Monday, January 12, 2015

Recently I felt drawn to study the book of 2 Peter. To start I read over the book a few times, meditated on what I’d read and prayed for understanding. When thinking of what study method I should use for this study I felt a basic fact finding approach would be a good start. In this you ask the following questions to get at the facts: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? It’s clear, Peter is the author, and the same believers to whom he wrote his first Epistle were to be the recipients of this second letter. They were the believers in what is now known as Turkey. Actually, it is relevant for all believers down through the centuries to the present and can be taken as a letter for them from the heart of Peter. In fact, since a major focus of the letter is the second coming of Jesus Christ it is more relevant to us today than it was to the first recipients, because His return is closer now. The conditions described in chapters 2 & 3 are prevalent in our world. It’s time we took to heart the challenge found in Jeremiah 6:16: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” If you do that you’ll find many of the things Peter describes all around you. It’ll be like reading today’s newspaper or listening to today’s newscast. Let me encourage you to sit down and read these three chapters a few times in preparation for starting this study together.