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According to secular evolutionists,
the universe began with a big bang. So the idea is that something
about the size of a micro dot, that's all there was, they don't
tell us where the dot came from. But this dot, at some point,
for some reason, began to expand at a huge rate of speed. Now, if you can believe that,
you shouldn't have any problem believing Genesis 1 through 3. And God was there. He knows what
happened. That's what we've been studying
these past few weeks. And whether there was a big bang
involved with what is recorded in the opening chapters of Genesis
1 through 3. I'll let you be the judge of
that. But this I can say with the full authority of Scripture. Whether or not the universe began
with a Big Bang, it will certainly end with a Big Bang. And that Big Bang must have a
big impact on your life and mine. We read of this big bang here
in 2 Peter 3, verses 10-14. Let's read together. 2 Peter
3, beginning in verse 10. 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. Therefore, since all these
things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to
be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the
coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be
dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent
heat? Nevertheless, we, according to
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness
dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward
to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace without
spot and blameless. Now on Sundays, we have been
studying how all things began. On Wednesdays, we have been studying
how all things will end. And this morning, at the intersection
of those, we're going to take a right-hand turn and we're going
to take a little detour and we're going to supplement what's not
really found in the final chapters of the book of Revelation. This
passage that we've just read details exactly how we get from
the earth and the heavens as they exist today to the new heavens
and the new earth that are described in the final chapters of this
book. Now, my outline this morning
is very simple. We first of all turn our attention
to the event described in these verses that I have called the
Big Bang. And then we'll only have time
to briefly meditate on the big impact that this event needs
to have in our lives. So first of all, the Big Bang.
Actually, there's more described in this passage than the Big
Bang. The entire event in verse 10
is called the Day of the Lord. Now, whenever you see that phrase,
the day of the Lord or the day of God, used in Scripture, that
means that God is entering into judgment with men. And so at
times, the day of the Lord has occurred within human history. When God has entered into judgment,
you find this phrase particularly in the Old Testament prophets. need to pause a minute, time
out here. When I talk about God entering into judgment, when
I talk about the wrath of God, you have to remember God's wrath
is not like our human anger, which is so often explosive and
irrational. God's anger, God's wrath is his
consistent, inevitable opposition to all sin. It is a settled thing,
not an explosive thing. But ultimately, God will deal
with every human sin in a final, cumulative act of wrath yet future
in something that this passage calls the Day of the Lord. Now
on Wednesdays, we've been studying the first seven years of this
period, a period called the Tribulation. The Day of the Lord continues
after those seven years through the 1,000-year reign of Jesus
Christ, which ends with what two events? ends with the Great White Throne
Judgment, and then the Big Bang. All of this is within that last
1,007 year period that Peter here calls the Day of the Lord. I want you to notice that this
period, according to Peter, will come like a thief in the night. How many of you have ever have
your house robbed? Anybody ever have your house
robbed at night? OK, so you understand. The days after that, what did
you feel like? Were you on edge? All the time
thinking about what might happen again? That's the idea here. This Day of the Lord could happen
at any moment, and we ought to be just as expectant as if a
thief had robbed our house last night. Looking for it to happen
again. Looking for Jesus to come again
and begin that 1,007 year period we call the Day of the Lord. Next, Peter explains an event
that actually takes place at the end, as I just explained
to you, at the end of this period we call the Day of the Lord,
and that is the dissolution of the heavens and the earth as
we know them right now. Now, Peter gives us more detail
about the Big Bang, as I have called it, than any other prophet
in Scripture. So the bulk of this message,
I want to work through that explanation that we have here in verse 10
in great detail, phrase by phrase. In fact, practically word by
word. So first of all, verse 10 states,
the heavens will pass away with a great noise. Now the heavens
here are not speaking about the abode of God where His throne
is. Rather, the heavens here are
speaking about what we call the The sky. And so the phrase points
to the destruction of the stars and the galaxies that we see
in the heavens at night. Peter here is actually describing
the very opposite of the Big Bang that the secular scientists
theorize that began the universe. It will be a cataclysmic event
which brings about the destruction of the universe as we know it. Now, the destruction that Peter
describes here is not annihilation. The point is not that the stars,
the planets, and the galaxies cease to exist, but rather that
they will cease to exist in the form in which we know them right
now. Their form and their structure
will be radically changed. they will pass into another form
that Peter, here in verse 13, calls the new heavens, or a better
translation, I believe, would actually be the renewed heavens. And I'll explain why I say that
here in a few moments. Now this cataclysm will be attended
by a great noise. And the word that's used in the
original language is interesting. It's a case of onomatopoeia,
where the word sounds like what it means. The word is roisidon. Roisidon. Can you say that with
me? Roisidon. Gesundheit. This word is actually used in
ancient literature for many of the sounds of danger. the whizzing
of an arrow, the rushing of mighty waters, the roar of a fire, the
hiss of a serpent. And I think Peter here was in
the same situation that the Apostle John was when he was trying to
write the book of Revelation. Peter here is trying to describe
something that's indescribable. Now, we live in modern times. I doubt that there's a person
here who hasn't at some point seen a video depiction of a nuclear
explosion. And if you take that and multiply
it by about a billion times, that's the sound that Peter is
trying to describe. And you'll soon see why I say
that. Because we're told, as verse
10 goes on, that the elements will melt with fervent heat. Now here we come to another interesting
word in Peter's description of the Big Bang. The word translated
elements here literally means things that stand in a row. In the original language of the
New Testament, there's a verb that means to walk in a line. And this is a form of that same
word. And so it has the idea of things
that stand in a row. And in ancient times, it was
used of the alphabet. But what's interesting to me
is that today we speak about chemical elements. And those chemical elements are
often charted in a table called the periodic table. And for reasons which I can no
longer recall from my high school chemistry class, that periodic
table is in rows. The chemical elements are in
rows. Now, I don't think that Peter
understood the periodic table way back when. I don't think
that's the idea here. But what's interesting to me
is that when Peter used this word, he actually used a word
that was scientifically accurate even today. Someone has said that the Bible
is not a science textbook, but when it speaks, it is scientifically
accurate. And here we have another example
of that truth. Now the chemical elements, we're
told here, will melt with fervent heat. And the fervent heat that
Peter mentions here was a medical term used in ancient times of
burning up with a fever. And so the usage of the word
has the idea of an internal heat, a heat that's coming from within. And so the destruction of these
chemical elements will be attended with heat coming from within. But what exactly is going to
happen to these chemical elements to release this heat? Well, our
new King James Version, following the old King James Version, translates
the verb here, melt. Other modern versions translate
the word destroy. But in the original language,
the verb here is very familiar to me. It's the verb luo. OK, can you all say that? Luo. And every person who has ever
studied biblical Greek knows the word luo better than any
other word in the New Testament, because this is the verb that
you learn in all of its forms in order to learn how you conjugate
a Greek verb. And the meaning of the word loo
is very simple. It means loose. I mean, loo,
loose, you can't get any simpler than this word. And so, literally
what this word means is that the chemical elements of the
universe will be loosed with internal heat. Now, what is Peter trying to
say here? Again, by means of the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, Peter is speaking with scientific accuracy. So every atom, of every chemical
element is composed of three subatomic particles, okay? What are they? Okay, protons
have a positive charge, electrons have a negative charge, and neutrons
don't count. No, neutrons don't have a charge,
okay? And in the The nucleus of every
atom, you have protons and neutrons wadded up together. And the number
of protons in that nucleus is what defines each chemical element.
Hydrogen has one proton. Carbon has six protons. Now, if you didn't learn anything
else in physical science survey years ago, you learned that light
charges repel. Now think about what I just told
you a minute ago. Wadded up at the center of every
atom in this universe are a bunch of like-charged protons wadded
up together in the nucleus of every atom. Why don't all of those atoms
explode right now? Colossians 1.16 says that in
Christ all things hold together. The Creator by His power, by
His sustaining power is literally holding the nucleus of every
atom in the universe together. But there's going to come a day
at the end when the creator is going to
loose the atomic structure of every
atom. And what will happen at that
point? I mean, this is what atomic power
is, right? This is what powers an atomic
bomb. This is what powers an atomic power station. splitting that atom, splitting
that nucleus. And so can you imagine what it
will be when God loses the atomic structure of every atom in the
universe? And at that point, it'll all be transformed back
into pure energy. But we're not quite finished
yet. Verse 10 has one further phrase. It says, both the earth
and the works that are in it will be burned up. At the beginning
of the verse, Peter specifically mentions the heavens, the stars,
and the planets, and the galaxies. But he wants to be clear here
that the earth will not escape this cataclysm. And in fact,
he even takes it a step further. He includes both the earth and
the works that are in it. In other words, it won't be just
what we call nature that will be destroyed, but all the things
that man has invented and built, all the great accomplishments
of humanity will suffer the same fate of atomic dissolution. Think of all the great art that
hangs in the museums. Think of all the wonderful architecture
that people travel across the ocean to see in Europe and in
Greece and Italy. Think of the amazing infrastructure
that we have built in this country. it will all be destroyed in a
moment. And again, Peter uses another
interesting word here at the end of this phrase. Our New King
James Version translates it burned up. But the verb is normally
translated exposed or laid bare and that's the translation of
this verse in in some modern translations. The point seems
to be that by means of this cataclysm, by means of loosing every atom
in the universe and reducing it all back to pure energy, Almighty
God is going to expose the true value of every human achievement. All that stuff that we pour so
much energy into. Our homes and our cars and our
bank accounts. All of this stuff that we spend
a lifetime collecting. Excuse me. God's going to expose
the value of it in a moment. It's gone. First John 2 verses 15 through
17 says, love not the world, neither the things, neither the
things that are in the world. Why? Because it is all passing
away. And that doesn't just mean that
it's getting old and rusty. It means that it ultimately,
it will not survive. We'll discuss in the second service
today what you can put your effort into that will survive. But as I've implied to you throughout
this entire service this morning, we find ourselves investing our
lives in that which will not survive
this final conflagration. So ends verse 10 and its description
of the cataclysm, which will be the climax of human history. But we're not finished with the
events of the day of the Lord, because verse 13 ends by pointing
us to new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
That time period of scripture that's called the day of the
Lord ends with the renewal of the new heavens and the new earth.
Now, I've tried to be very careful to indicate that the heavens
and earth, as we know them, will pass away, but the stuff of which
the universe is composed will not be destroyed. Our text here
seems to indicate that all matter will be transformed back into
pure energy, and then God will reconstitute the new heavens and the new earth
using that stuff. from the original translation.
You see the word translated new here in verse 13 means new in
regard to quality, not new in regard to time. The original language of the
New Testament has two words for new. So one of them is the word
neos. That ought to be, I mean, you
know, we have the suffix neo. We have the English word new. That word means new in terms
of time, or we might use the word brand new. So this year,
the US Mint is minting quarters that are brand new. They've never been in existence
before. They're minting five quarters
this year that honor great women in American history. In June,
they came out with a likeness of Eleanor Roosevelt on one of
those quarters. That quarter never existed before. It's brand new. That is not the
word that's used here of the new heavens and the new earth.
There's another word in the original language that has the idea of
a new quality. I mean, how often do you walk
into the grocery store and you see a product that you've been
buying for years and it says, new and improved? How many of you are old enough
to remember New Coke? OK. Many of you. You youngsters,
you don't know about this. So Coca-Cola, the most successful
soft drink of all time, was invented back in the late 1800s. But in the 1980s, they had lost,
they had originally like 60% market share. in soft drinks and it had gone
down to below 30%. And who was eating their lunch?
Pepsi was eating their lunch. And they did taste tests and
they found out it was because Pepsi was a little bit sweeter
than Coke. And so the bigwigs at Coke thought
they would have a great idea and they would come out with
new Coke that was a little bit sweeter. And of course, it was
a flop. That's why none of you know about
it. But you get the idea. New Coke wasn't brand new. It was just a new formula. That's the word that's used here
in this passage of the new heaven and the new earth. We're talking about God using
the same stuff that he created when he first created the universe
some 10,000 years ago. But at the end of the millennium,
he is going to give a new quality to that stuff. It will be a completely
renewed universe. So it won't be brand new. It'll
be renewed. Now, what exactly does that mean?
Again, we don't have time to discuss it. We'll still have
bodies, but they'll be glorified bodies. What does that tell us?
There won't be any sea in the new earth. What does that tell
us? There'll be no sun or moon, for God himself will provide
light. What does that tell us? But here's the one thing that
this passage does tell us without a doubt. It says that the primary
characteristic of the new heaven and the new earth is righteousness. The new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells. Some time back I read a translation
of this verse from a reliable Greek scholar and he said it
could be translated a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness
will be at home. I like that. Because we live in a sin-cursed
world filled with sinners. Righteousness will never be at
home in this world. This place will never be right. Do you not yearn for a place
where it will be easy to do right? where righteousness will be exalted
to the place that it ought to have? Do you not yearn for a
glorified body which will be suited to communing with God
rather than living in this sin-cursed world? That is what we are promised. A new heavens, a new earth in
which righteousness will be at home. This then is the big bang
toward which all humanity, all human history hastens. And here's
the point of all this. Peter makes the point in verse
11. He says, since all of this is true, what manner of persons
ought we to be? The Big Bang must have a big
impact on how every human being lives. And Peter spends the remainder
of this passage outlining that big impact. Now, we don't have
time in the next few minutes to dive into all of that, but
I do want to point out two major truths. First of all, we must
live holy and godly lives. What kind of persons ought we
to be if this is what the future holds? Well, the first answer
to this is common sense. We do not want to invest our
lives in what does not last. Men build buildings out of granite
and marble and reinforced concrete, but in that day, it's all going
to disappear like children's sand castles on the beach when
the tide rolls in. There is not a thing in this
world in which we can invest that will endure that day. To invest in this world is an
unwise investment. For our lives to get wrapped
up in this world is to become entangled with that which is
perishing. Again, I say, do not love the
world nor the things in the world, for the world is passing away. So, Peter says, we must be holy. Now many of you know the word
holy means set apart. We must be set apart from this
world and set apart to God. We must learn to live in this
world without letting the world infect us with its values. valuing the here and now, valuing
what this world has to offer. We must learn to use the things
of this world and yet hold them very loosely because they will be taken from
our hands. I'm not trying to preach this
morning that you can't own anything, but what I'm saying is what you
own You better hold on to it with a real light touch. And we must live godly. Now that
means that we must invest our lives in God. So as opposed to investing our
lives in this world, in the stuff and the things of this world,
we need to invest our lives in God. Getting to know God. Getting to love God. Delighting
in God. I preached not long ago on the
beauty of God. One of the reasons I preached
that is because we find so much in this world to be beautiful
and alluring and delightful when the things that ought to delight
us are things we cannot see right now. The beauty that we do find
in this world is intended Not to cause us to love this world,
but to cause us to love the creator of this world. To draw our hearts
to Him. Invest your life in knowing God
and loving God and serving God. And what you invest in will not
be destroyed. at that last day because God's
not going anywhere. He will still be there in the
new heavens and the new earth. He is what will make the new
heavens and the new earth glorious. Now this passage suggests that
we find ourselves in much the same situation as Noah before
the flood. I'm not going to take time, but
if you go back to verses 6 and 7 here in this chapter, it compares
the flood to this final judgment. God is only going to judge this
world completely twice. He did it once back in Genesis
chapter 6 through 9 with the worldwide flood. He's going to
likewise judge it one more time at the very end, not with water,
but with fire. And so there's a parallel here
between Noah's day and our day. Now let me ask you, do you think
that Noah found it very difficult not to invest in the world that
he had? Do you think he was trying to
accumulate stuff that he knew was going to be swept away in
that flood? Do you think he was trying to
amass real estate? When he wouldn't be able to even
find that land after the flood? You see, we live in the same
kind of a situation. We just don't realize it. Nothing that you've got, nothing
that I've got is going to survive that final conflagration. Why would we invest our lives
in it? And then I have time to point
out only one other application of this truth that's found in
verse 14. We must be certain of peace with
God. we must be certain of peace with
God. This last verse compels us to be diligent, to be found
at peace with God. And that word, be diligent, means
do your best, take care. If this world is going to pass
away, we need to do everything in our power to be certain that
we are at peace with God because that's the only way that we're
going to have part in the new heaven and the new earth. Now, here's the problem. No human
being can make peace with God. I mean, we're in a dilemma. It
says, you need to make peace with God so you'll be in the
new heaven and the new earth, but we're all sinners. And our
sin separates us from God. I mean, if every one of us here
this morning could say, okay, no more sin, I'm never sinning
again. And we could actually pull that
off. still wouldn't make any difference
because of all the sin that we have committed. The New Testament
calls us the enemies of God. But Ephesians chapter 2 says
that Jesus Christ is our peace. He has done what it takes to
make peace with God for us by bearing the punishment for the
sins that we have committed and we will commit. And so if we would be at peace
with God, then we need to come to Jesus Christ. We need to trust
what He did on the cross. to reconcile us to God, to take
our sin problem out of the way? Have you come to Jesus? Have
you trusted Him? Have you turned from your sin
to follow Him? Be diligent to be certain that
you're at peace with God. America was swept into World
War II on December 7, 1941. And as the war in the Pacific
expanded, the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island, California,
was unable to keep up with the demand for ammunition. And therefore,
Port Chicago, California, this is not in Illinois now, but Port
Chicago, California was built 35 miles north of San Francisco. Construction began in 1942. And I want to tell you a story
about Port Chicago. I quote now from a website called
history.mil. By 1944, the pier at Port Chicago
could support the loading of two ships simultaneously, and
crews loaded munitions around the clock, 24-7. On the evening
of July 17, 1944, the empty merchant ship SS Quinault Victory was
prepared for loading on her maiden voyage. The SS E.A. Bryan, another merchant ship,
had just returned from her first voyage and was loading across
the platform from the Quinault Victory. The holds were packed
with high explosive and incendiary bombs, depth charges, and ammunition,
46,000 tons of ammunition in all. There were 16 rail cars
on the pier with another 429 tons. Working in the area were
320 cargo handlers, crewmen, and sailors. At 10.18 PM, a hollow ring and
the sound of splintering wood erupted from the pier, followed
by an explosion that ripped apart the night sky. Witnesses said
that a brilliant white flash shot into the air, accompanied
by a loud, sharp report. A column of smoke billowed from
the pier, and fire glowed orange and yellow. Flashing like fireworks,
smaller explosions went off in the cloud as it rose. Within
six seconds, a deeper explosion erupted as the contents of the
E.A. Bryan detonated in one massive
explosion. The seismic shockwave was felt
as far away as Boulder City, Nevada. The E.A. Bryan and the structures around
the pier were completely disintegrated. A pillar of fire and smoke stretched
over two miles into the sky above Port Chicago. The largest remaining
pieces of the 7,200 ton ship were the size of a suitcase. A plane flying at 9,000 feet
reported seeing chunks of white hot metal as big as a house flying
past. All 320 men on duty that night
were killed instantly. The blast smashed buildings and
rail cars near the pier and damaged every building in Port Chicago. The blast caused damage 48 miles
across the bay in San Francisco. Instantly, the entire city of
1,500 people was plunged into chaos without water, electricity,
or gas. In six seconds, a prosperous city was reduced
to rubble. That is the fate that awaits
every city and town in the world. everything that we have built
gone in an instant. We must be certain that we are
at peace with God through Jesus Christ and we must invest ourselves
in God in the new heavens and the new earth and not what we find so easy to do, investing
our lives in the things of this world. Could I have every head bowed,
pleased, every eye closed? Are you certain of your salvation? Are you certain you have peace
with God? If not, run to Jesus right now
in your heart of hearts. Run to Jesus and tell him, Lord
Jesus, I believe you died in my place to bear my sin, to bear
its punishment. I want to be reconciled to God. I want peace with God. I'm willing
to turn from my sin to follow you, Lord Jesus. Be diligent
to be certain you have peace with God. And then Christians, this message has caused me afresh
to look at how much of my life I invest in the things of this
world. Where are you investing your
life?
It All Ends with a Big Bang
| Sermon ID | 1113231259161706 |
| Duration | 43:22 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | 2 Peter 3:10-14 |
| Language | English |
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