Heatwaves galore
According to a report in the Guardian Online late last week a headline read… “Heatwave Sees Record High Temperatures around world this week. From Europe to Africa, extreme and widespread heat raises climate concerns in hottest La Niña year to date on record.” The article went on to say; “Record high temperatures have been set across much of the world this week as an unusually prolonged and broad heatwave intensifies concerns about climate change. The past month has seen power shortages in California as record heat forced a surge of demand for air conditioners. Algeria has experienced the hottest temperature ever reliably registered in Africa. Britain, meanwhile, has experienced its third longest heatwave, melting the roof of a science building in Glasgow and exposing ancient hill forts in Wales. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the rising temperatures were at odds with a global cyclical climate phenomenon known as La Niña, which is usually associated with cooling… Swathes of the northern hemisphere have seen unusually persistent warmth due to strong, persistent high pressure systems that have created a “heat dome” over much of Eurasia. “What’s unusual is the hemispheric scale of the heatwave,” said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. “It’s not just the magnitude in any one location but that high temperatures are being seen over such a large area.”
The Day of the LORD
As I read this report I was reminded of what the Apostle Peter spoke about the Day of the LORD when everything that God has not established will be burnt up or laid bare. Peter writes…
“But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.” (2 Peter 2:7-14)
Rick warren in his popular book, “The Purpose Driven Life” pages 285-286 regarding his view of the value of Bible prophecy wrote; “When the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy, Jesus quickly switched the conversation to evangelism. He wanted them to concentrate on their mission to the world. He said in essence, “The details of my return are none of your business. What is your business is the mission I have given you. Focus on that!” Clearly it would seem the Purpose Driven agenda of Rick Warren basically ignores Biblical prophecy and relegates it as being “none of our business” or of no real importance in relation to preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. When Peter wrote this letter there were actually scoffers around who scoffed at the prophetic Word of God concerning the last days and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. Many in the wider Body of the Messiah (Church) have relegated Bible prophecy to the ‘backburner’ of their minds with the prevailing attitude that things will go on as they have always done in the past and that nothing has really changed. Today in wider Christendom, even among many Evangelicals there is much less interest in Bible prophecy than there was around 30-40 years ago and the Lord Jesus’ Second Coming is much closer than it was back then.
The Prophetic Word
In his second letter Peter also writes; “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation or no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:19-21)
Who are you going to believe?
It would seem that Rick Warren disagrees with Peter on this matter. I mean who are you going to believe Rick Warren or the Apostle Peter? Those who down play or ignore Bible Prophecy and its implications for Israel, for the Church and for the world at large are themselves in danger of spiritual deception and in some cases are already deceived. The elect are already being deceived in many church fellowships today and know little or nothing of Bible prophecy and its implications for believers. Let’s now turn back to 2 Peter 2:7-14 to see what the Apsotle Peter has to say about these matters concerning the Day of the LORD when God will judge this world in righteousness by the one He has appointed namely our Lord Jesus, the Anointed Messiah. In that day the very elements themselves will burn with intense heat! and so we read…
(vs.7) “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
God is going to purge this world and the heavens of all evil through fire. In that day the secrets of all men’s hearts will be laid bare in the fiery glare of the eyes of the lamb who sits on the throne. As Paul also writes concerning the Second Coming that; “the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)
(Vs.8) “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”
God measures time differently than we do. To him a thousand years of our time is as a day to Him so we cannot be slack concerning His promises to send the Lord Jesus back. Israel is God’s prophetic time clock for the nations and it stopped temporarily in 70AD but started ticking again 70 years ago in 1948 after almost 2,000 years of history. In the light of current events we cannot afford to ignore Bible prophecy.
(Vs.9) “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
The reason that the Lord Jesus has not come back is to give people time to repent and to believe in Him to save them before it is too late. In Noah’s time God gave the people 160 years to repent and come into the ark of salvation by faith but they refused to come and chose to ignore God’s warnings through His servant Noah of whom we are told was “a preacher of righteousness.” When the flood came only Noah and his family, being eight in all, were rescued and not swept away in the judgement. The day will come when God will shut the door and it will be too late to get into the ark of salvation that is only found in the Lord Jesus the Anointed Messiah who saves to the uttermost all those who come to Him through repentance and faith.
(Vs. 10 -12) “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”
The Lord Jesus will come when He is least expected as a thief comes. When He appears in the heavens everyone on earth will know that He has arrived. The idea of the elements being destroyed or “melting in the intense or fervent heat” has the idea of something akin to a nuclear reaction or the splitting of the atom which the Greek text brings out. When you consider the awesome effects of a nuclear detonation you have some idea of the magnitude of the glorious and terrifying appearing of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and its impact on the whole world. Every work that God has not established will be burnt up and the thoughts and intents of mens hearts laid bare before Him to whom we all must give an account. This is why it is imperative that we are living lives that are fully pleasing to God in our conduct and reflecting godliness as we allow the Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of God’s dear Son our Lord Jesus. Added to this we are to be on the look-out for the Lord Jesus’ Second Coming and hastening that day. One way we can hasten that day is to be involved in proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom after which the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)
(Vs.13-14) “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.”
Are we looking and even longing for the new heavens and earth and hungering and thirsting after righteousness or are we still hungering for and attached to this world and to the things of this world? Are we diligent in maintaining our walk with God every day seeking to walk moment by moment in the Holy Spirit by faith and rejecting sin when it presents itself? There are three things Peter mentions that the Lord Jesus will look for in us when He returns and that require diligence on our part. 1. Being at peace with Him, having all of our sins forgiven with no outstanding debts remaining namely unconfessed and un-renounced sin. 2. Spotless, without spiritual defilement of any kind, having been cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit by the blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus, whose blood cleanses us and keeps us from all sin if we walk in the light of his Word. 3. Blameless, having no charges left against us but having everything settled by the blood of Jesus and our sins and offences taken away knowing they have been “nailed to the cross.” As it is written; “He will save His people from their sins” not in them!
Ignorance is no excuse!
So then we must not ignore prophecy of scripture because it will be for us as a light shining in a dark place and a certain hope for the future. The Lord’s appearing will be much like the morning star that arises in the Arabian Desert just before the break of a new day. Without a basic knowledge of Biblical prophecy all will be darkness and confusion when the time of great Tribulation really kicks in but if we have the light of Bible prophecy in our hearts then we will have light to see in the encroaching darkness. If you are reading this and you have become slack in your walk with the Lord Jesus and with His blessed Holy Spirit then come back to Him right now. Put away those favourite sins and habits once and for all calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus to recue you from their grip and power in your life. Reject slackness in spiritual matters and turn back to Him now and He will gladly receive you, cleanse you and pardom you and when He pardons He does it abundantly!
As Isaiah writes; “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)
