It’s Still Going to Happen*

II Peter 3:8-10

Moving to the reservation used to be a real shock to most Americans. Everything was on Navajo time. When we first came, almost no one had a watch. Time was determined by location of the sun or moon. Only the few who had watches knew when it was eight o’clock. For everyone else, it was just around eight. They had no way of identifying the exact time, and as far as herding sheep and raising corn were concerned, it was more than adequate to estimate the hour.

To a society that had been raised where everything started at the exact minute, it was frustrating. Navajos had a different concept of time than most Americans, because they had no way of precise measurement. As a result, most Americans were frustrated in their attempts to impose their attitude about time on the Navajo people.

All humans are bound by time. We are born on a particular day. The sun rises and sets, establishing a period of time called a day. Movements of the earth and moon establish other divisions of time such as months and years. One day we die and our life ends. Time is a major element for us. We have invented accurate clocks that measure minutes and seconds, and some measure millionths of a second. Minutes and seconds are totally human inventions. While they are quite convenient for measuring time, there is no natural standard for it, and thus it is impossible to keep track of without a clock.

On other planets and moons, the standards are different than on earth. A Lunar day lasts twenty eight earth days. A day on Mars is Mars is thirty nine minutes longer than a day on earth, but a year is 687 days long, or nearly twice as long as an earth year. We realize that concepts of time would be different if we lived on Mars than it is on earth.

God is an eternal being, according to Daniel 33:27. “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:” He was already there when the world was created according to Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. John 1:1-2 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." He was literally the beginning of the earth, and will be the ending of the earth, as he said in Revelation 22:13. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Hebrews 7:3 describes the priest Melchisedec as “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.”

Just as a minute or second has no real meaning without a measure, a day had no meaning until God created the first day. That he uses the present tense I am in revelation 22:13, rather than saying I was the beginning, and I will be the ending implies that to him there is no real binding of time. For us, time is a one way linear progression, like sand running out of an hourglass. We can reverse the hour glass, putting the sand back but not putting time back. God on the other hand is able to reverse the hourglass and put the time back as well. He can also alter our measures of time. Joshua 10:13-14 describes him as stopping the setting of the sun. II Kings 20:9-11 describes him as making it back up about forty minutes on the sundial. He had to change the earth’s rotation in both cases. Unlike humans, God is not controlled by time. Understanding this will affect our faith.

“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. 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.” (II Peter 3:8-9)

Just as the Navajo concept of time was difficult for modern Americans to understand, I is difficult for us to understand God’s concept. As a result, we can become frustrated and impatient, deciding he has forgotten his promise, and giving up, just as many other people did in dealing with the Navajos. We need to be aware of the difference in our understanding of time. Too often we are like the little child asking “are we there yet?”.

God has deliberately delayed his coming to give unbelievers an opportunity to change their mind, because he does not want anyone to have to suffer, but if they refuse, he will judge. Romans 2:4-6 explains, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds:” The delay does not indicate a change in plans.

“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.” (II Peter 3:10)

Jesus said that if a man knew what time a thief would come, it would be easy to stop him. The problem is that we don’t and have to be ready at any time. The fact that he didn’t come when we most expected him doesn’t mean he isn’t coming. We still need to be ready. Jesus told the disciples “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” in Acts 1:7.

God is going to judge the earth exactly as he said. When eh said the earth will be burned up, some question whether that means literally, but he said the elements, the molecular elements such as carbon, helium, silicone, and iron would melt. Pure iron melts at nearly 5,000 degrees, and silicone melts at a still higher temperature. Pure carbon melts at about 6,700 degrees Fahrenheit. At that point everything else has already burned up or evaporated.

Revelation 6:12-14 describes some of the other events that will occur just before the earth burns. “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”

If there was a forest fire headed toward my home, I would prepare to fight the fire or evacuate as needed. Knowing that these things are coming in the future, I do not want to be caught unprepared.