Autumn,
That was a great post!
I wish to thank you for your tone and tenor, very respectful. I hope I learn from your example.
We are truly part of the same body of Christ.
Originally posted by Autumn
Like in 2 Peter 3:9, Christ will not come immediately because He wants all to be saved. If when He came people would still have a chance, then I do not believe they would have written such.
I wanted to provide a few verses that show that even after Jesus comes/came, sinners would exist and have the opportunity for salvation:
Ps. 110:4: "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Since Christ's
function is to be a Priest on behalf of sinners "forever," this tells us that sinners will exist on earth "forever" to enjoy the ministry of forgiveness of sins in Christ. The moment sinners cease to dwell on earth, Christ's priestly function ceases.
Rev. 14:6: "...the Everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth..." (Rev. 14:6).
Since the Gospel, which
sole purpose is to be preached
to sinners that dwell on the earth, is "everlasting," this means that sinners will have to be born on earth "everlastingly" to enjoy the blessings of the Gospel.
As soon as sinners cease to dwell on the earth, the "everlasing" Gospel ceases to have a purpose.
Conversely to the idea that some day there will be no sinners on earth, the Bible teaches us that The eternal Gospel has no "use by" or "expiration" date, for it is everlasting.
In Rev. 22:2, on "the new earth," we see the "Tree of life" that yields fruit every month, the "leaves" of which are "for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). This teaches us that in the new earth, "the nations" are in need of continual healing.
Also in Revelation 21-22, we see, on the "new earth", after the Judgement, murderers, adulterers, liars, and all types of sinners, and those inside the city's gates are calling out to them who thirst to enter in and drink freely of the water of life.
Isaiah 65:17-21 also plainly states that on the "new earth", there will still be birth, ageing, death and sinners.
Autumn, who was Peter was writing
to? You, me?
No, He was writing to first century Jews to warn them about what he knew was "at hand". The "last days" of operational biblical Judiasm, and the warning was indeed urgent to "them" because if they didn't heed Christs warning to turn away from Judiasm, they would be destroyed with the City they thought would protect them, and at that point it would be too late for "them" be saved.
One of the most important principles in biblical interpratation is "audience relevance".
Only when we can discover what any given passage meant to the people who first received it, can we then properly apply it to our lives.
There is no "urgent warning" in scripture that was 'not' an urgent warning to the 1st century people about what was indeed "about to happen" to them.
There can be only one "last days" generation, and Jesus and the apostles all believed and taught that
they were that generation.
We either can trust that they were right, or our faith is in serious trouble.
Be well in Christ,
P70