Deliberate Forgetting
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
(2 Pet 3:5-8 NIV) But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's
word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by
water. {6} By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and
destroyed. {7} By the same word the present heavens and earth are
reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction
of ungodly men. {8} But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:
With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are
like a day.
People deliberately forget unpleasant facts. Some forget their
wallets on a date so the other person has to pay! Others forget debts
and bills. Peter tells us that the unpleasant facts that the
mockers and scoffers (1 Peter 3:1-4) forget are God's creative power
and His judgement through the Flood.The battles fought today over
these deliberately repressed facts are intense. Mention creation or
the flood to many people and you get a never-ending argument. You are
getting to material that the human race as a whole has desperately
and deliberately tried to forget because these facts point clearly
to the inevitable doom of the unrepentant sinner. If there is a
Creator God who hates sin and can act in history to punish sin on a
world-wide scale then it is a compelling inference that He will do
something about the mess we are in today. Such a God must decisively
intervene in human history and appoint a "day of judgement and
destruction of ungodly men.".
The timing of this judgement is in God's hand not ours. Peter
exhorts us "not to forget" that God is the Lord of Time. "But do
not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like
a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." We readily
grasp that with God a thousand years are "like a day" - in eternity
time just flashes by. His slow steady purposes are worked out over
the centuries with exact deliberation. God "has all the time in the
world". The other side of the formula is less well known - that with
God a "day is like a thousand years" - this is God's microscope - He
can watch a day go by with infinite slowness, controlling detail by
detail and accomplishing more in that one day than in the previous
1000 years - such is God's power. When God judges He will bring to
pass in one day an enormous number of events. The whole order of
Creation will be accelerated and the Earth will disappear in fire.
The fact that God can act suddenly and powerfully in a day is lost
on those who think that everything will go on "just as it has
before". (1 Peter 3:4) That day will be like the split second in a
car crash when everything "slows down" and it seems to be taking
hours for a moment to pass. Suddenly and destructively
judgement will come. Time is not an even and straight line and
history is not an even progression. Much is sudden and
unpredictable. The sudden collapse of Communism, the Wall Street
crash in 1929, even the appearance and importance of the Internet.
The world can change its face in less than a day. Six hours on
Golgotha can alter everything! Believers are told not to forget this
ability of God to make tomorrow a total surprise. The scoffers want
to forget about God's huge interventions in history. They believe in
a world without any big surprises, a world that just goes on. They
are in for a shock!
Prayer:
Lord we worship You for all things are under Your control and You can
make more happen in a single day than we can imagine. You have all
the time in the world Lord! Remind us to wait for You and to believe
that You will intervene for our good and Your glory. Amen.
---------------------------------------------------------------
John Edmiston ([email protected])
Editor - Eternity Online Magazine http://www.eternity-magazine.org/
Cults, exegesis, bible teaching, Christian life and leadership.
For the thinking Christian!