Image: "Twisted World", 2009, Bonsai Serissa Tree (by Stephen Van Devender), Severna Park, Md
2 Peter 1:2–4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2 Peter 1:14–15 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. 15 Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
2 Peter 2:12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,
2 Peter 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
__________________________________________________________________
When a man is on his death bed, and knows it, and is generally in his right mind, he knows that all that remains is: to tell the truth. Someone once said that "nothing so clarifies the mind as the threat of hanging." When the great reality of all mortal life, death itself, closes in, then it is that a man naturally wants to pass down to those whom he loves, the truth(s) he wants them to remember. Paul did something like this to the Ephesian elders in Acts and Peter is doing it here to his beloved congregations.
Peter is not exactly on his deathbed yet. Tradition has it that he was crucified, upside down, by the Romans. In these chapters, he realizes that he's running out of time. (1:12-15) His mind is clear and so are his purposes. The saints (1:1) must be warned.
His crystal clear understanding saw the fledgling churches as surrounded by ravenous wolves and, worse still, some of these wolves had penetrated inside the fold. (2:1-2) We do not know exactly what these "brute beasts" (2:12) were teaching but we know that it was destructive of the true gospel that Peter preached for years. Peter reminds them that he had first-hand knowledge of the actual truth. (1:16-18) He had not followed some "cunningly devised" fable but rather had seen with his own eyes, touched with his own hands, and heard with his own ears, that Man of Whom God Himself had spoken from heaven and said "This is My beloved Son." (1:17-18) Peter was aware of his own great privilege in having this experience and he was passionately desirous that the truth that the Man, Jesus of Nazareth, was indeed the long-awaited Christ of God; He in whom the "prophetic word" was confirmed.
Peter accurately foresaw that this gospel was hated by those deformed creatures who sought to make its doctrines more compatible with their own selfish lusts and desires. These arrogant animals refused to accept the authority of God's appointed apostles; they insisted on walking according to the flesh and were stiff-necked and self-willed descendants of the ancient erring Israelites. (2:10) Peter sadly foresaw that their doom was certain. They, like Sodom and Gomorrah before them would perish in horror and anguish. God Who is the very embodiment of justice, certainly knows not only how to deliver the godly but He certainly knows how to "reserve the unjust" for the day of judgment. (2:9)
We should pay careful attention to this teaching. Peter is reaching down through the years to us. He is telling us that things are no different now than then. The Church is in peril and false teachings abound. God's judgment is just as certain now as it was then. We, as God's people, must not grow complacent now allow ourselves to think that "there is always tomorrow!" Certainly, it will require us to not only accept but embrace the discomfort that standing firm for the true Gospel will bring in its train. All of us would rather be distracted by some pleasant way to spend our time rather than pursue some "unpleasantness." But, Peter's dying wishes call out to us! Hear me! This is urgent!
God has been patient with this world for a long time. I cannot help but think that His patience must be wearing thin.
Comments