While working on my new book – You’re In But Are You Of? – the Lord reminded me of a very vivid picture of why being OF Christ is so important. I have used this clip several times before but I thought it would be a good reminder for us as we hear all about pandemics and the world coming apart. So, as I was working through 2 Peter 3 for the book, God gave my faith in Him a well-need boost in the face of all the bad news the enemy is throwing at us.
2 Peter 3:11-12 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 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!
Peter mentions the heavens (the sky) five times in his letter. In verse 12 he tells us that the heavens will be dissolved by fire when Christ returns. In addition, the elements (stoicheia; the fundamental elements, the components into which matter is divided) will melt (liquefy). The Greeks thought that there were four fundamental elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Today we interpret stoicheia simply as atoms, the component parts of the elements. In verse 11 Peter says that all these things shall be dissolved (to break up or unloose). At the end of the age all that has been bound is going to be set free as atoms will be unloosed with a great noise.
Take a moment and watch this clip from Louis Giglio that puts God’s mighty plan in perspective. There is only One who holds all the atoms together…
In light of that Peter asks us (2 Peter 2:11-12) what sort of people should we be. In verse 11 the KJV the word “conversation” is used, meaning behavior or lifestyle. In light of what is coming our lives ought to be characterized by the holiness, purity, and godliness we have in the Holy Spirit. Peter goes on to reinforce that statement in verse 12 and drives it all home once again by telling us that we need to be waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. Waiting for means to expect, watch, or tarry. We are not to look for that terrible day but to look beyond it to eternity when, as John Philips says, “God is all and in all.” Peter says that we should be people who are hastening unto (desiring earnestly).
In the meantime we have the “Ultimate Super Glue” holding it all together!