Coming Judgment as Motivation for Diligence
I. THE PURPOSE OF PETER’S SECOND EPISTLE—DILIGENCE FOR HOLINESS
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never
stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. (2 Peter 1:10–11, emphasis added)
A. Peter is writing to the Gentile Church—it is thought that 1 Peter may have been written to fellow Hebrew believers.
He wrote 2 Peter at the end of his life, according to his great burden: that his brethren in Christ would walk in true
godliness, or the “fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 3:19) that is available for them through the knowledge of God:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 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, 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 1:2–4, emphasis added)
B. Peter is giving one final call to his brethren to enter into the grace of God (supernatural power available through
the Holy Spirit). He wants them to walk according their true identity and nature, which is markedly different than the
corruption of the world they have escaped. There is abundant power available if they want it to assure that they will not
stumble into sin nor be derailed from their calling and “elected” purpose from God.
C. His desire is to establish a clear witness that will serve as a powerful reminder to them long after his death (2 Peter 1:15).
Paul wants this witness to be fueled by the reality of the power and coming of the great King Jesus and the prophetic
truths birthed by the Holy Spirit. The firsthand apostolic witness and prophetic authority from the Spirit served as critical
components in regards to his audience’s pursuit of true life and godliness.
I. THE GREAT HINDRANCE TO HOLINESS: FALSE TEACHING
For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness,
the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 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. For if, after they have
escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled
in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. (2 Peter 2:18–20, emphasis added)
A. Peter’s burden is magnified by the introduction of false teaching and false teachers that have infiltrated the
Church and have begun to preach lies that appeal to the ungodly “lusts of the flesh,” or agendas of men apart from
God. There is a false grace message that leads to slavery and bondage rather than godliness, life and true freedom.
These teachers are filled with “swelling” or persuasive words, but they are empty of reality, truth and life for the believer.
II. THE CRITICAL REMINDER (2 PETER 3:1–2)
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be
mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the
Lord and Savior . . . (2 Peter 3:1–2)
A. Peter now shifts to the central theme of his letter, introducing the main component of prophetic and apostolic
preaching that the false teachers have overlooked: God’s zeal against sin and jealousy for righteousness, holiness and
godliness to be fully manifested in His people. The pure-hearted (Matthew 5:8) who truly long for God and are loyal to
His plans and designs will be stirred (deeply moved in their hearts) to continue pursuing an authentic Sermon on the
Mount lifestyle and vibrant holiness of heart.
III. KNOWING THE FIRST THING FIRST (2 PETER 3:3–7)
…knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is
the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of
creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of
water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the
earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:3–7, emphasis added)
A. Peter then exposes the secondary component that will be missing from the false teachers and their deceptive
doctrines. It is critical that believers know that there will be scoffers who will have no use for the end-time message. By
Peter’s imperative to us to understand the existence of scoffers “first,” students of the scriptures know that the Holy Spirit
has established this truth as significant. This statement cannot be overlooked or ignored by any who endeavor to be an
end-time messenger—not that there is a lack of end-time teaching in our day, but it is important to realize that many will
willfully and angrily reject the end-time message.
B. There is, in the false message of grace preached in many places today, little understanding of Jesus as the Jealous
Judge who is passionately zealous to establish justice, purity and righteousness on the earth. Therefore, they also do not
have the corresponding desire to know Him as the King who is coming to declare war against the ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:18, emphasis added)
C. As they suppress truth, they willfully forget. Their selfish ambition and vain conceit will cause them to deny the
truths of God and His nature that have been revealed from Heaven. Because they do not understand judgment, they
also lack understanding of the nature of God’s unfathomable mercy as well. This mercy is expressed by the necessary
cleansing yet to come to the earth. There is a coming day in which this cleansing will be comprehensive and total:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven (atmosphere) fled
away. And there was found no place for them. (Revelation 20:11, emphasis and parenthetical statement added)
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no
more sea. (Revelation 21:1)
1. The comprehensive destruction of the heavens and the earth is a biblical principle. The earth is the scene of the
crime—man’s sin and rebellion against God. The second heavens, the realm of demonic activity that takes place in the
“heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12), is a place of great wickedness that will also be removed.
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till
all is fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18, emphasis added)
2. A comprehensive renovation of the universe is coming, but the fullness of it will not take place until “all is fulfilled”—
until all the words of the prophets related to God’s promises to establish His people and destroy His enemies come to
pass as they are written. The physical universe as we know it will remain intact until after the Kingdom phase of
establishing holiness. Until then, every word of the Law is critical for the believer to understand in relationship to
walking out the authentic lifestyle of godliness. The Sermon on the Mount is the divine constitution of the Kingdom.
This constitution is necessary for every believer to understand that we might express love through agreement with
and loyalty to God in our hearts and in our lifestyle.
3. Knowing the words of the prophets and the promises of God is critical for the sincere, loyal and tender believer.
We must stir up our hearts and minds with these words to refresh our hearts in the truth of God’s zeal against sin and
for righteousness. The earth is being preserved for a season because of His incredible mercy, but we cannot forget that
all of creation is reserved for the fire of cleansing so that a holy God can come and dwell with His creation in unity.
D. The personal agendas and desires of the scoffers and mockers blind them to these necessary truths and give them
license to excuse themselves from the high calling of God, which is to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect”
(Matthew 5:48). Their desire for friendship with the world (James 4:4) and the pleasures of this life (2 Timothy 3:4) has
blinded them to the awesome holiness and purity of the Lord. They resist any teaching about the return of Jesus and
prefer to maintain business as usual. The awareness of a God who has judged the earth in the past and the reality of
a God who will do the same thing again in the future are too disruptive to consider for scoffers. It is easier for them to
ignore past truth, present trends and future promises so that their lives and immediate agendas can continue,
undisturbed by the implications of what God’s agenda holds for their future.
E. Pursing knowledge of God’s plan for the End Times is birthed out of a sincere heart that loves truth and is
willing to come into agreement with God’s plans for creation, rather than resist and suppress that truth in mocking
skepticism (2 Thessalonians 2:12–13).
IV. THE REASON FOR DELAY (2 PETER 3:8–9)
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,
not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8–9)
A. What the scoffers willfully forget, or suppress in regards to the truth of God, is that the God who will forcefully and justly
judge sin and unrighteousness is also the God who delights in mercy. Peter is urging us to remember what others will
deny about God when they are offended at Him: that prior to judgment, in His tenderness He gave us undeserved time
to repent. For example, Jesus gave Jezebel time to repent of her sexual immorality:
And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. (Revelation 2:21, emphasis added)
B. God is giving us time to turn from our agreements with the spirit of this world. Peter is speaking to believers (“the
Lord is longsuffering towards us”) about God’s incredible patience and unwillingness to see us perish. The Lord does
not want us to lose our salvation in bitterness and offense at the revelation of the God who will cleanse the earth of
disagreement and rebellion. He wants us to know Him now and for eternity as the God who will not be stirred up in
anger at sin forever, but will subdue our iniquities—the God who loves in mercy and seeks to have compassion on
those who are sincere.
Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does
not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our
iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18–19)
V. THE LORD’S ZEAL FOR PURITY AND OUR NECESSARY RESPONSE (2 PETER 3:10-13)
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these
things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening
the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt
with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which
righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:10–13)
A. God’s desire is to bring two realms together in Christ—the heavenly realm (supernatural) and the earthly realm
(natural):
Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that
in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth—in Him. (Ephesians 1:9–10)
B. Peter is not talking simply about the Second Coming of Jesus to the earth; he is talking about the “first coming”
of God the Father to the earth in His fullness. The “day of God” is the day in which God the Father will fully unite with
His creation. For God to come and dwell with humanity and the created order in the fullness of His glory (or manifest
presence), creation itself must be prepared, or restored, to the Garden of Eden state that existed before the fall of man.
C. Sin had a devastating effect on the creation itself. The earth, not just sinful men, was defiled and separated from
God the Father:
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation
itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
(Romans 8:20–21, emphasis added)
D. Thus the ultimate goal of God is to reconcile all creation to Himself. God desires “re-union” with man and the natural
order. All that has been separated from Him because of sin and the curse will be cleansed, renewed, and restored to its
original pristine state under the leadership of Jesus so that all of creation can be presented to God. He will come and
dwell with us in fullness when all has been made ready through Jesus’ leadership:
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man
came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made
alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes
the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has
put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things
under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him
who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20–28)
And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus answered and
said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.” (Matthew 17:10–11)
Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive
until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world
began. (Acts 3:19–21)
1. Creation will be destroyed. The heavens, which constitute the atmosphere and possibly the heavenly bodies
themselves, will pass away with a great noise or terrifying “roar” (NIV) that will be beyond description in its intensity, the
elements will melt at the fervent heat of the fire of God, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up by the
God’s fire. This destruction of creation is due to God’s final and ultimate judgment on sin, as well as His complete and
final renovation of the natural order.
E. This renovation happens in three stages:
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more
shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He
has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates
the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken
may remain. (Hebrews 12:25–27)
For thus says the LORD of hosts: “Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;
and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,” says the
LORD of hosts. (Haggai 2:6–7)
1. The Judgment Phase (the Great Tribulation): the broad “Day of the Lord” begins when Jesus opens the first seal
of judgment against sin and rebellion (Revelation 6:1). After a time of false peace and safety, there will be sudden
disruption and destruction that will come “like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4)—suddenly, great shaking will
take place, beginning a process that will end with the heavens passing away and the earth itself burning up.
2. The Kingdom Phase (the Millennial Kingdom): this phase is the “Sabbath Rest” of which the book of Hebrews speaks.
These years will be the “times of the restoration of all things” that Peter spoke about in Acts 3:21. Jesus, the great
Forerunner, will come prepare the way for His Father to come in fullness. He will renew and restore the earth before
presenting it to His Father as a finished work. What will be “finished” will be the original mandate of the Father to Adam
to fill and subdue the earth:
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over
the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
3. The Renovation Phase (the cleansing and final judgment): it takes the perfect leadership of Jesus, in partnership
with His Bride, to prepare the nations of the earth for this final stage. Revelation 20 describes a time at the end of the
millennial restoration in which many peoples from the nations of the earth rebel against the leadership of Jesus. These
are not current believers, but those who dwell on the earth in natural (non-resurrected) bodies who are deceived by
Satan. The earth will be cleansed of all who disagree with God’s leadership and renovated to accommodate the coming
of the Father in fullness:
Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations
which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the
sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.
And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7–9)
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven (atmosphere) fled away. And
there was found no place for them. (Revelation 20:11, parenthetical comment added)
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
(Revelation 21:1)
F. The manner of the cleansing and purifying of the earth at the coming of the Father is through fire:
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them
light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before
the people. (Exodus 13:21–22)
The sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of
Israel. (Exodus 24:17)
For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrew 12:29)
The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Isaiah 33:14, emphasis added)
And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and
over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. (Revelation 15:2)
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the
day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to
you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat
like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that
I do this,” says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 4:1–3)
His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn;
but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:7)
G. God is fire—the intensity of His holiness and glory means that He is incapable of dwelling in fullness with anything
that is impure or wicked. The degree of His awesome holiness and incredible glory is related to the intensity of the
purifying fire that comes to the earth when He does. The reality of life on the sea of glass is that we will stand in the fire
of His love and delight in His beauty. If He is this zealous about cleansing sin from the earth, how much more should
we run from it?
H. Secondly, Peter wants us to understand the awesome truth of Acts 3:19 and 2 Peter 3:12: that holy conduct and
godliness can actually serve to hasten the day of His coming. “Times of refreshing” that move history closer to the
awesome day of the Lord come in relationship to repentance and a turning from sin and a turning towards the beautiful
holiness of God.
VI. THEREFORE, WE MUST BE DILIGENT TO BE FOUND IN PEACE (2 PETER 3:14–18)
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom
given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things
hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the
Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own
steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in grace and knowledge . . . (2 Peter 3:14–18)
A. In looking forward, with great expectancy, to the great shaking that is coming to the earth, we must be diligent
to be found in peace. It takes labor and effort to give ourselves to prayer and study of the word of God that our hearts
might be stable, confident, and unshakable in the face of great pressure and trouble.
B. We must in this hour “grow in grace and knowledge.” It is absolutely critical that the body of Christ give themselves
extravagantly to the place of prayer and communion with God, that we would draw near to Him in the hour of crisis and
not shrink back. It is vital that we take seriously Peter’s admonition to beware—lest we “fall from our own steadfastness.
” Everything that can be shaken will be shaken; those with shakable lives, hearts, and love will not remain when an
unshakable kingdom comes at the time of the return of Jesus.