as you anticipate and eagerly await the coming of the Day of God through which the heavens having been set afire will be dissolved and the elements will melt in the heat.
Truth to Learn
We should be looking forward to the return of our Lord.
Behind the Words
“Anticipate” is translated from prosdokaō. This is a compound word made up of pros, meaning “unto or toward” and dokaō, which means “to expect or to wait for.”
The expression “eagerly await” is translated from the Greek word, speudō, which means, “to urge on or to hasten with respect to time.” It means that we anxiously desire that something should occur, and we would hasten it if we could.”
The word “coming” is from the Greek word parousia, which is derived from a form of pareimi, meaning “to be present.” Hence, parousia revers to a coming or the arrival of someone or something.
Meaning Explained
The scoffers mock us saying that the return of Christ and the Day of Judgment will never come. Actually, deep down inside, they know what they will get when He returns, and secretly they don’t want it to be true. We, on the other hand, should be eagerly looking forward to that day. Peter says that we should “look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”
We should be like a child whose parents have told him that grandma and grandpa are coming, so the child looks out the window every five minutes and even goes out to the street and looks down the street both ways looking for the coming of his or her grandparents. That’s how we should be anticipating His return and we should be urging Him on, even as the Apostle John said in Revelation 22:20,
He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Yes, come, Lord Jesus!
Peter then reiterates what will occur as part of the Day of God, “That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt [be let loose] in the heat.” On this final day of God’s judgment the heavens (the entire universe) and the earth will be completely destroyed. This is also described by John in the book of Revelation when he describes the Great White Throne judgment:
Then I saw a great white throne and the One sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled; and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, they were each judged according to what he had done. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)
Application
Are you looking for and urging on the soon return of your Lord and Savior, or are you secretly in fear of the day?
Search your heart!
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2017 Will Krause. All rights reserved