Tag: 2 Peter 3:9

Fast Like Peanut Butter

Dr. J.D. Wilkins2 Comments

Daily Post: Jiffy

Jiffy

Regardless of whether you like “store brand” or “name brand” peanut butter, neither one can be eaten quickly.  Peanut Butter doesn’t spread quickly either, it sticks to the bread and makes you work it a little, before it yields to go where you want.  Take a bite and if it sticks to the roof of your mouth, or to a couple of your teeth, good luck getting it un-stuck without a bit of work.  Such is the nature of peanut butter.   Some would think if you add a little honey or jelly to the sandwich, it would loosen things up a bit, and make the peanut butter a little less sticky.  Not really.  It makes me think perhaps the makers of “Jiffy” peanut butter were having some fun at my expense.

Some find it easy to think this way about God, and His Word, like He’s a cosmic jokester and having a little fun at my expense.  Folks who feel this way take a couple of verses from the New Testament and build a whole theology around the concept of “time.”  First they use the words of Jesus in John 14.

John 14:1-3
Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.  You know the way to where I am going.

But most of us are like Thomas, who basically responded, “We don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, Jesus.”  Maybe he thinks Jesus is pulling a fast one on them, and he feels a little left out.  “Tell me quick, what are you talking about!”  But John chapter 14 through 16 is one long explanation, or exhortation, of what is about to happen, and the implications and consequences of what Jesus is about to do.  There are no quick explanations.  There is no jiffy.

So we add the words of Peter, written much later, after the Resurrection, and the establishment of the Church.

2 Peter 3:3-4
Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

Now, there have been mockers and bullies since these words were written.  Yet, it seems in these last few years with all the social media blitz, and the “fake” news phenomenon, that more and more the world is adopting the attitude, “well, Christian, Jesus said he’d be back in JIFFY, where is He?  It’s a joke right? He really left you here on your own! ha!”

When things around you are going haywire, when the world seems one small “launch” button away from nuclear war, when you’re relationships are all strained to the point of no return, and you wonder “Where is the promise of His coming?”… don’t be confused by the wrong  idea that Jesus said, I’ll be back in a jiffy.  He didn’t.  He said He would come back.

The last verses often used to mis-construe the idea of Jesus coming back in a jiffy comes out of the last book in the Bible.  Now just think logically for a moment.  It’s the “last” book, and it deals with “last” things.  This means when you read this information, you should read it through the filter of “when time is up.”  So, look at what Jesus says about when “time is up.”

Revelation 3:11
I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

In Revelation 22, Jesus says “I am coming quickly” three times for emphasis.  So many people take these verse out of context of the book of Revelation, and shout, “See it must be in my lifetime because HE SAID, I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

How is it that we miss the point that God’s timetable is not based in the human concept of time?  None of the promises of Jesus return were ever given in the construct of human time or timetables. In Revelation, God was just explaining how only after HIS own timetable and original plan for humanity had run its course, Jesus would come back quickly.  It’s not a big joke, it’s a serious intent to accomplish all God intends to do.  Peter really helps us understand this better.

2 Peter 3:9
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.

What God really wants to do in a “jiffy,” is provide grace to all who have not yet said “yes” to His offer of salvation.  He is patient.  He is kind, loving, generous, and forgiving.  He does not wish one single person to go on living today, or throughout eternity, without His love and mercy.  God wants them all to come to Him through repentance, and trust Jesus for salvation.

If folks really understood the love of God, they would run to Jesus, in a jiffy.

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Worlds Apart

Dr. J.D. Wilkins2 Comments

Daily Post:  Distant

distant

Any Star Wars fan worth their salt knows the phrase, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”

George Lucas, and John Williams are creative geniuses, each in their own field of work.  Lucas captured our minds with outrageous new creatures and the use of computer generated imagery (CGI), while Williams captured our emotions and visceral imaginations with the sound track.  From the evil Imperial March track associated with the dark side of the Empire, and Darth Vader’s breathing apparatus, to the CGI hyper-speed jumps of the Millennium Falcon, this original 1977 movie took us to places we could not conjure in our own imaginations.

I have always loved science fiction, does anyone out there remember “Danger! Will Robinson!”?  Today’s offerings in the genre of science fiction, now 40 years removed from the Jedi Master and the Force, continue to capture our thoughts about the reality of space travel, and what lies beyond our world.  As of March 27 of this years, NASA continues on it’s plan to send humans to the Red Planet sometime in the 2030’s.  That’s 13 years from now folks.  Is this reality?  Could this actually happen?

My thoughts are mixed from a spiritual standpoint.  Nothing about my 1960’s faith allowed for the concept of traveling through space.  That said, I’m now 63 years old, and I’ve witnessed the evolution of technologies that not only could I not have envisioned as a child, I was an actual part of the early pioneer work of establishing the capability of  data communication over cellular devices.  (Translation:  Texting, emailing, tweeting, etc on the cell phone)  What a ride!

Will the Creator allow humanity to make this great voyage into the unknown of space?  There is nothing Biblically that either allows or forbids this possibility.  In fact, it is pure speculation on the part of any biblical scholar who takes a dogmatic stand one way or the other.  In the area of predicting the future, God gives us the plan for the end of human history.  But what’s missing in the information is when this might occur, and God hasn’t enlightened us or hinted to us anything in terms of concrete, hard-and-fast time tables.  He doesn’t tell us year, month, day, hour, or minute… so ANYONE who tells you they know, is a false prophet. Trust me, they don’t know.

That said, it is just as easy for me to believe that space travel is in the very near future for many people.  If you are 20 years old and dreaming of flying in a real live spaceship, your odds are pretty good, if God allows us to exist another 100 years.  The ancients, the Old Testament authors, could only see the stars and marvel at the existence.  The New Testament authors, wrote of the Magi being led by a star to the place where the Son of God was born, in Bethlehem.  Outside of these references, what would ever cause us to think that these men understood our world today, from 2,000 years in the past?  Enter John the apostle.

Not only did John see things he simply couldn’t explain or describe adequately, some of the things he saw, Jesus specifically said not to write down in his book called The Revelation.  We can’t possibly know all that will happen in our world, or this galaxy before God says “enough is enough.”  Perhaps that won’t even happen until we’ve explored other worlds within our galaxy, or beyond.  The longer it takes for God to fulfill the words of His prophets, the more people on this planet will continue to say, “Why hasn’t God come back for us yet?  What is He waiting on?  If there really is a God!”

So I leave you with these distant thought from the past.  The passage of time does not negate their truthfulness, so be careful about measuring prophecy against the element of time.  If God says it will happen, then it will happen.

2 Peter 3:9
The LORD is not slow about His promise, as some esteem slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Isaiah 55:11
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

John 14:2
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.

So… go be light and salt today, bringing God great glory, experiencing His grace in everything you do!  Live in the reality of these yet distant promises.

 

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faster, faster, faster

Dr. J.D. WilkinsLeave a comment

via Quicken

Ask those who know me really well, and they will confirm for you, I’ve never been a very patient person.  My kids learned their driving habits from me, so I’ve no one to blame but myself when they drive too fast.  I used to drive really fast, and loose, and a little on the edge.  I’m older and wiser now, but occasionally I’ll still need to lighten up on the accelerator, if you know what I mean.  This lack of patience sometimes leaks over into other aspects of my past, present, and future.

I was so in a hurry to get through college, so that I could go on to Seminary.  I knew I was headed there, so why focus on the now, when where I really want to be is there.  In Seminary I was always in a hurry to get through each semester, so I could graduate, and get on with being a Pastor.  Unfortunate circumstances (translation life-interruptus) caused there to be a 20 year hiatus on finishing that degree.  I spent most of that 20 years in the computer industry as a career, and serving my ministry desires through lay-ministry in the church we attended at the time.

When I finally got the opportunity to go into ministry full time, and later finish my Master of Divinity education, then a Doctor of Ministry degree, I pursued each of these with the same vigor and lack of patience as before.  I’ve been a driven person most of my life, always trying to go faster, faster, faster.  I wasn’t trying to run ahead of God, so much as I just wanted to get there faster.

It reminds me a little of the disciples wanting Jesus to quit taking so much time setting up His earthly kingdom.  They asked him after the resurrection, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”  [Acts 2:6]  They were wanting to get there faster.  The reply from Jesus is something we should really focus on here, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;“[Acts 2:7]  Part of the problem with having this “faster” mentality is thinking God is just a slow-poke.  But Jesus helps them (and us) understand that it isn’t just “kingdom” things that God has fixed in time, but that each minute of our lives is accounted for under God’s sovereign authority.  God saw me before I was born.  He knows the number of my days.  Don’t take my word for it, look at Psalm 139:16 – “Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.”

Today, most days, because we think God is a slow-poke, we become impatient about life, always wishing we could get “there” (wherever there is) faster, faster, faster.  In fact it’s easy to get all wrapped up in “end of days” mentality, wishing God would get it all over with already, so we can all go be with Him in heaven.  Trust me when I say, God isn’t even “nearly” through saving people yet!  Peter tells us, “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.”  [2 Peter 3:9]  God isn’t about to end human history until all the humans who will be saved… are saved.  God’s will is that all come to repentance.

So if you’re one of those who likes to see timelines and deadlines in the Book of Revelation, then let me offer you a small bit of advice.  Slow down.  Read the book, and study the book differently.  It isn’t all about judgment and just getting to heaven.  It is about God saving people who will say “yes” to His grace, even in the worst seven-year period of human history… the end of days.  I can help you with this, if you’d like.  Click to read more.  BOOK