In the last days…scoffers

“Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4 NIV) These words came from the Apostle Peter who walked with Jesus for three years. The Jews of Peter’s day were looking for the Messiah and the coming Kingdom.

But they were looking for a physical kingdom. Jesus came to deliver a spiritual one.

They wanted the kingdom then. At that time.

They were thinking of the future. For all time.

The verse in the picture is prophetic, written by King David. He saw a future day when the King of Glory (not himself) would enter Jerusalem and reign forever. This was the kingdom the Jews of Jesus’ day were waiting for. A King to overthrow the Roman oppression. A King to set things right.

They didn’t understand that Jesus had to set our hearts right before He would set the world right. He had to fulfill the plan of His Father to reconcile the world to God so that we could have a future and a hope. Because God so loved the world…He didn’t want eternity without us. So He came to seek and save those who were lost. Those who knew they were lost.

He didn’t come for those who thought they didn’t need a savior. Oh, He would save some of them too, once they realized their need. But the proud of heart rarely see that need. Have you noticed that? How easy it is to grow proud, and how hard to think we are needy when we are needier than we realize.

But the truth is – every single one of us needs a Savior.

Every single one of us desperately needs Jesus.

Peter knew that. He knew it on such a personal level because he of all of the disciples had failed His Lord. He had boasted that he would never deny the Lord and yet he did it three times. What failure he must have felt. How deeply he must have hurt.

So when Jesus restored Peter and set him as leader of His church, Peter knew what it was like to need Jesus, to need saving. And he also knew that the hearts of people don’t always see that need. He prophetically saw that one day, the closer the day came to Jesus’ return to earth – the time when that kingdom would be physical not just spiritual – people wouldn’t believe it was ever going to happen.

People would scoff. People would make fun of the idea because they would have come to the place where they deliberately chose to forget that God was their Creator. That He had made the heavens. That He had also destroyed the world by water and would one day do so again by fire. They would deny and scoff because they won’t want to believe in that kind of God.

They strip the God of Scripture of His power.

But Adonai Tzva’ot, the Lord of Hosts cannot be stripped of His power. He is the Lion of Judah that can’t be messed with. And He is the one David wrote about – the King of Glory.

These gates in Jerusalem are blocked right now. When we were there, we were told by our guide that they are blocked by those who hold the deed to the Temple Mount because they do not want the Jewish Messiah to come through those Eastern Gates. So they barred the way.

If you stand on the Mount of Olives, you can see these gates, and the Bible tells us that one day, Jesus will come and stand on the Mount of Olives, splitting it in two and He will go through those gates, barred or not. As if anything manmade could stop Him.

Prophesy tells of it. And every previous prophecy of His first coming has been fulfilled. What makes anyone think He can’t keep His promise to fulfill what’s left?

Who is the King of Glory? The LORD ALMIGHTY. HE is the King of Glory. May our hearts be ready to accept Him and let Him in. May none of us be counted as scoffers.

Even so, Lord Jesus, Come Quickly!

~Selah ‪

(reprinted from 2016)

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