What if you knew you were going to die?
Not someday, but let’s say in a week.
Would you have something important to say?
Did you know that we get to see this exact scenario play out in the bible? The book of 2 Peter is his death bed exhortation.
He states in chapter one that he is going to die.
This book is his final words.
This book, therefore, are the most important things he has to say, after all that he has experienced.
Let’s take a close look at the very most important things an Apostle of our Messiah and Savior had to say:
A summary of 2Peter, his final words to all of mankind.
He states that he will die soon.
These are the most important things he had to say, knowing of his impending death:
Here are the paragraph headings for all of 2Peter
Chapter 1
Greeting the Faithful
Fruitful Growth in the Faith
Peter’s Approaching Death
The Trustworthy Prophetic Word
Chapter 2
Destructive Doctrines
Doom of False Teachers
Depravity of False Teachers
Deceptions of False Teachers
Chapter 3
God’s Promise is Not Slack
The Day of the Lord
Be Steadfast
We need to remember this entire text is a letter, start to finish.
It is not a document, broken down in outline form…
We see in Chapter 1 that Peter knows he will die soon.
This letter is basically his very last words, and therefore, probably his most important words.
We should pay careful attention to the point he is trying to get across.
This is not just insignificant things to say in a letter to far off friends…
We get a greeting, followed by advice about fruitfulness in faith, notice of his pending death, followed by the very important statement that he is leaving this advice for after his death.
Peter explains how the words of the prophets are trustworthy, as his own experience has shown.
Then we get to Chapter 2. He spends this entire portion of the letter speaking of false teachers.
2Peter refers to the Old Testament eleven times, and also is entwined with Jude, and as a result, the Book of Enoch, specifically when speaking of the fallen angels being imprisoned in Tartarus (2Peter 2:4).
In Chapter 3, Peter tells us that the promises of God are not to be discounted, much in the same way that he previously indicated the words of the prophets could be trusted.
When Peter mentions the “Day of the Lord” in 2Peter 3:10-13, it is not changing subject to speak of some future end time.
This is still part of the narrative to explain that the promises/statement made by God are still true and applicable.
And then we get to his very important warning of 2Peter 3:14-17.
These are his last words. Ever. Before his death.
This is the pinnacle of what he is trying to convey.
Everything else was just leading up to this point.
1. Be fruitful in the faith.
2. I’m going to die.
3. Prophets are trustworthy.
4. False teachers.
5. God’s promises (including clear consequences) are trustworthy.
6. Then we get to his warning, the last words he leaves with the world.
Because of items 3, 4, and 5 above:
Look forward to these things.
Be found by HIM in peace, blameless.
That Messiah’s suffering is salvation, just as Paul has written
And then we get to the meat>
That all these things, also written about by Paul, are sometimes hard to understand in his writings…
Which people who do not understand twist to their own destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures [at this point in time, the new testament had not been compiled – Peter is referring to the Torah and the Prophets, just as Messiah did in Matthew 22:40]
Just in case we missed the significance of this warning, he states it a second time in verse 17.
Since we know this beforehand
Beware!!
Lest you fall from your sure footing
Being led away with the error of the lawless.
This entire letter leads up to his final warning, which is so very important, he made it his final words to the entire world.