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5/21 Reading Portions: Numbers 30; Psalm 74; Isaiah 22; 2 Peter 3
2 Peter 3:12
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!
EAGER
While the Bible doesn’t speak of a big bang at the beginning of creation, it does speak of one at the end of time, occurring just before the creation, or rather re-creation, of the new heaven and earth. The heavens will melt and dissolve with fire from the Lord God. A new heaven and new earth will take its place. Just as old things in our lives have “passed away” (2 Cor 5:17), spiritually speaking, and all things have become new through salvation in Jesus Christ, and just as there is a bodily resurrection to come at the return of Christ when this mortal puts on immortality and incorruption (1 Cor 15:51-54), there is a resurrection of the heavens and earth coming (Rom 8:19). What will be coming is beyond our finite imaginations. John writes,
…what we will be has not yet appeared. 1 John 3:2
Quoting Isaiah, Paul says,
What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9
The return of the Lord Jesus and the consummation of all things is an essential part of the gospel. Paul calls the culmination of the gospel a “depth of riches” (Rom 11:33); and in his letters both to the Romans and the Ephesians, Paul says that these gospel truths are “unsearchable” (Rom 11:33; Eph 3:8), that is, beyond our present ability to comprehend. Oh, the happy, joyful thought of the Lord Jesus’ return should make us eager for His appearing. At the end of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Himself said that He was coming soon, and John adds heartily,
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! Revelation 22:20
Peter’s exhortation to us is that while we await Christ’s return, we should hasten His coming. How so? By becoming amateur providences, doing things to create chaos to cause Him to come? God forbid! We should, however, be praying for Christ to come, eager for His appearing.
The Lord’s return is soon, for sure,
We look for it with glee:
Christ will come, making all things pure,
Though now, we’ve not yet seen.