Friday, October 28, 2022

 

Friday, October 28, 2022


Psalms 143; 146

Nehemiah 6:10-7:4

2 Peter 3:3-10


Observance: Simon and Jude, apostles and martyrs


And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem; for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.


This is the third time now in two letters where Peter appeals to the Flood as an example for us to learn from. Our reading this morning gives us the best starting point to think about the Flood because the context of this reference is so apposite to our situation, Peter may as well have written these words yesterday.


Peter seems to think there are three truths revealed by the Flood worth teaching us about. In 1 Peter, he demonstrates that God’s judgement of destruction in the Flood works similar to our baptism, and they both point to the resurrection of Jesus: evil dies so that good may blossom. Then, he teaches that the example of Noah and his family show us that God knows how to rescue those whom He loves.


This morning, Peter places us, the reader living in a post-Easter society, in a similar place to the world in the days of Noah. That is, God has promised to destroy evil and raise good to indestructible eternity, but no-one wants to hear about it. We, the children of hope, are surrounded by scoffers who indulge in their own lusts. This time, instead of an ark, we are building a kingdom of believers who love Jesus. And we are not doing this out of fear of a flood, but a desire to share the love of the Lord who is patient, “not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance”. The scoffers know that their greedy, selfish, God-hating, sexually immoral ways will eventually come to an end “but they deliberately ignore this fact”: that the self-indulgent atheistic mindset is not a rational way of thinking and living, but simply a foil to protect their guilty conscience.


In the 2019 film adaptation of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian Pilgrim is told by Evangelist in a particularly heart-breaking scene that he can only see the gate to the Celestial City through his own tears. It is in destruction that we are brought to life in Jesus Christ: destruction of our pride, our self-assurance, our own independently-formed morals, our old self. Like Paul says, the seed planted must die before the sprouting happens. Just as our hearts were broken at our own conversion, so too will the hearts of every scoffer and enemy. The mighty resurrection power of our God destroys evil so that good may come; a beautiful manifestation of God’s power, and the sharing of which with us only glorifies Him further.



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