This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
There is something in us that is stirred when someone reminds us to do something we had not forgotten to do but hadn’t gotten to yet. We want to snap back that we had not forgotten. Of course, many times, we do forget and the reminder is timely, well intentioned, and correct and we would do well to acknowledge it. It would seem that Peter’s audience would not need to be reminded of a fact that points to persecution. The scoffers in Paul’s letters would soon put Christians to death and one would think it would be at the forefront of their minds but we tend to block such things out.
It does not take two letters to see that there are scoffers in these last days, following their own sinful desires and heaping scorn on us for our faith. We just need to watch the news to see what is coming for us. Let this be a reminder that it has happened before. Scoffers will scoff and persecute today, just as they did in the 60’s AD. May we never forget, not just what is coming, but who is with us always, until the end of the age.
Dear Lord, thank you that you promise to be with us in the face of scoffers and that you faced them too. Give us strength. In Jesus, name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church