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EVERY LAST ONE
Genesis 18:16-33
2 Peter 3:1-18
May 20, 2012
You know that we are working our way through Second Peter. So, you may wonder why I chose the prelude to Sodom and Gomorrah for the Old Testament reading. I want you to see that God never gives up hope for salvation. As long as there is a chance for one more soul to be saved; God will work with us.
God tells Abraham that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are so grievous, so outrageous, and so unrepentant – that complete and total annihilation is the only responsible option. Abraham does something very human; he begins to negotiate with God. And God, instead of just saying, ‘Hey! I’m God. This is the way it works,’ actually bargains with Abraham. If they can find fifty righteous men he will spare them. Notice, God doesn’t just agree to spare those fifty men – he agrees to spare everyone in both cities. As bad as these people are he will let them all live for the sake of a few righteous souls.
They continue to negotiate and the number drops; 45, 40, 30, 20, 10. As long as there is hope that a faithful community will exist, no matter how small, God holds back the well deserved destruction. The God of the Old Testament gets a bad rap for being mean, and angry, and violent. Actually, he is a God who continually goes the extra mile as long as there is a chance that someone will mature and develop a righteous faith. Unfortunately, it turns out that there was no community of faith – none at all – and so the remaining righteous were pulled out of the situation, and everything else was destroyed.
(View Genesis 6:3) We see the same story in the antediluvian flood – when God submerged the earth in water and destroyed all life; except for Noah and his family. Have you ever looked closely at the story? Genesis 6:3 is an interesting verse. It says, “Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever.” That word ‘contend’ means to argue and debate. Before God flooded the world, he argued and debated with the unrepentant sinners to change their ways. God actually held back the water as long as there was a chance someone would mature and develop a righteous faith. Unfortunately, no one would listen to his argument; and so the remaining righteous were pulled out of the situation, and everything else was destroyed. Sound familiar?
After God had saved Israel from Egypt; after he had taken them through the Red Sea by miracle; after he had destroyed Pharaoh’s attacking army; after all of that – there was still a very vocal group of Israelites that wanted to turn around and go back to Egypt (Numbers 14:1-20). They whine and complain so much that God eventually says, ‘Enough’! He tells Moses that he is going to wipe every last Israelite off the face of the earth. Moses is the only one who will survive. God will begin again with Moses and his family.
Moses negotiates with God. They negotiate back and forth on their dreams for a righteous community. Eventually, we see God agree to spare the righteous few – and allow the rest to wander around in the desert until they all die. Over and over we see a God who holds out hope for his people. He wants every last person, every last soul, which will accept his gift of salvation to receive a chance. And when it becomes obvious that there are no more who will hear his voice, no more who will choose to be saved; then the righteous are pulled out of the situation and those who completely reject Him are destroyed. That is God’s pattern.
(View verses 3, 4) The God of the Old Testament is not mean. He is a God of profound hope for salvation. But, nothing lasts forever. Which is exactly what Peter is telling his audience in chapter 3. He writes, “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” All the time I hear, ‘I know we are in the last days because I see the signs from Revelation’. I know who the Anti Christ is; I know what the mark of the beast is. Yes, we are in the last days – let me tell you how you can know. Jesus has come, but Jesus has not returned. That is the definition of the last days. It has nothing to do with the mark of the beast or rise of the antichrist. We are in the last days because we are in the period between First and Second Advent.
And, whether you are thirty years into the last days (as when Peter wrote this letter), or two thousand years into the last days (like we are now) you hear the same accusation. “They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
The doubters want to know why Jesus hasn’t come back. They don’t believe he will come back. Their logic goes like this; from the time of creation until now the world has never ended. So, the world will never end. The universe is stable. If something hasn’t happened by now it won’t happen at all. Therefore, Jesus is not coming back, the world will not end, God is not real, and I can do anything I want. I can follow my own evil desires – and there are no consequences. That’s what they believed in Peter’s day, and its what they believe now.
(View verses 8, 9, 15.) Peter says that is absolutely not true. First of all, your concept of time is irrelevant. I can hold my breath for 60 seconds, that feels like a long time. And yet, when I finally get one of my grandchildren to take a nap, and they pop back up in one hour, that feels like a short time. Jesus hasn’t returned in 2000 years; that feels like a long time. Peter says that all of those numbers are meaningless to the Creator of space and time. What seems like a long or short time to us is completely irrelevant to God.
God measures time based on souls saved. If there is a community of righteousness that will accept salvation and help others to receive salvation – then the world continues on. When there are no souls left to be saved God will follow his pattern. He will extract the righteous from the situation and those who reject him will be destroyed.
Most of what I preach and teach is very well established, very traditional, and very mainstream theology. But, there is one area where my personal beliefs are non-standard; where I am on the fringe. So, if you don’t agree with what I am about to say – that is alright, most people don’t. I believe the book of Revelation is not to be received as a historical or chronological document. I don’t believe we can look at the book, then look at world events, and try to pinpoint where we are in the revelation story. Instead, I believe that Revelation tells each one of our individual journeys. I think if you take your life, and map it out against Revelation, you will find your own tribulation, your own assault by the Devil, your own victory in Christ over sin and death. I think for everyone of us; Revelation is my story.
If we pull the book of Revelation out of eschatology, out of the theology of the last days and end times, then it becomes a much more cogent and cohesive study. We know that the world is becoming less and less Christian. The science of evolution is the new popular god. In fact, under that science each of us is god, because each of us is the apex of evolution. So, a day will come – sometime in the future – when the last Christian dies. A day will come when there is no one left who will hear and believe the Gospel of Jesus. The spiritual environment will be too toxic for anyone to hear the story and give it any credibility at all. They will laugh until they cry if you try to tell them about Jesus coming back from the dead. And, that is what triggers the feared and dreaded ‘Day of the Lord’.
(View verses 7, 12.) What does the Day of the Lord look like? If you pull Revelation out of the mix it looks like this. Jesus returns. Everyone on the planet, no matter who or where they are, is instantly aware that Jesus has returned. All of the dead are resurrected. A judgment takes place. Because time is irrelevant to God every person receives a complete and thorough review of their life; yet everyone is judged in a split second – in an instant. The righteous rise into the air and join Christ – they are taken out of the situation. Everyone else is left on a burning and consumed earth. A consistent God stays with his established pattern.
(View Nahum 1:5-6.) This wasn’t a new idea with Peter. The Old Testament has several references to the Day of the Lord being a day of destruction by fire. I could quote to you from Isaiah, or Joel, or Malachi. But, in all the years I’ve been preaching I don’t think I have ever before quoted the prophet Nahum. So, just to be different, let’s look at what Nahum says. “The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him.” Peter and Nahum see the same event taking place.
And, Peter is very straight forward. The trigger for the end of the earth, the event that causes the destruction by fire, is the Parousia – the return of Christ. I know the righteous are taken out of the situation, but it still sounds awesome scary to me. Tori touched on this in her sermon last week. As Christians we are supposed to be excited about the Day of the Lord. We are supposed to pray for the Day of the Lord to arrive. This is what Jesus means when he says, ‘Pray like this: Thy Kingdom come’. Ask for the Day of the Lord to come. But, don’t think for a minute that it is a fuzzy happy, butterflies, unicorns, and lollipops situation. The earth and the heavens; every physical thing that God has created will be violently destroyed.
(View verses 11, 14.) Peter says, given this knowledge you scoffers should back off of your bragging about God delaying the return of Christ and the end of the world. And, you believers should make sure that what you do with your hands and feet matches what is in your heart. And, the only reason this hasn’t already happened is because God is still holding out hope that more people will be saved. God wants every last soul, every last person to receive Christ and be saved. That hope is all that is staving off the end of the world.
For most of my life, I have been really glad that the Parousia hasn’t happened. I’ve spent most of my life glad that Jesus has not come back yet. My reasons have always been selfish. I wanted to get married. I didn’t want Jesus to come back until I had a chance to find a wife and be loved. Then, I wanted to have children. Then, I wanted to see my children grow up, get married, and have children. These experiences were very important to me, and I wanted a chance to live each of them. So, I didn’t want Jesus to come back.
As I grow older, and hopefully mature, my reasons for wanting the Parousia delayed change. If I am right, and Jesus returns when there is no one left to be saved, when the spiritual environment is too toxic for conversion, then what would that mean if Jesus came today? It would mean that I failed as a Pastor. It would mean my sermons were pointless – because they weren’t changing lives and winning souls to Christ. It would mean my church was pointless – because each of you was living a happy little life, then going home and doing nothing to advance the Kingdom of God. It would mean my denomination was pointless – that all of our mission efforts were having no impact whatsoever.
It would mean that we were the generation that failed. We were the ones who let go of the Gospel. We were the ones who were so concerned about our personal relationship with the Savior, that there was no evangelism taking place, so there was no reason for him to delay his return any longer.
(View verses 17, 18.) Our God is immutable – he never changes. The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New are one and the same. He wants every single soul to be saved. He wants every human being to be a child of the Kingdom. He loves us, and he doesn’t want anyone to suffer the destruction of fire.
So, help me. Help me with Sunday school. Help me with Vacation Bible School. Help me with Wednesday night Club 45, Youth group, and Bible study. Help me with Mom’s in Prayer. Help me with the Community Feast. Help me with the Easter Egg hunts, and Happy Hallelujah-fest. Help me with the weddings and the funerals. Help me with the sick. Help me with all the things we do, to create an environment where the Gospel is preached, and received. Help me give Jesus a reason to delay one more day.