April 29, 2023: 2 Peter 3:10 - A Thief in the Night
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” - 2 Peter 3:10
On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake severely rocked Turkey and Syria, awakening its residents in the darkness at 4:15 am. This devastating earthquake, which as of the date of this devotional has a combined death toll of nearly 60,000 people, came as a thief in the night. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Turkey–Syria_earthquake#:~:text=The%20confirmed%20death%20toll%20stood,disaster%20in%20its%20modern%20history.) There are reports that a Dutch seismologist named Frank Hoogerbeets had issued a warning via Twitter on February 3, 2023. “Hoogerbeets issued a tweet that read: ‘Sooner or later there will be a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon).’” See: https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2023/03/01/2861209/seismologist-who-predicted-turkey-earthquake-issues-another-warning). While this warning specifically named countries that would be affected, no one knew exactly when it would happen.
There is something coming that will make the destruction that happened in Turkey and Syria pale in comparison. There is a book that gives warning after warning, but sadly, most are not reading it and are not heeding it. The book is the Holy Bible, written by men as they received the word of God to warn the world of the coming judgment and how it can be escaped by believing in His Son Jesus Christ as Redeemer of their sin. Those who are not reading, hearing, and heeding His word have no idea what is to come upon this planet; to them, it will come like a thief in the night.
The Bible has quite a number of Scriptures that speak on the day of the Lord that Peter wrote about in today’s Scripture verse, including:
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who dies for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)
This Scripture is packed full of information for those who read it:
There is a clear distinction between “you” and “them.” When Paul refers to “you,” he is speaking to his fellow believers in Christ. The “them” are the unbelievers, those who did not accept the free gift of salvation through believing in Jesus as their Savior.
The Lord comes in the night. The night, or darkness, is often represented in the Bible as evil and in unbelief, such as when Jesus said:
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed,. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:18-21)
There is coming a time when people will proclaim “Peace and safety!” thinking that they are entering into a time of peace and when they feel safe. However, that is a false sense of peace and safety, and one which I believe the coming final antichrist will promote and pretend to desire when he confirms a covenant with Israel and other nations, as described in Daniel 9:27. Prior to confirmation of a covenant with Israel, the Bible tells us that Israel will be under threat even more so than it is today, especially in Jerusalem. While we don’t know the exact timing of this prophecy, we do know that something must happen that will cause the antichrist to sign the 7-year covenant with Israel and other nations.
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness [reeling] to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3)
There are many Christians who believe that the world’s problems will all converge and the unsaved people will cry out for someone to fix everything. I believe we are very close to seeing this happen. Because they have not accepted Jesus as their Savior, they will be deceived, by their own choice, into believing this man is the savior of the world, the one man they believe can fix the world and bring it back to the “normal” they long for. This idea is not far-fetched; consider the following quote from Paul Henri Spaak, first president of the UN General Assembly, first president of the European Parliament, and a former secretary general of NATO:
“We do not need another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man and be he god or devil, we will receive him.”
(See: https://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/many-will-follow-the-antichrist)
In the Bible, Daniel chapter 7 foretells of this world ruler and his coming one world government. Daniel had a vision of it:
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts [i.e., the former empires of Babylon, Medo-Persian, and Greece] that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.” (Daniel 7:7-8)
The fourth beast is the Roman Empire, and many believe the final antichrist, referred to as the one with “eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words” will come from a revived Roman empire. Daniel’s vision is then interpreted in the Bible:
“The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High [God], shall persecute the saints of the Most High [many Christians believe these are the people who have turned to Jesus during the tribulation period, not believers in Christ who are raptured/caught up to Him before the start of the tribulation period], and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.” (Daniel 7:23-25)Are we not already seeing many global organizations now, pushing to eliminate independent sovereignty of countries, hating nationalism and loving globalism? Examples of such organizations include the World Economic Forum (WEF), World Health Organization (WHO, United Nations, World Government Summit, and many others. In the past, the United Nations has previously divided the world into ten regional grouping in its “Local Agenda 21 - The UN Plan for Your Community.” It has already succeeded in implementing much of its plan and now is on to Agenda 2030, about which we have heard a lot recently. (For more information on the ten groupings, the UN’s plan, and how it relates to Bible prophecy, see: http://nuclearsuntan.blogspot.com/2011/11/un-divides-world-into-10-regional.html).
There is also the push to move from a cash-based monetary system to the Central Bank Digital Currency (CDBC) system. CDBC will ultimately be centralized and controlled by the one world government. With that, it has all the power it needs for the coming final antichrist to control the world’s population by requiring all to take the mark of the beast (i.e., Satan) or the number of his name (i.e., 666) and worship his image in order to buy or sell. Possibly bringing us one step closer to the mark of the beast system, a US digital identity bill passed through to the Senate on April 6, 2023.
The Bible tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 that God will put people under a strong delusion because of their rejection of His Son Jesus and the truth. Consequently, they will believe the lie of the antichrist:
“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)
As Jesus said, “…and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Instead of listening to God, they believed the lie. Instead of getting peace and safety, they will enter into a 7-year time of tribulation upon the earth, known as the time of Jacob’s trouble, in which it will be like a woman giving birth, where the pains start as mild and far between, but as that baby is ready to be delivered, the pains are extremely painful, with little or no time in between to catch any relief. In some ways, it seems like we are already in this time. Just think of everything that has happened already in the first four months of 2023. The second half of the tribulation, the last 3-1/2 years, a total of 1,260 days, will be the worst time in human history in a period known as the “Great Tribulation.” This is when the antichrist will break his covenant with Israel and will declare himself as God in the recently built Jewish third temple, committing the abomination of desolation. It is only then that the Jews’ eyes will finally be opened and they will realize that he is not their Messiah but antichrist and will be on Him as their prophesied Messiah.
The Bible is clear, everyone who does not believe in Jesus as their Savior will not escape from this terrible time. The only thing a person can do during the 7-year tribulation period is to turn to Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Savior, and it likely will cost them their lives. The Bible tells us that those who do not take the mark of the beast or the number of his name (i.e., 666) and worship his image, will be killed. (Revelation 13:16-17) To delay in making a decision to follow Jesus is not only putting one’s life at risk but also damning one’s eternal destination.
Now, we read about those who are not in darkness but in light, those who chose to follow Jesus instead of rejecting Him. In 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11, Paul writes encouraging words and also cautionary words to believers in Christ. We are not to sleep, being unaware of the things that are to come, as prophesied in the Bible, we are to be awake and we are to be on guard. We are to pay attention to what is happening in the world and see how it aligns with the prophecies in the Scripture, and we must do this with a clear mind, not one clouded by the effects of alcohol, which hinders one’s ability to think clearly. We are to put on the armor or God in order to fight continually, in God’s power and might, against the spiritual battle that is being waged against us, for Satan wants to steal our soul away from God. We must put on the breastplate of faith, which guards our heart, and the helmet, which guards our head, as we remember where our hope is: in our salvation that is received only through our belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior; He is our salvation. The breastplate and the helmet of salvation guard our hearts and our minds so that we trust not in our feelings, as the world does, but with our minds, remembering the promise of Jesus Christ: “He who believes in Him [Jesus] is not condemned.'“
Further, we are not appointed to God’s wrath. There is a difference between undergoing tribulations that we face each day and God’s wrath. God’s wrath is appointed for those who reject His Son. They are given every opportunity to turn to Him, even during the 7-year tribulation period. God will sends no one to hell; rather, people choose, in their unbelief, to go there when they die, rather they believe in it or not.
For those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, our future is one of light and hope, not of darkness and destruction. As the book of Daniel promises, the coming kingdom of God is one that will never be destroyed and only those who are saved by the blood of Jesus will be allowed entry into it.
“But the court shall be seated, and they shall take away his [antichrist’s] dominion, to consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High [all who have been saved by Jesus Christ]. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” (Daniel 7:26-27)
As Peter said in today’s Scripture passage, the earth and the heavens will be burned up, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth:
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.” (Revelation 21:1)
This is where the kingdom of God will be, and only those saved by the precious blood of Jesus will be allowed to enter it. Which kingdom will you enter into in your eternity, Satan’s or God’s?
“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Jesus Christ; Revelation 1:8) ✝️