The Certainty of the Second Coming, Part 3 A

Suppose that Jesus is not coming back. Think of the implications.

Wrong would never be a problem. Let's peek into the future, specifically when Christ returns to earth. John calls his series Where in the World is History Headed? But John, before you continue this series on the future of the world, talk for a minute about the future of this ministry. Specifically, what will grace to you look like, say, 10, 20, 50 years from now if the Lord hasn't returned?

You know, that's an easy question to answer. Grace to you will look pretty much the same if the Lord hasn't come back 10, 20, 50 years from now, because grace to you is a ministry that presents the teaching of the Word of God that I've done in the pulpit of Grace Community Church. All of that preaching and teaching has been assembled into messages now able to be downloaded, able to be put into radio broadcast format, able to be put in a commentary series, shows up in various ways in books, and that ministry that has developed over these many years is not going to change.

It started out with cassette tapes being distributed in addition to radio, then it was CDs being distributed, and now it's MP3s. But God's Word will never be obsolete. As far as the ministry, the outreach of grace to you across the globe, the preaching and teaching of the Word of God will continue to go around the globe, as long as the Lord enables us to do that by the faithful, loving support of folks who listen and believe in this ministry.

We want to be here. We want to be proclaiming God's Word until our Lord Jesus comes. And who knows, maybe even after that, the preaching and teaching of the gospel will also move around the world in the time when God does a marvelous work of salvation before he returns to establish his kingdom. We have a great future because the Word of God has a great future. The Lord said it'll go until it is fulfilled. We look forward to that.

Yes, we do. Thank you, John. And, friend, John's lesson today will show you how God's faithfulness in the past can bring you great comfort in the future. So, let's get started.

Here again is John MacArthur with his study, Where in the World is History Headed? Let's open our Bibles together to 2 Peter chapter 3. As Christians, it is obvious to all of us that we anticipate by way of the revelation of Scripture the return of Jesus Christ. But it is more, I think, than just a part of our theology. It is also a part of the anticipation of our hearts. As believers, we long for the day when the Lord Jesus will return to take His own to be with Him and then to judge the sinners of the world, to establish His kingdom and to bring in eternal righteousness. To all of those who truly name the name of Jesus Christ, such a hope is central to their faith. But to the mockers and the scoffers who attack Christianity, there is continual ridicule about such a doctrine, such an anticipation. We find that such ridicule is the subject of Peter's discussion here in this chapter.

You will remember, I'm sure, verse 3, the mockers who come with their mocking, and in verse 4 they say, Where is the promise of His coming? One of the major attacks of false teachers and scoffers and mockers through the centuries has been on the doctrine of the return of Jesus Christ. For just a moment, suppose they're right. Suppose that Jesus is not coming back. Suppose that Jesus never actually rose from the dead and therefore could not come back, for He's dead.

Think of the implications. Wrong would never be made right. Injustice in this world would never be replaced by fairness and equity. Suffering would never be rewarded in this world. The curse on this world would never be removed.

Paradise lost, but never regained. And the hope of the human heart for a better life would be but a pipe dream. The longing for a better world would be an illusion. If this is all there is, a deteriorating, wicked world growing worse and worse, and there is no change to be anticipated, no alteration, no transformation, no better world, better life, no end to pain, no end to sickness, no end to death, no end to disappointment, if all of that is true, then sin rules, Satan wins, and the universe continues on the path to its own destruction.

And for what? What kind of cruel joke is this life and this world? The question really is, could we bear such a belief? Could we commit soul suicide and believe that there is no real resolution?

Nothing will ever be made right. Can we really buy into the mockers viewpoint without destroying all hope and making nonsense out of human existence? The false teachers in Peter's day had reached the point in their heresies where they were outright attackers of the Second Coming. Among the things that they taught that were heresy, the pinnacle seems to be a denial of the return of Jesus Christ. It probably involved a denial of His physical, literal, bodily resurrection, but for sure they denied that He would ever come back. That denial topped off all the other denials which were part and parcel of their heresy.

The denial of the Second Coming apparently culminated their distorted doctrine and denial of Scripture. So, since Peter was writing this second epistle to deal with false teachers, he in chapter 3 then must deal with this, the culmination of their false teaching. Remember in chapter 1, Peter gave us some safeguards against false teachers, safeguards like living holy lives under the authority of the Word of God, safeguards like being sure you're genuinely saved and knowing your spiritual condition.

And then in chapter 2, he described for us the false teachers in great detail so they would be recognizable to us. And now in chapter 3, he defends the faith against their most important error. That is an attack on the return of Jesus Christ.

As we come into chapter 3, we begin to deal with it immediately. Remember now, Peter opened this chapter by focusing on the debate in verses 1 through 9, the debate between the mockers and those who teach the truth. And then he makes a statement of affirmation about the return of Christ. And then in verses 11 to 18, he closes the chapter by talking about the practical implications that the return of Christ causes. So the first nine verses show the debate between the mockers and those who speak the truth.

Verse 10 affirms the truth and then verses 11 to 18 delineate its implications. In verses 1 and 10, 1 and following, we start out with the arguments of the scoffers against the Second Coming. In verse 3, the mockers mock.

In verse 4, they say, Where is the promise of His coming? And they have a number of arguments that they use. First is the argument from ridicule. They are mockers and they are mocking. They ridicule anybody who would believe in such a foolish doctrine. This is the emotional attack.

It plays on feelings. Some of the Christians, you remember at that time, expected Jesus to have already come. And because He hadn't come, they were wondering if somehow He wasn't going to keep His Word.

Their doubts gave ground for the scoffers and the mockers to attack them. And because they were already struggling, where is Jesus? Why hasn't He come?

Some of us are already dying and what's going to happen? Are the dying Christians missing the Rapture? Is He not coming? Where is the Lord?

We thought He would come in our lifetime. Playing on their emotion at that point, the scoffers simply mock such a foolish belief. Secondly, the argument from morality. I pointed out to you that the real issue here in verse 3 is that they deny the coming of Christ because they want to follow their own lusts. In other words, their doctrine of no second coming comes from the fact they don't want any accountability. They don't want to ever have to answer to God for the life they live. And since they want to live an immoral, lust-controlled life, they don't want any accountability and so they will eliminate a judgment which means you eliminate the coming of Christ. That's the moral approach, the emotional approach, the moral approach.

Their third argument is the argument from uniformity. In verse 4 at the end, they make this ridiculous statement, ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. They say God never has intervened in judgment, so why would we believe He will in the future?

He never has. That's the intellectual argument. They look at history and in their blindedness, their willful blindedness, they say, well, there never has been a judgment so there never will be. So they take an emotional approach, a moral approach, and a historical approach in denying the coming of Christ. We also remember the second point and that is the arguments from the saints for the second coming. On the other side, the first argument of the saints is the argument from Scripture, verses 1 and 2. He says to them, I want you to remember, verse 2, the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets. That's the Old Testament.

And the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles, that's the New Testament. Remember the second coming is taught in the Old and the New Testament, that's the argument from Scripture. No matter what the scoffers say, the Bible teaches it. Secondly is the argument from history, verse 5. He says the scoffers willingly forget that God has judged and he goes from verse 5 to 7 to speak of the judgment of water that came upon the world, the judgment on the day of Noah. How can they say God has never come in devastating destruction? They are willingly ignorant of the Flood. The argument from uniformity is ridiculous. It is a deliberate rejection of truth.

They choose that belief simply because they want no accountability for their sin, not because history verifies it. Thirdly, the argument from eternity in verse 8, because the Lord has not already come, does not mean He won't come, it does not mean He's late because with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day, God does not operate on a timetable like ours, He operates on eternal terms, eternal basis. You cannot confine God to a human timetable. And so, the argument from eternity, it may appear to you that God has delayed His coming, but remember, a day with Him is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day and so God is not at all late, He is not delaying, the eternal God is not confined by time.

And then, fourthly, the argument from the character of God, the argument from the character of God, that is found in verse 9. They say, Where is He? Where is He? He promised He was coming.

Where is He? And Peter in the culmination of his argument says this, verse 9, The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Peter said the delay is not a delay of indifference, it is not a delay of impotence, it is not a delay of distraction, it is a delay of patience.

God, if He is waiting, is waiting because His patience makes Him wait, because He doesn't wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. Now this very, very important verse needs to occupy our thinking so that we get a careful understanding. And I want you to kind of follow along in your Bible and thoughtfully as we extract the truth that is found in this great, great verse. First statement, The Lord is not slow about His promise.

That is a very significant statement. The fact that so much time has passed since Jesus walked on earth calls for this explanation. Even in the time when Peter was writing, and it had only been just a few years since Jesus said He would come back, they were already wondering why He hadn't come back. They were definitely experiencing the hope that it would be in their lifetime.

Even Paul indicates that. Now Peter knew he would die before Jesus came because Jesus told him He was going to die in John 21, so he knew he wouldn't live till the return of Christ. But there were many believers who assumed that they would and Jesus hadn't come. And so they were questioning, why hasn't He come?

Here we are two thousand years later and the question is more pertinent for us and we might ask it. It's been a very long time, not just a decade or two, but it's been a millennium and He hasn't come. And then another millennium and He hasn't come and we're approaching two thousand years and where is He? And yet the promise of Scripture is clear. Twenty-three out of twenty-seven New Testament books tell us He's coming.

There are two hundred and sixty New Testament chapters and there are three hundred references to the return of Christ. So the message is clear, He is coming, He is coming. Why has He not already come? To which Peter says He's not slow. That word means late.

It can also mean to loiter. He's not loitering. He's not dilly-dallying. He's not slow.

He's not late. It is not the slowness of impotence. It is not the slowness of indifference. It is not the slowness of distraction. It is not the slowness of apathy. He is not late.

You remember in Galatians 4 it says, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law. God does everything in the fullness of time. He does everything on schedule, on time. He isn't slow.

He isn't fast. He isn't soon. He isn't late. He is on time.

In Hebrews 10 23 it says that He who promised is faithful. And in verse 37 it says, For yet in a very little while He who is coming will come. He will come on schedule. He is not slow. He is not loitering.

He is not fiddling away time. He will come. In fact, you remember Titus 1 2, it says, God who cannot lie. Hebrews 6 18 says it is impossible for God to lie. In Revelation 19 11 it designates Christ as the faithful and true one. God is faithful. God keeps His Word.

So does Christ. So Peter flatly denies that the Lord is delaying His coming out of indifference or apathy or impotence. He is denying that the Lord is late in fulfilling His promise. He may seem late to the mockers and He may seem late to some of the believers who are fearful and worried, but He is not late.

He is still on schedule perfectly. Such thoughts are purely human and He says that. The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness. Some on the human plane might see it that way, some mockers, some scoffers, and some unwitting believers who buy into the lies of the false teachers. Some believers apparently failed to understand verse 8, that a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day in the Lord's mind. And they fell victim to the scoffing and the mocking and were beginning to believe that the Lord was slow. But Peter says He's not slow as some mockers and apparently some unwitting believers would count slowness. God's apparent delay is not due to any failure on His part. Peter very specifically says this, but He is patient toward you. And there's the key thought in this whole passage. The apparent delay is not due to a failure, it is due to the character of God.

This is Peter's summation in terms of argument. As he argues from Scripture in verses 1 and 2 and argues from history in verses 5 to 7 and argues from God's eternality in verse 8, he now argues from the character of God. He is patient and he patiently waits before the Second Coming.

Now keep this in mind, beloved. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is primarily a judgment event. You understand that, don't you? It is primarily a judgment event. We anticipate the return of Christ to take His own to be with Him. But that really is a special pre-day of the Lord event in which Jesus takes out His own. He actually never comes all the way to the earth. We meet Him in heaven, don't we?

We meet Him in the sky, in the first heaven. He doesn't really come all the way back until He comes back to judge. And so the reason that His coming appears delayed is because He is so patient with sinners. He delays and delays and delays the judgment because He has planned to do that, because He is patient. There are a number of passages of Scripture that demand our attention. Romans 2, 4 says, "'Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?'" And Paul is there saying God has actually put His judgment plans into the future in order that in this present time He may exercise patience toward sinners so that they will repent. He is giving people time for repentance.

In Romans 9, 22, it gives us another insight into the character of God. It says He endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. He is so very patient. In 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 20, it takes us back to the time of Noah and it says that the people of Noah's time were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah. How long did God wait?

How patient was He? One hundred and twenty years did Noah build a boat and preach repentance and God patient and patient and patient, allowing men's space to repent. And now in our own chapter, 2 Peter chapter 3, look at verse 15, Peter says, "'Regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation.'" It is for purposes of redemption that God is patient. It is for purposes of repentance and salvation that God waits. And so the scoffers see the delay as a vice and Peter presents it as a virtue.

Now you remember that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is a time of final, devastating, wholesale, worldwide judgment, condemnation and damnation to eternal hell of all the ungodly. But God, it says in Joel 2, 13, is slow to anger and He is great in mercy. Luke 15, 20 says He is eager to show mercy. While God holds in His hand the power to kill, the power to destroy, the power to cast into eternal hell and He alone has that power. And with Him it is as easy to kill an entire world of people as it is to think the thought. But He is patient before He destroys.

Think about His patience. He endures very patiently innumerable adulteries, murders, lies, fornications, thefts, deceptions, endless violations of His law. He endures blasphemies against His name, debaucheries, defiance, challenges to His holy sovereign will. He endures the loose lips of the profane swearer.

He endures all of it and is patient...patient...patient. He would have every right to consume the sinner the first time He committed the sin. Back in Exodus 34 and verse 6, it says of God the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. That, by the way, is repeated often in the Old Testament. And it is true, sad to say, that the more the divinely compassionate God of mercy suffers patiently our iniquities, the more the wickedness of men presumes on that patience. Thus, while having a true and strong compelling desire for the salvation of the sinner, God is patient to give Him the space to repent. While definitely patient toward the elect, God is patient with all. Take the analogy of Noah. Was God patient only with Noah? Was God patient only with Noah's wife? Was God patient only with Noah's three sons and their three wives?

The eight souls who were redeemed? Certainly not, for their faith and their salvation certainly took place years before the Flood came and God exhibited even after they were believers a great patience with the sinners whom He would ultimately have to destroy. So as I read you in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 20, the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the water. Long after the eight were safe, as it were, in the fold of faith, God was still patiently waiting for sinners to repent. God by nature is compassionate.

God by nature is gracious, merciful, loving, kind, forgiving. God is Savior. In Luke chapter 13, interesting verse, verse 3, I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Jesus said those words and He is saying the path to perishing is the path of an unrepentant heart.

The path to damnation is the path of a nonrepentant heart, one that rejects Jesus Christ and holds on to sin. That's John MacArthur, pastor, author, and chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. His current study here on Grace to You is titled, Where in the World is History Headed? A friend going back to something John said before the lesson, these broadcasts are made possible because of friends like you who benefit from John's teaching and who want to help others benefit as well. Thanks for supporting Verse by Verse Bible Teaching on this radio station.

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All of these study tools are affordably priced, and you can order them now at gty.org, or you can call us at 800-55-GRACE. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace to You television this Sunday on DirecTV channel 378, and then be here next week as John continues his series, Where in the World is History Headed? Don't miss the next 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Monday's Grace to You.