Journey Through 2 Peter
Do you have a good memory? Everyone’s memory works differently. Some people excel in short-term memory, while others are more adept at long-term memory. Memory is a gift, and some people are more gifted than others. Memory is like a muscle; we must exercise it. A walk through 2 Peter reveals it as a book of remembrance. In fact, the great message of the book is this: putting you in remembrance. It is the second and final letter by the Apostle Peter.
Listen: Journeying through 2 Peter
Overview of 2 Peter
The Book of 2 Peter bears a close resemblance to the Book of Jude. As a matter of fact, one may have influenced the other, because both the subject matter and even the phraseology are very similar to each other. Comparing Scripture with Scripture, I would challenge you to put them side by side and to study 2 Peter and the book of Jude together, because they both deal with how to live victoriously in the last days.
Peter writes not only this book about the last days for us, but he writes it in the last days of his own life. Impending death is upon him. Martyrdom is coming. The tone of 2 Peter reminds me a great deal of 2 Timothy, the last letter the apostle Paul wrote. Both men were on the verge of meeting God. Both of them give warning to believers for the last days, both saying the Word of God is the only solution in an evil age.
A Book of Remembrance
Peter is an old man. He is coming near the end. Like many people nearing the end, they get more reflective. But for Peter, it is not just reflective for himself. This is a book of remembrance. He is saying to believers, I am about to leave you. My voice will be silent, but there are some things that you need to never forget. Remember all that God has given us, everything we need.
In 2 Peter 1:12-13, he writes these words: “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;” He continues in verse 15, “Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.”
He writes again in 2 Peter 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’s goal was to remind believers of certain things that they already knew. One of the dangers for us, who have been Christians for a while and who have studied the Bible for years, is that we think we know that already. But oh, how easily we forget. How quickly we fail to remember those things that we should rehearse again and again.
Remembrance – The Secret to a Victorious Life
One of the great secrets to a victorious Christian life is remembrance. He said, “I stir you up by way of remembrance.” I do not know about you, but I do not have a hard time getting stirred up for the Lord. I have a hard time sometimes staying stirred. How do you stay stirred? If you have to depend on other people to stir you, you will never be a stirred-up Christian.
You have to learn to stir yourself. How do you do that? By way of remembrance. Exercising your memory. When I find my own heart getting cold, I go back and rehearse the day that I got saved. I go back and try to visit Calvary again and remember what Jesus did for me. When my faith ebbs low, I go back and rehearse answers to prayer, things that God has already done, and suddenly I find my own heart getting stirred up again for the Lord. That is God’s way of keeping us stirred by way of remembrance.
Outline of 2 Peter
The whole Book of 2 Peter follows the tone of remembrance.
- In 2 Peter 1:1-18, Peter puts them in remembrance of what they have obtained. All the wonderful things they have: the peace, power, and promises of God.
- In 2 Peter 1:19-21, he puts them in remembrance of the truth. He reminds them to take heed of the truth they received.
- In 2 Peter 2:1-22, he puts them in remembrance of former judgments. He talks to them about how God judged the false prophets and how God destroyed the world.
- Then, in 2 Peter 3:1-13, he reminds them about the coming day of the Lord. Not about past judgment, but the judgment that is to come. He looks ahead. The Lord is coming, and judgment is coming.
- Finally, in 2 Peter 3:14-18, Peter closes his letter with an admonition to be diligent. Be a diligent Christian. Why? Because the Lord Jesus is coming.
What a book of remembrance and stirring!
Key Word of 2 Peter
The keyword of the book is the word know or knowledge. Some form of that word is used fourteen times. It is not just about what you know; it is about stirring up what you know to be true. It is about revisiting what you have already learned. There was a book that came out a few years ago, and the title of it was Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Now that is hyperbole, of course, but the man’s point was that there are so many simple things. It is the same thing again and again.
That is true of the Christian life. It is the basics and a return to basics. It is not some new thing; it is a fresh understanding of the same truth. There is no new thing under the sun. God says, I want you to remember the same truth. Much of the Bible is written to remind us, to stir us up by way of remembrance.
Reminders from God
Think of all the things in history that God did just to get men to remember.
- The Rainbow – Genesis 9:12-15
- The rainbow is God’s way of saying, remember my promise to you
- The Twelve Stones – Joshua 4:3-7
- The children of Israel were to erect twelve stones as an altar, for the children of Israel to remember all that God had done
- The Tabernacle and Its Furniture – Exodus 25-40
- These were a reminder of God and His presence. (Study all the Tabernacle Furniture.)
- The Tree of Life- Genesis 2:9
- This was a reminder that He is God, and Adam and Eve were not
- The Ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper – Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25
- They are a reminder of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We observe them in remembrance of God
It seems like the Lord knows that we easily forget, and that is because we are forgetful people. That we need to remember. Ecclesiastes 12:1 says, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” The truth is, it is not just for youth: it is for all of life. We should learn it early, and we should rehearse it throughout our lives. No matter how old you are or what stage you are on in this journey with Jesus Christ, you need to go back and remember certain things. Remember Who the Lord is. Remember how He saved you, and how He changed your life. Rehearse those things.
For example, did you know that even in this book, Peter references an experience he had with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration? He is doing something. He is exercising his own memory. In that very context, he said, you have something even better than that, something better than the Mount of Transfiguration. You have the very Word of God.
The Greatest Reminder – The Word of God
I believe the greatest means for being put in remembrance is the Word of God. The greatest way to stay stirred and remember the Lord and not become a forgetful Christian is to spend time in the Word of God every day.
I want to challenge you. Meditate on the Scriptures. Think much of the Lord. Put into practice today this practical tool of memory, and ask the Lord to help you not to forget who Christ is, who you are, and why Christ saved you. One of Satan’s greatest tools is that he is a master of identity theft. He wants you to forget who you are in Jesus Christ, and that is what he does when he brings temptation and trouble. He gets your mind off the Lord and fixed on something else.
What do we have to do? We need a spiritual reset button. We need to go back to what we know for sure. What do we know for sure? Jesus Christ is the Lord, our Savior, and He is coming again. If all of that is true, we ought to be stirred up today. We ought to be stirred up by way of remembrance. We ought to say, by the grace of Almighty God, in the end times, at the end of the age, on the edge of eternity, we are going to finish well, faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.
To listen to Dr. Pauley’s series on 2 Peter, click each part: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Related Article: 5 Ways to Get More Out of Your Bible Reading
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