Read with Me
2 Peter 2:4-10a (HCSB)
For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment; and if He didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; and if He reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to ruin, making them an example to those who were going to be ungodly; and if He rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral (for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.
Listen with Me
The context for these verses is the preceding three verses where Peter warns against the false prophets and teachers that were even then wreaking havoc in the Church. They were not only teaching things that were false, but they were also attacking the teachings of the apostles and setting themselves above the first witnesses of Jesus’ glory.
Peter’s point is that the whole situation was securely in God’s hands, so he didn’t have to worry about it. All through history the Scriptures show how God has punished those who were evil and unrepentant, destroying them completely, and then placing their souls in prison where they will be tormented for their sins until the day of judgment, when they will be condemned to continue that torment forever.
At the same time, the Scriptures show that God is able to preserve the righteous, shielding them from God’s judgment even when they live in the midst of those who fall prey to it. Peter cites Noah and Lot who are both delivered out of God’s judgment. This deliverance is also illustrated in Psalm 91.
But Peter’s writing here is not intended merely to bring comfort to those who are disturbed by the evil of the false teachers who are leading people out of the narrow way of salvation into the wide way of worldliness that ultimately leads to destruction. He was also warning those false teachers and worldly philosophers of the judgment that was hanging over their heads, a judgment that will ultimately overtake them whether they believe in life after death or not, whether they believe in God or not. And he is warning any who are tempted to follow after those teachers to trade the true faith for intellectualism or a philosophy that is less demanding of moral integrity and more pleasing to sensual desires, that if they turn away, they will undergo the same punishment, just as the vast majority of people did in the flood of Noah and in the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain.
Pray with Me
Father, so many today have been led astray by the philosophy of humanism, believing that this life is all that there is, and that there is nothing other than the material universe. Such people are taught that Your word is a myth and the apostles and prophets either fakes or sadly deluded. They are also taught that, since this life is all there is, no appetite should be denied, and if the journey becomes too painful, difficult, or unsatisfying, then they should just put themselves out of their misery. But such a philosophy ignores entirely the revelation of who You are and what You have done for us in sending Jesus as our Savior and Lord. And it also ignores who You created us to be in You. Sadly, such people are on a tragic journey that will lead them only into more suffering. And the reality is that ending one’s life here won’t be an end to suffering, but only the beginning of eternal torment separated from You. Thank you, Lord, for this clarity. And thank you also that you have provided a way through faith in Jesus for us to not only be able to live a life of love and fulfillment here and now, even in the midst of the trials and struggles that are part of human the human condition, but also to be able to live forever in Your love and presence. Amen.