Waiting for the Day

2 Peter 3:14 ~ "Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."

Waiting is an integral part of the human experience. We wait in lines at the store, we wait for a call from a friend. We wait to take vacations or to advance in our careers. We wait for doctor appointments or for our meal to be delivered at a cafe. Everyone waits for something, and there is no way to avoid it. But, how do you wait? Do you wait anxiously or patiently? Do you wait with each nerve getting more frazzled as the seconds tick by or with a calm demeanor that brings stability to the waiting? The one common factor in all of this: you will have to wait.

But, dear Christian, we have something else to wait for. We are "waiting for the Day." Our text tells us that we are waiting for "these." And the question is: what are "these?" The text before it tells us, "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13). There is a day coming that will bring to an end all sin and rebellion. That Day of the LORD, which will consume the earth in a final conflagration will also be the Day that all believers wait upon, for it will be the day of the fulfillment of all promises and the establishment of the eternal kingdom of Christ.

Let's start with a question: are you waiting for that day? Our text today says, "since you are waiting for these." There is an assumption made that all Christians have set their hope on the new heavens and new earth--the home of righteousness. Of all the tragedies and triumphs that occur, of all the victories we've won, there is a simple truth--this is NOT the home of righteousness. This fractured world is rife with sin and the rebellion against God of billions. And, in true confession of my own heart, the longer I walk in this valley of the shadow of death, I long for the glorious and everlasting city of life. 

But what do we do as we wait? Our text today tells us to be diligent. Waiting for some means a lounging or a leisurely approach to activity. They embrace the delay as some form of personal opportunity to bask in the slothful mindset. But that is not the Christian. We are given a great destination, a home of righteousness, and as we wait for that day we are to make haste or be earnest to be without spot or blemish. Do you long for Christ and love the LORD, then you see upon yourself the spots of sin that linger. Then, beloved, make haste to repent. Jesus commands the church in Revelation 3:19, "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent." If you see that spot, or if there is still a blemish that is discovered, then quickly seek the LORD in prayer and confess your sin. He will cleanse and remove those spots and blemishes.

And the other diligent exercise of your faithful walk with the LORD is to be at peace--and that means at peace with God. It is more than a settled calmness in your heart or a circumstantial "cease-fire" that you negotiated with the world that is the peace of which our text today instructs. In truth, if you have no expectation of the coming judgment of God or the soon arriving King of kings to rule and reign over all, then you also have no diligent desire to be at peace with the LORD.

There are those who believe that "one day" they will come to that place where they take God seriously, but there is no urgency in their thinking. Dear ones, do not lounge away the moment. If you've not yet made peace with God, do not delay! Run to Jesus by faith and seek His mercy and grace. He will receive all who come to Him by faith, trusting in Him for the forgiveness of their sins. And for all who believe already, let us strive to keep ourselves in faithful fellowship with our Savior. 

Keep waiting, dear ones. Soon our LORD will return and then all that you have ever hoped for in Christ will be astonishingly glorious, far more than you have ever imagined.

There's coming a day when all days will be done
When the journey is over and the race has been run
Through Jesus our LORD we'll be delivered from strife
As we step through the portal of death into life

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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