“Closer Than You Think!!”
Text: 2 Peter 3:3-14
12-10-2023
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Since this is the second Sunday in Advent, you’d think we would be done with readings about the end of the world and Judgment Day. And yet, that’s exactly what we have again in our Epistle reading. Why? Well, contrary to what you may think it’s not out of place. That’s because the Christian Church has always connected the first coming of Christ to His second coming on the last day. The only problem is that we’ve been waiting nearly 2,000 years for His return and to our human minds that seems like a long time. So long that many people question the validity of Christ’s promise. Believers wonder if maybe we misunderstood what Jesus said. Others think there’s a secret code in the Scriptures that they have yet to crack to figure out when this will take place. A foolish waste of time Jesus says.
And then there’s the unbelievers. St. Peter tells us they will scoff at this promised coming because it seems like it will never take place. You know what’s interesting is that Peter wrote those words about 35 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. And people were growing cynical already back then. They were mocking believers like Peter who kept proclaiming the imminent return of Jesus. Sarcastically they said, “Yeah, sure, Jesus is coming back. Not! The years roll on one after another and your great Savior hasn’t come. You’re living in the delusion of a myth!”
The attack on what we believe hasn’t eased up in the 2,000 years since then. If anything, it has intensified. Today, the unbelieving world looks at us Christians as if we’re Linus in the Peanuts comic strip. Every year at Halloween Linus sits out in the pumpkin patch waiting for the arrival of the Great Pumpkin. He gets laughed at because the Great Pumpkin never arrives. When it comes to the imminent return of Christ, we’re mocked as if we’re a delusional Linus. St. Peter knew how that kind of verbal attack could erode a believer’s faith. Because if we begin to doubt Christ’s promise to return then can we trust anything else He said? Peter wrote the words of our text to encourage us to not listen to the skeptics. And he wrote to bolster our faith so that we will patiently wait and watch for that great day, as Jesus told us to.
Have you ever noticed the little message that’s printed on the passenger side mirror of your car or truck? It says, “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” In other words, the perception of what you see is not accurate because of the type of mirror on that side. Well, that’s exactly what St. Peter was trying to tell us. Here on earth, we have a distorted perception of the passage of time. God’s perspective is totally different. He’s not bound by the constraints of time. We are. Peter says in verses 8-9, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness…” We look in the rearview mirror of history and it looks like God is moving awfully slow if at all. But that’s only because of our distorted perspective. In reality, Christ’s return is closer than you think!
Consider this. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. After that, in Genesis chapter 3, God graciously promised that He would send a Savior to fix our sin problem. We don’t know the exact date of when that promise was given, but we know that it was well over 2500 years before Christ was ever born in Bethlehem. For all those centuries, God’s people watched and wondered, “When, Lord?” They too encountered scoffers who mocked the promise. They too grew impatient. As a result, some faltered in their faith. But God acted according to His timetable, because His plan is perfect. It may have seemed like an inordinate amount of time. And yet, God had chosen the perfect moment in world history for it to happen. His plan for Christ’s second coming is no different.
But still, we wonder and ask, “Why delay any longer, Lord?” The answer is summed up in one very important word: mercy. St. Peter tells us that God “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God is being merciful by granting more time for people to repent of their sins, believe in Him, and be saved. This delay of the Lord’s return shows His goodness and love towards all the souls He created. He wants us and the whole world to see that there is still time left for people to turn to Him and receive His free gift of salvation. But time is running out. That day is closer than you think! And for those who refuse to repent, hell and eternal destruction is closer than they think.
Back at our house in Fort Wayne we had 3 acres of land. There was a Morton shed that was about 100 feet away from the house. Between the two was a fenced-in pastures I used for my cattle. One day I noticed that a fence post had rotted off. I got out my trusty shovel and post hole digger and went to work. I dug down a foot or so and hit a root about an inch thick. There were some bushes nearby and I figured that’s where it came from. So, I thrust the shovel at it, but only hit it with a glancing blow. Just as I was about to give it a really good whack, something made me stop. In a split second my mind suddenly registered what I was looking at. It wasn’t a root I was trying to chop in half. It was the underground power line to the shed! My Momma didn’t raise no fool. I stumbled backward away from that hole as if it was a poisonous snake. As I sat there shaking, I wanted to strangle the fool who had buried that cable next to a fence post. I can definitely say that on that day, the end [for me] was closer than I thought. It was a close call but God graciously protected me and prolonged my life. He gave me more time to serve Him.
Folks, there are people in our world who are trifling with God’s patience as He calls them to repent and believe. They don’t realize how close they are to getting zapped by something more powerful than 220 volts of electricity. They’re flirting with the disaster of eternal suffering and death. I may have innocently and accidently come upon my near disaster. But the Bible tells us that unbelievers have no excuse. They are intentionally mocking God’s warnings by rejecting His free grace. Their destruction is much closer than they think and there’s no time to delay. Peter reminds us that day will come like a thief in the night, when we least expect it. The return of the Lord is closer than you think!
So what should we do in order to be prepared? St. Peter says that God “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” It’s tempting to think that he was only referring to unbelievers, but he’s not. He’s also talking to us Christians. If you ever get to the point where you’ve stopped repenting of your sins, you’re in big trouble. Those sins will condemn you to hell. The only difference between a sincere Christian and an unbeliever is that by faith we know where to go to be relieved of the guilt of our sins. All we need do is go to the cross of Jesus and repent, trusting that His death has removed all our sins. But! If you’ve tossed aside repentance and the confession of your sins, guess what? Your sins remain and you’re flirting with eternal disaster. If your last day comes and you’re in that spiritual condition, you will be no better off than an unbeliever. A safe and secure Christian is one who is constantly repenting and relying on God’s mercy through Christ to forgive those damning sins because we realize the end is closer than we think.
Besides repenting of our sins daily, what else did Jesus tell us to do as we wait? At the conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel, Christ tells His followers to go out and share the good news of salvation with all nations. You may think that’s mainly done through Pastors and missionaries, but it’s more than that. We all know people who don’t believe in Jesus as their Savior. We also have relatives and friends who have walked away from God, and for whatever reason, they no longer find the time to worship and acknowledge Him. Do you remember that underground cable I nearly chopped into? If you knew it was there and saw me about to hit it, would you have tried to warn me? Of course you would, because you care. Well, there are people around us who are flirting with eternal disaster. Shouldn’t we have an even stronger compassion to warn them too? No, we don’t need to give them a fire and brimstone sermonette to scare them into believing and worshiping God. But knowing that the end is closer than we think, there’s an urgency to our message. There’s no time to waste.
As we wait for second coming of Jesus on the last day, may the Lord keep us patient and confident, strengthened by His Word and Sacrament. While there’s still time, may we be inspired to share the good news of salvation with those who haven’t heard, or rejected it, or simply walked away from the Lord. And may we all joyfully look forward to God’s new heavens and new earth where His eternal righteousness dwells. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!