" Willingly Ignorant "

2nd. Peter 3:3-9   " Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying,  'Where is the promise of HIS coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep (died), all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the WORD of GOD the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same WORD are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  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 (slow) 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. "

     We live in the period of history referred to in the Bible as  "the last days." Following the example of JESUS (Luke 17:26-27), Peter likened  "the last days" to the days of Noah's flood.  Prior to the flood, GOD had sent prophetic messages through Enoch declaring that the evil course of those wicked days was going to result in worldwide judgment.  Noah preached for 120 years, warning that prophesied destruction was soon to come.  But the preacher's words fell upon deaf ears.  The rains came, the fountains of the deep opened up, and  "the world that then was"  disappeared, with its inhabitants perishing under the water and debris-laden mud that covered the globe (v.6). Left behind is the testimony of flood-deposited sediment, sometimes thousands of feet in depth, bearing a fossil record of the destruction of the world that once was.

     In today's text, the apostle Peter warned that in the last days scoffers would arise and, through willful ignorance, deny the judgment of Noah's day and the soon coming judgment of GOD in  "the last days."  We must remember that "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"  (v.9).  HIS judgment is delayed for a time, but it will , indeed, come.  Those who lived in the days of Noah and ignored his warning have the excuse (though of no merit) that such destruction had never before occurred.  In our day such is not the case.  As men stand upon the sedimentary record and deny the flood that was and the soon coming day of judgment, they confirm the Scripture's WORD's that they are  "willingly" ignorant. JMC

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

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