I have been spending time in 2 Peter 3, thinking about the coming of the Day of the Lord. Yes, Peter says, scoffers will come and say nothing ever changes, but they forget that change can happen instantly and dramatically as it did in the Day of the Flood. They also forget that God does not measure things as we do, we are bound by the constraints of time, and He is free in eternity. God is patient and wants as many as will answer His call to be saved. The Lord’s patience means salvation. [Verses 1-9, 15]
Then in verse 10 a little word really caught my attention. It is the four-letter word “WILL.” I was suddenly enthralled by that little word as I read on in verses 10-13.
“The day of the Lord WILL come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens WILL pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves WILL disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it WILL be found to deserve judgment…. On that day, he WILL set the heavens on fire, and the elements WILL melt away in the flames.” [emphasis added]
Wow. WILL is one powerful word. This WILL is based in the WILL of God. God has determined these things WILL happen. The day of the Lord WILL come suddenly and without warning, the same way a thief strikes.
God has said the earth itself WILL change, it WILL be destroyed by fire, by the judgment of God and everything that has been affected by the sin of mankind will be gone in a flash. Suddenly “we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.” [vs13]
We fail to comprehend how much of life has been affected by sin. Our thought patterns, our society, our customs, our politics, our consciences have all been influenced by sin. Even the earth we live on has felt the effects, buildings crumble in time, we are subjected to hurricanes, fires, lightning, freezing blizzards and blasting heat, earthquakes and famines and all manners of destruction. All are the result of sin and its curse of death.
Yet God promises that one day all things WILL be made new. Nothing that sin has touched, in the heavens or on this earth WILL remain. Everything WILL be made new in righteousness. God hasten the day when this faith shall be sight.
