LESSON 8

December 15, 1888

2 PETER 3:1-7.

(Commit to memory the verses in Peter which form the basis of this lesson.)

  1. To whom was the second epistle of Peter addressed? 2 Peter 1:1.
  2. Why was it written? 2 Peter 3:1.
  3. Of what does the apostle wish us to be mindful? Verse 2.
  4. What purpose does prophecy serve? 2 Peter 1:19.
  5. Upon what is special light given by the prophecy? 1 Peter 1:11, last part; Dan. 2:28.
  6. Give reference to some prophecies which foretell the final glory of Christ, and give the substance of each. Ps. 50:1-3; Hab. 3:3-6 ; Isa. 63:1-6, etc.
  7. What must we look for just before the end? 2 Peter 3:3 ; Jude 17, 18.
  8. Mention some other places in the writings of the apostles where this is foretold. 1 Tim. 4:1, 2; 2 Tim. 3:1-5, 13; 4:1-4; 2 Thess. 2:8-10.
  9. Of what do these scoffers profess to be ignorant? 2 Peter 3:4.
  10. Is there any excuse for such ignorance? Verse 5.
  11. What notable event recorded in Scripture shows that all things have not continued as they were from the beginning of the creation? Verses 5, 6.
  12. How did the earth come into existence? Ps. 33:6, 8, 9.
  13. In what condition was the earth at first? Gen. 1:2.
  14. What division was first made in this watery mass? Verses 6, 7.
  15. What was done with the waters that were beneath the firmament? Verse 9; Ps.33:7.
  16. When, by the word of the Lord, the flood destroyed the earth, how did the waters that were stored up in the earth contribute to that result? Gen. 7:11.
  17. What fate, by the same authority, now awaits the earth? 2 Peter 3:7.
  18. Where has the word of the Lord declared this? Nahum 1:5; Isa. 34:8-10; Deut. 32:22.
  19. What positive assurance have we that this will be done? Ans.-We have the word of Him who spoke the earth into existence, and who caused the water that constituted a portion of the earth, to contribute to its destruction. See 2 Peter 3:5-7.
  20. Show the analogy between the destruction of the earth by water, and its destruction by fire. See note on verses 5-7.

NOTES

THE phrase, “the earth standing out of the water and in the water,” does not at all express the idea of the original. The Greek word which in the Authorized Version is rendered “standing,” should, as the margin indicates, be rendered “consisting.” Robinson’s “Lexicon of the New Testament” says of the word: “To place together parts into a whole, i.e., to constitute, to create, to bring into existence. Hence, in N.T., intransitive, to be constituted, created; to exist,” as in Col.1:17, “by him all things consist.” Wakefield translates the passage thus: “A heaven and earth formed out of water and by means of water.” Bloomfield. says: “The earth … being formed out of water, and consisting by means of water.” Murdock’s translation of the Syriac has it: “The earth rose up from the waters, and by means of water, by the word of God.” The meaning is that the earth in its chaotic state was simply a watery mass, as indicated by Gen. 1:2: “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

“WHEREBY the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” When God gathered the waters together into one place, and made the dry land appear, he evidently stored large quantities of water in the interior, of the earth. This is indicated in the second commandment, by the phrase, “the waters which are under the earth,” and by Ps. 136:6: “To him that stretched out the earth above the waters,” and also by Ps. 33:7 ; 24:1, 2. In the flood which destroyed the earth in the days of Noah, the waters in the interior of the earth united with the rain from heaven, as the record says: “The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” Gen. 7:11. The idea of the passage in Peter’s epistle is that one of the very elements from which the earth was formed, was made to contribute to its destruction. Having disproved the assertion that all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation, the apostle draws a parallel, thus:-

“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word [the word of God, see verse 5] are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7. Instead of, “are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment,” a better translation would be, “stored with fire, reserved unto the day of Judgment.” Now the comparison is at once apparent. By the word of God, the earth, in the beginning, was formed from the watery mass which God had spoken into existence. Part of this water was stored up in the earth, and by the word of God was afterward caused to overflow the earth, and contribute to its destruction. And the same word of God, which performed this, has stored the interior of this present earth with fire, and is keeping it till the day of Judgment, when, as in the case of the waters of the flood, the fire within the earth, uniting with that which comes down from God out of Heaven (Rev. 20:9) will destroy it.

PARTICULAR attention should be given to the word “kept.” Instead of all things continuing as they were - from the beginning of the creation, the earth has within it the elements of its destruction, and it is only the power of God that stays the catastrophe.

SOME have fancied that this chapter teaches that the earth will be annihilated at the Judgment day. This is a mistake. This earth will be destroyed in the same sense that the original earth “perished” by the waters of the earth. It was all broken up, and the face of it was changed, so that the earth after the flood had no resemblance to the earth before the flood. This was the last and greatest curse caused by sin, and completed the desolation of the earth. But the matter which composed the earth was not destroyed. So by the fires of the last day “the elements shall melt with fervent heat,” but they will not be annihilated. From those melted elements, “new heavens and a new earth” will be formed, which will have no more resemblance to this sin-cursed earth than this earth does to Eden, the garden of God. The people that shall dwell in it will all be righteous (Isa. 60:21); and “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it. the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.” Isa. 35:1, 2.

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