For the last twelve years, Paul Tripp Ministries has emailed out our Wednesday’s Word devotional. We praise God that this little resource has been an encouragement to you at just the right moment. Thank you for sharing your stories with us and forwarding Wednesday’s Word to others.
Wednesday’s Word will continue, of course, and our ministry wants to add something new to your inbox this year. Starting today, on the first day of each month, we’ll send a longer email article that allows me to write more extensively than in Wednesday’s Word.
We’re calling it Grace + Knowledge, and our prayer is that this new resource helps you “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).
Today’s Grace + Knowledge article is on the topic of eternity. Thank you for supporting Paul Tripp Ministries as we connect the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.
Without the promise of eternity there would be no such thing as the gospel of Jesus Christ, let alone any such thing as gospel hope. If there is no future where justice is meted out and the drama of sin and death is finally resolved, then the Christian faith is not worth living. The people of God wait with hope, but all their waiting, all their striving, and all their hoping are for nothing if there is no such thing as final judgment and the forever that follows.
But there is more. Understanding eternity is vital if we want to understand our faith, apply it to everyday life, and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Notice how the verse that inspired this new monthly resource, 2 Peter 3:18, includes the words “both now and to the day of eternity.”
If you read back a few verses, we’ll see the connection between eternity and everyday life. I’m going to focus my explanation in verses 11–13, but I would encourage you to read the entire third chapter.
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
(2 Peter 3:11–13, ESV)
The third chapter of 2 Peter not only tells us truths that every believer needs to know about eternity, but it also tells us that these truths should form the way we live right now. The doctrine of eternity is a truth that not only gives us future hope but also should become for us a hermeneutic for the way we make sense out of our lives right here, right now.
The way we make sense out of our lives then shapes and directs the way we live our lives now. The doctrine of eternity is a foundational Christian interpretive tool. It should define the way we think about our past, our present, our future, ourselves, our God, and our meaning and purpose. Without this truth as a structural part of our thinking we will not make proper sense out of our lives.
There are three practical actions that result as you apply the doctrine of eternity to everyday life: living eschatologically, waiting actively, and embracing God’s promise.
Living Eschatologically
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?” (2 Peter 3:11)
We should note the structure of this verse: “Since… what.” It is akin to an “if/then” sentence: if these things are true, then this is how we should live. The very structure of the sentence tells us something important about Peter’s understanding of the doctrine of eternity. For Peter the doctrine of eternity is not a distant, abstract, isolated, or impersonal point of Christian theology. For Peter this truth presses in on his daily life. It tells him what is important and, in light of what is important, how he is to make decisions, act, and react at street level.
Then he goes on to say that everything around us will be dissolved. Everything we see now will one day be gone. None of it is permanent in its current state. It will all be consumed in a final display of the glory of God’s power.
We must let this sink in. Every building, every mountain, every stream, every garden, every animal, every monument, every tree, every sea creature, every shoreline, every car, every highway, every place of comfort or entertainment—every physical thing—will meet its purifying end by God.
None of the things we tend to think will always be there are permanent. This physical world is not ultimate. God is ultimate, and he will bring all these things to a spectacular end.
Because of his grace, God tells us what will happen to this world so that we can know how to live now. If all of this will be consumed in the end, it makes no sense to build our identity, meaning, and hope on things that will pass away.
Waiting Actively
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved… waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” (2 Peter 3:11–12)
One reason we dislike waiting is that it reminds us we are not in control. But Peter teaches that waiting is not inactivity. Waiting is a call to action.
God not only determines what will happen in the future, but also the means by which it will happen. The eternity-focused activity of God’s people is one of the means God uses to bring about the final day.
This means that what we do right now matters eternally. Our prayers, our evangelism, our kingdom work, and our longing for Christ’s return are all part of how God brings history toward its fulfillment.
Embracing God’s Promise
“According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13)
Every human being searches for paradise, but there is no paradise in this fallen world. Our hopes and dreams continually disappoint us because nothing here fulfills the deep longing written into our hearts.
Peter reminds us that there is One who sits on the throne of the universe whose promises never fail. God always does what he says. He never changes his mind or abandons his people.
His promise is breathtaking: a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells forever.
Everything will be restored. Everything will be in its proper place. Nothing will rebel against God’s design. Perfect peace and harmony will reign forever.
The Bible calls this shalom—the complete restoration of everything that sin has broken.
The doctrine of eternity assures us that God will fix everything sin has damaged. It warns us not to live for what will pass away. It reminds us that how we live now matters forever. And it promises an end far more glorious than anything we could imagine.
