¹¹Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹²looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

Not fixating on the morbid, Peter moves on to the motivation. God is not interested in creating literature to fascinate and satisfy our curiosity about the end times. Prurient interest in such things comes and goes. The point is that God’s final and terrible judgment will surely come; mark it well. How are you and I going to prepare for it?

The positivity movement would balk at this kind of “hell, fire, and damnation” message as resorting to tired, old, medieval scare tactics. However, such dismissiveness does not lessen the truth of what God warns is coming. This will not be just a natural disaster of epic proportions. No, this will be an act of God in the truest sense of the phrase. Peter calls it “the day of God.” He will destroy everything. God will unleash His anger against this sin-fallen world. Peter is not hoisting a religious overlay onto a sudden and surprising interstellar and terrestrial cataclysm. God Himself made a personal decision, and He will act to bring it about.

The end-time judgment, when it comes, will be an outflow of the warnings God has been giving over thousands of years, during every dispensation of God’s activity in the world, through many prophets, and now through the NT apostles during the church age. Mocking this may dull the spirits of those affected by worldly opinions, but it will not prevent God from keeping His promise of judgment.

Peter’s antidote to the fear of God’s judgment is unequivocal; we need to become the “sort of people” who live our lives set apart from the mocking concerns of the world. Holy lives and godliness mean we are to live full out for God, utterly committed to Him and His ways. Our commitment to God puts us in the attitude of desiring what God wants, which includes looking forward to when God will finally vindicate His righteousness by acting rightly and justly against sin.

Our souls long for the day of God, when He will set right all the wrongs of this world; when true goodness, morality, sacrificial love, turning the other cheek, holiness, longsuffering for righteousness’ sake, and faithfulness will all be vindicated. We long for the time when no one will ever mock or persecute us again. For it will be clear that we are standing on God’s side of history.

Lord, I desire to continue standing with You and Your promises!