The Day of the Lord (Part A)

Just giving us an overview so we can follow what Peter is saying. So a quick review, when Peter says the day of the Lord, he is talking about a future event that has not yet happened, has not happened in our time yet, but it's coming. It's on the prophetic calendar. It is a period when God acts in judgment.

That's his point. There is coming a day of judgment. There is coming a comeuppance for the wicked. We are in 2 Peter, Peter's second letter, chapter 3. We begin in verse 10 and we will make it to verse 18, at least in the reading. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat.

Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless. And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of things in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You, therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware less. You also fall from your steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

That wasn't too long, but it might be a little painful to some. The day of the Lord, that is what we are considering this morning. And concerning God's judgment, let's not confuse our standing with God and our state with God. What I mean by that, you may be struggling, you may really be struggling to obey, to do the right thing, you love the Lord, you want to do what he wants you to do, but the flesh being weak as it is, you may be in a time or season in your life where you just struggle there. Well, that does not mean God is done with you or is annoyed with you. Your position with him is solid.

You are his. And I have to point that out because we're going to be talking about judgment, the judgment of God. And this judgment that Peter is talking about is for those who reject him. The whole letter has been addressing false teachers in the church.

And he's saying this is where it's all going. John's gospel Jesus said this, where Peter would certainly have been mindful of, to his last day on earth. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Now I happen to agree with Christ, everything he says. I don't try to, I need to edit that and redact what God has said because he is God. He is God the Son in every bit.

Invincible, self-begotten, holy, beautiful, wonderful, and splendid all in him. And when he says it, that's the way it is. I have no problem with that and neither should you who believe. Now if you do not believe, you should have a big problem with yourself in the presence of these words. And so that's a brief introduction.

Let's roll on because we've got a lot to cover. Whenever there's prophecy on the table, we have to review an exam. So let's look at verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat.

Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Well that's, I didn't come to church to hear that, someone might say. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

They won't see it coming. The unbeliever will not see these events as they approach, but the believers will. Because this day of the Lord has a broad meaning in scripture. It is not, in this context, a 24-hour period.

This is a long period of time rather than a single day. And as Peter is using it here, it's over a thousand years long. Within it is the seven-year Great Tribulation period, and we'll get to that in a minute. Most references speak of future events. When you turn to your Old Testament Bibles and you read about the day of the Lord, most of them are future. But there are five of them that describe events that have passed, and you'll find that in Isaiah and Jeremiah and Lamentations and Ezekiel. We're not going to go into that now because we're not doing an in-depth study on the meaning of the last day, just giving us an overview so we can follow what Peter is saying.

So a quick review. When Peter says the day of the Lord, he is talking about a future event that has not yet happened, has not happened in our time yet, but it's coming. It's on the prophetic calendar. It is a period when God acts in judgment.

That's his point. There is coming a day of judgment. There is coming a comeuppance for the wicked. And of course, this being attached to the false teachers that were invading and clobbering the church from inside.

And of course, the apostle doing what he was supposed to do, sounding the alarm and arming believers to defend against them, as we should do today, all of us. And so within our Bibles, there is built in this prophetic calendar. It is a timeline of events without specific dates.

The dates are left out, but the events, those are included. And those can be identified and otherwise we would not, it wouldn't really help us much to know that these things were coming, but not knowing about when and why. Peter uses this expression to pinpoint the final judgment that involves humanity.

He goes all the way past. He's speaking past the millennial kingdom, the kingdom age of Christ. And we'll come to that also. So the day it is includes the day of Jacob's trouble, when Israel will be judged and a remnant of the Jews will be saved before the kingdom age begins. So let me give you an overview of this prophetic calendar. Now, many Bible students call it dispensations. I prefer not that word. I prefer the word a period of time.

I try to use the language I use everywhere else. And instead of sharing the gospel with someone and saying to them, you know, there's a dispensation and losing them, it's a period of time. And they're marked out on the calendar. The first as we look at our scripture is pre-creation. Before God created, before Genesis 1, 1, God existed and the angels were there and other things that we don't know about. But then there is the Edenic age, the next period. That is the time in Eden when men and women were created.

And of course, they fell into sin and were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Now, you can do this calendar many ways. You can put details in it.

This is not the only overview that exists. Some go quite into detail, as I'll do a little bit on our next period of time after pre-creation and the events in the Garden of Eden. And then you have the age of the Gentiles.

Well, let's break that down just in two points because we could do more. But you have before the flood of Noah and after the flood of Noah. Then comes the age of Israel. And again, you could break that down into the kingdom age that you just could do that, but not going to. After the age of Israel comes the age of the church.

Well, that's where we are now. On God's prophetic clock, on his timeline of events leading up to a new heavens and a new earth, we are in the church age. It is the day of salvation. It is the day of grace. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 2, for he says, In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.

Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You play with salvation all you want, but you need to be reminded. Satan is not playing. He hates your guts. He hates the guts of every single unbeliever and believer alike.

When he uses an unbeliever, he still hates that unbeliever. He is determined to damn their soul forever. He is out of his mind. He is dangerous. He is serious. He is for real. And if you don't believe it, you will be his chump.

It's what it comes down to. Or you can line up with the Creator who loves the sinner in spite of the sin, who reaches out, who extends his love through his people, who is very serious about saving souls, so much so he's willing to let his believers die telling about his salvation. He's willing to not spare them misery and sorrow and all the junk that Satan can throw at us if it will bring souls to Christ. Well, next is the day of Christ. We're in the age of the church, but the day of Christ comes.

It's like that. It's not long. It's called the rapture of the church. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Not soon to be shaken in mind or trouble because those believers were. They were worried that they missed the rapture. They were new believers and they didn't really understand prophecy yet. And Paul trying to break it down for them, he sends a second letter and he says, Don't be shaken in mind or trouble.

It has not come yet. He continues, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. See, they had worried that they missed the rapture.

And that's why he lays it out for them in 1 Corinthians 4 verses 13 through 18 for us. And then in the second letter, he begins to clarify some of the things and he talks about, well, before that day comes, this is going to happen, that's going to happen. And then after that will come this beast, the man of perdition. So the rapture of the church, the day of the Lord begins. When that rapture takes place, it also begins the great tribulation period. It's sort of like the Passover feast and the feast of unleavened bread. They merged as you were having the Passover, as the sun was setting, the next feast was beginning.

And they just segued one into the other. And so the rapture will bring in the great tribulation period. Our Lord gave us that term. Such tribulation as the world has never seen. Christ is telling humanity point blank, you ain't seen nothing like this.

And it's unmatched. There's no rival in human history and there will not be a rival for the misery that will be unleashed on people who have thumbed their nose at the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, that great tribulation period, the worst part begins in the split in half. The first part is trouble. There are extraordinary events taking place, not good. But the second half is a seven year period that three and a half years of the last period will really be bad especially for Israel. And thus it is also called the time of Jacob's trouble when antichrist tries to rid the planet of Jewish people. Then comes of course the kingdom age. It ends the great tribulation period when Christ returns physically and establishes his kingdom on the earth but sets it up in Jerusalem. We will be with him when that happens.

New Jerusalem will be here, sort of like hanging out over the planet. It's going to be, it's kind of like, well, I can't believe I just said it's kind of like. See, I have an 11 year old and I'm always saying, it's like, it's like, it's like what?

Anyway, and I hope if you're in your 20s you're not still doing that. Anyway, it's like I'm out of here now because you said that. Well, the kingdom age, that lasts for about a thousand years. Satan's locked up. The righteous are here governing with the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be many people born during that thousand year time. Sickness and death will be almost nonexistent. You can imagine the population explosion during the kingdom age. Well, those people born in that kingdom age would not have been exposed to the temptation of the devil.

How are we going to know if they really love the Lord or if they're just forced to serve him? Well, God's going to find that out and Satan will be again released for a little while and he will, he will gather to him a significant amount of people and they will be dealt with instantly. That then issues in the new heavens and the new earth that Peter is referring to here. It concludes what we now know as human history and with it, God will wipe the universe, the physical universe clean and start again. Now, when I say start again, don't think of the rookie planets, you know.

Boy, this place is a mess. We've got to wait a thousand years for it to develop. Not at all. God can create something in a matured state which drives the evolutionist wacky. When he created Adam and Eve, I mean, Adam was matured.

He may have had his wisdom teeth in him, for example. It's no problem for God to create the universe. Already, according to scientific measurement, at two billion years old, he can create a mature universe. So anyway, those are side notes.

We don't charge you extra for that, but we could. So the day of the Lord. And then Peter says at this, at the end of this judgment, because before he wipes the planet clean, that's what he's going to talk about, the fervent heat, and he's going to give us a little detail on this. But he says, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, which we would expect. I mean, how do you blow up Mars quietly?

God's got a silencer. Just on this planet alone, just think about all the tunnels that are here, all of the cables and junk on the sea beds. I mean, what does God, what do you do with that stuff? Any of you like any of your truck, your furniture, your stuff you have at home? It's all going to be burned up eventually, gone.

That's okay. You get to use it for a lifetime, and it will end up, though. But, see, if we knew when the rapture was coming, we would be doing goofy things. I would have a big sign outside my house, don't touch my stuff, be back in seven years. And so God says, you know, I don't want you doing that kind of stuff.

What a waste of signage. Anyway, they have put up a sign, in glory I'll have hair again. Unless, you know, God might say, you know, I kind of like the bald guys.

Keep them around for a bit. Anyhow, in which the heavens will pass away with great noise. And where is this, that's what we've been talking about.

It is at the very end of the prophetic calendar. Peter goes right to the end. I'm not surprised that's the kind of guy he was. Look, I don't want the details. Let's just get the fact. Get the fish in the boat, cut them, eat them, and let's move on. So that's, I'm not surprised.

It's his style. Paul would have given us a couple of chapters. And Peter says, you get a paragraph. So, you can read about this new heavens and earth in Revelation chapter 20 and up to verse 21. Well, we'll take Revelation 21 verse 1. John writes, now I saw a new heaven and a new earth where the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. That's the physical earth and the physical skies gone, terminating the millennial. The millennial reign of Christ terminates when Christ says, okay, we're done here.

We have populated eternity with all the people that are ever going to believe God of their free will. Now we can clean this place up and start fresh. And Peter is going to say, we should be longing for this kind of stuff. We should be desiring that day when there's no more curse. There's no more wickedness anywhere in us or anybody else.

And that's where his encouragements come in. It will be a cataclysmic surprise as a thief in the night and disappointment for those on the earth who have mocked the Lord. Overwhelming judgment.

Now, it has its delays. God's prophecies, they have their delays, but they happen. And there are those that scoff at the prophetic word. They scoff at the king of the word. Psalm 2 is ready for that. Way back then, the psalmist was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say, God gets the last laugh all the time.

You can scoff, you can mock, you can do your dirt. But in the end, you will stand before him without exception. Those who have rejected him will stand before him unto condemnation. And those who have accepted him will stand before him also and be judged according to our works. I plan to have a doppelganger.

That is a lookalike. Stand in for me to take the heavy stuff and then I'll take the blessings. It might cost me.

All right. How can you not have a little levity on these things? I mean, it's so much hidden from us. But God says, look, I'm going to hide a lot, but understand this is going to be glorious. You make sure you are there. And this is one of the so many reasons why we who love the Lord love him. Where will you be on that day? On the day when God creates a new heavens and a new earth, where will you be? Because the soul lives forever. Where?

Well, that's up to each individual. They mocked Noah. We know the story. We have the story. So we are forewarned and therefore to be forewarned is to be for armed.

Lot. They mocked him too. They mocked the disciples of Christ. They mocked Paul and they mocked us that that should not bother us one bit. It should cause us to say we have been down this road before and we know how to handle it.

We stay focused on our mission to love and honor the Lord and to preach the truth. Now we'll get to truth, too. I know I'm getting out promising a lot of things. Hope I deliver. If you listen fast enough, we can get through this. The elements will melt with fervent heat, the elements, the things that are created.

So there is such a thing as climate change, but it's God made, not man made. What a hoax. And if any of you are falling in for that, I do have a bridge for sale and Brooklyn can get you a good price on it. Just see me after service.

I give you the deed. Anyway, the elements and I'm just mostly I think our younger generation who they're trying to brainwash you to tell you this. What a way to live.

Wake up every morning. We're going to melt. We're all going to melt because of pickup trucks and cows. It's stupid, but it works for Satan. So it's not a joke.

As odd as it is. Anyway, annihilation of the earth melt here in verse 10. And the Greek is to dissolve. I only point that out because the English Bibles, most of them will translate that same word melt when we get to verse 12.

And there it's a different Greek word means to liquefy. The bottom line, Peter is saying everything will be dealt with. It will end up beyond ash.

You will not find evidence of it. And at the command of God, this physical universe will be in the beginning. God created the heavens and earth. And in the end, God will do away with the heavens and the earth and give us something new.

Now, these are physical. We will be spiritual. We have to understand that. When we talk about going down to Sheol, for example, that's relative to heaven, not earth. It's a spiritual realm. As far as the earth is concerned, it's not an up or down matter.

Geographically speaking, character, of course, it is. He says both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. And there's the poof.

Everything's gone. That's all we have time for on today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. You've been listening to Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia as he teaches through the book of Second Peter. If you'd like to listen to more messages from this series, or if you'd like more information about this program, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. What a great way to keep God's word with you wherever you go. We hope you'll tune in again next time as Pastor Rick continues studying through the scriptures right here on Cross Reference Radio.