Second Peter 2:22

In Second Peter 2:22 the Bible has one more thing to say about those who appeared to be following Christ, but then turned back to the world. It says, “But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” The dog and the pig are simply doing what comes naturally to them. That is the problem. No matter what you do to a dog or a pig, they are still just a dog and just a pig. The same is true concerning an unsaved person. They can join a church, get baptized in water, and have some kind of personal reformation; but unless they get born again by the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ, there will be no true change in who or what they are. Second Corinthians 5v17, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold all things are become new.” No one can replace the miracle of salvation. The leopard cannot change its spots, nor the zebra its stripes.

Second Peter chapter two dealt almost exclusively with false teachers and others who go astray from the right way that Jesus gave to us. The first part of chapter three speaks again to believers and what they can do to continue on the straight and narrow way. It says in Second Peter 3:1, “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you: in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.“

In this verse and the next couple of verses, Peter brings up an important theme: the doctrine of the inspiration of the scriptures. Peter mentions the fact that this is his second epistle. Peter wrote two epistles. He says that himself. Nothing has been lost from the Bible. God gave these words, and God insured that these words would be preserved from generation to generation.

Notice that Peter said that the purpose that he wrote both epistles was to remind believers of things that they already know. He said the same thing in Second Peter 1:12-13, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.” For every Christian there is always the danger that in a given situation an important principle of the teachings of Christ will be forgotten. Many failures and many sins on the part of Christians take place because of not remembering the Word of God. The Word of God has a cleansing power and a strengthening power. Peter spoke of “pure minds” in regards to remembering the Word of God. The psalmist wrote, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? BY taking heed thereto according to thy Word.”

That is what we are supposed to remember: the Word of God. The words are important. These are the words that God gave. These words are more important than any other words. The Bible says in Second Peter 2:2, “That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior.” This is a good verse that shows the makeup of the Word of God: the Old Testament, and the New Testament, and nothing else. “The holy prophets” were the writers of the Old Testament. “The commandment of us the apostles” refers to the things that the apostles taught that they had learned from Jesus. Jesus taught, but of course, Jesus did not write anything. We have the teachings of Jesus from the writings of the apostles and the close associates of the apostles who recorded their teachings.

Peter said that believers should “be mindful of the words.” The words are important because these are the words that came from God. The words from the Old Testament and the words from the New Testament are the words that came from God. Any words that are added to these words are not the Word of God. That is why the Apostle John wrote in Revelation 22:18-19, “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Beware of those who have added other words and other books. The Mormons and the Moslems are among those who have committed this error.

In all of the words of the Old Testament and in all of the words of the New Testament there is a great theme: Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament the message was: Jesus Christ shall come. He came. In the New Testament the message is: Jesus Christ came, and Jesus Christ shall come again. Those who oppose the truth from God will oppose some part of the great message. Some people oppose the fact that Jesus Christ came by teaching against it, by denying it, or by trying to cast doubt upon it. For example, among this group are those who try to cast doubt upon the virgin birth. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. That is part of the message. Jesus Christ is God. That is part of the message. Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world. That is part of the message. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And Jesus Christ will come again.

Some who deny the words from God, deny the fact that Jesus will come again. Second Peter 3:3-4 says, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” You had better have your eschatology right, or you might be falling under the sway of false teachers. Those who resist God’s truth will always find ways to justify what they do, what they think, and what they believe. The teaching that Christ will return means that things are going to change some day, and they are going to change dramatically. Those who reject this teaching can always say, “Things have not changed yet. Therefore, I do not believe.” Humanistic logic will always be an option for those who reject Christ. But their logic will fade away the moment that they bow at the feet of Jesus, because the Bible says in Romans 14:11, “As I live, saith the Lord, Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

In the world some believe and some do not believe. Why is it that the scoffers do not believe? Second Peter 3:5 gives the answer to this. It says, “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” Notice that two great events are referred to here: the creation and the flood. Those who deny the one almost always deny the other. That is not surprising since they did the same thing two thousand years ago, and since the Holy Spirit prophesied through Peter that thus it would be among those who scoff at the Word of God. There is a massive amount of scientific evidence to demonstrate the validity of the creation and of the flood. But it does not matter how much evidence there is because these people “willingly” are ignorant of the creation and of the Noahic flood.

Concerning this universe that God has created, the Bible says in Second Peter 3:7, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Several times in this epistle Peter had referred to the written Word of God. In regards to the creation we are talking about the spoken Word of God. God spoke and the worlds were created and all the things in them. The written Word of God is also powerful. From it comes the power of truth. What is more powerful than truth?

Where is the world headed? What is its destiny? Will a giant comet collide with the earth and destroy it? No, that definitely will not happen. There is a power controlling and guiding the earth. That power is the same power that created the earth: the power of the Word of God. The same power of God that created the world holds the world together. God is in charge of this world and everything that is in it, because this world is His creation. He restrains the evil. He judges the world. He has the whole world headed towards a great climax: the judgment. The world is “reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”

There have been many special days in the history of the world. There was the day of creation. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” There was the great day when God came to the earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Luke 2:10-11 says, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” There were many special days that God instituted for the children of Israel, and not the least of which was the Passover. Concerning the first Passover that Jesus celebrated, the Bible says in Luke 2:43, “And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.”

There is still another great day or two on God’s calendar in regards to His involvement in the affairs of men. There is a day that God has reserved for judgment. He is the Great Judge, and He will judge all human beings from all generations. The book of Revelation speaks of a day of wrath. It says in Revelation 6:17, “For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

We have seen a constant reference to the judgment of the ungodly in the epistle of Second Peter. No doubt these words are written to comfort the believers who must live in the presence of the ungodly all the days of their lives. At times the ungodly appear to prosper. But we who believe in Jesus can remember these teachings from Second Peter, and we can know that the judgment is coming. The wrongs will be righted, and the truth will be told.

Peter has something to say by the Holy Spirit concerning the argument that the scoffers had given earlier in this chapter. The scoffers reject the idea of the return of Christ, because Christ has not returned yet. At the writing of the book of Second Peter it had been many years since the promise of the return of Christ had been given. In Acts 1:11 the angel said to the disciples, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

It has now been many centuries since this promise has been given. How do we reconcile the great number of years that have passed with the fact that Jesus has not yet come back to the earth? Peter gives the answer to that question in Second Peter 3:8, “But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” In other words God counts time much differently than human beings count time. If we measure time in this way, it has not even been two days since Jesus ascended to heaven. Jesus was crucified, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven in approximately the year 30 A.D. Measuring a thousand years as a day, then in the year 2030 we will be 2 days since the promise of the return of Christ was given.

Why has not Christ returned to the earth yet? For one thing God does not measure time the way that we do. “One day is with the Lord a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” For another thing, God “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Jesus always wants to save more souls.

Christ has not returned to the earth yet. If you are not saved, that means that you still have a chance to turn from your sins and to turn to Jesus for forgiveness. If you are saved, you still have a chance to let go of the world completely and to serve Him by faith until He comes.

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