Day #231: 2 Peter 2:4-10

Joel Redmon is writing the blog this week. Joel is an Elder at Church of the Valley.

BACKGROUND
As we go through the first two chapters of 2nd Peter it is important to understand the environment at the time of the writing. Within a generation of the death and resurrection of Christ issues surfaced in “the faith”. From a human perspective, it is not difficult to understand what started to happen. Christian’s were either in the camp that Jesus would return at anytime living a life of expectation of his return or as the years past started to cast doubt on Jesus’ return and ultimately upon the promises of God.

2nd Peter was written to get the readers focused on the truth and not all of the false teachings and doubts that had surfaced through the passage of time.

IS THIS RELEVANT TODAY?
This writing is very much relevant to us today. We are much further removed from the death and resurrection of Jesus; we have so many religions of the world with easy access to the beliefs of these religions; the false teachers have easier entry points into our day-to-day lives via the advancement of technology and television and lastly, everyone is so busy that time to study and meditate on God’s word is hard to come by.

This backdrop will be posted everyday just as a reminder of why 2nd Peter was written and the relevance to each of us as we continue our quest to live the lives that God has planned for each of us. It is in this vein that Peter wrote this passage to remind us of the foundational truths.

2 PETER 2:4-10
4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. 10This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.
Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;

The more one reads the Bible, the more apparent it is that life is about choices. Along with this we learn that God has a submissive will. That is, while He makes the right choices very clear to each of us, He allows us to make our own decisions. By the way, these decisions will either lead down a path of blessings or curses. It is amazing how often we know we are not making the decision that is pleasing to God, yet when it is time to reap the consequences of our decision we try to find an escape route.

While we could go through this passage and look at two different sets of consequences, I would rather spend time focusing on the benefits of being faithful to God. Faithful to Him is a yielded life. The focus is not centered on pleasing our selfish desires but looking towards what brings glory to God. Do not misunderstand, each of us will miss the mark every now and then, but the key is that that falls are less frequent and the recovery is much faster.

The righteousness that Scripture refers to (as in verse 7 where it says Lot was a righteous man), is unattainable by obedience to any law, or by any merit of man’s own, or any other condition than that of faith in Christ. Another way to think about is a definition in NIV Discipleship Study Bible “righteousness is the quality or condition of being in right relationship with God; living out the relationship with God in right relationships with other people.”

So let’s look at two specific blessings of being right with God:

THERE IS PROTECTION
2nd Peter 2:5 states “if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah”. The thought of God protecting us should be comforting. Knowing that the One that is able to take dust and make a man and then breath life into him is the same One guarding and watching over us. How secure is that?

John 17 records a prayer that Jesus did on our behalf. In the 11th verse He prayed, “protect them by the power of your name”. A major aspect of God’s work for believers is protecting or preserving us through His mighty power. At the risk of repeating the previous paragraph, just imagine the same power that brought about creation and raised Jesus from the dead is available to guard and protect us!

THERE IS RESCUE
2nd Peter 2:9 states “the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.”. The passage included the illustration of Lot. It reminds us of how God rescued Lot when Sodom and Gomorrah was condemned. It is good to now that God will not make any mistakes in separating the faithful from the wicked. Psalm 33:18-19 states it this way, “But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.” (NLT) The truth in these two verses is that the faithful will not go without trials and/or hard times. The Psalmist says that God will keep the faithful alive in a famine. We need to be reminded of this as we go through one of the worst financial crisis in history. Who knows when we come out of it, but we can have confidence that God will rescue us at the right time.

SO WHAT?
As I rap up this blog, I am reminded of Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” While the many pains of life are just that…painful; we should keep in mind that in the midst of this pain God is working something out that will be good. God did not cause the pain; but He permitted it for a greater purpose. We have to trust Him and prove faithful to Him when your world seems to be crashing. Even in the crash, God is protecting you and making a rescue for you.