But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

— Acts 1:8

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

— Matthew 24:14

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.

5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,

6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

— 2 Peter 3:2-3; 5-7

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, peace, and joy from the Lord Jesus to you.

Centuries after Joel the prophet and in the decades following Jesus’ ascension, Peter served as a leader of the early Church, teaching believers to live in the Holy Spirit’s power. Persecution pushed believers out of Jerusalem, fueling the gospel’s spread to Samaria and beyond. Peter wrote two epistles to urge the believers in Asia Minor to reflect God’s holiness in their lives. Peter’s epistles teach each new generation to be wary of false teachers and ready for persecution. The book of Revelation offers the same truth. Courage, endurance, and hope amid current challenges come from the certainty of belonging to Jesus, now and forever.

Peter urged the recipients of his epistles to think rightly by knowing and purposefully recalling God’s Word. He warned that in the last days, people will laugh at the truth about Jesus an follow their own evil desires. These people, who pursue sin as they please, will ridicule the promise of Jesus’s return. They will deliberately forget that God used the same agent, water, to both create the world and to bring judgment during the time of Noah. Jesus will come again to judge in power. While the world goes on its way, believers should offer the invitation to abundant life without fear of this judgment.