“as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
2 Peter 3:16-18 ESV
The New Testament is in general, and Peter is specifically, very concerned with the coming of the Lord. For that reason alone we should be too. Think about it: imagine a married fella whose wife thought birthdays were very important but he never bothered much with them. Her birthday would come around and he’d give her a hug and say, “cool…you survived another year.” That’s a marriage in some trouble methinks.
Well, it’s the same with our relationship with the Lord. Except that we’re the bride of Christ. And He’s the sovereign God of the universe. And He’s perfectly holy! So, there’s a reason why He’d keep pointing things out to us. Thus, as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) we do well to pay close attention to such things.
In fact, when we get down to it, all of our problems stem from lack of faith in the first place, which is to say, sin. Not obeying the Lord is not believing the Lord. The issue is, therefore, that it’s a blessing that our Savior Lord extends to us – that is, to contemplate and set our minds on His Second Coming. To reject this is unbelief. And unbelief is sin. And sin makes us miserable.
Want to be happy? Then set your mind on the Lord and delight in Him and He’ll make you happy. Trying to seek happiness and joy outside of Christ is running east looking for a sunset. It’s like trying to take a quick, stress free drive through Atlanta. Or like going shopping quickly with my mother-in-law. All joking aside, many of us are both unhappy and in sin because we aren’t obeying the commandment to center our lives around the Day of the Lord!
To disobey the Lord is to forfeit blessings. To disobey the Lord is to invite painful, but loving, correction. At worst, to continually disobey the Lord is evidence of not being saved in the first place. Consider how He used so many parables to warn us of His return. For example:
“And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.””
Luke 20:9-18 ESV
““Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
Matthew 25:1-13 ESV
The issue was, to our Lord Himself, a very important one and, therefore, should be to us too.
Next, the knowledge of and meditation upon the Second Coming of Christ provides the context of how we’re to live! Show me a person who’s “doing the wrong thing” and I’ll show you someone who isn’t giving any thought whatsoever to the fact of the Day of the Lord. Show me someone who is living under a heavy blanket of anxiety and I’ll see a poor soul dragged down by their refusal to take seriously His return. John Frame says:
“First, the coming of Christ should reorder our priorities. In 2 Peter 3:11-12, the apostle says:
‘Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!’
Since God is going to destroy the present earth and replace it with a new heavens and a new earth, what sort of people should we be? The implicit answer: not people who care a lot about material things, or the pleasures of this life, but people who are passionate about the kingdom of God, which will remain for all eternity. That’s not to say that there is something evil about material things, only that we should be using them for God’s purposes, not just our own.
Second, if we are eager for Christ to return, we should be purifying ourselves (2 Peter 3:11-12). Every Christian not only should believe in the return of Christ, but should be eager for it to come. At the end of the book of Revelation, the church prays, Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). But if we are really so eager tor Jesus to return, so eager for the new heavens and new earth, we should be seeking to be as pure as we will one day be in God’s presence.”
Another reason to take time to prayerfully and eagerly consider the great Day of the Lord is for encouragement. Frame again:
“Another ethical implication of the return of Christ is its encouragement. It shows us that our labors for him today are not in vain. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:58, ‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.’ That’s a great comfort in the midst of difficulty. The things of this world are going to be burned up, but our labor for the Lord will bear fruit for eternity.”
If you’re in a great struggle over meaning, or you’re burnt out, or brought low by betrayal, or a sense of futility, set your mind on the sure fact of Christ’s return. In this world with its monotony and hard work, and all the sin that clings so closely, we will all wrestle with depression. We will all come to a point when we say, “what’s the point?!” Ah, but the answer is coming on the clouds and He’ll descend with a shout. It will be all made clear on that Day. And you’ll see Him face to face! This is how our lives are re-ordered. We aren’t to vacuously say, “it’ll all work out” like the deceived say. No. We say, “come Lord Jesus, come!”
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