by Gary L. Evans
(revised 8/1/2023)
Peter — Part 13
2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
The word “brute” is from the Greek “al’-og-os” which means “irrational.”
The false prophets, antichrists, were foreordained for destruction.
The words “utterly perish” are from “kat-af-thi’-ro” which means “to spoil entirely, that is, (literally) to destroy; or (figuratively) to deprave.”
They do not understand God’s Word and become depraved. Their end is complete ruin.
2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
The word “riot” is from “troo-fay’” which means “(to break up or [figuratively] enfeeble, especially the mind and body by indulgence); effeminacy, that is, luxury or debauchery.”
The words “sporting themselves” are from “en-troo-fah’-o” which means “to revel in.”
Some antichrists are so morally perverted that they take sadistic pleasure from how they so easily are able to deceive the people of the congregation.
2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
The word “beguiling” is from “del-eh-ad’-zo” which means “to entrap, that is, (figuratively) delude.”
The words “covetous practices” are from “pleh-on-ex-ee’-ah” which means “avarice, that is, (by implication) fraudulency, extortion.”
Many antichrists are so lawless and covetous that they become delusional, psychotic.
2Pe 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
Some antichrists turn completely away from The Truth of God’s Word and the ways of righteousness to only make money.
2Pe 2:16-17 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
The antichrists were foreordained to fall under Satan’s deception. Because most people are so ignorant about God’s Word, they believe anything some slick talker tells them. And antichrists, who know in their hearts that they don’t really understand The Bible, but can only recite things they’ve learned from other people, are amazed at how gullible people can be, so that their ignorance doesn’t matter at all. They can just make up their babblings as they go along, as long as it sounds “religious.”
2Pe 2:18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
They make emotionally stirring speeches of meaningless words, in effect, to entice the people of the congregation to follow them, even those members who had already overcome the deception of Satan.
2Pe 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
They promise the assembly freedom and Eternal Life while they themselves are totally wicked, enslaved to Satan, and dead as a hammer.
The word “overcome” is from “hayt-tah’-o” which means “to make worse, that is, vanquish (literally or figuratively); by implication to rate lower.”
So by causing the people to become degenerate, they in effect become their masters.
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
So after these antichrists deceive the members of the congregation which had been freed from sin and death, they go back into a life of error, and they are worse off than they were before their conversion.
2Pe 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
They all would be better off never to have heard God’s Word.
2Pe 2:22 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.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
Peter — Part 14
2Pe 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
Peter wants to remind us of what we have already learned.
2Pe 3:2 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 Saviour:
Remember our Lord’s teachings, for examples, about The First Earth Age, Election, The Seven Seals, Where Are The Dead, The New Covenant, The Parable of The Sower, The Parable of The Tares, The Mark of The Beast, The Children of The Devil, and teachings about many other things.
2Pe 3:3-4 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 the creation.
Peter alludes to The Third Seal, Global Lack of Understanding God’s Word, which is the direct result of all of those false prophets, false preachers and teachers, antichrists in this world deceiving the people over the last two thousand years so that they cannot come to the knowledge of The Truth.
In willful ignorance, hypocritical mockers, while pretending to be Christians, are already in abundance claiming that since Christ has not already returned, then none of God’s Word can be taken literally. And so they change the meanings of words to say things like, the Scriptures are actually “Spiritual,” suggesting something “Mysterious,” or “Mystical,” not objective truth, merely made up of flowery metaphors, analogies, and other figures of speech based on the imaginations of men in ancient times, so we must consider them as interesting philosophies and perhaps worthy to live by.
Well, let’s do a little arithmetic to determine where we are in God’s Divine Plan. Sometime after the Destruction of The First World on Earth there were seven millennium involved when our Father renewed the earth and made this Second World. In the eighth millennium our Father made The Man Adam and his wife Eve to bring in The Messiah. Recall that it was in the seventh millennium of the renewal that our Father rested from His work. And this time frame was given to us for an example of what to expect.
We are now at or near the end of the sixth millennium since Adam, so we should consider that as we start the beginning of the seventh millennium, which is perhaps very soon, that The Millennial Reign of Christ might be about to begin. I’m not setting dates, so don’t misunderstand my point, which is that Christians must have patience.
2Pe 3:5 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:
Peter describes something which stretches our imagination. The earth was “out of” and “in” the water in The First Earth Age. How is that possible? Try to visualize this. The only visual image that can clearly show this relationship is for the water to have been orbiting the earth as a watery shell surrounding it, perhaps where the thin ozone layer is in the upper atmosphere near the edge of space today. And that is how the entire planet could be “out of” and “in” the water at the same time.
2Pe 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
Then all the water that now fills the oceans covering three fourths of the earth’s surface today came crashing down from the sky.
2Pe 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.
Peter mentions the destruction of both Heaven and Earth in that world contrasted by The Heaven and Earth of this world. Noah’s Flood did not destroy the Heaven. So Peter is referring to the destruction of The First World which was destroyed by a cataclysmic world-wide flood that buried all plants and animals on earth in lime. The limestone layers, as much as three miles thick and hundreds or even thousands of miles long in some places, demonstrate the total destruction of that world by being covered with water and thick mud three miles deep!
Crude oil which we extract today is the fossilized remains of the animals of that world. And coal is the fossilized remains of the trees and plants of that world. We know that the flood of Noah was in this second world, because Noah was commanded to use tar, which is from crude oil, to waterproof the ark. Noah literally used the fossilized remains of the dinosaurs and other animals to seal the ark from leaks.
We have no excuse not to recognize the awesome power of our Creator when He becomes angry at our rebellion. And as God destroyed The First World, He will also destroy this Second World, but this time by fire.
2Pe 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.
So to grasp our Lord’s Timetable, we must think in terms of millennium.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
Peter — Part 15
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Our Lord is not lazy concerning His promise to return. Instead, He is very patient in the hope that more of His children will repent.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Our Lord promised to return AFTER the Tribulation of The Antichrist. But note that many antichrists teach blatant contradictions to our Lord’s teaching thereby deceiving the people to not prepare their minds for what is to come upon this earth. For example, the false Rapture doctrine teaches people to worship the first “christ” that comes, but that one will be The Antichrist, That Old Serpent, Satan, The Devil, when he is cast out of Heaven by Michael.
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The word “mourn” is from the Greek “kop’-to” which means “to ‘chop’; specifically to beat the breast in grief.”
Then will begin all of that weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that our Lord warned was the reward of the lawless ones. Note that bowing to a false god is the transgression of The First Commandment. Anyone who gets that commandment wrong need not brag about how well he has adhered to the rest when before The Lord.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
At the seventh trumpet our Lord will return and gather His Elect. All we need is to be able to count, because The Antichrist, Satan, The Devil, comes in The Sixth Seal and The Sixth Trumpet, and our Lord returns in The Seventh Seal and at The Seventh Trumpet and not before.
So all our Lord requires of us is to remember that six comes BEFORE seven, which is not hard. But the antichrists confuse even how to count to seven.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
The “Day of The Lord” is The Millennial Reign of Christ, and it will come upon this world like a “thief in the night.” Jesus taught us how to prepare for this event.
Luk 12:35-39 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Peter reminds us how our Lord had used the analogy of a thief in the night to describe how sudden His return would be.
Luk 12:40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Jesus gave us a logical description of His return. It will be when “we think He will not return.” This statement has a double meaning. When people are saying “He’s not coming,” is one understanding, and those hypocrites have been saying things like that already. The other is at the absolute logical extreme of His words, which can only be when people believe He is ALREADY HERE. Because then when He does return, they will be shocked and terrified! Why? Because they are caught bowing down to Satan!
2Pe 3:11-16 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
The antichrists do not understand The Scriptures, but pretend to be experts in order to deceive the people and take their money.
2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
Do not take part in The Great Apostasy which is already underway.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.