God’s Purpose for Our Time

2 Peter 3:8-9
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, April 28, 2019
Copyright © 2019, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

Introduction

In 2 Peter 3:8–9, the apostle speaks about God’s purpose for our time, meaning his purpose for our lives. God gave us life with one purpose—that we may repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

God is eternal. He is above time. He is the Creator of cosmic time. We live in time for a short period, maybe even up to seventy to eighty years, according to the psalmist (Ps. 90:10). Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years. We live only a short time.

By the grace of God, we live in time. The psalmist said, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13). In Isaiah 44 we read, “This is what the Lord says—he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen” (Isa. 44:2). And the Lord told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [i.e., I loved you], before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). Our time is a gift from God that we may glorify God and enjoy him forever.

God knew us before he formed us in our mothers’ wombs. Paul wrote, “For those God foreknew [i.e., foreloved] he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29).  He also said, “He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph. 1:4). He told the Thessalonian believers, “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). We are God’s elect from eternity, loved of God

God loved us in eternity as fallen people to be saved by grace by repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s purpose for human beings who live in time by God’s will is to be saved by repentance and faith. Everyone must cry out, “What must I do to be saved from God’s wrath to sinners?” In Acts 2 we read, “They were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:37b­–38). And the Philippian jailer cried out at midnight, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The answer came: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:30–31).

Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. Where there is true repentance, there will be saving faith, and vice versa. We live our lives by repentance and faith all of life.

Our divinely given time may end at any moment. I cannot guarantee that you will live seventy or eighty years. You may. But you also may die today. The purpose of our lives, for our time, is to do one thing—to be saved by repentance and faith.

None of us can be sure that we will live tomorrow. Therefore, as Paul tells us, right now is the time to be saved. When God’s word comes to us, it is time for us to be saved. Paul declared this truth: “As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:1–2).

The rich man of Luke 16 did everything he thought that was important in this. He especially made a lot of money. Yet he did not think it important to repent and believe in God and be saved. Suddenly he died and went to hell in his spirit. He experienced fire, agony, and torment. In hell, he finally believed the Bible, but it was too late for him. He quickly became interested in the salvation of his five unbelieving brothers. He wanted God to perform a miracle, but no miracle was made available for them to believe in God. The answer came: “They have the Bible. They must repent and believe the God of the Bible” (see Luke 16:19–31).

There is no repentance after death. So I ask you again: Can any person be sure he will not die today? The answer is no. Only eternal God knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10). Therefore, we want to speak about two points from this passage: First, perish or, second, repent.

1. Don’t Repent, and Perish

If you do not repent now, you will perish eternally in hell. I believe in hell because I believe in Jesus, who spoke much about hell. Jesus himself said, “Unless you repent, you too all will perish” (Luke 13:5).

The rich man who went to hell was a mocker of the Bible. He was like the mockers Peter spoke of in 2 Peter 3:3–5. Peter begins this passage, “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” Mockers have ambitions and desires, but they have nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Peter continues, “They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised?’” In other words, they are saying that they cannot trust Jesus Christ. Then they give their reason: “Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But their reason is a lie.

Mockers treat the Bible as a book of myths and lies. They are fools who deny the God of the Bible. Such people believe in naturalism, false science, psychologies, and philosophies. They believe in everything but God’s truth. They refuse to believe the Bible. But Peter exhorts us, “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Pet. 3:1). He is speaking about the Bible, which alone speaks truth.

Mockers are given a perverted mind (Gk., adokimon noun).  And in Romans 1:28 we read that it is God himself who gives sinners over to a perverted mind. Such people cannot think correctly. They deliberately forget that the Bible teaches that God is truth and cannot lie and, therefore, what he promises, he will do. For example, after many millennia, God came in Jesus Christ to fulfill the promise of Genesis 3:15. This is the protoeuangelion, the first gospel declaration, which says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Thousands of years later, in Galatians 4:4–5, Paul wrote, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”

God’s view of time is different from ours. In Isaiah 55 we read, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isa. 55:8–9).

So Peter writes, “For the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day” (v. 9). Notice, Peter did not say, “For the Lord a day is a thousand years”; he said, “as a thousand years.” There is a difference between “is” and “as.” Some people have thought that Jesus was going to come back at the end of six thousand years. They based this idea on Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” To them, “six days” could mean “six thousand years.” But that is not proper biblical interpretation.

In verse 8, Peter begins, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends.” Notice, he is not speaking in this verse to the mockers who refuse to believe Jesus is coming again to judge the living and the dead. Rather, he is speaking to agapêtoi (the word is used five times in the Greek text), to God’s beloved true believers for whom Christ died. These are the regenerated ones, the ones who have repented and trusted in Christ alone for their own eternal salvation. These people read the Bible and think correctly, wholesomely, as we read in 2 Peter 3:1.  It is to these people that Peter writes, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (v. 8).

Mockers do not believe that Jesus is coming again, so they are always trying to make a lot of money. They live in lust. Their philosophy is, “Let us eat, drink, and be happy, for tomorrow we die. There is no hell or heaven, so let us enjoy the pleasures of sin in the short time we have. Then we will die, like animals.”

But Jesus is coming, and his coming is imminent (Luke 12:35–40). He will come like a thief in the night. (PGM) Only the Father knows when he will come. Jesus himself said so: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt. 24:36).

In the meantime, true believers like poor Lazarus will die in faith and go to paradise, carried there by holy angels. We read in Luke 16:22, “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.” Angels are ministering spirits to God’s people.

Unbelievers who refuse to believe in Jesus and spend their limited time enjoying the pleasures of sin all the time will also die. Their spirits will enter hell to experience fire, torment, and agony (see Luke 16:23–31). Heaven or hell waits for every human being.

2. Repent and Be Saved

If the Lord promises, he will fulfill all his promises (2 Cor. 1:20). God cannot lie, as we read in Titus 1:2.  There Paul writes that he is an apostle “for the faith,” which he describes as “a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.”

God is truth and he always speaks truth. The devil is a liar and he always speaks lies. Consider the following scriptures and think about your own salvation. Remember, we must make one thing certain—we must make our calling and election sure. So we read:

• Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”
• James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
• Romans 3:4: “Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: ‘So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.’”
• John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
• John 17:17: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” Let God be true and all men liars.
• John 8:44: “You belong to your father, the devil and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

God is patient. It is we who are impatient. As we said, God promised in Genesis 3:15 to send us a Savior to destroy the father of all lies and liars. This Savior came, in the fullness of God’s time, born of a woman, the virgin Mary, born to obey the law perfectly and to accomplish our redemption. John tells us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8b). The Hebrews writer says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14–15).

God sent his Son to destroy the devil several millennia after the promise of Genesis 3:15. God is always on time; he is never late or early. He fulfills his promises according to his own timetable. God’s word carries God’s authority; he is not slow or forgetful or impotent to fulfill his promises. God fulfills his promises in his time, not when we expect.

So Jesus is coming again to judge the world, just as he promised. He said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. . . . Then [the wicked] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 25:31, 46).

God waited one hundred twenty years before bringing the flood, as he promised, to destroy the wicked of the world. After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, people expected him to return in the first century. But now two millennia have gone by. During that time, the elect who have died went to heaven like Lazarus, and the wicked who have died in their sins have gone to hell.

But consider what Peter said elsewhere: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:19–21). Jesus is coming again. He may come today. That is why we can say that his coming is imminent. We must keep watch by living godly lives and doing the will of God.

God is longsuffering. The Lord operates on a time schedule different from ours. He will surely come a second time, even as he came the first time. But he has reasons for what appears to us as delay. God is longsuffering, especially toward his elect, the beloved of the Lord, his loved ones from eternity. In Exodus 34:6–7 we read, “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” And Paul writes, ‘What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory” (Rom. 9:22–23). God’s people are prepared for glory.

Our longsuffering God is waiting so that all his elect, even those yet to be born, may hear the gospel, believe, and be saved. When the last elect is saved, Christ will surely come, as he promised. Consider the following:

• Matthew 24:14: “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:51–52: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
• Psalm 78:5–7: “He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.”
• Acts 2:39: “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

The Lord is patient with his elect people, not wanting any to perish but all of them to come to repentance, that is, to salvation. In the same epistle Peter writes, “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” (2 Pet. 3:15). God is gracious in delaying his coming (a “delay” based on our timetable), so that every elect will hear the gospel, repent and believe in Jesus Christ, and be saved.

Therefore, we who are true believers should not be impatient. Rather, we must live holy lives and be the light of the world, always ready to share the gospel. The Lord will come when his time arrives. Until then, we are to function as the light of the world by evangelizing the world. The prophet Habakkuk says, “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. ‘See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith’” (Hab. 2:3–4).

We are to occupy until he comes (Luke 19:13, KJV). We are to engage in the business of the Lord, not work just to accumulate money. What is the Lord’s business? It is trading with the mina of the gospel. So we must know God’s word and do God’s word in all areas of life. We must go to school, go to work, go to worship, fellowship with God’s people, get married, raise children to love God, and so on.

Many people in history did not occupy while watching for Jesus to come. Instead, they quit their jobs and eventually they had nothing to eat. Of such people Paul writes, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:18). He instructed the Thessalonian believers, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody” (1 Thess. 4:11–12). This does not mean that we should not help other people. The first Christians always helped each other, as we read in Acts 2, 4, 6, for example. Paul also told the Thessalonian believers, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat’” (2 Thess. 3:10). Jesus himself worked as a carpenter and supported his mother and others who depended on him.

God is waiting to return so that his elect may come to repentance. God commands all people everywhere to repent with godly sorrow. That means they will hate sin and delight in doing God’s will immediately, exactly, and with great joy. He commands all people to repent, he commands all people to believe, and he commands all people to love one another (Acts 17:30, 1 John 3:23). Our God commands.

As we said before, repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ are two sides of the same coin. A true believer will live by repentance and faith all of life. Paul spoke of this type of life in Acts 26:20: “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance.” We prove our repentance by obediently doing the will of God all of life.

A regenerate believer receives the gifts of repentance and faith from God. In Acts 5:31, Peter said about Jesus Christ, “God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.” Repentance is a gift, as is faith. Paul writes, “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him” (Phil. 1:29). We repent and we believe by the gifts of repentance and faith.

When we repent and believe, we will do what the prodigal son did (Luke 15). We will return to the Father, confess our sins, and live an obedient life. We will experience a change of thinking and behavior, as we read in Ephesians 4:28: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to [give to] those in need.” He who was once a thief now works hard and gives to others in need.

It is a radical change. So Paul also writes, “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:20–24).

We love God because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).  Paul writes, “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).

No one can be saved unless God draws him, and Christ draws him. God himself must make us alive. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. . . . No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:37, 44). Jesus also said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). And Paul writes, “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all” (Rom. 11:32). God has mercy on his elect.

Jesus is coming, as he promised, in glory to judge. He will judge all mockers who reject the truth of the Bible, especially the truth of Christ’s second coming. They reject it so that they can pursue money and sin continuously. But when Christ comes again, all mockers will be raised up, judged, and sent to suffer eternal punishment.

Why is God waiting to come? He is waiting for our repentance. God has brought us here by the Holy Spirit to hear the words of life. So I say: Today, if you hear God’s voice, may his word lead us all to repentance, that we may rejoice, and that heaven may rejoice.  Jesus said, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7).

In Romans 9, Paul said, “What if [God] did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory?” (Rom. 9:23). We are objects of mercy prepared in advance for glory.  We cannot even conceive in our minds what glory means. But he also said, “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?” (Rom. 9:22).

Jesus said, “Then [the King] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matt. 25:41). But he also said, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’” (Matt. 25:34).

The lesson of 2 Peter 3:8–9 is simple: Jesus is coming again. Therefore, repent or perish! Consider the following:

• Luke 16:14–15: “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”
• Matthew 16:26: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
• Luke 10:20: “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven,” in eternity.
• 2 Peter 1:10: “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.” You can come to Pastor and ask, “Pastor, do you think I am born again?” And I will tell the truth, as far as I know. I am not infallible. But I am a pastor. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall.”

On the cross, the dying thief said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He was, in essence, saying, “Jesus, I confess that you are Lord.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42–43). Jesus died first and went to paradise to wait for this thief who confessed him as Lord. My prayer is that all who hear this word will also repent, believe, and confess Jesus Christ as Lord, that you may dwell in his presence forever.