Tuesday, October 10, 2017

PT-2 God's Will is Merciful (2 Peter 3:8-10)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/11/2004

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 God’s Will is Merciful

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  2 Peter 3:8-10

            Message of the verses:  “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.  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. 10 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.”

            To help us understand verse eight a bit better I want to quote a paragraph from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary:  “Since a thousand years are as one day to the Lord, we cannot accuse Him of delayed fulfillment of His promises.  In God’s sight, the whole universe is only a few days old!  He is not limited by time the way we are, nor does He measure it according to man’s standards.  When you study the works of God, especially in the Old Testament, you can see that He is never in a hurry, but He is never late.”

            Some things that God could have done in an instant of time were the creation, yet He did it in six days, another thing He could have done in an instant is having Israel taken out of Egypt, yet He trained Moses for eighty years to accomplish this task.  Christ could have come much sooner but according to Galatians 4:4 we read “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.”

            The scoffers did not understand the delay of Christ’s return to earth because they did not understand His eternality, and they certainly did not His mercy.  God was perfectly able to act, as this is not the reason for what they would call His delay.  God has a plan and therefore He is not tardy or even off schedule of accomplishing His plan.  When God begins to move He will move and no one will stop Him.  God is sovereign and will act when He wants to, and He does not need sinful man to give Him advice on what and how to do things.  “33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:33-36).”

            We will conclude this SD with another quote from Dr. Wiersbe:  “God delays the coming of Christ and the great day of fiery judgment because He is long-suffering and wants to give lost sinners the opportunity to be saved.  ‘And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation’ (2 Peter 3:15).”   10/8/2017 11:32 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment