Annual Kilskeery Conference, Lord’s Day morning, 3rd September, 2023.

I. BEFORE I COME TO MY TEXT IN THESE VERSES, COULD I MAKE SOME COMMENTS ON THE WHOLE PASSAGE.

1. First of all I would have you observe the little word ‘wherein’, verse 12. The word basically means ‘in’. The fiery scenes set forth here will not take place at the BEGINNING of the ‘day of God’ or the ‘day of the Lord’ as it is referred to in other places, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:2. However, there will take place at the END of the day of the Lord, that is the one thousand year reign of Christ on this earth, the consummation of the old earth and the emergence of the new will take place after the general judgment of ungodly sinners, (2 Peter 3:7) at the end of the Millennial reign, Rev 20:4-6, 11-15.

It is AFTER this sequence of events that John says, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away” Rev 21:1.

2. Again, please note the phrase: “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” This tells us why the Lord ‘delayeth’ His coming!

In an earlier verse in this chapter, verse 9, note what Peter had said. He here explains why the Lord is not ‘slack’ or slow and delaying, regarding His promised return but rather out of His longsuffering to ‘us-ward’ or toward His elect, He delays that all may be gathered in and none for whom He died might be lost. These words are very often misapplied to sinners generally, whereas it is stated clearly that it is ’to us-ward’ that this patience and longsuffering is displayed.

It reminds me of the parable of the great supper where we read of those sent out to gather guests to the feast saying, “Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled,” Luke 14:22-23. The Lord in the parable was anxious that every place at the feast be filled. He delayed the start of the supper. Guest had to wait! Even so it is with the Lord Jesus. He will have every seat filled before He returns to initiate the feast that will follow His return.

3. One other phrase I would have you notice. “Even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things,” verses 15-16. Here is a topic that Paul dealt with in ‘all his epistles’. Does this not show us the vitally important subject the return of Christ and the events that surround it have in the purpose of God. It also shows us how it ought to occupy a very prominent place in the Christian pulpit!

Let me now come to what is my text. “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.”

II. THE TRUTH OF THE SECOND COMING REQUIRES US TO BE ALIVE TO THIS GREAT EVENT

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.”

1. We must be ‘alive’ to the truth of Christ’s second coming. By that I mean that it is not merely a doctrine expressed in words. Rather it must be an event that is as real as tomorrow’s sunrise, indeed more so for we might not see tomorrow. But we will see the Saviour return! Simeon was ‘alive’ to the Saviour’s first advent, Luke 2:25-26. The Holy Ghost had written this truth on his heart and he lived with it ever uppermost in his daily musings.

2. Being alive to that truth will impact upon our lifestyle. It will compel us to act and live in its light! “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.” Being ‘alive’ to the return of Christ will make us a very different ‘manner’ of person from the ‘casual’Christian, of whom there are all too many! This glorious fact, if believed, will exert a deep and abiding influence on us. We will be induced to lead holy lives. We will feel that there is nothing permanent on the earth; that this is not our abiding home; and that our great interests are in another world. Such was the settled disposition of the early believers of whom it was said: “Ye turned to God from idols . . . . . to wait for his Son from heaven,” 1 Thess 1:9-10.

3. There is no more God-honouring testimony to the truth of Christ’s return than Christians showing a preparedness for the event. The preparedness of the Jewish people waiting for God’s signal for them to depart from Egypt, is a picture for us to emulate. “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover,” Exodus 12:11.

All too many professing Christians have ceased to have their “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). They have likewise cast aside the staff of their pilgrimage. This they have done in order to engage and indulge more freely in the affairs of this world! That ought not to be so.

Such a spirit is akin to the wicked servant set forth in Luke’s gospel. “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers,” Luke 12:45-46.

There was a vital difference between the Hebrew and the Egyptian on that night of the Passover. One was ready to depart, clothed and equipped for marching, while the other showed every sign of being content to remain! That difference should be seen today amongst God’s people.

III. LOOKING FOR THE RETURN OF CHRIST INSTILS A UNIQUE SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

1. The word ‘looking’ implies a ‘looking up’. So it was with the disciples as the Saviour took His leave of them on Mount Olivet. “They looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up,” Acts 1:10. That ought to be the disposition of our hearts and minds. Theirs was a look of love and longing. So ought ours. Christians are described by Paul in his epistle to Titus. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” Titus 2:13. Yes, Christian — ‘looking up’ rather than ‘looking around’ at the things of this earth should engage us. There is great danger in ‘looking around’, as Achan discovered. Joshua 7:20-21. Had he been giving attention to and looking to fulfil the command of God, he would not have been so tempted and brought to ruin with his whole family, Joshua 7:24-26.

2. Such a believing spirit of expectancy, engenders peace. We look to God’s Word for instruction in just what is happening today around us and how it will all end. The Scriptures inform us that the disposition of the worldling in the closing days of this age will be anything but peaceful and at ease. “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken,” Luke 21:25-26.

Nothing is more disconcerting than the shaking of that which you have hitherto considered unshakeable. That is what makes an earthquake such a fearful event. Days are fast approaching when the shaking generated by an earthquake will be a minor thing in comparison to what will take place.

We read of the Lord descending upon Mount Sinai with the subsequent fear amongst the people of Israel, Exodus 19:16-18. That was one mountain shaking! What of that day spoken of in Hebrews 12:26? “Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”

However, the student of the Bible’s prophecies of those soon coming days can be ready and at peace if they are living in expectancy of that day and its preceding events. If, as Peter says, we are at “peace, without spot, and blameless” before the Lord, then there is nothing that shall cause us dismay or fear.

3. When we are ‘found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless’ we will not be alarmed at the coming apocalyptic events of the last days. We are told that in the storm on the Sea of Galilee, the apostles feared, Mark 4:36-40. The Saviour’s response to their panic is significant. “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” Fear and faithlessness go together. One breeds the other!

Those walking in the fear and reverence of the Lord and filled with faith, will take in their stride the events that are coming upon this earth.When we read the Bible we must see this truth. “Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” Amos 3:6. Seeing the Lord as the over-ruling Lord of all things, takes away the fear naturally generated by unexpected events, such as a storm on the Sea of Galilee! The Bible teaches us to understand and know that “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose,” Romans 8:28. The next verse to that just quoted from Amos says, “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

4. In the prophets we have revealed, to a very large degree, ALL that is entailed in His outworking of His grand purpose amongst men. Isaiah wrote of God’s purpose, or at least an aspect of it in Isaiah 14:26-27. “This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?”

Christian, study the prophets, both Old and New Testament prophets, and you will learn just what purpose God is working out amongst men. Being those alive and awakened to that purpose you will live in its light and rejoice at every sign of its nearing approach. It is only then that we can “Know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen,” 2 Peter 3:17-18.