2 Peter 3:8 – “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
This verse speaks directly to the holy nature of Jehovah. God is not limited by time; for God does not perceive time. As he spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, God said “I AM.” Not, “I Was,” nor, “I Will Be.” Everything that occurs throughout all of creation is in the present with God. How else can the conversation of the saints already be recorded in Heaven? How else can God already see us seated in heavenly places while we yet walk this world robed in flesh?
So when Peter wrote the above verse in his second epistle to the church, he was expounding upon the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God. In so few words, God used Peter to reveal give the reader a slight glimpse of one of the mysteries of God, that God is always presently concerned with every detail of the universe at large, and every detail of each believer’s life.
Because of the holiness of God, He sees things thousands of years away as if they were happening now. Yet, God also sees every detail of today as if our one span of 24 hours is stretched forth into a thousand years. This singular fact should give each saint more cause to love, fear, and serve our great Lord.
Why should this verse inspire greater admiration? So often we are carried through life as if being swept by a current in the ocean. Yet, God knows every permutation of each action we take and every event that transpires in our day. His quantifiable love for His children, and the souls of the lost, translate into His undivided attention to all the things that we will never perceive. Only once we graduate to Heaven will we understand all the attention that God gave to the details that we were ignorant of, or overlooked, in the course of our life. If we truly understood how much attention God gave to a single day of our life, we would surely think that He spent a millennium of attention dealing with just one day of our life.
Why should the saint fear God because of this verse? Because of the attention that God gives to our life. God is so concerned with the details of our life that He will recount far more at the Judgement seat of Christ than we thought imaginable. As a rock thrown into a pond leaves ripples, so is every word, step, and deed of our life to the saved and lost around us. Peter goes on to write in the next verse that God is not slack concerning His promises. One of those promises to man is that we all will face judgement delivered directly from God. We should have greater reverence for God knowing that He is conscious of far more than simply what we do, but also how we do it and how each particular ripple impacts others.
Finally, this insight into God’s divinity should inspire us with a greater zeal to serve our Lord. If God invests such attention to each moment of our life, we should understand the great meaning behind each opportunity that God gives us by allowing us to become involved in the work of Christ. In his infinite knowledge, God knows every detail that leads to each opportunity for us to labor for God and witness to others about Christ. If God burdens you to do something for His Kingdom, that means the Lord knows that you are the only one that can do that job the exact way He desires it to be done. If not, God would have burdened another. But because God looks at each day in the same way we look at 1000 years, the Lord knows that only you can have the impact required to fulfill the very will of God for those around you. What a humbling honor and privilege!!! When seen through that scope, why wouldn’t someone serve God with all their heart?
Your fellowservant in Christ, Bro. Jordan Foster
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