2 PETER 3 (NOTES OF A READING)
[p. 328] 2 PETER 3 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC I was thinking as I came along it might be well for us to consider the different days that are referred to in Scripture. We read in this chapter of the day of the Lord, the day of God and the day of eternity. I thought it might be well to get our thoughts a little clarified as to the different aspects of the coming day.
Rem It is striking they should be called days, because days are periods of time. The day of eternity, the eternal state, would evidently be the most glorious of all. It is striking that eternity should be spoken of as a day.
Rem Micah 5: 2 says, “He ... whose goings forth are ... from the days of eternity”, and we are in a day when the day of eternity can be spoken of. He is Shepherd and Ruler.
CAC That is, He is Jehovah, and in the Old Testament we read in many scriptures about the day of Jehovah; it is in contrast obviously with what Paul calls, “man’s day”. He says, “For me it is the very smallest matter that I be examined of you or of man’s day” (1 Corinthians 4: 3). That is a very striking designation of the present period, it is “man’s day”. Of course it has other aspects for the saints and for the world too, for it is the day of salvation on God’s part for men generally and it is the day of the Spirit as regards the saints. The Lord said, “In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14: 20). But publicly it is “man’s day”.
Rem And then Paul speaking to the Philippians can speak of “Christ’s day” (Philippians 1: 10).
CAC Yes. It would be well to get clearly before us these different days in Scripture, each aspect having its own distinctive meaning.
Rem The introduction of days in creation seems very impressive; the days having an evening and a morning. The [p. 329] day of Jehovah is spoken of as a terrible day, “a day of darkness and gloom” (Joel 2: 2). But a morning comes in for the remnant.
CAC And what a comfort it is that God is going to crush all the evil in this world, and bring down what opposes itself against God. It is one of the things we rejoice in. Man has his day; well, it is a great comfort to God’s people to know that God will have His day.
Rem The thought of “Christ’s day” is His coming into public manifestation, who He is and what He is — in contrast to man’s day.
CAC And Paul says of the Philippians, “Having confidence ... that he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day” (Philippians 1: 6), which would seem to bring before us very clearly what may be called the moral character of that day. That is, the title Jesus Christ brings before us what He was in His wonderful pathway here, such a contrast to every other man. So that there is a day coming which will be Jesus Christ’s day. It will carry the impress of that blessed Man, His features will be imprinted on men. Jesus Christ’s day has begun morally in the saints, so that the divine thought is that by the completion of God’s work in us we should be perfectly suitable to enter into Jesus Christ’s day. They will shine in that day, because they have learnt to judge all that is unsuitable to Jesus Christ.
“Jesus Christ” seems to suggest the beautiful moral features that shone out in Him, whereas “Jesus Christ’s day” is a little more official, when He will shine out as God’s Anointed. That One will have His day. Its character is light. “Now light in the Lord; walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5: 8).
Ques While it all has in view the day of eternity, has it not a bearing on us, as to coming out in a coming day? The sun is to rule the day, and the Lord is going to rule, but the saints are going to be with Him in it. “A king shall reign in righteousness” (Isaiah 32: 1). The saints will have [p. 330] a great part in that day.
CAC Yes, those who are fit for it.
Ques What do you mean by that?
CAC Well, the Lord never puts incompetent persons into any position, does He?
Rem It is the pleasure of the Lord to give credit to faithfulness. “Ye are they who have persevered with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you ... a kingdom, that ye may ... sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22: 28 - 30).
Rem And that is worked out here.
CAC It would appear so. In learning to please the Lord in little details we are acquiring competency to act for Him in great matters. Some very trifling crisis crops up and we learn to act in it for the Lord; well, that may determine our place in the kingdom. It may appear a very trifling thing, but it brings out that we are in subjection to the Lord, and everything we do in subjection to the Lord is a qualification for ruling.
Rem “Be diligent to be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless” (verse 14).
Rem It is the little things. “He that ruleth his spirit [is better] than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16: 32).
CAC Yes.
Ques What is the bearing of the day of the Lord? In Thessalonians we have the same expression, the day of the Lord coming as a thief in the night.
CAC Well, actually it is the very end of the millennium in verse 10. He speaks of the day of the Lord, and he passes over the millennium as if it did not exist. It was not yet present. The peace of the Thessalonians was disturbed by that thought, supposing their sufferings were on account of it. The apostle shows the day of the Lord could not be present until the day of apostasy and the man of sin had been revealed. That shows how Satan can pervert the truth purposely so that it becomes a distress to the saints. I have [p. 331] no doubt there is a good deal of it going on at the present time.
Ques What day is it in verse 13?
CAC Is that not to take the place of the whole created scene which is dissolved? I think that is included in the day of God. It seems as if the day of the Lord and the day of God both involve the setting aside not only of the will of the creature, but of the scene where it has operated, and which has been defiled by it. Both the Lord and God are involved in this matter — that the whole created scene is to be dissolved.
Rem The thought of waiting comes in. “Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God”, and in verse 14, “As ye wait for these things”; it involves faith and patience.
CAC It is a very solemn reflection to think that even the reign of Christ of one thousand years will not suffice to make the earth satisfactory to God. We find at the end of the thousand years the greatest rebellion that ever took place on earth. After men have experienced the rule of Christ for a thousand years, and of the assembly too, there will be the greatest rebellion that ever took place. There are unruly conditions that could not be satisfactory to God or to Christ. Satan will be released in order to bring to light what is there, which is terrible to think of — a most terrible thing that Scripture brings to light. When you think of that, it almost spoils the millennium!
Rem You cannot spoil the divine side.
CAC Oh, there will be a company of saints found in the millennium just as we find them now. But they will be hated too. As soon as Satan is let loose the latent hatred of men will come out.
Rem It hardly seems possible.
CAC It shows that under the most favourable conditions man is impregnated with evil, and it is not possible to remedy that evil by the most blessed conditions brought in.
Ques Would that be why the world was not put right [p. 332] after the flood, but only showed man’s heart is incorrigible?
CAC I think that one great object of the Scriptures is to show that man is incorrigible. The whole population of the world stood round Noah’s altar, and the whole population had the knowledge of God. But they did not wish to retain the knowledge of God, and soon after, idolatry came in, and men became devil worshippers — that is man! God called Abram out of that idolatrous world. He was an idolater, he worshipped idols. And God said, ‘I will have some of them, in spite of what they are’, and He called a remnant out; and so it has been all through, and so it will be in the millennium.
But then God is going to burn it all up, it is so defiled. And it all helps to show us what we are, for we are just of the same stock, not a bit better. It is so wonderful, with all the rebellion on the earth, that God has visited the earth in human guise to express what He is. And we see what the result was; light shining in darkness was hated. “Now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father” (John 15: 24). Nothing that has ever happened, or will happen, is so terrible as that. So it necessitates the setting aside, not only of the human race with its incorrigible evil, but the dissolution by fire of the whole created scene where man’s evil has exhibited itself. It is a solemn fact.
Ques What is referred to in Isaiah 51: 6?
CAC It refers to the millennium, this in 2 Peter goes further. No doubt Peter had it in mind, but he applies it in a more extensive way. Well, God’s judgments are unsearchable. Paul says, “How unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable his ways!” (Romans 11: 33). But all God’s purposes and ways are right, and He is going to have a scene which is the abode of everything that is right. It will not be so in the millennium. The new earth will be populated with those who have been here. They are formed while in a scene that is characterised by evil. It is all educative for us, not to [p. 333] be brushed aside; God is putting us through trials in view of the coming day, and we shall pass into it as having had experience of a scene that is evil. Time has been said to be a dip down from eternity to eternity.
Rem The long-suffering of God is seeking to recover persons out of this evil world.
CAC So God is giving a continual testimony through His saints and those who preach as to what He really is. It is a dreadful thing if people are not interested in knowing what God is. A bishop said, ‘If you want to know what God is like, read the gospels’. That sentence deserved to be written in letters of gold. The preaching is to make man aware of what God is like morally.
Rem It is humbling if His character is not seen in His children.
CAC Quite so, but God’s character is at stake by the way I behave myself this next week. Either I shall belie Him, or in some very small and feeble way I shall give a right impression of God; well, that is what is going to be eternal. God is going to mark the new heavens and earth; according to Paul, everything will issue in God being “all in all”. What a wonderful universe it will be when God will be the only object of every heart, and will be operating in everyone, so that it will be a scene of universal love — and that is the only thing that is right.
Rem It says, “Christ is everything, and in all” (Colossians 3: 1).
CAC Yes, that is in the new man. It is not universal, it is in a limited area. In the new man, Christ is the object, He is in all as life.
Ques When we are together in the after-part of the Supper, do we touch it as we sing, ‘Eternity’s begun’?
CAC Yes, I think that is right. So that the eternal scene will not be a strange scene to the saints, but we know something of it. Because of our infirmity now, we cannot sustain it for long. We are not allowed to forget the infirmity of the flesh. “I speak ... because of the infirmity of your flesh”, Paul says (Romans 6: 19, Authorised Version). If the Supper were entered into more spiritually, all being unified in the thought of Him, we should be led really into what is eternal.
Ques Why in verse 18 (”To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity”) is “our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” brought in?
CAC As intimating to us the Lord’s headship in eternity. He will never give up His headship. Priesthood supposes a certain weakness and infirmity on our part, so is not needed.
Rem But headship can never be dispensed with.
CAC It is an opportunity for Christ to fill the place that is due to Him as the Source, the vital Spring and Fountain of all that is for the pleasure of God for eternity. All will recognise that, or hold Him as Head. Peter leaves us with good prospects, does he not?