Turn to 2 Peter 3. I am going to begin reading in verse 3. We read in 2 Peter 3:3-16:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after 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 the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
I will stop reading there.
2 Peter 3, as we know, is becoming a very important chapter, a chapter that God has used to bring about a timeline from the flood to the end of the world in 2011. So I thought it would be good for us to just go over these verses and just quickly take a look at some of the things that God is saying.
He began by speaking of the flood in Noah’s day. He says that individuals are willingly ignorant of the flood. Since this is willingly, this means that they are not understanding things and this is according to their own bias.
Man has a deep-down bias and vested interest that God not be God, that the Bible not be the Word of God, and that the flood never happened. These things are things that every person knows, even though they may not be conscious of this. These things may be in their subconscious, but this is in their heart because God has written His Law “in their hearts.” Therefore, people know this.
This is why when you encounter an atheist, in reality, they are not telling the truth. They are not telling the truth when they say that they believe that there is no God. They are being deceitful, which is no surprise because God speaks of the heart in man as being “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Man does not even know his own heart. It is extremely deceitful, and to be deceitful means that it is full of lies and deception.
People think that they know themselves and they think that they know what is inside of them, and yet they are far from this. They are being deceived by their own minds and their own thoughts, but this is the nature of man.
The Lord tells us in Psalm 19:1-3:
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
There is nowhere where this witness is not found and it is speaking to people day and night and declaring, “I am God. I created the heavens and the earth.” But people have a vested interest in there being no God; because if there is a God, they are in trouble with Him and they do not want this.
So due to this bias that is in people, they have to willingly try to get away from the testimony of creation itself, from the testimony of the heavens. They do not want to admit what is right there in front of their faces, in front of their noses, which is that it is an impossibility for there to have been evolution. This is an utter impossibility. This is the most ridiculous thing that anyone ever thought of.
If evolution was only speaking about one creature or one flower or one complex bit of God’s creation, it would still be an utter impossibility; but, okay, we might give them a little leeway if this was the case. Perhaps, maybe a flower could develop into the beautiful thing that we find in the grass—perhaps. But for all of these creatures and for all of these plants and for all of these insects and for all of these people on this earth to have begun in some haphazard way and for there to have been a Big Bang and then for all of this intelligent design to have come forth where people are so complex, this just is not possible. This is not possible.
I like using the example of a junkyard full of parts of an airplane. In the Big Bang theory, everything supposedly exploded and fell into harmonious union, and then this is why there are so many creatures and plants and everything else that we see in this world. This is what the scientists tell us.
So why could this not happen in a junkyard from a tornado to where it would form a perfectly operating plane, like a Boeing 747 or a Boeing 777? Is this possible? Is it really possible that this could happen?
Nobody would think that it would be possible to have a plane form so that the seatbelt sign works and that the “No Smoking” sign comes on and that you could buckle up your seatbelt. Is it really possible for a tornado, something that destroys things, to throw all of these parts together so that you could have a working plane? This is not possible.
You could even make this a more simple object like a car or even simpler. You could make it anything you would want to, just something with a few gears and mechanisms. Would this even be possible? No way. Absolutely not. This is an impossibility.
But this is what they are saying about evolution, that it all just developed. There was an explosion. A Big Bang, and then all of these creatures began to develop into what we have up to our day.
So you have to be willingly ignorant. This is a willful decision based on a bias, based on a strong desire for there not to be a God in order to believe in evolution. This is one of the things that God is saying. God is saying that men are willingly ignorant of Him.
It goes on to say in 2 Peter 3:6-7:
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Here God is saying that He spoke and He brought the flood and destroyed the earth, and that He is preserving or keeping the world because He has it reserved unto the day of judgment. He is actively holding it in a position because He is waiting for a set time. He is waiting for the proper time. He is waiting for the appointed day of judgment.
Can judgment just happen any old day? Could God destroy the world anytime He wants? Is He just waiting for enough people to choose Him and to accept Him, and then He will bring judgment at a certain time? No, it has already been set and it has been set before the world ever began.
Does God not say this in Acts 17? We read in Acts 17:28-30:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at…
This is referring to all throughout history as many nations have been involved in idolatry and the worship of idols, idols that cannot see or hear or talk. It was just a piece of wood that they carved out of a tree and decked with gold and silver, and then they bowed down to it.
It is interesting what God says in Psalm 115 about the worshipper of idols. After declaring that the idol itself has no life and no ability to see or to hear and so forth, God says that they who worship them are “like unto them.” That is, they are blind and deaf and dumb.
This is exactly what God says about the church, “which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not.” Basically, He is accusing the church of idolatry because they have developed their own idols. No, they did not carve out a tree, but they carved out doctrine out of the Bible and they worship those idols, idols that are not true and are just as false as an idol of gold or silver or the idol that was made of the golden calf. These doctrines are just as wrong and as false and just as idolatrous. God in many places accuses the church of not being able to see or hear because their idols are their confessions, their creeds, and their high places of doctrine.
So all throughout history, God overlooked the idolatry of man in the sense that when someone died, that was it; their life was over. They came under the judgment of God. They ceased to be. In that very day, their thoughts perished.
But as Acts 17:30 continues on to say:
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
This is referring to today. This is about our day when this command is activated and God is sending out the Gospel to the world.
This is because for the vast majority of people who do not become saved, they will have to enter into the five months of judgment, the five months of torment. If they do not become saved, then they will be left behind.
So God is no longer winking at idolatry, winking at the sinfulness of man. He intends to bring judgment upon all of the world.
Then Acts 17:31 says:
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained…
There is an appointed day that has been known to God from everlasting. From the foundation of the world, He picked a certain day.
We now know what day He picked. He picked May 21, 2011. He did not pick this day because this day sounds as good as any other day. He picked May 21, 2011 because this day fits perfectly into His whole salvation plan and the whole calendar of history.
This day is a day that concludes the Great Tribulation. This is a day that concludes the latter rain. It is the 8400th day of the 23-year Great Tribulation. It is a day that fits perfectly with a five-month period at the end of which will be the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and the end of the world on October 21, 2011. This is a day, May 21, 2011, that happens to be the 17th day of the 2nd month in the Hebrew calendar.
He handpicked the day. He appointed the day and He kept mankind in the dark and ignorant of this day and when exactly it would be until the time of the end where we are. Now He has opened up the Scripture.
If we go to Job 7:1, it says:
Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
There is an “appointed time” to man’s days on earth. It is not open-ended. It is not just man declaring, “Well, I am going to live my life and nothing is going to change this.”
Many things could change this. You could die. All throughout history, man has died. Or you could be alive at the time when God has chosen a day and when this day is going to occur in your lifespan. This is where we all are. God has picked a day. Whether you think this is fair or not, He picked the day. This is the time. He chose a last generation.
There always had to be a last generation, right? If the Bible is true and if what God says in many places in the Bible about this is true, which is that He does intend to destroy the earth and that He does intend to finish this world and then recreate a new Heaven and a new earth, it had to be some time. Well, why not us?
Is it because people are basically so good and moral in our day? This does not work, does it? This does not work at all. People are not basically good and moral. We are basically the most evil generation that has ever walked upon the face of the earth. Well, not basically; we are! We are nearly seven billion people who are sinning against God. We are daily multiplying sin against Him and it is just incredible that He has not judged us already, but He cannot and He will not because He has a plan. He has appointed a day and we have to wait for this day to come.
Also in Job, speaking of unsaved man, we read in Job 14:4-5:
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
God has set the limit, and yet it is true that you can go beyond May 21. You can go to May 22nd or May 23rd. You can possibly even go for five more months, but you are not going to go beyond October 21st in 2011 because this is it. This is the end of the world.
In God’s wisdom, He has decided that this is the day. Just like He set the bounds for the seas, they can come so far but no further, He has set the bound for mankind and this is 13,023 years. This is the limit. This is the bound, and we are at 13,022 years. All we have left is one more year, and it would be very wise for us to consider that we have one year left. This is it; no more. In a couple of weeks, it will be exactly one year.
So we should think about our life and consider how we have been living it. Do we want to continue on as we have been, day after day, as this day is approaching? Remember that in a couple of verses in Hebrews 10 where He is dealing with fellowship with God, He speaks of “as ye see the day approaching.”
As we see this day approaching, should we not really look at ourselves and ask the question, “Do I want to enter into May 9th,” which today is, “of 2011 in the same way that I have entered into May 9th of 2010 or May 9th of 2009 or the way in which I have lived my life in the past? Do I really want to approach this day, this appointed day, in the way that I have approached time in my past life? Do I want to continue in my sins? Do I want to continue doing the things that I have been doing, things that I have some conscience about and know that they are not right?”
Well, God says that He has appointed a day and that He now commands all men everywhere to repent, to repent, to turn and be like the Ninevites who sat in sackcloth and ashes and who cried mightily unto God that He might have mercy on them. God had also given an appointed day to Nineveh. It was forty days, and so they could know that from the time that they heard that they had forty days, they could look ahead and pinpoint the exact day, the appointed day that God had given them.
Let us go back to 2 Peter 3. It says in 2 Peter 3:8:
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing…
This word “ignorant” is also found in Hebrews 13:2 where it speaks of entertaining “angels unawares.” The word “unawares” is the same Greek word that was translated as “ignorant.”
…be not ignorant [or unaware] of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
God placed this in the context of discussing the flood. Then He discusses the end of our present world by fire. Then He places this verse here that we should not be unaware or ignorant of one thing, that one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day, and we know why. This is because He has given us direction to go back to the flood, back to the days of Noah when the Lord said to him, “Yet seven days and I will bring the flood”; which meant, “Yet seven days and I will destroy the world.”
Spiritually, God is saying at that time in Genesis 7, “Yet seven thousand years and I will destroy the world, not with a flood but with fire, and that will be it. This is all the time that man has to find safety and refuge in Christ,” and this time is now running out.
We know that in the year 4990 B.C., in the 2nd month and on the 17th day of the month of Noah’s 600th year, God shut the door of the ark. Exactly 7,000 years into the future would be 2011.
The date of May 21 came about through totally separate studies, studies that had to do with the length of time of the church age and the length of time of the Great Tribulation. These things were already in place. You can go back and read studies as far back as maybe 15 years ago that spoke about the length of the Great Tribulation being 23 years and the day that the church age ended being the day before Pentecost, May 21, 1988.
All of these things were worked out independently and separately from the 7,000-year time path from the flood. And it so happens that May 21 is the 8400th day of the Great Tribulation. It is the end of the latter rain. This day is set and locked in through several different ways. Then we realized that this is the 17th day of the 2nd month of the Hebrew calendar, which the day that God shut the door on the ark.
This is not a coincidence. This is God working and confirming that these things are so, that this is going to happen, and that He is going to bring judgment.
I hope that we just believe. I hope that we believe God. I hope that we trust Him, that we trust His Word. I hope that even if we only understand this, that we trust this and believe this and begin to act upon this by going to God and beseeching Him and crying out to Him.
We do not really need more and more evidence. The problem is not evidence. The evidence is there. The problem is a disbelief of the evidence, that people are doubting. The problem is simple: they do not believe.
The Ninevites did not have this problem, and yet they had hardly any evidence. What evidence did they have? Did Jonah do any miracles in Nineveh to confirm that he was from God? Did he prove to them somehow that what he was saying was correct about the 40 days?
No. As far as we know, he only said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” which is a message of time and judgment. He provided no support for this or no further evidence that we are aware of. There was no way that the Ninevites could confirm that he was a man of God. There were false prophets in that day. How did they know that this foreigner or this stranger was not a false prophet?
You see, this was all because God gave them faith. God gave them trust and belief. God made the Ninevites believe. He is the One who led them to sit in sackcloth and ashes and to cry mightily to Him. It was not the amount of evidence. It was not anything in addition to this, and yet they believed God.
So we are hearing lots of evidence, lots of studies from the Scripture, but do you and do I believe the Bible? It really comes down to this. Do we trust the Bible? Do we believe the Bible? If we do, we believe God and we trust Him.
If you want to continue questioning and to continue saying, “Tell me more that I might believe; give me more evidence that I might believe,” then you can go right up until the last day seeking more confirmation; and yet when you get it, you are not going to believe. More evidence is not going to do it. This has to be God’s doing and His gift of faith.
Going back to 2 Peter 3:9, it says:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Here we find that God is not slow. The word “slack” is derived from a word that means “slow” in the Greek, and so this is not coming slowly. This is coming right on time.
According to His schedule, Jesus came in the “the fulness of the time” the first time and so will He this time. He is going to come exactly as planned, just like it says in Habakkuk 2:2:
And JEHOVAH answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables…
“The vision” has to do with the Word of God and so do “tables.” It continues:
…that he may run that readeth it.
If you remember, there is a Psalm that says, “I will run the way of thy commandments.”
So Habakkuk 2:2 has everything to do with the Bible:
…Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables…
This is so that one can understand and follow the Word of God.
Then in Habakkuk 2:3, we read:
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it [he] shall speak, and not lie: though it [he] tarry, wait for it [him]; because it [he] will surely come, it [he] will not tarry.
This is referring to Christ. It could appear that He tarried, and yet God says, “No, I am not tarrying. I am not going to be slack. I am going to come at the proper time.” He has now filled us in and has let us know when this day and time is.
Then it says in the middle part of 2 Peter 3:9 in reference to God:
…but is longsuffering to us-ward…
If we look at Romans 9:21-22, it says:
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
This is what is going on right now. God is enduring with longsuffering all of the unsaved, “the vessels of wrath.” He is putting up with the sins of man for an excellent reason, as we read in Romans 9:23:
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
So the Lord is waiting. He is patiently putting up with mankind in order to save His people, His elect people. This is why the Bible refers to Him as being longsuffering.
In James 5:7, it says:
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord…
If you remember, Luke says, “In your patience possess ye your souls.” Be patient; that is, wait on the Lord and endure. Endure sound doctrine and continue to wait on God for “he that endureth to the end shall be saved,” and so we have to be patient. We have to look to God and look to His Word and trust His Word.
Many times, God has shaken us up as He has uncovered this truth or that truth, and many people do not endure sound doctrine. They do not like it when God clarifies and makes clear, for example, that His judgment is not an eternal damnation in a place called “hell.” It is annihilation; it is to destroy man.
Some people like this particular doctrine. To them, it is not the Gospel without this particular doctrine; and so they fail to endure and to stay the course. Therefore, they go off on their own way.
It is the same thing with many other teachings; but God tells us to wait and that in our patience, we possess our souls. We are to wait on Him and for the things that He is uncovering.
So James 5:7 says:
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Then what happens? He will have no more patience. Right? Is this not what God is saying?
He is the husbandman. He says elsewhere, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman,” and so God is in view as the husbandman who is waiting and enduring long-sufferingly while the rain falls.
We already had the “early rain,” which was the church age. The fruit was brought forth that Pentecost pointed to. The 144,000 in Revelation 14 are called “the firstfruits unto God.” Now after the church age and after the initial 2300-day period of the Great Tribulation, God began to send the latter rain for another 6100 days, which is for the remainder of time.
From September 7, 1994 until May 21, 2011, the latter rain is falling, and then it will end on May 21 of next year. God will have saved His people, and then He will no longer be patient. He will no longer be patient. It will be Judgment Day. The appointed day will have come and there will no longer be a purpose for waiting.
Why should He wait? He had His purpose for waiting, as we read in Mark 4:28-29:
For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
There will be no delay, absolutely none. It is immediate. He will have gathered His fruit, and He will only take the good fruit; the bad fruit will be left scattered.
If you remember in the book of Jeremiah, it speaks of bodies in several places that are scattered over the earth like dung and God says that they were not gathered. He will gather the precious fruit, the good fruit, the good figs. He is not gathering the evil figs, the corrupt fruit. He is not collecting them, and so they remain ungathered, which will be all of the unsaved dead who will be spread across the face of the earth. So please read this. You will see in the book of Jeremiah two or three times that God makes a point of saying that they were not gathered.
So this is what is going to happen next year, as it says in Matthew 24:31:
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
This is the gathering, the bringing in of the fruit. It is harvest time. This is the end. This is what God’s plan is, except He will not gather the fruit that sends forth a stench, as it says in Isaiah. He will not gather the unsaved or the ungodly of the world.
So the question for us as we look at ourselves is what kind of fruit, spiritually speaking, are we? What kind of fruit am I? What kind of fruit are you? Are you going to be gathered? Is God going to collect you with His angels or with His messengers? Will He bring you into Heaven? If not, we still have time to go to Him and to beseech.
Again, 2 Peter 3:9 says:
The Lord…is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
We can see how those who believe in free will love this kind of verse. They really love this. God is not willing that any should perish, and so He is going to save everyone; plus, all should come to repentance.
This is a good verse to teach us that we cannot just read the surface of a verse. We cannot just go to a verse and immediately assume that we know what it means. For example, the verse that states “of that day and hour knoweth no man” has an extremely superficial understanding.
Someone can have all of this Biblical evidence presented to them as to how God forewarns before judgments, as well as the time paths like the 7,000 years from the flood, they can have all of this information and then think that all they have to do is to quote Matthew 24:36 and it will all just go away. Well, maybe this individual thinks that they made this go away and that they can comfortably go on their way thinking in their minds that they do not have to worry about this, but this is not the truth. This is not the truth because the day has been appointed and it is coming.
We cannot go to any verse in the Bible and just scratch the surface, like when you go to McDonald’s and they give you a ticket with your meal where you can scratch the surface and maybe get a free Coke; but we cannot do this with the Bible. We have to dig because God has hidden truth.
So we have to study and work at this. When we do, we find that this understanding of 2 Peter 3:9 does not harmonize with many verses in the Bible where God indicates that great numbers of people will perish, and yet He says that He is not willing that any should perish. Therefore, this cannot be referring to the whole world. It cannot be all people.
Who is He not willing that any should perish? This is referring to His elect people, His chosen people. Will any one of them perish? No, this is not possible. Even in Matthew 24, it speaks in relation to Satan coming with false gospels and that this can be a big problem, and yet this still will not harm the elect.
God’s people cannot be hurt. This is an impossibility. Every time someone tries to curse God’s people, like Balaam, God turns it into a blessing because they cannot be cursed. They are chosen. They have been predestinated to salvation; therefore, God has already paid for their sins and obligated Himself. He has made a commitment or a guarantee that He will save every single one of His elect people.
These are the ones who He is:
…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
This is speaking of all of the elect, every child of God. Every true believer will be given faith and repentance and salvation.
Let us now look at 2 Peter 3:10:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise…
The Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Is Jesus coming for anyone here “as a thief”? I hope not.
Why? Why would we hope that Jesus is not coming for us “as a thief”? We would hope this because John 10:10 tells us what a thief comes to do. It says in John 10:10:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…
What is He coming to steal? Well, if Christ is coming to you “as a thief,” this means that you did not store up any treasure in Heaven “where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” It means that you did not do this. Instead, you stored your treasure here on earth.
When Christ comes next May 21, are you going to lose your treasure? Yes. You are going to lose your houses, your cars, your bank accounts, your clothes. You will lose everything eventually at the very end because Christ is coming.
More than this, He will take the spiritual covering from people. He will take away their righteousnesses. He will take away all of the things that man has wrapped around himself in order to hide his spiritual nakedness. Those left behind will all be naked and open, which accounts for shame for that five-month period.
Many in the churches and congregations have thought that they were His people, and yet they will be crying, “Lord, Lord! Did we not do many things in Your Name?” Yet Christ will steal everything from them that they had stored up in this world.
After stealing, He is going to kill them. He is going to destroy them forever and ever and ever. It will be an “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” because there will be no coming back. There will be no more life. There will be no more existence. There will be no more thoughts.
Think of how foolish it is for God to raise up all of the ungodly dead and to restore wicked minds and wicked hearts to them so that they can begin to think evilly against Him again. Would it not be foolish to give them their sinful condition back for all eternity so that they can continually blaspheme God’s Name into eternity future?
No, God is not going to do this. The unsaved dead are dead, and it is good that their thoughts have perished. This is because in their hearts, they only thought evil continually. Therefore, God is not going to revive them just to give them their wicked minds again, and so He will kill them and then He will destroy all of those who are not saved on October 21 with a fervent heat.
Turn to Psalm 112:10. We read there:
The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth…
Whenever we read of gnashing with the teeth, it is during the five-month period. This is when the door is shut. In Luke 13, the master of the house has risen up and shut the door. Once the door is shut, we read in the following verses that they gnash with their teeth.
This is what God is saying here. This has to do with the five months.
…he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
He gnashes for five months and then he melts. Why? This is because the world is melting with a fervent heat. God is burning up the world and man is being destroyed along with it. He is being eternally destroyed.
This is how we understand verses that relate to everlasting punishment and everlasting destruction, because it is. It is a one-time destruction, but the effects of it continue on and on and on forevermore. It is an eternal punishment, in this sense.
Let me continue on in 2 Peter 3:10:
…in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
What works is He referring to? Is He referring to buildings? We saw some beautiful buildings in Tokyo. They were incredible sights, lovely architecture; and, yes, they will be burned up. What about the artwork of man, the paintings and the drawings? Yes, they will be burned up. These works will be burned up.
Anything that man has actually done will be burned up, but more than this, let us turn to Isaiah 51:6. This is a related verse to 2 Peter 3:10. It says in Isaiah 51:6:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner…
What happens to the world happens to them who dwell therein. The world will be burned up. Those who dwell therein, the unsaved, will also be burned up. This is what perishing is. To perish is to be gone, to be cut off, to be no more. This is exactly what the Bible says.
Go also to 1 Corinthians 3:9-13. It says:
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
What are these references to work referring to? What are they speaking of? Is this referring to building a house?
It said in 1 Corinthians 3:9:
…ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
So this is talking about people. We are living stones. We are part of the New Jerusalem. Yes, God looks at us like building a wall or something like this as He refers to “salvation will God appoint for walls,” but this is actually referring to when the Gospel is shared. People hear the Gospel and some become “gold, silver, precious stones”; others become “wood, hay, stubble.”
But how can you tell? We know that God is separating the wheat from the tares today and that one mechanism is the call to come out of the churches; but this does not necessarily mean that everyone who is out of the church is saved. So how can we tell who is saved and who is not?
Well, you put it to the fire. This is the way in which you can tell who is “gold, silver, precious stones” and who is “wood, hay, stubble.” Those who are “wood, hay, stubble” are just going to go poof and burn up quickly.
May 21 of next year will be the final separator between the saved and the unsaved in the world. This is related to work, to every man’s work, the work that God did in saving His people.
Then there are other verses, as it says in 1 Corinthians 3:15:
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
This reference to being burned has to do with someone being consumed by the fire of Judgment Day.
One other verse is in 1 Corinthians 9:1:
Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?
The Apostle Paul is saying, “Ye are my work in the Lord.” People are his work.
Let me read 2 Peter 3:10 again:
…the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
It is all gone. What happens to the world and universe happens to the unsaved people who were “wood, hay, stubble.” They are gone. They are totally gone. There is nothing after this.
Please allow me to read just two more verses and make a quick comment. We read in 2 Peter 3:11-12:
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God…
Do you see the exhortation that God gives us?
There are some who misunderstand the Gospel who have said to me, “Well, the way that you are saying this, that May 21 is Judgment Day, what is to stop a person from living as they please up until May 20th?”
Well, what is to stop them is that if anyone has this mindset, they are going to find that they cannot turn the switch on May 20th, right before May 21. They will not be able to exercise their will and their choice to say to God, “Now I accept you.” They can do this, but this will not be the truth. This is not how the Bible teaches salvation.
So God is saying that if we are seeing these things, if we are understanding these things, if we are seeing that “all of these things shall be dissolved,” what manner of persons should we be in holy living: in our conversation, in our behavior, in the things that we say, in the things that we do, and, most importantly, in the things that we think?
What is going on within us? Should we not be so desirous to do it God’s way like never before in our life? Should we not be taking seriously the command that God has activated right now where He commands “all men every where to repent” because He has appointed this day?
Therefore, when we get up for the day and we know that our days are numbered and that there are very few left, should we not be going to God and saying, “Father, please, help me to live to Your glory today and to do Your will. Strengthen me to truly live a godly life and a holy life without guile and without falsehood. Please, if I see things in my life and I cannot change them, O God, have mercy! Strengthen me to turn from them. I do not want to go any longer into the future when there is so little time left with this sin, with this trouble in my life that sin is bringing. I doubt and I worry about whether or not I am a child of God and whether or not I am saved. Please, help me, Lord. Help me to turn from my sin.”
Notice that 2 Peter 3:12 also says:
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God…
The church says, “Do not look! You are not to look into this. You are not to concern yourself with this.” But here God says that we are to be looking and hasting unto the coming day of God. Do not be afraid to look. Yes, look!
This word “looking” is the same word that we find in Acts 28:6 when the Apostle Paul was bitten by the viper. If you remember, the natives looked at him a great while waiting for him to fall over dead. It was an intense looking at the Apostle Paul to see if he was going to die like he should have. He did not die because God preserved him.
This is what God is telling us by using this word. We are to intensely look into the Bible concerning the coming of God. This is why Jesus says, “Watch! Watch!” We are to watch in the Bible, in His Word.
Let us close.