We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth,
where righteousness dwells.
2 PETER 3:13
One of the many benefits of reading the Bible is its ability to lift us out of the ordinary as it entices us with God’s big picture. The net effect is that our present and momentary troubles find a larger context. It is not possible to think bigger picture than where 2 Peter takes us this coming Sunday.
Peter doesn’t hold back. From the beginning of this letter, his concern has been that we would “receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (1:11) He knows that his time on earth is short, and so his advice is passionate and to the point.
We are informed that this world as we know it has a “pull date,” and is destined for a conflagration of such magnitude that even CGI could not begin to convey. The world’s destruction as a given, Peter turns to our behavior in light of the coming reality of the end of this age.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 2 PETER 11-16
Erik Thoennes will be preaching this final sermon from 2 Peter. A kingdom where righteousness dwells is our destiny. Does that make your heart beat faster? It is coming. Pray that our hearts will be stirred to live holy and godly lives in light of our future reality, that we would look beyond the temporal, longing for what lies ahead
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