Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB00024A
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00:20 Hello, friends, and welcome to "Books of the Book."
00:23 I'm so glad you're with us to study this very interesting 00:27 and fascinating Books of 1st and 2nd Peter. 00:31 So grab a pencil, a piece of paper, 00:33 and join us as Dr. Shepherd shares some very deep insights. 00:37 Dr. Shepherd, we are talking now, of the end- Yes. 00:41 We are in 2nd Peter Chapter 3, 00:44 and Peter is talking about the end, 00:46 but he doesn't stop there, he continues talking on this- 00:50 Yeah, we noticed in verses- 00:51 we're looking at 2nd Peter Chapter 3, 00:54 and we notice in verses 1 through 7 00:56 that he addressed the false teaching of these heretics, 01:01 these false teachers they were trying 01:03 to mislead people about the second coming. 01:05 We found that he talked about protology and eschatology. 01:11 They said that, "The end's not coming 01:13 because everything's continued as it was 01:15 from the creation of the world," 01:16 and he said, "Ah, yes, let's talk about the creation." 01:19 And he goes back and says, "By the word of God, 01:21 the heavens and earth were made, by water through water, 01:24 it was also destroyed by water and God is now preserving it." 01:28 So God is intervening in history all the time 01:31 and He's now preserving it for the destruction 01:33 that will come from fire in the future. 01:35 So he agrees with them 01:37 that the past is a predictor of the future. 01:40 They just had a mistaken view about the past. 01:43 So why does he go on? 01:44 Because thinking Christians have questions. 01:49 And when false teachers come and they start raising doubts, 01:54 those doubts can kind of grow 01:56 and blossom into weeds in the Christian life. 02:01 So Peter realizes that 02:02 the Christians need to be protected by a proper teaching. 02:07 Remember, he knows he is going to die. 02:09 So he's going to pass onto them important information. 02:11 Let's read the passage, 2nd Peter 3:8-13. 02:17 "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, 02:20 that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, 02:23 and a thousand years is as a day. 02:25 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, 02:28 as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, 02:32 not willing that anyone should perish, 02:35 but that all should come to repentance. 02:37 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, 02:40 in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, 02:43 and the elements will melt with fervent heat, 02:47 but both, the earth and the works 02:49 that are in it will be burned up. 02:52 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, 02:55 what manner of persons ought you to be 02:57 in holy conduct and godliness, 03:00 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, 03:03 because of which the heavens will be dissolved, 03:06 being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 03:11 Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, 03:13 look for new heavens and a new earth 03:15 in which righteousness dwells." 03:18 Mm-hmm. Beautiful passage. 03:22 Well, in verse 8, we want to just jump right into this, 03:25 and in verse 8, we'll look at this. 03:28 He says, "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, 03:31 that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, 03:34 and a thousand years as one day." 03:36 Now, those are one of those 03:37 difficult passages to understand that- 03:40 Now remember there's no problem text in the Bible. 03:42 The text is not the problem, 03:43 our understanding of the text sometimes is. 03:46 Right. So what is the meaning then? 03:47 One day is as- One day is- 03:49 A thousand years is as a day- 03:52 Well, actually, he says, 03:53 "One day with the Lord is as a thousand years 03:56 and a thousand years is one day." 03:58 So he starts with the phrase, One day is as a thousand years. 04:03 And then he says, "A thousand years is one day." 04:05 Again, one of those nice chiasms, you know, a-b-b-a. 04:09 So certainly, this is not the idea 04:13 that one day in prophesy is equal to one thousand years. 04:16 There are some people 04:18 that want to take that idea and run with it. 04:21 The question is, "Why is that not correct?" 04:23 Well, the problem is that first of all it contradicts 04:27 the plain teaching of other places in the scripture. 04:30 Ezekiel 4:6, Numbers 14:34 tell us that, 04:34 "One day in prophesy equals one literal year." Okay. 04:39 So there's yet another problem however right here 04:42 in the text of 2nd Peter and that is, 04:45 when you just take it as some kind of indication 04:47 of what a day of prophesy might represent. 04:52 You ignore the second part of this little wisdom saying, 04:55 this aphorism but then when he says, 04:57 "A day is as a thousand years 05:01 and a thousand years is as a day." 05:04 So then we ask the question, "Why does he say this?" 05:11 Remember, he's talking about- 05:14 he's always fighting the false teachers, 05:16 and their skepticism revolved around 05:20 and focused on the second coming of Jesus. 05:22 They said, "He is not coming back. 05:24 Where is this coming that was promised?" 05:27 They're saying, "It's delayed. 05:30 It's too long. He hasn't come back yet." 05:32 Of course, we Adventists' 05:34 have heard this kind of language before. 05:37 But Peter says, "Wait a minute, let me explain this to you. 05:42 One day with the Lord is as a thousand years." 05:46 That's the first part we've got to understand. 05:48 One day is as a thousand years. 05:52 Now I don't know if you've ever read one of these books 05:55 like "The Day Kennedy Died" or something like that. 05:59 You get a book that's like 600 pages long, 06:03 and it's a 600 page book, 06:06 and it's talking about 24 hours of time. 06:10 Okay. And it's like minute by minute. 06:14 You know, just takes you through all the events. 06:17 People love these books, you know-"Oh, the details." 06:19 You know, they get to see it and everything. 06:22 Peter says that, "With the Lord-" 06:26 Now this is with our Lord, with God, 06:28 "With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years." 06:35 Well, that would mean that he knows so much about me. 06:43 He's so close to me 06:45 that he knows more about my life than I know about my life, 06:51 lots more about my life. 06:53 For me, it's just one day of time. 06:54 For him, it's a thousand years. 06:58 We have a nice term 07:00 we use in theology for this, we call it eminence. 07:04 Not spelled with an eminence with an 'i' in the middle 07:09 but that means like something's about to happen, 07:11 but eminence is the concept of God's closeness. 07:17 He's very close to you. Okay, God's eminence. 07:21 The other part of the aphorism 07:22 and that's the case for the first part of the aphorism, 07:24 the little wisdom saying. 07:26 Then the second part of the aphorism 07:28 tells us something else about God. 07:30 So the first part is, one day is as a thousand years 07:34 and a thousand years as one day, right? 07:37 So in this way, when you say a thousand years is as one day, 07:42 that makes it sound like 07:45 a thousand years goes by, it's nothing. 07:49 Doesn't weigh with him at all you know, 07:52 it's just like blinking your eyes and it's gone 07:55 Time flies. Time flies. 07:56 Yeah, with God it really does. Time flies. 07:59 A thousand years is as one day. 08:01 And so then we look back and we say, 08:03 "How long has it been since Jesus died?" 08:05 Oh, it's only just a bit. 08:06 It's been about two thousand years. 08:08 Oh, that's two days in God's perspective. 08:12 And somebody says, oh, yeah, of course, He's God. 08:15 But, you know, we don't feel that way. 08:19 You spend a long time, we're waiting, 08:20 you know, and why hasn't He come back? 08:24 Peter puts together two very interesting ideas, all right. 08:28 One day is as a thousand years tells us about God's eminence. 08:31 That's His closeness to us. 08:33 One thousand years is as one day 08:35 tells us how high He is above us. 08:38 That's His transcendence. He's far above us. 08:41 He's much greater than we can ever understand 08:44 and so He is the almighty above all of time, right? 08:49 So, we actually need 08:52 both, His eminence and His transcendence. 08:56 His eminence tells us 08:58 that He is close to us in our troubles. 09:00 If all we had were His transcendence, 09:03 we'd say, "Ah, yes, but He's God. 09:06 And He's faraway. He doesn't understand us." 09:08 If all we had was His eminence, 09:11 we wouldn't understand how powerful He is. 09:13 How He is the almighty. How He is above everything. 09:16 So we need both of these ideas put together. 09:20 His eminence warms our hearts 09:23 and tells us that He is with us even now. 09:26 Even when we may have doubts and discouragement, 09:30 His transcendence tells us that He's in-charge, 09:33 and we can trust our lives 09:35 to the hand that guides the universe. 09:38 You see, when you get down to the real question 09:40 about the second coming of Jesus, 09:42 it's not a question as much of what as it is of who? 09:50 Jesus said in John 14:3, 09:54 "If I go and prepare a place for you, 09:57 I will most certainly come again and receive you unto Myself, 10:02 that where I am, there you may be also." 10:07 So the question is, "Do you trust this man?" 10:11 He made this promise, you see. 10:13 He said, "I'm coming back." 10:15 And we can trust His hand, a hand that guides the universe, 10:19 that one who is close to us and yet far above us. 10:22 It's a beautiful little picture. 10:24 Now is God or Jesus delaying in coming back, 10:27 verse 9 says that, "The Lord is not slack." 10:31 Or I think your version says, "Slow." 10:33 Why does Peter say that "God is not slow?" 10:37 "The Lord is not slow 10:38 to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, 10:41 but is patient towards you not wishing that any should perish, 10:45 but that all should come to reach repentance." 10:48 Okay. The Lord is not slow. 10:51 I have a sermon I preach about this, 10:53 I call it, God is not slow, He is slow. 10:57 And people say, " What?" 10:58 But that helps them come to church, you know, so- 11:01 They say, "what does he mean by that?" 11:03 I've got to go find out. Okay. 11:04 We want curiosity to bring people to church. 11:07 We should choose-we should make 11:09 our programs or presentations sparky and interesting, 11:12 and strike people's curiosity. 11:15 When they leave church in the morning 11:17 and they say to you, "Pastor, that was interesting. 11:20 I learned something I didn't know before." 11:22 Guess what? They'll come back. 11:25 They'll come back because they're curious 11:27 and some people might say, "Ah, curiosity, 11:32 that's a terrible reason to come to church. 11:36 Well, I'm afraid God has no shame. 11:39 He is glad if people come for- 11:41 even the wrong reasons to come into His house 11:43 because there they will hear the gospel, okay. 11:46 Now, the false teachers suggest that Christ is not coming back. 11:51 It's been too long, they say. 11:54 Now this suggests that there actually was 11:55 a lively expectation of Jesus return in the first century, 11:59 but as time went by, people began to question 12:02 the promise that Jesus had made. 12:04 It probably sounds familiar to us as Seventh-day Adventist. 12:09 People will say, "Are you people still teaching 12:11 that Jesus is coming again soon?" 12:13 And you know what the answer is, "Yes, we are. 12:17 Yes, we are." Jesus is coming back. 12:20 Jesus told the story about this in fact 12:22 over in the Book of Luke 18:1-8. 12:28 Luke 18:1-8, read these verses. 12:35 "Then He spoke a parable to them, 12:37 that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 12:39 saying, "There was in a certain city 12:41 a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 12:45 Now there was a widow in that city 12:48 and she came to him, saying, 12:49 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' 12:52 And he would not for a while 12:54 but afterward he said within himself, 12:56 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 12:59 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, 13:02 lest by her continual coming she weary me.'" 13:05 Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. 13:10 And shall God not avenge His own elect 13:12 who cry out day and night to Him, 13:15 though He bears long with them? 13:17 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. 13:20 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, 13:23 will He find faith on earth?" 13:26 Well, it's an awful, interesting little story there 13:30 that he has told, isn't it? 13:31 And we'll just take a break right now 13:33 and then we'll come back and talk about that story. |
Revised 2014-12-17