A Spirit of Expectation

2 Peter 3:10-14

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;” NKJV

The words looking for in this passage have the sense of great expectation, leaning forward with expectation, a posture of faith. I would like to illustrate it as though you are waiting for the bus. As you wait, you lean back on the bench, relaxed and looking around. But as the time of the arrival of the bus approaches, you begin to scoot forward on the bench, looking down the street in expectation. As you see the bus turn the corner, you move from a sitting position to a standing position in expectation of its arrival. Peter says that is how we are to be looking for the coming of the day of God. As we read prophecy and observe what is going on around us, we need to be changing our posture from a relaxed position to a posture of expectation.

The second thing he said is that we are to hasten the coming of the day of God. Our expectation produces the act of hastening what we are expecting. Romans 8:22-23 says, “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” Paul here compares the coming of the Lord to birth pangs. As the time for delivery gets closer, contractions are closer together. At this point the mother begins to push to hasten the delivery.

Peter goes on to say, “because of which the heavens will be dissolved.” That is an interesting statement. Why are the heavens going to be dissolved? They are going to be dissolved because of the coming of the Lord. I want you to hear this clearly. The new world order under Christ is coming, and it is pushing out the old world order that we live in today. Just like you cannot stop a birth after the contractions have started, the old world order cannot stop the new world order that is being birthed.

We need to be careful that we are not trying to sustain the current world order which is going to be dissolved to make place for the new world order. As we watch the old world order dissolving, Peter’s admonition is that we should be looking for with expectation and hastening, pushing the coming of the day of God. The hosts of heaven are not concerned about the old world order dissolving; they are with great excitement and anticipation preparing for the new world order.

It is time to move from the relaxed position on our bench and slide forward, leaning forward with a spirit of expectation of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Andy