Salvation Tense: Glorification (Future Tense)
2 Peter 3:5–7 — “For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God; by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
═══ OPORD ═══
WHO: The scoffers — and their willful ignorance. Peter says they deliberately suppress the evidence of God’s past judgment.
WHAT: Peter answers the scoffers’ claim that “nothing has changed” by pointing to the Flood. God created the world by His word, and He judged it by His word through water. The scoffers “willfully forget” (lanthano thelontas — they CHOOSE to not know) this historical reality. Now the current heavens and earth are stored up for fire — reserved for the day of judgment. God has intervened before and will intervene again. The word that created is the same word that will judge. Nothing in the universe is outside God’s sovereign authority.
WHERE: Across all of creation — from the original creation to the Flood to the future judgment by fire.
WHEN: The Flood was historical. The judgment by fire is future. We live between the two.
WHY: Because willful forgetting is the root of false security. If you forget that God has judged before, you will assume He will never judge again. Peter demolishes this illusion. Glorification includes final judgment — and it is certain.
═══ PRAYER ═══
Father, I will not willfully forget. You created the heavens and the earth by Your word. You judged the world by flood. You will judge it again by fire. I take Your word seriously — all of it, including the hard parts. Help me to live in light of the judgment to come, not as one who fears condemnation (for I am justified in Christ), but as one who respects Your holiness and shares the urgency of the Gospel. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
═══ DAILY CHALLENGES ═══
Challenge 1: Read Genesis 6–8 (the Flood account) as a reminder that God has intervened in history before and will do so again.
Challenge 2: Share with one person today the reality that God is both merciful AND just. The same God who saves also judges.