The Last Days According to 2 Peter: History, Hope, and Patience

Was 2 Peter written to predict the end—or to teach endurance? In this episode, we explore how early Christians understood “the last days,” divine patience, and judgment through a historical lens.

Rather than speculation, 2 Peter offers grounded hope—and a call to holy living—for every Christian seeker navigating uncertainty.

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• Key historical context

• What the text meant then

• What it means now

The Bible was written within a living Jewish tradition, preserved through community practice before institutional authority.

Modern Mind, Ancient Book explores the Bible through its Jewish roots, ancient manuscripts, and historical context—helping Christian seekers understand Scripture as it was originally written and lived.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Modern Mind Ancient Book, where we're going back to move forward. We're finding a love for the law, the prophets, and the writings. This is a place for Christian seekers who want to encounter the Bible as it was first heard, rooted in its ancient world, shaped by ancient manuscripts, and preserved through living traditions. Okay, today's content is going to be the book of Second Peter, a book of the New Testament. My name's Roger, I'll be your host. Thanks for joining us today. I've got Chip back with us. Chip, welcome to Modern My Nation Book.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Good to be here, brother. Good to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Thank you for coming. Um, today we're going to talk about the book of Second Peter. This is a New Testament book with a lot of oomph to it.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yeah, like a last testament of Peter.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Yeah, he's on his he's on his way to death.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Probably in jail.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

He this is it it's astonishing how quickly the way, the movement of Jesus, the sect of the Nazarenes, turned from uh triumphant, risen God, King, Messiah, work of God to um tragedy.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah. Well, the hand of man started meddling, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Yeah, the powers that be, right? So, you know, you we there well there's tension, there was tensions all through it. I mean, you know, the Roman powers were aware of Jesus, and and those were the powers that ultimately crucified him. But the Judaic, Judean temple authorities were also the people that, you know, they just didn't see utility in Jesus, they saw futility and danger. Yep. And so, you know, a lot of a lot of Christians um see the Pharisees, the Sadducees, um, you know, as being really, really evil. And and they're right, because you know, they they missed this amazing opportunity to be healed and to follow the one who called them in the wilderness. The one who met Moses was now here in flesh.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah, they just didn't hear his voice. No as a threat, actually.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Well, and and that's because they were judging by worldly uh metrics, right? It was it was all about the politics of the day. Rome, you know, Rome was nothing to sneeze at. In the end, they were more afraid of Rome than they were of God, and so you know, the political decision was made to they were basically they were casting out ra rabble rousers.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

You know, Jesus, Jesus was not the only messianic figure to arise uh during this time, and you know, indeed the temple falls with another messianic movement. Yep, and so you know, the Judean temple authorities were afraid of what would happen to their first freedom of religion that they had under Roman rule, and how severe the Romans would be if you know the people kept pushing the bounds. No, no man could claim to be king, right? Not when there was an emperor, yep. Or a a sacer, right? Yep. So, you know, look, I'm not I'm not saying they're right, but I'm saying we have to put things into perspective. Yep. And we have to understand the political realities that, you know, in this book, Peter's in prison.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Yeah, Nero is basically the great fire of Rome, has already basically burned down. Yep, Nero the the flame of the city. Yeah, 8064, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

And he's looking for scapegoats and large and he's not a rational person. Right. Right? Right. He's psychotic.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

He's a nephylene.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

An etheline.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

He had to talk straight. Oh, okay. So, you know, he's he's not a he's not a good dude, and he's a power-hungry, murderous man.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Who's trying to hold on to his his authority?

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Who was viciously exercising his authority. The church had come under extreme persecution. Extreme, extreme persecution. They were no longer welcomed as a form or a sect of Judaism and were being attacked by the the authorities, the temple authorities, and the people that they sent around to protest them, which oddly we see in today's world, you know, where there's there's organized negative protest against authority, essentially. In this case, it's heavenly authority, because we believe that the call the church was the called out once by God, and that the leaders, the early leaders of it, were those who were known by the Spirit and who were exercising an authority that was greater than Rome's.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, and also the Roman culture at this time, you know, everybody was in a cult. Oh, I mean, there were hundreds of cults in Rome, and and it wasn't just the slaves or the plebes that were joining these cults. You know, I read somewhere recently that it would during this period of time your average Roman patrician would be in this cult, like say the cult of Isis, and then they would find the another cult, and they would, you know, there's all kinds of cults going on, and the emperor's looking at these things are a threat to my authority. They really are.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Yeah, yeah, exactly. People people love religious expression, it's understandable. Um, you know, music and religion exist in the world in every human culture in one way, shape, or form, because we were made to worship and we were made to uh recognize that it's not just us. Yep, that there's something bigger, better, stronger, something that we're in the image of, perhaps. Okay, 2 Peter, written by Peter, um in Greek it's Petrobeta, right? B, Peter B, 2nd B, or 2 Peter. Uh, you know, he was an apostle of Jesus Christ in 2 Peter 1 1. Eyewitness. Yep, identifies himself as that Peter. Yep. Okay, the one who was restored, the one who was called fishing and caught fishing. Yep. Now, can conservative scholarship maintains that, you know, Paul is the author. And and we're not Peter. Peter. I'm so yeah, I keep wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Yep. Well, they were both in Rome at this time.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I confuse those two.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

It's easy to do right now because both of them go down in flames here. Well, not literally, but they both get taken out.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, one during this near age. One beheaded, one persecution. Yep. Yep. So, you know, it's Peter. I mean, we're gonna we're gonna bank on that. We count on that. It was Peter. Eyewitness testimony. He was an eyewitness to the transfiguration. He saw lighted beings, light beings, on the top of the mountain, where Jesus is going to return.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

That's the Mount of Olives, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

The Mount of Olives, that's right. He saw Elijah and Moses. So, you know, amazing testimony to God's power and opening the eyes to show that there's actually a greater thing, and that that greater thing is life in, with, for, toward God, not the judgment of God, but the restoration, which Jesus was bringing. Jesus showed the early church leadership, these men who were no different than you and I, you know, uh really kind of foolish.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Especially Peter. He's he's you know, Peter is flawed. Just like me.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

You know, I make all these horrible decisions and mistakes. I don't understand things. You gotta tell me two or three times. I mean, Peter was human. Yep. And then he saw the heavens opened, and he saw the veil removed, and he saw into a world that's actually more real.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yep, and he also, if you can imagine what what would be going through my mind is okay, I know the truth. I saw it, I touched it, I lived it, and I'm getting ready to leave. And I've got to get the message out to the to my people. Well, that's what this book is all about. Essentially.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

At the time, he it was, you know, it was close to tabernacles, right? And he's like, Hey, you want me to build uh temporary shelters? Yeah. Because he's just a Jewish dude, living in a Jewish world, watching something that he doesn't understand with a man who's alive in the form of Jesus. Um in we're dense. Yeah. Yeah, we're dense. So, you know, it this is this is this is a testament from Peter because he's anticipating martyrdom. Fair. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Definitely fair. So who's he writing to?

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Well, he's he's writing to the church, right? So the date of this is 64 to 67. Uh, you know, Peter's imminent death is at stake, at stake. You know, he Peter states the putting off of my body will be soon. The man knew what was happening.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

He was aware of Paul's letters, and Paul's epistles are known and circulated at this time. So, you know, Peter ended up in Rome because he got arrested. Yeah. Not because he traveled there. Right. Paul Paul had a good network and he had set up these churches and support systems, you know. And, you know, to be fair, Peter was probably a beneficiary of that while he was imprisoned. Now, the letters' urgency and ethical warnings align with the intensified suffering of Christians after the Great Fire of Rome under Emperor Nero, a psychopath.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yeah, literally a psychopath, one of one of a parade of psychopaths occupying that position over the centuries.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

It was written in Rome, symbolically called Babylon. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, another empire claiming to be ruled by the divine. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

I mean, yeah, and I think one of Nero's um, you know, usually the Roman emperors were um deified after their death. But nothing. Yeah, somebody, somebody at or Caligula. Yeah. But you know, they would um that that was one of the things that offended a lot of Roman citizens that weren't Christian or Jewish or whatever. They, here's this guy, he's you know, he's the he's the god man, but he's not really. They they they could see through that. Well, no, and he's a megalomaniac.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

And he did a lot of very awful things that played a good fiddle from what I hear. Yeah, yeah. He was a musician, he was very artistic. Yeah, yeah. So it just, you know, would cut people up and murder them and things, including family members. His own lover, his own wife. And then he was weird. So, you know, this has continuity with First Peter. So the the internal contents, right? So when we do, you know, textual criticism, it's a scientific term about how we talk about text and then kind of their internal function. And we, you know, we use it today for a lot of things. It's how you tell like forgeries and stuff like that, right? So, you know, if you look at the content, it has continuity with 1 Peter, which we know was written by Peter. It just it Peter wrote this, yeah. Right. So, you know, we also know that Peter died in Rome. That's a fact. Yep. Rome was the epicenter of imperial persecution and apostolic witness. And Christianity was taking off their and it was taking off there, and it was being seen as a threat to the empire. You know, it's odd. It's almost like Jesus did conquer Rome.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Well, I mean, you can make a spiritual argument that he most certainly did.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

In time. Yep. You know, so it was it was it was this is this is Peter's uh final hurrah, and he's he's issuing a statement to the church telling them to you know prepare, be ready, because to them, this is the eschalotical, eschalogical end of the thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

And I mean, just think about what happens today just within that decade, the temple falls. Yeah. I mean, if you were if you were like if I were a young new believer, say a 30-year-old, and all of a sudden, you know, here goes the persecution, I survive it somehow, and then the temple falls. You know, it's like it's happening, it's all happening right now.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Yeah, and Jesus told us to live as if he's imminent, right? Yep, and there's whole theological things built around this, but you know, I default to the fact that there are motifs in the Bible that have happened numerous times, and I this is what I believe. I believe the time of the Gentiles had to start before it could finish, and at this time it was starting, so it couldn't finish. Yep. Jesus had a much longer game than we had, and it, you know, it's offensive to some Christians to realize that you know, eschatological end as we imagine it, like the playing out of revelation, you know, that these people would believe that, see it, and believe that they're experiencing it, and that Jesus was eminent or coming at this time. But at the same time, it makes a lot of sense that Jesus would tell them to prepare as if that's so, because they had to take courage up until death. Yep. And you know, is that command still playing out and understood? Yeah, that's that's exactly what's happening. I mean, you know, Jesus was a brilliant tactician in that regard.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Well, he also had the advantage of time, understanding, you know, and well, yeah, being outside of it spiritually, so you know and human psychology.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yep. If you tell us to live as if his coming is imminent, then we're always expecting it and we're waiting. Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

In Second Peter's Peter actually says a thousand years is a day, and a day is a thousand years.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

And I think, you know, I really do believe that Peter had a little bit of foresight in that because a lot of things had played out by the time that Peter was imprisoned, and tremendous pressure was on the church from the Judean religious leaders trying to force the followers of the way back into Judaism and depart from following a false Messiah.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Right, a false sect.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Yep. Yeah. And then, you know, the Romans are saying, wait a minute, are you guys actually Jewish? Are you actually followers of Judaism? Because if you're not, then you don't get the protections of this. Right. You don't get to worship freely, you need to bow to the emperor, which is exactly what Nero did. He changed his mind about Christians.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

He said, You're not covered under the laws and under the rules that were garnered for Judaism. You need to bow down to the emperor and understand the cultic practices required for you because you don't practice Judaism.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

And, you know, the real Christians went to their death because it was imminent Jesus' call. He was coming. And they had to, like their Messiah, be willing to forgo and give up this world to gain the next.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Now that's a totally good trade. Totally good.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

For us, for a lot of rational-minded people, not so much. Right? They they look out at the world and they say, Well, I see and feel grass, I don't see and feel golden streets and a square eschatological future that you tell me is real or that's written in a book. I think you're a little crazy. And there were lots of people at this time who apostasized and turned away from the faith. And during this time, there was a lot of arguments about what was true Christianity. Right, and that's another part of that's why Paul was writing this. Yeah, well, Peter. Peter geez oh Pete's. That's why Peter was writing this. So, you know, Peter's Peter's focus here is write theology in the long game anyway. I mean, I really feel like he I really feel like he understood that this was going to be longer than anybody imagined. Yep. You know? So, you know, Peter was a good guy. Um despite his kind of silliness early and his misunderstandings. Um he he made it and and he played the long game and he made it all the way to the end, and he held firm in the face of a madman, even losing his head. So or not him, he didn't lose his head, being crucified. Upside down. Yep. So, you know, this is this is a good book for that. Um if you if you want to learn how to take courage in the face of persecution, then you can understand that this book is a representation of a Christian in crisis and uh the extreme faith that he exhibited during that time, being faithful to teach, even though that teaching was going to have him uh to see him crucified. Yep. Let's pause for a word from one of our sponsors. What we're exploring isn't abstract theology, it's a fixed world, a practiced faith, a way of life that shaped how scripture was heard and obeyed. If this resonates with you, please like, comment, share, and subscribe. Okay, let's talk about the recipients of this. So, believers in Asia Minor. That's that's who this was written to. All of the area that Paul had been uh, you know, practicing this apostolic ministry, which is the setting up and the formation of groups of people who, you know, follow in the way and then teaching leadership to take on the task, yep. Of leading and, you know, conglomerately, really, right? So if you think about the government, if we want to call it that of the church, we certainly do in modern times. We have church government, they have their individual structures. Um, early church government was those known to have the spirit, to be capable leaders, um, to be able to network and be kind and compassionate.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

And they probably had some direction from Jerusalem because remember, the Council of Jerusalem had already had already occurred in the 10, 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Well, that's exactly what Paul was doing.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

I mean, you had these kind of traveling, yep, itinerant uh so they kind of got their act together when Paul, I know we're talking about Peter, but when Paul went back to Jerusalem in around 50 AD, you know, there was John, Peter, uh Barabbas, James, the brother of Jesus. Anyway, so you get the sense that they had already kind of set up a system and it was probably under attack because of the Jewish diaspora that was all over the Mediterranean.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Well, that's why Paul was arguing about that, like the Judaizer thing, right? So you know, the so the most authentic thing is almost always seen as the most ancient thing. Yep. Right? I mean, if you take modern mind ancient book at its roots, that's kind of what I'm saying, right? Yep. Now, that being said, that's not what I'm saying. Right. It's nuanced. It so it's not the most ancient thing, unless you call God the most ancient thing and Jesus God, then yes, it's the most ancient thing. Because Jesus for me restored true Judaism. He brought the purified Judaism of Jesus. It was a restoration of the former things. Yep. But if you look at Judaism of today, they would say, their argument is that they span all the way back to Moses and that Jesus couldn't span back to Moses. Although I say no no, because in the bush that was on fire was the man God, the angel of the Lord, the same one that Jacob met that he wrestled with.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Same one Joshua met. All of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Yeah. I mean, so you know, this man-god idea is something that Judaism really has to explain. Because in in for me it makes total sense because I understand kind of the science of religious expression. So you have an imminent, meaning here on the earth, way that God can be express himself. And then you have a transcendent outside of time, outside of the earth, outside of physicality.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

A different dimension.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

That is also God. Yep. Right? And so, you know, when I look at Judaic principles and theology, what I see is that God was present in the temple, present in the tabernacle, present in the Ten of Meeting, present in the fire.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Present in the garden.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yeah, present in the garden, yet still transcendent.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Right? I don't have a problem with that. I can think in more than four dimensions.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

I want to.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Most people can, actually, they just don't know it.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Yeah, and so, you know, it's so the fact is Judaism just doesn't have the problem that it thinks it has. It's its rabbis just can't see Jesus yet.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Well, there's also 2,000 years of Talmudic um writing that's you know post-Temple.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

So well, in that that's what Jesus' purified Judaism is all about is how the Babylonian captivity scarred, scared, and destroyed the people. And when they came back, they came back rule-based and fear-based. Yeah. Not in the freedom of God. Remember, the fall brought fear, right? So when the people fell and God came into the garden, they were afraid. Yep. When we are afraid of God, we are imbibing, if you will, in the curse. That's a good way to put it. Not the freedom to love and be loved by God, which is all he's ever been trying to do for us since. He wants us to reunite with him, and he's making a way. That way is the way. That is the way.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

That is the way. That's right. That's correct.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Okay, so you know, these believers are here. It's a mixed group of Jewish and Gentile congregations. They are facing internal theological corruption, not only external persecution.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

They're fighting for their soul.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah, well, I mean, they've already got charlatans moving amongst the most probably just like the modern both. Yeah, there's anti-problem we have today.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

There's anti-law teachings, which we have gone headlong into. Yep. We don't honor the law at all. Then there's um extra law that wants to be added.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Tradition, aka doctrine, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Yep. Then there's these folks who are denying the future judgment, and why? Because they thought it would be already.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Right? So now there's a crisis in the church because there's skepticism regarding Jesus' return. This isn't this isn't new.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

No, actually, I was about to say it's um the more things change, the more they stay the same.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

That's right. Because people struggle uh playing the long game.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

So, you know, this this book is is a Jewish prophetic worldview. It's it's very much Jewish and it's very much prophetic. So history moved towards divine judgment and renewal. Period. Yep. That's what we're looking at. It this is all about covenant ethics, that grace doesn't empower you to be wild, right? It's not about turning away from God's law, but grace empowers you to be obedient. It doesn't nullify to want to be obedient. It doesn't nullify the law, it makes you love it.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Right, and I think that was maybe part of what was going on here. If you think about, you know, the I'm talking about the actual structure of the faith when you're just going through the motions. You know, you're just saying the words that you memorized and you don't mean it or you don't feel it, it means nothing. It's just, you know, omni omni VOR, we used to say in the air traffic world.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Well, okay, so so what about what about what about the hollowness of what we actually teach? Okay, so you know, teshuva or repentance is a Jewish thing, right? Now, the the the traditions that have been passed down for millennia, they teach you to return to the Torah. Yep. To return to obedience to the law that was given through a great sage in the man Mooses. But when we preach Teshuvah, we don't even equate it with anything that has to do with Jewish things. We just say, hey, repent. And then we go, okay, uh, I will never lie again. But we don't understand that that's if we're picking that, we should study the rest, right? You think you know, if we say, if we say, I'll quit uh being an alcoholic, well, you know, what in our people's history past, and I mean our people, the people of God, has been, you know, has taken place because of alcoholism, right? What what is there? What when was it an issue? Well, it was an issue in the tabernacle, yep, it was an issue in uh the strange fire, perhaps.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

I'm thinking you're probably right.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

You know, so it's it's it's all this kind of thing where a little searching would have you understand that when you say you know you're repenting, that you're actually repenting to the law, but then when we talk about the law, you say I'm not, I don't have to keep that, which makes you double-minded.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

It's it's yeah, it's it does. To me, it does make you double-minded. I don't know, it's a very interesting juxtaposition of the human condition. I mean, you know, free from what? Yeah, free from what is what what are you free from? Um and what are you supposed to practice? And and you know, and then well, yeah, we're getting into further topics for another day, probably. Yeah, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

You know, it's just well what it is, what it is, is just the reality that this is what Peter's teaching. Yeah, right? So, you know, now now here's here's here's the end times facts, and this is what Peter is teaching. Delay doesn't mean denial, right? Right? Patience doesn't mean absence. God is not not coming, right? He has patience. Where would you be if this was the end? If 2 Peter was the end, I wouldn't be on this right now talking about Jesus. You're right. I wouldn't even exist. You're right. Because the end of time, there's no more giving in marriage anymore at that time, right? You know, when when God comes, things change. The new world begins.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

And the interesting thing is, where did Peter get this information?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

It certainly wasn't from himself.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

No, he got it from Jesus. Yeah. I mean, literally. I mean, that's literally.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Literally.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

The real rabbi. Yep. So, you know, it's all you Jewish listeners out there. You know, you're identified with your teachers, right? Like, like Jewish people don't necessarily jump into the scriptures because they're afraid they're gonna misinterpret them. They listen to the sages of old, right? Now, that's true also for many faiths in the Christian world. Yes, and and we interpret it totally opposite that they ever would, right? So where's the medium? Where's the base? Where can we unite? Well, I posit this, dear messianics, dear Christians, Jesus. Could we start and end there? Because that's how we become united, that's how we become one new man when we follow the name, Hashem, right? When we come under the teaching of the rabbi, in since he, you know, is the greatest man to have ever existed and overcame death, undoing the curse. Maybe he's the one we're supposed to follow. Right. I mean, that's kind of the way I'm ending, you know. Yeah, it seems to be pretty obvious, actually, self-evident. Yeah, uh, you know, call it logical, if you will. That's where Peter ended. He was gonna follow his rabbi even to death, and then say, I'm not worthy to be murdered in the same way he was.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

He just knew he knew that death wasn't the end. He had eyewitnessed, I mean, he was an eyewitness to death.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Yeah, the light people. He saw the light people, he saw Jesus turn into a light person with his own fleshly eyes. That's freaky.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

I I would argue that he also saw Jesus alive after the flesh. After he saw and knew that Jesus was crucified.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Yeah, that probably wasn't the weirdest part. Yeah, I know. I mean, but can you imagine?

SPEAKER_01 29:44

That's very that could be very clear. That's why I'm convinced, actually.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Yeah, I mean, you know, go find the body if you don't think he's alive, right? So, so this is this is how you want to read this. You want to imagine yourself as a proselyte or as a Jewish person or even as a pagan who's coming into the way and you're trying to figure this out. Yep. And you you have to coexist with like Jewish people that don't look, act, dress, feel, eat the same as you do, and you you're kind of struggling what you should do and who you should be, and you're just convinced that Jesus is coming, and everybody's squabbling with one another, but you know Jesus rose from the dead, and that's the factor that makes everybody expectant. Yep. And so all you're trying to do is follow the rabbi to follow the teacher, but there's so much chaos in the mix. You know, there's horrible persecution, there's horrible infighting, there's arguments about what's real, what's not real. Your leaders are in prison or killed already.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

As are many of your friends and family, perhaps.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

As are many of your friends and family.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

And fear is probably spreading through the community. Horrible fear. Some of which probably is just based on untruth. You know, in other words, you don't know what you don't know. But you hear, here, they can they're coming for me.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Propaganda. Yep. So, you know, you you still attend the Sunday love feasts, right? Well, it would have been probably Saturday. Well, Saturday was synagogue. You still attend synagogue. You you still attend the first day feasts where you honor Jesus. Uh, you still recite the Shema. You know, all these things are still in place. The the Jewish Judaic way is still in place. You still honor the Torah and the prophets, but now you confess quietly, carefully, that Jesus is Lord. Others call you a Nazarene, and they're telling you that's not Judaism.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Rome calls you a problem.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

And many fellow Jews see you as apostates. You're being just removed from society in every way. And you think the end is at hand. Yep. And then Peter's telling you, hey man, to God, time isn't what you think. It's soon. Yeah, this is a very hard time. This is a very hard time in Christendom. So, you know, this isn't a new religion, it's the way, it's the purified Judaism of Jesus. It's a Jewish sect awaiting Israel's Messiah, rooted in the scripture of Israel, loyal to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and marked by allegiance to the Jewish sage, the Rabbi Yeshua.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Right, and Peter's probably already figured out which ra which Messiah he's following. Oh, he knows for a few years. And he's teaching you about it. Right. I think when he started, he probably thought that he was going to be, you know, following a military leader in. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm talking about, you know, when he was called from the boat of the long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

That's right. Yep. And and the thing is, is Jesus is the Davidic King, but first he's Joseph.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Yeah, the suffering king. That's right. Suffering servant.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

So you, you know, this is called the sect of the Nazarenes, and it's in Acts 24, 5. You live under Rome's shadow. Rumors are spreading that Christians started the fire, travelers are talking about arrests, trials, and persecutions, the apostles are disappearing, false teachers are gaining influence, but they're promising freedom and peace. They're giving you a way out.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Yeah, they sure are. And it's very tempting.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Yeah, a way that you don't have to be like this.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Yeah, what if we what if we just reinterpret the scriptures a little bit differently?

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Well, and that's exactly what many of them did. In fact, the fall, the fall of the church, I think started here and ended in about what, 340? Something like 50.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Yep, that's about right.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

That's where it really changed.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

So, you know, will Rome come? Will confessing Jesus cost you your life? Probably. You you gotta you gotta be your face with that. He's not returned, Jesus hasn't returned. Scoffers are asking you, where is he now?

SPEAKER_01 33:57

And you've never met him. You're not Peter. Yeah, people have never met him. Most of them.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Some say judgment will never come, so holiness no longer matters. This is in the church. Yep. And it's honestly in the church today.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

So you feel the pressure to conform, to loosen moral obedience, and to reinterpret the scriptures in a safer way. But Peter says his death is near, the shepherds are being struck, the flock is vulnerable. Do not let fear make you forget who you are. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

That's pretty prophetic for today as we talk here in the 21st century.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Yeah, second Peter is not far from us, is it? It doesn't seem to be. No. So, you know, these false teachers, they claim special knowledge, you know, proto-Gnosticism, all this kind of stuff was going on. They mock the idea of judgment, they turn grace into license, and they promise safety without obedience. Uh I know that. I hear that a lot. They sound appealing because Rome feels eternal, and God's justice seems delayed.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

And we're living in this world, not the next one.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

If the next one exists. That would be what I'd be thinking about. And that's the question. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Do I really want to give up what I have, what I love, for something I'm I'm not sure about? Something all these people are fighting. I don't know what to do. That's how you're reading this, right? Now, Peter says delay is mercy, not absence. God is giving time to people, which is fair. I mean, it seems to be true. It does seem to be true.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

On a metaphysical level.

SPEAKER_00 35:39

So, how should you hear this teaching about the day of the Lord, right? So when when Peter speaks of fire, judgment, renewal, you want to hear it through Israel's prophetic memory. This is not a Roman apocalypse that he's talking about. No, it's it's definitely Jewish. No, it's Isaiah, Joel, Malachi, Daniel. Yeah. Yeah. And so Peter's reminding you that empires rise and fall, but God's promises do not. The day of the Lord will come, and it comes decisively and suddenly. So be prepared. Be ready. That's what Jesus taught us. Yep. Rome's power is temporary, God's kingdom is not. So you should read this as if Peter is speaking to you in this way. That you're trying to figure these things out. And honestly, it's prophetic because where we are, we might not be far from the precipice of violence today. So, you know, in 2 Peter, you might be arrested tomorrow. This letter is being read aloud and then hidden in these churches. And you know you're probably never gonna see Peter again. And your children are asking you if they can do the things that were done in their countries prior. Right. Because, you know, this Jewish thing, I don't I don't get it. These guys say that we don't really have to do that because you know Jesus gave us freedom. There's no there's no need to continue being so strict.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Right, but Peter's a Jew and he's speaking as a Jew who knows scripture.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Yeah, well, because Peter's arguing that the Torah is really, really important. And I would because it because it is. Yeah, and I would argue that since Jesus kept it, we should probably consider not not keeping it, you know? So because the Lord is slow, that doesn't mean that judgment's not real, but holiness prepares you not for this world, for the world to come.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

You should stand firm when others compromise, live holy when others mock, wait faithfully when others scoff, trust Scripture when voices multiply against it. You're not forgotten, you're not late, you're not wrong, you're walking the way. Read Second Peter as a Nazarene under Rome, fearful, watchful, uncertain, but anchored in the unshakable promise that the God who judges the past will surely redeem the future. The key verse for this is, and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in the darkness. Super great.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

Amen. Yeah, that the the light dark theme gets me all the time, man.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

And it's truth. And and and here's here's the thing people with lighted eyes serve others. Jesus talked about this. Yep. People with lighted eyes serve others without expectation and without selfishness. People with dark eyes take advantage of others for their own benefit. That is the majority of the world. Being truly selfish is to be selfless is to be like Jesus. Being truly selfish is just to live for yourself. And that's where the curse and the garden originated. The ones who live to be like God and administrate only for themselves. This book was written from Rome shortly before his martyrdom during Nero's persecution. To Peter, Second Peter stands as Peter's first final apostolic warning, calling the church to holiness, confidence in the scripture, and steadfast hope and the sure return of Christ, which is exactly what Modern Mind Ancient Book is doing today.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Go back to move forward. Find a love for the law of the prophets and the writings. Become students and lovers of the word. Your life depends on it. Seek and you will find. Seek and you will find. Jesus is ready to love you, and he stands at the door. If you'll call out to him, he will find you and you will. Will be found and you will be changed. Thank you for taking a few moments to listen to us. We certainly appreciate it. We hope that you found this rewarding. Chip, thanks for joining me. Thank you for spending time with Modern Mind Ancient Book. If you're a Christian seeker who desires a deeper faith, one rooted in the ancient world of scripture, shaped by manuscripts, and faithful to the way of Jesus, you're welcome here. These teachings are offered freely, made possible by those who choose to partner with this work. If you'd like to continue the journey, you can subscribe, like, share, comment, and even support the ministry through the link provided in the pinned comment. We also really would appreciate your prayers. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you and turn his face towards you and bring you peace. Shalom