2 Peter part 3 Grow

2 Peter 3 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

2 Peter 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

2 Peter 3 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

1 Corinthians 3 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

2 Peter 3 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

Isaiah 65 “See, I will create     new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered,     nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever     in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight     and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem     and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying     will be heard in it no more.

Isaiah 65 20 “Never again will there be in it     an infant who lives but a few days,     or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred     will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred     will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them;     they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,     or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree,     so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy     the work of their hands.

Isaiah 65 23 They will not labor in vain,     nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,     they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer;     while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,     and the lion will eat straw like the ox,     and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy     on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

2 Peter 3 14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

2 Peter 3 17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

2 Peter 3 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

For a while I couldn’t pray. I didn’t dare to For a while I couldn’t pray. I didn’t dare to. In the most secret places of my soul I wanted to beg the Lord to reveal himself in power. I wanted to tell Him that it was time for his coming. If there was anything at all to what He had promised, why didn’t He come in glory with angels and lay His hands on the hurt children and awaken the dead soldiers and restore the burned villages and the blasted and poisoned land? Why didn’t he cow our arrogance? But thinking such things was as dangerous as praying them. I knew who had thought such thoughts before: “Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Where in my own arrogance was I going to hide? Where did I get my knack for being a fool? If I could advise God, why didn’t I just advise Him (like our great preachers and politicians) to be on our side and give us victory and make sure that Jimmy Chatham had not died in vain? I had to turn around and wade out of the mire myself.

Christ did not descend from the cross except into the grave Christ did not descend from the cross except into the grave. And why not otherwise? Wouldn’t it have put fine comical expressions on the faces of the scribes and chief priests and soldiers if at that moment He had come down in power and glory? Why didn’t he do it? Why hasn’t he done it at any one of a thousand good times between then and now? I knew the answer. I knew it a long time before I could admit it, for all the suffering of the world is in it. He didn’t, He hasn’t, because from the moment He did, He would be the absolute tyrant of the world and we would be his slaves. Even those who hated Him and hated one another and hated their own souls would have to believe in him then. From that moment the possibility that we might be bound to Him and He to us and us to one another by love would forever be ended. And so, I thought, He must forbear to reveal His power and glory by presenting Himself as Himself, and must be present only in the ordinary miracle of the existence of His creatures. Those who wish to see Him must see Him in the poor, the hungry, the hurt, the wordless creatures, the groaning and travailing beautiful world. --from “Jayber Crow,” by Wendell Berry