“…looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?“
Peter now comes back to the idea of the expectancy of the believer towards these cataclysmic events.
Christians are to have two attitudes about the “coming day of God:”
Look forward to it.
Hasten it, anticipate it.
looking for
The third characteristic that a Christian should have toward the coming day of God is to look for it. The day of God is in the future. This speaks of expectancy. We expect the day of God to occur. We look for the advent of Christ and all of its associated events. We wait for the events that God spells out in the Bible. We are on the winning team. The first event of God’s prophetic timetable is the Rapture of the church into heaven.
“…looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…” (Titus 2:13).
The words “looking for” means to await or expect. We are to live expecting the coming “day of God.” Are you keenly looking for that day to come? We anticipate the Lord’s return. We do not know the time, but we know the fact of His coming.
“…so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (1 Corinthians 1:7).
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20- 21).
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Hebrews 9:27-28).
and hastening the coming of the day of God
The fourth ingredient of our fourfold walk before God is “hastening the coming of the day of God.” The “day of God” follows the “day of the Lord.” This day is the commencement of our place in eternity.
Hastening implies that we can bring the “day of God” more quickly if we live godly lives. We cannot hasten the day of God because it is fixed in His councils. We can, however, be eager and earnest in our anticipation of it. We can translate “hastening” as earnestly desiring. “Earnestly desiring” is a better translation than “hastening.” Christians are to hold attitudes of “earnestly desiring” the day of God. Christians are to look forward to the coming day of God. It is not a time of terror for them because this is when God will be all in all.
because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
God will annihilate the “heavens” and earth, and we will enter into the eternal state. We studied this event in previous verses.
Principle:
We should live a life of expectation of the coming day of God.
Application:
Our hope as Christians is not in the United Nations, Washington D.C., or Ottawa. Neither do we place our hope in the universities of the world. Our hope lies in the coming of Christ. We live in expectation of His coming. The Bible teaches that the conditions of the world will get worse and worse until He comes back. He will then straighten out the mess that man left here.
Are you keenly expecting Jesus to put this world in its place? Are you excited about being with God?
