Have you noticed? The nights are getting cooler. I even see some leaves starting to take on a little color. After the stifling days of summer, it’s finally starting to feel a little like Fall. The older I get, the more I seem to notice the cyclicalness (spellcheck doesn’t think that’s a word, but if not, it should be) of life. Children are back in school, camping trips are over, vacations are finishing up. Certain plants didn’t do well in the garden this year. Oh well, there’s always next year. I’m already hoping for good snow in the mountains this winter. We’ve done all this before, and we’ll do it again. There really is nothing new under the sun (Ecc. 1:9).
The apostle Peter says in his second letter that scoffers say “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). These scoffers are those saying that Christ will not return. Many of them likely never knew Jesus, but had learned about him from the apostle’s teaching. He said he would return, but that hasn’t happened. Over 30 years have gone by. Where is the promise of his coming?
Have you ever felt that way? He is the great physician, but where is your healing? He is the Good Shepherd, but you’re not seeing the green pastures and quiet waters. He promises to work good, but things only seem to be getting worse. It would be easy to get drawn into that sort of sentiment: “God is not watching. He’s far from me and my day-to-day problems. Maybe he doesn’t really care about me. Maybe none of it is true.”
To this, Peter says, “Remember God’s interventions in history!” He reminds the scoffers that God judged sin and unbelief in the great flood that deluged the earth. Christ, Peter says, will return to judge the earth at the end of time. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,” he says, “but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He reminds his readers that he and the apostles did not follow “cleverly devised myths” when they talked about Jesus, but they were “eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).
Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun, and he’s right in the context in which he was speaking. But God incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ was a new thing. The Son of God came to us in the flesh to win the battle over sin for us, to give his life as a ransom, to redeem us from death and the devil. We were headed for condemnation in the final judgment because of our sin. But God intervened in history. The suffering and death and resurrection of our Lord, the removal of the guilt of our sin, means that we have been given life and hope. We can have peace, even in the midst of a world inexorably heading toward that day of Christ’s return and the judgment of all flesh. He paid the price for our sins. We are already declared “not guilty.” God has given us new life in our baptism. And we can say with confidence that Jesus IS our Good Shepherd, and we know for certain that he IS working for our good in all circumstances.
The devil would like nothing better than to lull us into thinking that Jesus isn’t returning, that life will just continue to go on as it has in the past. But God’s Word tells us otherwise. As we gather regularly for worship, we are reminded of God’s intervention on our behalf. We hear of his great love demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord. We confess that we are poor sinners in need of forgiveness, and we celebrate the outpouring of that forgiveness in the Sacraments and in the holy absolution. What a joy it is to gather together weekly as brothers and sisters in Christ as we “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity!” (2 Peter 3:18)
God’s peace,
Pastor