God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
(Numbers 23:19)
“Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
(1 Samuel 15:19)
I’m trying to wrap my mind around what I am reading.
This Sunday we will be discussing the end, the end of Second Peter, and at the same time, we will be considering the end of the world. So as I prepare my message, I am trying to take in the words of Peter and let them soak into my heart and mind. I just can’t seem to do it. It doesn’t make sense.
Maybe one of the reasons for this is because the weather outside of my window is perfect: 70 degrees, a slight breeze is blowing, and I can smell a faint fragrance of lilac blowing into my office. Birds are chirping. A soft gentle sun is sending warm rays on the canopy of green leaves that shade the squirrel running underneath in the freshly cut grass. And then I read these words from Peter:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed…the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!” (2 Peter 3:10 & 12)
Am I supposed to believe this?
It all depends on how I treat God’s word. Is it the truth or just beautiful poetry that is meant to move the heart? Peter says in 3:16 that how we handle God’s word makes all the difference in the world. Listen, “There are some things in them (scripture) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction.” In other words, be very careful how you choose to understand and teach his word. How you treat the word is how God will treat you.
For me, when God says something, it is so. Even Jesus says “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:18)” So before the end comes, God the Father will make sure all he ever said will be accomplished. For me, that is a certain fact. That means…
– The earth will be burned up for sure. Not annihilated, but sent fire to clean the dirt and dross off. We are moving out of our old church right now, and it is amazing how much stuff has been accumulated since 1955. There are boxes of papers and cassette tapes and frames that are useless, molding and old. Why hold on to a past that does not contribute to the beauty of the future? Before heaven can come, God needs to gut this place called earth, and he will do it with cleansing fire. He says…
– The heavens will melt. So we will get some new skies, new heavenly bodies. God must be really powerful if he can melt Jupiter?
– Jesus will come when we least expect him. A thief. A thief never lets you know his plans, his work is meant to be discreet, he wants to surprise us.
So, as I sit here watching a young oak leaf dance in the zephyr of a new spring day, faith asks me to wrestle with my belief about the end of all things. Are these three things really going to take place? From my modern American mind, I can’t buy it. I have a track meet to go to today, some Netflix series I have wanted to watch, a Memorial Day weekend to enjoy. I can’t worry or bother with fire, death and the final judgment of all mankind. God can’t melt the Milky Way, can he? It is too mentally overwhelming to grasp.
BUT IS IT TRUE?
The best way for me to answer this is to look back in history when days were darker, and humanity was really suffering for the wages of their sin. I think that is why World War 2 fascinates because the reality of the carnage makes God’s promises more dreadful and realistic. From 1941 to 1945 God stayed his hand, he let the dam of sin break out in real time. Man was, for a short time, given what they collectively deserved. He definitely had people’s attention through the judgment of Romans 1:24 when “God gave them over to their passions, desires, lusts and hatred.” But on a calm spring day, it is easy to laugh the seriousness of his word off. Especially when the judgment that is to come is more direct, not just giving man over, but sending consuming fire on the deeds of all mankind. He will expose our works for what they are.
Listen to Zephaniah 1:14-18, and try to believe this, let faith enhance your imagination, stay silent, close your mouth, and listen…
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
For the life of me, I can’t take this in. But faith tells me it is true. How do I preach this? How do we consider the end as we get ready to go camping, and many people preparing to engage in secret sins over the three day weekend? How does this make sense in a culture that goes to Las Vegas to get lost? Does God even have the right to spoil our fun with such serious talk?
It all depends on how we answer one singular question: Will the New Heavens and New Earth really be that good? “But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (3:13) Ah, righteousness. Clean. Pure. People who actually love and don’t break the hearts of others. No more lies, no more deceit. My bones won’t ache anymore!
One last thing: I try to imagine how the reader of this blog will take my writing. Probably the same way I normally read the bible, with a yawn, a smirk and rolling of the eyes. I am too important and have too many important things to worry about to take God seriously. May God help me.
