1 & 2 Peter: Our Living Hope
Pastor Matt Pierson
2 Peter 3
“God doesn’t make junk, and he doesn’t junk what he has made.”
Al Wolters, Creation Regained
Resources for further study:
- Sam Storms, Kingdom Come: The Amillennial Alternative
- Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future
- Jonathan Menn, Biblical Eschatology
- Millard Erikson, Contemporary Options in Eschatology
- R.C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus
- N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope
- Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained:Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview
3 Truths from 2 Peter 3:
- God is sovereign over all history
“History is not a random series of meaningless events. It is rather a succession of periods and happenings which are under the sovereign rule of God, who is the God of history.”
John Stott
“The Christian view of judgment means that history moves to a goal…Judgment means that evil will be disposed of authoritatively, decisively, finally. Judgment means that in the end God’s will will be perfectly done.”
Leon Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment
3 Truths from 2 Peter 3:
- God is sovereign over all history
- God’s salvation plan = patience with purpose
“The real scandal of this universe is not that there is a hell, deserved by all, but that there is a heaven, offered to all.”
Dane Ortlund
“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”
Romans 2:4
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
Hebrews 9:27-28
“For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.”
Psalm 90:4
3 Truths from 2 Peter 3:
- God is sovereign over all history
- God’s salvation plan = patience with purpose
- In light of these truths, how should we then live?
“What all this means is that we must indeed be working for a better world now, that our efforts in this life toward bringing the kingdom of Christ to fuller manifestation are of eternal significance.”
Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future
“If we have any hope, our hope is eschatological—that God will at last make this sad, old world new again.”
Tish Harrison Warren, Prayer in the Night
Discussion Questions
- Are we aware that we are living in the last days? Are we living in urgent hope, or distracted apathy? How can we stir ourselves up while we wait?
- How do we balance looking forward to the glorious future while also leaning into the work that God has called us to in the here and now? Are we living like our earthly efforts have eternal significance?
- How do we react to scoffers today? Are we meeting them with patience and pointing them to the God of all grace and mercy?
“Christianity offers not merely a consolation but a restoration—not just of the life we had, but of the life we always wanted but never achieved. And because the joy will be even greater for all that evil, this means the final defeat of all those forces that would have destroyed the purpose of God in creation, namely, to live with his people in glory and delight forever.”
Tim Keller, Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering