Learning from the past

I've been conducting a study on the second epistle of Peter and the epistle of Jude. These books are extremely similar and they both have a very serious and apocalyptic tone to them. I hope to post some entries based on these two books in the coming days and weeks (good Lord willing). Today, I want to talk about learning from past examples. There are many Christians who hold a negative view towards the Old Testament. They feel that since we are under the New Covenant, we have no obligation to read/study the Old Testament scriptures. While it is true that we must read the Old Testament with the understanding of Christ's fulfillment of the law, it is a gross error to believe that somehow the Old Testament scriptures have lost their inspiration. For instance, we read in Hebrews that the Holy Ghost is still speaking (today) through the psalms (ref: Hebrews 3:7 & 15).

With that in mind, I'll jump into my subject matter for today. In the epistle of II Peter, he confronts the false teachers who are denying the coming of the Lord (the Parousia). In denying the reality of the second coming, they have also given themselves over to a lifestyle without restraint. As I have often mentioned- what we believe will ultimately work itself out in how we behave. Those who do not believe Christ will come again to judge the world will obviously be tempted to have a lax attitude towards the need for personal holiness and obedience to the commands of God. Peter gives his audience a brief history lesson to show how God has intervened in the past to bring judgement upon sinful rebellion. This is where we pick up in our text today:

II Peter 2: 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; (NASB)

First, Peter reminds of the angelic rebellion led by Lucifer. Most Christians believe that a third of the angels fell with Lucifer. There are various theories that discuss the actual sinful behavior of the false angels (most surround an account in Genesis 6 but I'm not touching that one with a ten-foot pole today). We don't have a lot of the details of their rebellion, but we can accept that God did judge it nonetheless. He then shifts gears and brings us to the flood of Noah's day. The wickedness of man had reached epic porportions, but Noah "found grace in the eyes of the Lord". Finally, Peter cites the example of Sodom and Gomorrah as proof that God will judge the exceeding sinfulness of mankind. There are some who believe that Sodom was judged for a lack of hospitality, but I believe that this text (as well as Jude 7) reveal that they were judged for their immorality (primarily sexual in nature). We know that a spiritual principle is that "in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established", and here we have just that. Peter gives three examples in which God has judged the rebellion of both angels and men. We would do well to believe that He again is going to judge the world in righteousness.

Lest we should end on a bad note though, we should also remember that God rescued both Noah and Lot. Peter tells us that Lot (a righteous man) was delivered and that God knows indeed how to deliver the godly, and reserve the unjust for punishment.

II Peter 2:7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, (NASB)

If we only go by the Genesis account, we can sometimes get the impression that Lot was a "man of the world." After all, he was in Sodom by his own choice and we find him in the gates of that wicked city. This text in Peter however, reveals that Lot's soul was tormented by the evil deeds of the men and women of his day. Although you and I have not arrived at a state of moral perfection, we are made righteous by the blood of Christ and a living relationship with Him. If you are a true Christian, then you must of necessity be tormented and vexed by the unlawful and immoral deeds of human beings in our day. We also have the great hope that Jesus will come again, and rescue us from this evil world before He pours out His wrath on them that know not God and those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ.

May we learn today from history-learning that sin and disobedience bring judgment- and also that faithful obedience to Christ will bring deliverance from the wrath to come.

God bless you today!
~Henry

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