2 PETER 3 (NOTES OF A READING)
[p. 321] 2 PETER 3 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC It is evident that Peter has in view the great corruption that would come into the christian profession, so that every kind of wickedness would be found there. It would suggest to us the great need of being kept in mind of what was in Scripture.
Rem So that Genesis 1 would seem to be in Peter’s mind, and comes in in connection with these two chapters. There is the thought of darkness, and the thought of “the deepest pit of gloom” in chapter 2 in connection with the angels that had sinned. “God ... having cast them down to the deepest pit of gloom has delivered them to chains of darkness”. At the beginning there was darkness on the face of the deep, and God spoke to bring in the light, and yet the darkness was not wholly gone. And the thought here seems to run out to the new heavens and new earth; while this darkness seems to be the judgment of the ungodly, yet he speaks of “the day of God” and of eternity, of “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness”.
CAC It is very solemn to think of men going back deliberately into darkness after the light has shone.
Ques Do you think that the fact that the apostle writes a second letter shows he felt the seriousness of the position, and the necessity of the saints taking account of these things? “I stir up” would mean we should be on the alert.
CAC There is always a danger of settling down into the state of things by which we are surrounded; therefore it needs to be kept in mind. The ministry of the word is usually not to teach us something fresh, but to remind us of the things which we do know, and we are conscious oftentimes how good it is to have revived what we have known.
Rem These people shut their eyes to it.
CAC That is the ground people take today; they do [p. 322] not believe there ever was such a thing as a flood. They dare not believe it, that is the simple fact!
Rem Some people think things are getting better.
CAC They must have a peculiar outlook; there is very little evidence of that today!
Rem He speaks of “your pure mind”.
CAC He supposes that amidst the corruption there are those who have a pure mind, so that there are those in it who are not part of the corruption. It is good to see throughout Scripture that God has always reserved something for Himself.
Rem Four times Peter says, “beloved” to them in this chapter, and he mentions once “my beloved Son” (chapter 1: 17). It is good to bear in mind how they are regarded.
CAC Well, we had better look out for them, and be amongst them. It would not be at all like God to give up all to Satan. And God being God is the only security for any of us.
Rem There is a word in Zephaniah that speaks of the day of Jehovah. “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and gross darkness” (chapter 1: 15). The next chapter speaks of the day of His anger, and then it says, “Seek Jehovah, all ye meek of the land, who have performed his ordinance; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger”. The meek of the earth He is going to save. Here it says, “Be diligent to be found of him in peace” (verse 14).
Ques He does not doubt the saints, they are in line with the “beloved”, so there is a basis to move on, would you say?
CAC That is very encouraging, is it not?
Rem I should like to hear a little more about the “pure mind”.
CAC Peter speaks in another place of God having purified their hearts through faith. God is really working to [p. 323] bring about pure conditions of heart and mind. I suppose that is what Peter had to learn in the great vessel like a sheet let down from heaven, having all kinds of animals in it, but all presented to Peter as cleansed, showing that God was going to cleanse those of the nations who were very impure. Well, God is carrying on that work, so that all sorts of unclean animals are brought in, but have been cleansed.
Ques Would this be the working out in the internal point of view of what has been done externally for us, so that we are in keeping with the position?
CAC Yes, I think it is illustrated by the household of Cornelius. They all had pure minds, but they were not yet saved. They had an estimate of things according to God, and they wanted to be saved; and anyone who really wants to be saved has a pure mind. That is not going too far, I hope. Purity of heart and mind is the sovereign work of God; it does not depend on the previous condition of men, because the cleansing of those animals in the great vessel did not depend at all on their natural history, for they were unclean animals representing the Gentiles. He had said He would sprinkle water on His people, on Israel, to cleanse them from idolatry.
Rem Peter says, “God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him” (Acts 10: 34, 35).
CAC Everybody that fears God has a pure heart and mind; that is, it is true in the principle of it. Then when the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is brought in, there is something very positive.
Ques Would there be stages in it?
CAC I think Peter had in mind the saints, those who had received the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Rem It would be those affected by the word of God rather than a state — ability to take it in.
CAC I think that helps us. We find at a certain point [p. 324] in the history of souls that they begin to take an interest in the things of God, and want to hear more, and they read the Scriptures; it is all the evidence that God has cleansed them. It is the sovereign work of God with which they have had nothing to do: “What God has cleansed” (Acts 10: 15). We are always looking out for such people, and it is no good preaching the gospel to them otherwise.
We must pay continued attention to the Scriptures, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, which latter is spoken of here as “the commandment of the Lord and Saviour by your apostles”. Here they are brought together in verse 2.
Ques Why does he speak of it in the singular, “The commandment”; he does both here and in the previous chapter (verse 21)?
CAC Yes, it all has that character, the character of commandment. Paul says to the Corinthians, “If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment” (1 Corinthians 14: 37). It all has the character of commandment.
Rem And it is not that it is past, it has its effect today, it is directed to us.
CAC And it is authoritative, it is not submitted to us as a matter that we can argue about.
Rem It is “the living and abiding word of God”. “He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33: 9).
Ques What is the Lord’s commandment?
CAC The apostle seems to take up the Old Testament. “Lo, we turn to the nations; for thus has the Lord enjoined us: I have set thee for a light of the nations, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the end of the earth” (Acts 13: 46, 47). The Lord was to be for salvation to the end of the earth — it is a word of Scripture written hundreds of years before, but Paul takes it as the Lord’s commandment to [p. 325] preach to the Gentiles.
Ques Why is it “Lord and Saviour”?
CAC Peter seems to like to bring in that thought and does it more than once or twice. The Lord is the Saviour; that is, His long delay, as we should speak, was that all men should be saved. This period of two thousand years is a testimony that He is the Lord and Saviour; He is not purposing that any should perish. I suppose that is one reason why this present period is the longest that ever has been known in the ways of God. It is prolonged because of the thought of salvation in the mind of God and of the Lord. It is called the day of salvation.
Rem And the acceptable year of the Lord. The thought of a year and a day comes into Peter’s mind here. “A thousand years as one day” with the Lord, so that this day of salvation has turned out to be two days!
CAC Yes.
Ques Does this letter suggest there is finality in connection with this earth? Judgment by water was not final in that way, but in view of a renewed earth. But here it is burnt up, it is complete and final.
CAC So that even the world to come, the millennial period, is passed over in this chapter. Peter passes right over it to the “day of God” — to what is eternal, and, as you say, to the final adjustment of everything. The whole scene marked by the lawless will of the creature is all going to be burnt up.
Rem The flood destroyed from off the face of the earth, but here nothing will be left; sin and the platform of it gone too.
CAC So that “according to his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness”. Nothing else will do but new heavens and a new earth. It is remarkable that there will be a new earth; it belongs to God’s eternal thoughts, it is not all going to be heaven!
[p. 326] Ques Is there any indication as to who will inhabit the earth?
CAC It enters into God’s eternal thoughts that there should be heavens and earth. In the beginning He created the heavens and the earth. That was in His mind, and He is going to secure it for His pleasure; so that there will be new heavens and a new earth throughout eternity.
Rem The expression comes in Isaiah 66, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain”. That might embrace the millennium.
CAC I suppose its explanation refers to the millennium, when the influence of heaven will be exerted over the earth, so that it can be morally true. But Peter speaks literally of new heavens and a new earth, and righteousness will dwell there; everything that is right will be there; you cannot improve on what is right.
Rem And it says, God will tabernacle with men.
CAC Well, there are things of which very little is made known to us in Scripture, but they are very wonderful. There is very little in Scripture about the eternal state, perhaps not more than about four verses in the whole Bible.
Ques There are the day of the Lord and the day of God; what is the distinction?
CAC I suppose the day of the Lord will be the time in which everything will be adjusted in relation to the present conditions, and it goes on to the dissolution of the whole created scene, It takes place in the day of the Lord. The last action will be this burning up of the earth and the works in it; it comes under the administrative authority of the Lord. But that gives place to the day of God, which is an eternal thing. Peter passes over the millennial kingdom and would bring the day of God much before us. The day of the Lord supposes certain things have to be dealt with and set aside. When He has dealt with all rule and all authority and power, then He will give up the kingdom to Him who is God and [p. 327] Father, that God should be all in all. ‘Lord’ is His administrative title to put all right, and then He delivers it up. God all in all is the day of God. “God all” is God objectively before the hearts and minds of the redeemed, and “in all” is that there will be nothing but purity left. Well, it is wonderful to touch that a little bit in spirit, and we can — we do touch it in measure.
Ques Are we tested out by the authority of the Lord, as to where we are practically as to it?
CAC Yes, because the Lord would subjugate in you and me all that is contrary to God. What a seething cauldron of evil the human heart is, we each know, but if we are upright the Lord will deal with all the evil, and bring Himself in. We touch it in private and in the assembly, where all is new and all is of God, and the old is done away. We can touch that order of things — the eternal day — in mind and spirit.
Rem We touch it in His life.
CAC It all came out on earth and in contrast to all that was so evil. That is like the day of the Lord, where He was subjugating demons and death, and everything that was contrary to God. What a wonderful thing to think of that day before us, when nothing will be left in us of what had its origin in the fallen creature, but everything left in us will have its origin in God. Peter says, “Hastening the coming of the day of God”; hasten it in myself, that is, that blessed day of God! If we can get it for five minutes even, it is wonderful, to be filled with God and nothing else!
Rem “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight” (Matthew 17: 5), is what He was here. It has been said: What there was for God in one day of the Lord Jesus!
CAC You cannot measure it; what there was in every incident, so that we should linger adoringly over what is in the gospels, because we come to what is purely of God and powerful enough to displace what is evil. And it is worthy of God that there shall not be a trace of the scene left that was characterised by evil, there shall not be a trace of it left!