John Salom
Surely at some point, as a modern-day watchman on the wall, you have experienced that sharp smirk or the raising of unbelieving eyebrows as you attempt to explain to a lost friend or family member that the world we now see unfolding before our very eyes is exactly as the Bible said it would be at the end of the age and that the long-awaited return of Jesus to this earth is finally upon us! Perhaps your warnings have even evoked laughter or biting sarcasm, scoffing of a more contentious nature?
None of this, however, has really come as a surprise to you, as this sort of response is exactly what is expected from among those who are perishing. The real dismay then comes when you find yourself on the receiving end of scoffing not from an unbeliever but from a fellow brother or sister in Christ. To share that news that ought to be exciting to any follower of Jesus, only to have it summarily rejected can leave us scratching our heads with questions. Why would those who love Jesus or at least profess to love Him be opposed to His return to gather us all unto Himself that where He is, we may be also? The answer to that question can be a bit complicated, but we shall endeavor to address it with wisdom from God’s word.
I believe Peter’s second and final epistle can shed some light on this perturbing phenomenon we are experiencing in this last hour. The elder apostle, knowing and stating in this epistle that he is not long for this world, pulls no punches as he pours out his final words to those sheep he had once promised his Master he would feed. Let us read carefully his words: “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation'” (II Peter 3:3-4).
Two words jump out at me in this passage that I believe help to explain the aforementioned phenomenon, “fathers” and “creation.” Allow me to expand on this.
The scriptures are abundantly clear that the Christian should ever be on the watch for his Master’s return. That we are to actively look for and be constantly prepared for His return. Consider these words from Luke’s gospel: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who waitfor their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching” (Luke 12:35-37a).
Further down in the same passage, it reads: “‘Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’ Then Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?’ And the Lord said, ‘Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?'” (Luke 12:40-42). How appropriate that it was Peter, the apostle who was once commissioned with the statement “feed my sheep” is here asking this question of our Lord some 30 years prior to the writing of his second epistle where he is echoing the words of his Master.
“But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:43-44).
“But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites” (Matthew 24:48-51).
“Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you” (Revelation 3:3).
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