dammed, forming Lake Erie. The water kept rising until it started spilling over near what is now Lewiston, N.Y. Is it possible that the flood caused this upheaval? The Niagara River could have easily carved out its gorge since the time of the flood.
They also say that Lake Chatauqua in New York State was once a river which flowed toward Lake Erie. Now it is a lake which gives rise to a river which flows into the Allegheny, thus to the Ohio, then the Mississippi, and finally to the Gulf of Mexico. Could the flood be responsible for this as well? We certainly cannot say that all things have continued "as they were from the beginning of the creation."
It has long been a mystery why the extinct mammoth elephants could be found so well preserved in North Eastern Siberia. They are found frozen in this country. They must have quickly frozen and never thawed out again to be so perfectly preserved for perhaps thousands of years. Undigested food has been found in their stomachs, showing they lived on grasses now far removed from that climate. Obviously, there must have been a sudden and great change, from a mild to an extremely cold climate.
Science teaches that at one time the northeastern section of America was covered with ice the year round. It is called the ice age – a great climatic change. Fossils of delicate, warm-climate ferns have been discovered in Alaska.
What brought about these great changes? Scientist have stated that more than likely at one time the North Pole was situated some 20 degrees off its present location, perhaps on the eastern edge of Greenland. If this change happened suddenly it would account for the frozen elephants in northeastern Siberia as well as the fern fossils in Alaska. It would also account for the ice age in northeastern North America and elsewhere. Since creation there have been great changes and we need not question the Word of God when it says there will be more.
"from the beginning of the creation"
Some scoffers say, "All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." We must give them credit for at least believing in creation, and thus in a Creator. While some admit there is an unseen power in the universe, they do not believe in the God of the Bible. As we know, many do not believe in a creation at all, perhaps because of the theory of evolution.
