Here are my notes for the 1st section of this topic for the Bible study on Tuesday nights.
2 Peter 3:3-15
- The Wrath of God John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." Rom 1:18-19 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, Rom 2:5-6 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done."
- The Revelation of Jesus Christ Rev 1:1 (Story of six men and the elephant)
i. God is Spirit: Jn 4:24
ii. God is Light: 1 Jn 1:5
iii. God is Love: 1 Jn 4:16
iv. God is a Consuming Fire: Heb 12:29, Dt 4:24, Is 66:15
v. God is the Judge: Ps 7:11, Jer 51:56, 2 Thes 1:6, 2 Ch 12:6, Gen 18:25, Is 2:4,11:3,4, Acts 10:42, 17:31, Rom 2:16,3:6, 2Tim 4:1,8, Heb 12:23, 1Peter 4:5, Jas 4:12, Rev 6:10
1. Jesus said that he came not to bring peace but a sword. Mt 10:34
2. That is to say Jesus came to make a division. Gen 1:3-4, Jn 1:3-5, Mt 13:25-30 Wheat and the weeds.
vi. Marcion, a heretic from the 2nd century (c.80-c.155), couldn’t believe that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament were the same. [He rejected OT and much of NT. His canon included only an edited version of Luke and 10 Pauline letters (excluding the pastorals) It was partly in reaction to Marcion’s canon that the church in that day clarified their own canon]. After all, would the God you know command genocide? Yet they are the same!
1. The God who is love is also the God “who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
2. Who “will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.” 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10 Yet He is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9, Jn 3:16, Lk 13:3
- The Day of the Lord
i. The day of the Lord begins and ends with Jesus.
1. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:12
2. Luke 3:7-9 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
ii. The day of the Lord is salvation to those who believe that Jesus is and tells the truth and judgment upon those who judge God a liar. It is a time of wrath and judgment on those who disbelieve and a time of deliverance and salvation for those who do believe. How you relate to Jesus determines your destiny!
1. Destroy sinners - Is 13:9,
a. You will receive as you gave - Obadiah 15,
b. False security Deut 29:18-21 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison. 19 When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way." This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.a 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man. All the curses written in this book will fall upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 The Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
2. Saved from wrath by the blood of Jesus that justifies - Ro 5:9, 2 Thes 2:1-1o
iii. Matthew 25:34,41 “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. 41 “Then he 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.’” Mt 23:33, 18:6
iv. “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son”. 1 John 5:10, 1 Jn 1:10, Jn 3:33
v. Acts 17:31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. 2 Cor 5:6-10
