2 Peter 3:12

HASTING THE DAY

‘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.’

2 Peter 3:12

What must we do to ‘hasten the day of God’?

I. Pray for it.—What is the promise, ought always to be, emphatically, the prayer of the dispensation. What, then (can any doubt?), what is the promise, and therefore what must be the prayer of the present day? When we pray for any promise, what the prayer means, is, that we pray it to ‘come quickly.’ Is the Second Advent an exception? Nay, has not our Lord encouraged us, when He has given us His words, that ourselves may have the echo—for all prayer, if rightly looked at, is the echo of God’s word—‘Surely I come quickly!’ And remember, whenever you use the Lord’s prayer, though this is not all, yet it is the climax of what you pray when you say, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ ‘Come’ into my heart by faith; ‘come’ into all hearts by grace; but, above all, ‘come’ over the whole world in glory. When we pray that means ‘May God’s kingdom come soon!’ We need not pray that it may come at all. The very last prayer that God ever taught us in the Bible was for this very thing—unquestionably it points to the Second Advent—‘The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come.’ And then immediately after, as the basis and the answer, ‘Surely I come quickly.’ Well, therefore, does the Church, in the most solemn of her services, teach us, over every opening grave, to say, ‘Accomplish the number of Thine elect, and hasten Thy kingdom.’

II. Let the Church live in love and union, in order (I speak it reverently) that a united Church may attract her Lord to ‘come.’ We can never forget that, in His own last prayer, He linked together, inseparably, the unity and the glory of His people—our oneness—with His return.

III. Make great efforts for the evangelisation of the world.—There are three things which have to be done before our Lord (we speak it humanly) can come. The knowledge of Him must be co-extensive with the habitable globe—the appointed sheaves of the gospel harvest must be gathered in—and the Jews must be brought back to their own land, and to Him. The first is already well-nigh accomplished; the second is altogether in the bosom of God; the third we must promote. At this moment are not the Jews the great impediment in the way of the grand consummation? Only let the prophecies concerning the Jews be fulfilled, and how very little would stand in the way of the ‘immediate appearing’ of our Lord! What an enforcing here there is to that, ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!’

IV. Cultivate personal holiness.—As for every other reason, so for this—that every one, who really loves God, and serves God, and is like God, as far as in Him lies, is making that preparation, by which the Church is to be ready for her Lord—just as ‘a bride is adorned for her husband.’ Will He come until His Bride has put on her jewels? And when she is decked, and when she is meet indeed, can He stay away?

It seems to be the law of all that is great, that its movement at first is slow, and grows rapid at the last. We have seen it with the mercies and with the judgments of God—will it not be so with that grandest event, which goes to make the climax of our world’s history?

Illustration

‘From the Bibles that have marginal readings, it will appear that these words admit of a different construction—“Looking for and hasting the coming of the day of God.” I do not consider that either rendering is more accurate than the other; but I believe that the safe and right mode, in all such cases, where the meaning on the side is not quite the same with the meaning given in the text, is to conclude that the original so contains both, that you would only arrive at the whole meaning of God, in the passage, by taking them together. When indeed, as here, the thing spoken of is the meeting of two persons, it is no matter whether I hasten to Him or whether I cause Him to hasten to me—in either case the meeting is, equally, expedited. So that, practically, it comes to the same—whether we hasten to Christ or cause Christ to hasten to us. But, as I understand the intention of God in the place, His will and command is this: that we should do both—“Hasting unto,” and ourselves “hastening,” “the coming of the day of God.” ’