“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. 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 3:8-9 NASB).
Now, in context, Peter was reminding the Christians of the words formerly spoken by the holy prophets and of the commandment of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ spoken by the Lord’s NT apostles. He was reminding them that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, mocking the prophecies of Scripture regarding these last days before our Lord’s return, assuming because it had not happened yet, that it was not going to happen. That is a false presumption.
Now I am just going to share something with you here, and this is not a prophesy, but I do believe it is an illustration of what this is talking about. For a few weeks ago my husband bought me a Fitbit which is worn on the wrist just like a regular watch, but it doesn’t just keep the time, it also measures one’s steps (walking) and heart rate and other things. But this morning when I woke up on a Saturday morning, November 4, 2023, my Fitbit was telling me that it was Sunday morning (tomorrow) at the same time, but off by one minute. And I found that particularly odd.
Now I didn’t even notice at first that it was saying that it was Sunday, November 5th, but only that it was an hour behind. But then I realized it was actually ahead by one day. And then I remembered that my passage of Scripture was about 1000 years being like one day. So, going with that I looked up the approximate year that 2 Peter was written and I subtracted that from 2023, and it came to 1943. We got into WWII in 1941 and it ended in 1945, so we were right in the middle of WWII at that time in history.
Now what does that have to do with this passage of Scripture? Possibly nothing at all, but the Lord does put things in my life which he uses to illustrate biblical truth, much like real life parables, and so I had to consider that this might be one of those, especially since my Fitbit is reading that it is now tomorrow and not today, but a day ahead of where I am right now, and that in combination with the passage of Scripture which is talking about a day being like a thousand years, and it has not yet reached 2000 years since Peter wrote these words, but it has been at least 1,000 years.
But the other part of this is the fact that this is talking about the judgments of God, and my calculations led me to WWII, and a lot of people believe that we are presently in WWIII. So, what am I to make of that? A prediction? No! The possibility that we are in these final days spoken of here and that WWIII could very well be the judgment of God on this earth of these last days? Sure. So why am I sticking my neck out on the line and saying this to you? Because we don’t really know what tomorrow holds, and we should not presume that tomorrow is going to come or that it is going to be like today.
So this got me thinking about where we are in history and of the potential that WWIII, which we appear to be in, could be it for a lot of us. So, we are not to think because the prophecies of Scripture about these judgments have not happened yet that they are far off and so we have all the time in the world to just keep living however we want. We don’t! We should never think that we will always have tomorrow, but we should live our lives as though today could be our last day on this earth. And that really is the point, I believe, of my illustration.
So, even though this is talking about the Lord not being slow, but that he is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance, this does not mean that his patience is not going to run out at some time soon and you may be gone before you even have a chance to make your heart right with the Lord. For 1000 years are also as a day. So don’t wait until it is too late, and don’t assume that because you made a confession of Christ as Savior that heaven is guaranteed you when you leave this earth.
For, the Scriptures teach that we must leave our lives of sin behind us, and that we must now walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, but that if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, we will not inherit eternal life with God. And so when that bomb hits or whatever strikes you may have no time to have that change of mind and heart and to surrender your life to Christ. So please don’t play a game with your eternity. We can’t even be sure we have the next second on this earth. Get your hearts right with God today.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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