Where is the Promise?

One of the hardest things about living in our era is to persevere in trusting in our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Like the Jews of old, the people of our era are looking for people who can give some insight into the events of the day and predict what is coming. We listen to people who will tell us that our present pandemic will lead to so many deaths and that it is necessary, therefore, to close down businesses, avoid human contact with others and generally heed the restrictions our medical prophets have given as instructions to avoid death or (at best) diminished health.

Peter warns that there will (and have already) come scoffers who require signs and wonders before they will believe in the message given by the Apostles. “Where is the promise of his coming (or, better, his presence)?” they ask. The church, as a consequence, so often responds by seeking to produce the kinds of sign demanded by these scoffers. It is interesting, however, that Peter does not point to events or signs in his own day —some of which he had, himself, been responsible for producing. He reminds them that the claim on which they based their opposition was faulty. He pointed, in fact, to the past and (specifically) the record of Scripture.

If God intended to provide us with a timeline which we could use to show us how close is the Second Coming then it seems strange Peter did not point to the words of the Lord or of the signs in his own day. But, in reality Jesus did the same as Peter. When answering the disciples question about the signs of the end of the age he said that there would be no sign but that of Noah. And that, as the people of Noah’s day were eating and drinking and living normal lives not knowing when the flood was going to come until it came upon them, so it will be at the end. To hold fast to the word of God in spite of appearances to the contrary is a test of our faith in the character of God.

It is also the sign for our age. Noah heard the command of God to go and build an ark even as the people of God are commanded to make disciples of all nations, preaching the need for sinners to repent and find forgiveness in Christ. That the Church exists and grows and has continued to do so until our day is the promise of Christ’s second coming — for he will not return until all his chosen have been gathered from the four corners of the earth. In contrast to the signs designed to warn of the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem Jesus made it quite clear that there would be no sign of the end of the age but that the Church should remain faithfully working at its task (Matt. 24: 36 – 25: 30). A great Puritan commentator, Matthew Henry, well described the situation of Peter’s day and one which has persisted until our own:

 

“2 Peter 3:1-4 — The purified minds of Christians are to be stirred up, that they may be active and lively in the work of holiness. There will be scoffers in the last days, under the gospel, men who make light of sin, and mock at salvation by Jesus Christ. One very principal article of our faith refers to what only has a promise to rest upon, and scoffers will attack it till our Lord is come. They will not believe that he will come. Because they see no changes, therefore they fear not God, (Psalm 55:19). What he never has done, they fancy he never can do, or never will do.”