WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU OF?
According to God's Word, Christians are to live every day as if “the end of all things is near.” We are to be looking for His coming, awake and diligent, as servants waiting for their master to return from a long journey. We should rejoice that we will be leaving this earth to put on our new bodies. We should always long to be with the Lord.
In Peter’s epistle he warned, “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. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:10-13).
In the original Greek, verse 11 best reads, “In light of everything being dissolved, what country are you of?” Are you of this earth, which will dissolve and melt away? Or are you a citizen of heavenly Zion, the city whose builder is God? Peter is saying that this knowledge God gives you of the destruction of the present heaven and earth ought to encourage you to holy living and to holding this world very lightly. Peter then goes on to say that we are not to dread the coming destruction, but we should look for it, anticipate it, and keep our garments spotless! “Seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (3:14).
If Peter were resurrected and visited America today, he would be appalled by all the sugar-sweet, [cotton-candy] preaching of the pillow prophets! He would ask, “Why aren’t they warning their people of the coming destruction? God gave me this message directly from the Holy Ghost! Why don’t they believe it? Why aren’t they provoking them to holy living with these warnings? Don’t they know Jesus gave the same warning when He said, ‘The sun [shall] be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matthew 24:29).
In Peter’s epistle he warned, “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. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:10-13).
In the original Greek, verse 11 best reads, “In light of everything being dissolved, what country are you of?” Are you of this earth, which will dissolve and melt away? Or are you a citizen of heavenly Zion, the city whose builder is God? Peter is saying that this knowledge God gives you of the destruction of the present heaven and earth ought to encourage you to holy living and to holding this world very lightly. Peter then goes on to say that we are not to dread the coming destruction, but we should look for it, anticipate it, and keep our garments spotless! “Seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (3:14).
If Peter were resurrected and visited America today, he would be appalled by all the sugar-sweet, [cotton-candy] preaching of the pillow prophets! He would ask, “Why aren’t they warning their people of the coming destruction? God gave me this message directly from the Holy Ghost! Why don’t they believe it? Why aren’t they provoking them to holy living with these warnings? Don’t they know Jesus gave the same warning when He said, ‘The sun [shall] be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matthew 24:29).