Latest / LifeAudio / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal - 2 Peter 3:1-13 - What Will Happen on the Day of the Lord?

Transcript

The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal - 2 Peter 3:1-13 - What Will Happen on the Day of the Lord? · LifeAudio

0:02
Speaker 1: Life Audio. You are listening to The Bible Explained with
0:13
Speaker 1: Jen Koukl, a P40 Ministries podcast. Well, hello and good morning,
0:18
Speaker 1: friends and faithful listeners, and welcome to The Bible Explained
0:21
Speaker 1: podcast on this lovely, lovely morning. And you know what?
0:24
Speaker 1: I'm very thankful that so many of you have already
0:26
Speaker 1: filled out that listener survey. And I've been looking at
0:30
Speaker 1: your responses and seeing the kind of feedback that you've
0:33
Speaker 1: been giving me. And it's been really encouraging and I
0:37
Speaker 1: think really helpful because one of the questions on there
0:40
Speaker 1: is what kind of topics would you like for me
0:41
Speaker 1: to cover in the future? And that's been really eye-opening because, yes,
0:46
Speaker 1: obviously I'm going to talk about the Bible in its entirety,
0:50
Speaker 1: but I'd also like to do some one-off episodes every
0:52
Speaker 1: once in a while. And getting your guys' feedback as
0:55
Speaker 1: to topics that are really impactful for you, that's been...
0:59
Speaker 1: Eye-opening for me, I suppose. So if any of you
1:01
Speaker 1: faithful listeners have not filled out that listener survey yet,
1:05
Speaker 1: please do so. You're going to find the link listed
1:07
Speaker 1: at the very top of the description of this episode.
1:10
Speaker 1: So right after you're done listening, please go over to
1:12
Speaker 1: the listener survey and fill that out really quick. Should
1:15
Speaker 1: only take you a couple minutes. And that would be
1:17
Speaker 1: helpful for me to see your guys' feedback. All right,
1:21
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and dive into 2 Peter 3 verses
1:23
Speaker 1: 1 through 13. And as you're grabbing your Bible and
1:26
Speaker 1: your hot beverage of choice this morning, please listen to
1:29
Speaker 1: this first sponsored advertisement. I forgot to tell you guys
1:33
Speaker 1: that my closet installation went very well. I got my
1:36
Speaker 1: new closet, especially the one in my office right here
1:39
Speaker 1: in the P40 Ministries office. And now all of my
1:42
Speaker 1: books have a home. It's been fantastic. So I'm getting
1:48
Speaker 1: the P40 Ministries office cleaned up so well over here.
1:52
Speaker 1: It's been very refreshing, I suppose, to not have so
1:56
Speaker 1: much clutter sitting around. All right, let's go ahead and
1:59
Speaker 1: get into the Bible. Let's read 2 Peter 3 verses
2:02
Speaker 1: 1 through 13 together. I'll be reading as usual from
2:05
Speaker 1: the WEB. This is now, beloved, the second letter that
2:10
Speaker 1: I have written to you. And in both of them,
2:12
Speaker 1: I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you that
2:15
Speaker 1: you should remember the words which were spoken before by
2:18
Speaker 1: the holy prophets and the commandment of us, the apostles
2:21
Speaker 1: of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that in
2:24
Speaker 1: the last days, mockers will come walking after their own
2:28
Speaker 1: lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming?
2:31
Speaker 1: For from the days that the fathers fell asleep, all
2:34
Speaker 1: things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
2:37
Speaker 1: For they will fully forget that there were heavens from
2:40
Speaker 1: of old. and an earth formed out of water and
2:43
Speaker 1: amid water by the word of God, by which means
2:46
Speaker 1: the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished.
2:50
Speaker 1: But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by
2:53
Speaker 1: the same word, have been stored up for fire, being
2:56
Speaker 1: reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
3:00
Speaker 1: But don't forget this one thing, beloved, that one day
3:03
Speaker 1: is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
3:05
Speaker 1: thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow
3:09
Speaker 1: concerning his promise, as some count slowness, but he is
3:12
Speaker 1: patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but
3:16
Speaker 1: that all should come to repentance. But the day of
3:19
Speaker 1: the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
3:21
Speaker 1: in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise,
3:24
Speaker 1: and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and
3:27
Speaker 1: the earth and the works that are in it will
3:29
Speaker 1: be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be
3:32
Speaker 1: destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to
3:35
Speaker 1: be in holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly
3:38
Speaker 1: desiring the coming of the day of God, which will
3:41
Speaker 1: cause the burning heavens to be dissolved and the elements
3:43
Speaker 1: will melt with fervent heat? But according to his promise,
3:47
Speaker 1: we look for new heavens and a new earth in
3:50
Speaker 1: which righteousness dwells. In this last portion of Peter's final letter,
3:56
Speaker 1: he says, This now, beloved, is the second letter that
3:59
Speaker 1: I have written to you. And in both of them,
4:01
Speaker 1: I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you that
4:04
Speaker 1: you should remember the words which were spoken before by
4:06
Speaker 1: the holy prophets and the commandments of us, the apostles
4:10
Speaker 1: of the Lord and Savior. He reminds the people why
4:14
Speaker 1: he is writing this letter, why he wrote both letters,
4:18
Speaker 1: to make sure that they continue in the foundation that
4:22
Speaker 1: they know. not some kind of new gospel, not something
4:26
Speaker 1: that a false teacher is peddling, but the words that
4:29
Speaker 1: were already written down in the scriptures. You know, there's
4:33
Speaker 1: this interesting thing I've been seeing a lot online recently
4:37
Speaker 1: where they say that the early church didn't have the Bible,
4:40
Speaker 1: so they were just kind of making it up until
4:43
Speaker 1: the Council of Rome in 382 AD actually compiled the
4:47
Speaker 1: Bible together into one text. But that is one of
4:50
Speaker 1: the silliest things that I've heard because The early church
4:53
Speaker 1: did have the scriptures. They had the letters from Peter, James, John, Jude, Paul.
5:00
Speaker 1: They had the gospels and the other writings from Luke.
5:03
Speaker 1: They had the book of Hebrews. They had the apostles
5:07
Speaker 1: themselves teaching them how to do things. And they had
5:10
Speaker 1: the Old Testament scriptures, which line up perfectly with the
5:13
Speaker 1: New Testament. So no, they weren't just making things up
5:16
Speaker 1: as they went. They had the guidebook. They had the scriptures.
5:19
Speaker 1: Just because it wasn't compiled until... almost 400 AD does
5:24
Speaker 1: not mean that they were just doing whatever they wanted
5:26
Speaker 1: to do until the Bible was compiled. Absolutely not. And
5:30
Speaker 1: that's what Peter says right here. I mean, his entire
5:32
Speaker 1: point of this letter, which would have circulated around, by
5:35
Speaker 1: the way, was to specifically teach them to remember the
5:41
Speaker 1: Old Testament prophets and the commandments of the apostles of
5:44
Speaker 1: the Lord and Savior. But here's what Peter says. First
5:48
Speaker 1: and foremost, he wants the church to remember in verse three,
5:53
Speaker 1: knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come,
5:57
Speaker 1: walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the
6:01
Speaker 1: promise of his coming? The reason Peter wants the church
6:04
Speaker 1: to remember that first is so that they hold on
6:06
Speaker 1: to the gospel instead of following after the teachings of
6:10
Speaker 1: these mockers. Hold on to the gospel message first. Study
6:16
Speaker 1: the scriptures. Don't follow after these people, especially as we
6:20
Speaker 1: are in the last days is what Peter says. Now,
6:24
Speaker 1: the last days essentially was the time that Jesus ascended
6:28
Speaker 1: up into heaven. From that time on, we have been
6:31
Speaker 1: in the last days because we're waiting for Jesus's return.
6:35
Speaker 1: And when Jesus eventually does return, which Peter is going
6:38
Speaker 1: to go into right now, that's kind of the end
6:40
Speaker 1: of days in a sense. So as we're in the
6:43
Speaker 1: last days, hold to the teachings of the gospel message,
6:47
Speaker 1: hold to the teachings of the Bible and ignore these
6:49
Speaker 1: mockers because these mockers are going to come and say,
6:54
Speaker 1: where is the promise of his coming? For from the
6:56
Speaker 1: day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
6:59
Speaker 1: they were from the beginning of creation. They're going to
7:03
Speaker 1: make fun of the church and these mockers will say,
7:05
Speaker 1: you guys are crazy. Jesus isn't coming back. And unfortunately,
7:09
Speaker 1: we're going to find some of these mockers in the church.
7:13
Speaker 1: False teachers will act as if Jesus' coming is not
7:16
Speaker 1: happening because they're doing their own thing in life, not
7:21
Speaker 1: caring about their sin, not caring that Jesus could return
7:26
Speaker 1: in their lifetime and encouraging other people to fall into
7:30
Speaker 1: the kind of sin that they are doing. Peter says
7:34
Speaker 1: to avoid these kind of mockers because they willfully forget,
7:37
Speaker 1: verse 5, that there were heavens from of old and
7:41
Speaker 1: an earth formed out of water and amid water by
7:43
Speaker 1: the word of God, by which means the world that
7:46
Speaker 1: existed then being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens
7:50
Speaker 1: that exist now in the earth by the same word
7:53
Speaker 1: have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the
7:56
Speaker 1: day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men. Peter
8:01
Speaker 1: says that these mockers willfully forget that things have not
8:06
Speaker 1: always been the same since the beginning of time. because
8:09
Speaker 1: they're willfully forgetting that God did judge the earth at
8:13
Speaker 1: one point. Using the exact same element, he used to
8:18
Speaker 1: create the earth is what Peter says. This element being water.
8:22
Speaker 1: You remember in Genesis chapter one, the first thing that
8:25
Speaker 1: God really created, honestly, was water. It says in Genesis one,
8:30
Speaker 1: one and two, in the beginning, God created the heavens
8:32
Speaker 1: and the earth, and the earth was formless and empty.
8:35
Speaker 1: Darkness was on the surface of the deep. and God's
8:38
Speaker 1: spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. So
8:41
Speaker 1: water was kind of the first thing that existed. And
8:45
Speaker 1: then later on, God parted those waters in verse six
8:47
Speaker 1: and said, let there be an expanse in the middle
8:50
Speaker 1: of the waters and let it divide the waters from
8:52
Speaker 1: the waters. So God made the expanse and divide the
8:55
Speaker 1: waters which were under the expanse from the waters which
8:58
Speaker 1: were above the expanse. And it was so. And God
9:01
Speaker 1: called the expanse sky. And there was evening and there
9:04
Speaker 1: was morning, a second day. And if you're curious about
9:06
Speaker 1: that portion, what my view is on the expanse that
9:11
Speaker 1: is talked about here. I did cover that on a
9:14
Speaker 1: recent Genesis episode that I did, which I can link
9:17
Speaker 1: in the description of this episode in case you're interested
9:19
Speaker 1: in what that expanse means. I was actually supposed to
9:22
Speaker 1: go back and redo my first 70 episodes, which I
9:25
Speaker 1: still have every intention of doing, but I haven't done
9:29
Speaker 1: one in over a year. And I apologize for that.
9:31
Speaker 1: I really do have an intention of going back and
9:37
Speaker 1: in my defense, and one of them actually was on
9:41
Speaker 1: the expanse talked about right here in Genesis 1, 6
9:44
Speaker 1: through 8. But God also formed a land out of
9:48
Speaker 1: the water as well. In Genesis 1, verse 9, God said,
9:53
Speaker 1: let the waters under the sky be gathered together to
9:55
Speaker 1: one place and let the dry land appear. And it
9:57
Speaker 1: was so. But the point that Peter is getting at
10:01
Speaker 1: is not so much how God created the earth, but
10:04
Speaker 1: that God created the earth and it was destroyed not
10:08
Speaker 1: too much longer because people just became so corrupt and
10:13
Speaker 1: God actually destroyed the earth that he created. And what
10:18
Speaker 1: happens when something is destroyed? Well, something new has to
10:24
Speaker 1: take its place, right? It's an earth that is new
10:27
Speaker 1: because the first one was overflowed with water and perished.
10:32
Speaker 1: But in verse seven, he says, but the heavens that
10:33
Speaker 1: exist now and the earth by the same word have
10:36
Speaker 1: been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day
10:40
Speaker 1: of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. So in other words,
10:44
Speaker 1: the mockers are willfully forgetting that the earth that we
10:47
Speaker 1: sit on right now is kind of not the same
10:51
Speaker 1: one that God created at the beginning of creation. I mean,
10:54
Speaker 1: maybe the bones of it are the same because we're
10:56
Speaker 1: still on the same plane that God initially created, but
11:00
Speaker 1: the earth itself is new because God destroyed the first one.
11:04
Speaker 1: So everything about the earth that we know of now
11:07
Speaker 1: is very different than the one that was created during creation.
11:11
Speaker 1: This is a really interesting concept for me because I
11:13
Speaker 1: never even thought about it that way before, but that
11:16
Speaker 1: is what Peter is saying right here. So these mockers
11:19
Speaker 1: can't possibly be correct when they say, oh, things have
11:23
Speaker 1: always existed from the beginning of time until now. And
11:25
Speaker 1: so that means that Jesus is not coming again. They're
11:28
Speaker 1: forgetting that a judgment on the world already took place.
11:32
Speaker 1: So obviously there is going to be another judgment that
11:35
Speaker 1: takes place when Jesus returns in his glory. And this
11:40
Speaker 1: new judgment that takes place is not going to be
11:42
Speaker 1: with water, but this time it's going to be through fire.
11:46
Speaker 1: which is like the opposite of water. And God did
11:49
Speaker 1: say after he destroyed the earth with water that he
11:51
Speaker 1: would never do that again. So now Peter says that
11:55
Speaker 1: the earth is being kept. In other words, it's almost
11:57
Speaker 1: like it's in prison waiting for the judgment of fire.
12:03
Speaker 1: But verse eight, don't forget this one thing, beloved, that
12:07
Speaker 1: one day is with the Lord as a thousand years
12:10
Speaker 1: and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is
12:13
Speaker 1: not slow concerning his promise as some count slowness, but
12:16
Speaker 1: he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish,
12:19
Speaker 1: but that all should come to repentance. This is why
12:24
Speaker 1: we shouldn't fear when we talk about things like the
12:28
Speaker 1: earth being destroyed through fire, because God is patient and
12:35
Speaker 1: he is kind and he is loving. He is eternal,
12:39
Speaker 1: meaning he is not mortal. He doesn't have a set
12:42
Speaker 1: amount of years. So to him, a thousand years is
12:47
Speaker 1: no different than a day. And a day is no
12:49
Speaker 1: different than a thousand years because he's eternal. And he's
12:52
Speaker 1: in no rush to destroy the earth because he loves
12:56
Speaker 1: us very much. And he's wishing that people would not perish,
13:01
Speaker 1: but that all should come to repentance. He wishes for that.
13:06
Speaker 1: But because of our free will that he has given us,
13:09
Speaker 1: he's not going to force himself on us. Remember the
13:13
Speaker 1: episode we did a couple weeks ago about the wedding feast,
13:16
Speaker 1: I believe in Matthew 22, where Jesus invites us to
13:20
Speaker 1: the wedding. He invites everybody, the good and the bad people.
13:24
Speaker 1: And there are certain people that are just not going
13:26
Speaker 1: to accept that invitation. But other people do accept that invitation.
13:31
Speaker 1: This is kind of the same concept. God invites all
13:34
Speaker 1: of us to partake in him. He invites all of
13:37
Speaker 1: us to come to acceptance in him. But some people
13:40
Speaker 1: are just not going to take that invitation. They are
13:45
Speaker 1: going to reject that invitation. But God wishes that every
13:49
Speaker 1: single person would accept that invitation and come to know
13:53
Speaker 1: him because he loves all of us and he does
13:55
Speaker 1: not think of us as unequal. Every single person that
13:59
Speaker 1: he created in his eyes has value. We have value
14:03
Speaker 1: because we were created in God's image, which is why
14:06
Speaker 1: Jesus tells us to go out into the world and
14:08
Speaker 1: preach the gospel to every single creature, baptizing them in
14:13
Speaker 1: the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
14:15
Speaker 1: and teaching them to obey his commands. That is the
14:18
Speaker 1: Great Commission. And we are called to do that because
14:21
Speaker 1: God does not wish for anybody to perish. And everybody
14:25
Speaker 1: must receive that invitation to come and accept God. And
14:29
Speaker 1: God used the Christians. to get that invitation out to
14:33
Speaker 1: the world. That's why we evangelize. And that is why
14:36
Speaker 1: we should be living a lifestyle that reflects who Jesus
14:39
Speaker 1: is to the best of our ability, shining our lights
14:44
Speaker 1: as Jesus would call it. So God is taking his
14:48
Speaker 1: time to destroy the earth, essentially, because he loves all
14:52
Speaker 1: of us, waiting for every single person to receive that
14:55
Speaker 1: invitation to come to know him. And God knows exactly
15:00
Speaker 1: when to judge the earth. That's something that people get
15:03
Speaker 1: so angry about when they hear about the global flood.
15:06
Speaker 1: You know, how dare God punish the entire earth? Well, again,
15:11
Speaker 1: God knew that there was only one faithful man left
15:15
Speaker 1: on the earth. Nobody else was faithful. Everybody else was violent,
15:19
Speaker 1: committing treacherous sins, causing other people to be destroyed. There
15:24
Speaker 1: was so much corruption and violence on the earth. It
15:27
Speaker 1: was everywhere. People were just being destroyed left and right
15:31
Speaker 1: because of the unfaithfulness of their hearts. There was only
15:35
Speaker 1: one faithful man left on earth, and that was Noah.
15:38
Speaker 1: So God, of course, knows when the best time is
15:42
Speaker 1: to judge the earth again, but this time with fire. However,
15:46
Speaker 1: even though God is being patient, he's also not being
15:50
Speaker 1: slow as we understand slow. I know a lot of
15:53
Speaker 1: Christians are like, Jesus, come back. Where are you? When
15:58
Speaker 1: are you coming? back to free us from this corruption,
16:02
Speaker 1: to free us from our pain and misery and whatever
16:05
Speaker 1: else might be going on in our lives. There's a
16:07
Speaker 1: lot of Christians just waiting and wishing for Jesus's return.
16:11
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to lie. I'm there too. Right
16:14
Speaker 1: before I started this podcast episode, actually, I was like, Jesus,
16:17
Speaker 1: just come back now. Like, just come back, please. That
16:21
Speaker 1: would be great if you could do that. To us,
16:25
Speaker 1: it feels very slow, doesn't it? Because we're waiting and suffering.
16:30
Speaker 1: Paul says that we're all groaning. Even the earth itself
16:33
Speaker 1: is groaning for Jesus to return. We're waiting. But God
16:39
Speaker 1: is not being slow the way that we understand slowness.
16:43
Speaker 1: God is being loving and caring to the people who
16:47
Speaker 1: do not know him yet. Because when Jesus returns, that's
16:52
Speaker 1: kind of it. The chance to accept Jesus is over.
16:55
Speaker 1: That's talked about in Matthew 25, verses 1 through 13.
16:58
Speaker 1: This is a parable that Jesus gives about this very thing.
17:02
Speaker 1: He says, Now, while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered
17:05
Speaker 1: and slept. But at midnight, there was a cry. Behold,
17:25
Speaker 1: the bridegroom is coming. Come out to meet him. Then
17:28
Speaker 1: all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish
17:31
Speaker 1: said to the wise, Give us some of your oil
17:33
Speaker 1: for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying,
17:37
Speaker 1: What if there isn't enough for us and you? You
17:39
Speaker 1: go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.
17:42
Speaker 1: While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and
17:45
Speaker 1: those who were ready went in with him to the
17:46
Speaker 1: wedding feast, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other
17:50
Speaker 1: virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But
17:54
Speaker 1: he answered, most certainly I tell you, I don't know you.
17:57
Speaker 1: Watch therefore, for you don't know the day nor the
18:00
Speaker 1: hour in which the son of man is coming. So
18:03
Speaker 1: that's kind of a scary parable telling us to be
18:06
Speaker 1: ready because when Jesus returns, that's it. I mean, the
18:10
Speaker 1: chance to accept him is over because now he has
18:13
Speaker 1: appeared in front of our faces and everybody is going
18:16
Speaker 1: to know that he exists, you know, because, uh, We
18:19
Speaker 1: are supposed to have faith in Jesus, faith in him
18:22
Speaker 1: who we cannot see. If he's right in front of
18:24
Speaker 1: our faces, you know, because we can see him now,
18:27
Speaker 1: then the opportunity that we were given to have faith
18:30
Speaker 1: in him basically goes away because it's not going to
18:33
Speaker 1: be the same kind of faith that we have when
18:35
Speaker 1: we literally see him in his glory coming to earth.
18:39
Speaker 1: So that's why we have to be ready. Not like
18:43
Speaker 1: the bridesmaids here that were waiting for the groom, not
18:47
Speaker 1: ready for his arrival. And as Jesus's return grows closer
18:52
Speaker 1: and closer, and we hear things about Jesus's return growing
18:57
Speaker 1: closer and closer, that is the call for us to
19:01
Speaker 1: be prepared, to be ready for Jesus's return. And the
19:05
Speaker 1: people who are not ready, it's going to be too
19:07
Speaker 1: late for them to truly accept Jesus, to truly have
19:11
Speaker 1: faith in him. But after Jesus's return, Peter mentions in
19:15
Speaker 1: verse 10, that the heavens will pass away with a
19:18
Speaker 1: great noise and the elements will be dissolved with a
19:21
Speaker 1: fervent heat. Now this will be after Jesus's return. Revelation
19:26
Speaker 1: 20 and 21 gives a little bit more of a
19:30
Speaker 1: timeline as to what's going to happen right after Jesus returns.
19:34
Speaker 1: So in Revelation 20, to give like a quick synopsis
19:37
Speaker 1: of the chapter, so I don't read the whole thing,
19:39
Speaker 1: though I recommend you guys going and reading it. When
19:42
Speaker 1: Jesus returns, first, Satan is going to be bound And
19:46
Speaker 1: he's going to be thrown essentially into a prison. for
19:51
Speaker 1: a thousand years so that he cannot deceive the nations
19:54
Speaker 1: any longer for the first thousand years that Jesus is
19:57
Speaker 1: back on earth. And then for that thousand years, Jesus
20:01
Speaker 1: is going to reign as king over the earth. Then
20:04
Speaker 1: Satan is going to be let out of prison and
20:06
Speaker 1: he will deceive the nations again and these new nations,
20:11
Speaker 1: Gog and Magog, to gather them together to war, which
20:15
Speaker 1: is the number as the sand of the sea. It
20:18
Speaker 1: says in verse eight of Revelation 20. And then after
20:21
Speaker 1: this new deception takes place, Jesus then is going to
20:25
Speaker 1: judge the earth in the fire, which is talked about
20:29
Speaker 1: in Revelation 20 verse 11. It says, I saw a
20:32
Speaker 1: great white throne and him who sat on it from
20:34
Speaker 1: whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and
20:38
Speaker 1: there was found no place for them. And then in
20:40
Speaker 1: Revelation 21, after the living and the dead are judged,
20:45
Speaker 1: it says in verse one that John saw a new
20:48
Speaker 1: heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and
20:50
Speaker 1: the first earth have passed away and the sea is
20:53
Speaker 1: no more. And that is what second Peter three is
20:55
Speaker 1: talking about as well, that the day of the Lord
20:58
Speaker 1: is going to come. So Jesus's return will come like
21:00
Speaker 1: a thief in the night and we better be ready
21:03
Speaker 1: for him. And then he will reign for a thousand
21:06
Speaker 1: years where the nations will not be deceived by Satan
21:10
Speaker 1: any longer. But then there's another deception that takes place
21:14
Speaker 1: for a while. Then Jesus is going to judge the
21:17
Speaker 1: earth in this fire. And then Peter says right here
21:20
Speaker 1: in verse 10 that the heaven and the earth will
21:22
Speaker 1: pass away with a great noise and the elements will
21:24
Speaker 1: be dissolved with a fervent heat and the earth and
21:27
Speaker 1: the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore,
21:31
Speaker 1: since all of these things will be destroyed like this,
21:33
Speaker 1: what kind of people ought you to be in holy
21:35
Speaker 1: living and godliness looking for and earnestly desiring the coming
21:39
Speaker 1: of the day of the Lord, which will cause the
21:41
Speaker 1: burning heavens to be dissolved and the elements will melt
21:44
Speaker 1: with a fervent heat. But according to his promise, we
21:48
Speaker 1: look for new heavens and a new earth in which
21:51
Speaker 1: righteousness dwells. So if I'm interpreting this correctly, which if
21:56
Speaker 1: I'm being 100% honest, I'm not sure that I am
21:59
Speaker 1: because this is talking about prophecy, things that have not
22:03
Speaker 1: happened yet. And just like how we saw in Jesus's day,
22:08
Speaker 1: people had preconceived notions as to who the Messiah was
22:11
Speaker 1: going to be. There's a lot of that swirling around
22:13
Speaker 1: right now with end times prophecies. Because these things haven't
22:17
Speaker 1: taken place yet, and we can't really know the plan
22:19
Speaker 1: of God. We can obviously know that these things will happen,
22:23
Speaker 1: but sometimes timelines and how they take place, this is
22:28
Speaker 1: where we get a little bit muddy in our thinking.
22:30
Speaker 1: But in my personal interpretation of this, looking as biblically
22:36
Speaker 1: as I can, it sounds as if the corruption of
22:41
Speaker 1: the earth is not really going to end until after
22:46
Speaker 1: The millennia after Jesus reigns for a thousand years and
22:51
Speaker 1: the old earth, the one that we're living on right now,
22:54
Speaker 1: passes away in this heat. Everybody is judged and the
22:58
Speaker 1: new heaven and the new earth take place. And that
23:02
Speaker 1: is what we are desiring. This new heaven and new
23:04
Speaker 1: earth where death is going to be gone, where perfection
23:09
Speaker 1: is going to happen. And this again is talked about
23:12
Speaker 1: in Revelation 21. where John sees this new heaven and
23:17
Speaker 1: new earth. And he also sees this beautiful, holy city,
23:20
Speaker 1: this new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from God,
23:25
Speaker 1: prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. And now finally,
23:30
Speaker 1: after all of that takes place, it says right here
23:33
Speaker 1: in verse three of Revelation 21, that John heard a
23:36
Speaker 1: loud voice coming out of heaven saying, Behold, God's dwelling
23:40
Speaker 1: is with his people, and he will dwell with them,
23:43
Speaker 1: and they will be his people, and God himself will
23:46
Speaker 1: be with them as their God. He will wipe away
23:49
Speaker 1: every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more,
23:53
Speaker 1: neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.
23:57
Speaker 1: The first things have passed away. Oh man, we look
24:02
Speaker 1: forward to that day, don't we? And I'm going to
24:05
Speaker 1: conclude this episode by talking a little bit more about
24:09
Speaker 1: verse 13 here from 2 Peter 3. So please stay
24:12
Speaker 1: tuned for that after this word from a sponsor. Now,
24:17
Speaker 1: that is why Peter definitely tells us in verse 13
24:20
Speaker 1: that we need to be looking for this new heaven
24:22
Speaker 1: and this new earth in which righteousness dwells. Finally, everything
24:28
Speaker 1: will be over. Death will be gone. Crying will be
24:31
Speaker 1: no more. We are going to be living in complete
24:34
Speaker 1: harmony and happiness and eternity with Jesus. No more deception,
24:39
Speaker 1: no more Satan, no more pain and suffering. All of
24:42
Speaker 1: those things are going to be over and done with.
24:44
Speaker 1: And God's plan for humanity is finally going to be complete.
24:48
Speaker 1: Remember what his plan was from the very beginning of time.
24:51
Speaker 1: It was to dwell with his people. That is what
24:54
Speaker 1: Peter tells us to desire. And guess what? Even though
24:56
Speaker 1: we think God is being slow, here's what Hebrews 10,
24:59
Speaker 1: 37 and 38 says. We got to have faith in Jesus.
25:03
Speaker 1: We got to maintain that faith and look forward to
25:07
Speaker 1: these things because these are good things that are in
25:09
Speaker 1: God's plans. So faithful listeners, I hope that you are
25:12
Speaker 1: encouraged by today's episode. And if you are, please share
25:29
Speaker 1: it on your social media platforms and tell people that
25:32
Speaker 1: the Bible Explained podcast exists. And also go over to
25:35
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts and rate the podcast if you would be
25:38
Speaker 1: so kind to do so. Because the more reviews the
25:40
Speaker 1: podcast gets, the more the podcast platforms will push it
25:44
Speaker 1: out for more people to see. But faithful listeners, you
25:48
Speaker 1: guys know that tomorrow is for the members because it's Friday.
25:52
Speaker 1: And right now on the member side of stuff, we
25:53
Speaker 1: are going through the book of the Psalms, which has
25:55
Speaker 1: been such a great, great book. They're really eye-opening. So
25:59
Speaker 1: if you would like to become a member and gain
26:01
Speaker 1: access to the Bible Explained on Fridays, then please look
26:04
Speaker 1: at the link in the description that says Ko-fi, and
26:07
Speaker 1: that will take you over to my page where you
26:09
Speaker 1: can become a member. Now, you can also become a
26:12
Speaker 1: member via my website as well if you don't like
26:15
Speaker 1: to go through PayPal. And I believe the website for
26:17
Speaker 1: that is p4eministries. com slash plans. Or you can just click
26:22
Speaker 1: the link in the description that goes to my website
26:24
Speaker 1: and then hit the tab that says become a faithful member.
26:28
Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners, if I don't see you tomorrow
26:30
Speaker 1: as faithful members, then I will see all of you
26:32
Speaker 1: guys on Monday as we discuss another episode from the
26:35
Speaker 1: book of Job. Until then, happy weekend, happy listening, and
26:40
Speaker 1: God bless. I just want to take a second to
26:48
Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
26:50
Speaker 1: me on the Bible Explained podcast. In fact, if you
26:53
Speaker 1: go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts
26:56
Speaker 1: in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
27:01
Speaker 1: and more.