I. God does have a Redemptive Clock!
     
      The apostle Peter spoke of God's clock running out when responding to those that were "scoffing"
      at Christ's s second coming (2Peter.3:3). He used Noah [2] and the flood to explain that there is a
      set time and how to prepare (Heb.11:7).

     A. Man's days are numbered
           
            Jude wrote, "Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord
            cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that
            are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of
            all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude.1:14-16 / Compare
            Deut.33:2). There is a Redemptive clock!

            1. The time is "short" (1Cor.7:29-30)
                
​                Why would it be "short" if there is no clock?  The apostle
                 said, "But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth,
                 that both they that have wives be as though they had
​                 none" (1Cor.7:29-30, Heb.1:1-2, 1John.2:18, Rev.1:1-3).
            
            2. As in Noah's day our days are numbered
                
                 Jesus said, "as the days of Noe (Noah) were, (a clock is
                ticking Gen.6:3) so shall also the coming of the Son of
                man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they
                were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
                until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until
                the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming
                of the Son of man be" (Matt.24:37-39, 2Peter.3:1-9).

           3. There is a time when the "mystery of God will be finished"
                 In "the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound,
                 the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets."
                 (Note: Acts.3:19-24 Second Coming) (Rev.10:7-8)Finished, completed, time has ran out! The
                 apostle John wrote, "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall
                 come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time"              
                 (1John.2:18-19).Why would there be "last times" if there was no clock running?


     B. There will be "scoffers" in the Church that mock God's clock.
            
           Peter said, "...that there shall come in the last days "scoffers"[10]walking after their own lusts,
           (powerful feelings of physical desire / the flesh Rom.7:18; 8:5-8, 2Cor.4:18) and saying, Where is
           the promise of His Coming? for all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation"
           (2Peter.3:3-4). 

           1. Some say all the events of our day are just
            history repeating itself
                   
                 They say "all things continue as they were" (2Peter.3:4). They say
                 that every generation has thought  their generation was the last. The
                 fact is that it has been the "last days" since the 1st century. (The last
                 two thousand year days 2Peter.3:8-9, Psa.90:4) Today we are in the
                 last, of the last days!

            2. Some say that the 1st Century apostles got it wrong
                  
                 In the 1st Century there were "false prophets...and teacher's...saying,
                 where is the promise of His coming" (2Peter.2:1; 3:3)? They were
                 challenging the apostles Paul, John and Peter who wrote, "it is the last
                 time" (Acts.2:17, Heb.1:2, 1Peter.1:20, 1John.2:18). They were saying,
                 where is Jesus? It has been 65-68 years! since we first heard about the
                 Second Coming, and He is still not back! Nothing is happening, "all
                 things continue as they were" (v.4). But things were happening! God
                 was building His Church according to the blueprint typified by the
                 Church in the wilderness. (Review: Phase.2) This was "hidden from 
                 them through their own willfulness" [12](2Peter 3:5) just as in Noah's
                 day when the Ark was built where everyone could see but they (the world, the skeptic) "knew
              not until the flood came"(Matt.24:39).

                 Note: "The natural man (walking after their own lusts, ( powerful feelings of physical desire /
​                 the flesh Rom.7:18; 8:5-8, 2Cor.4:18) recieveth not things of the Spirit of God: (i.e. The Ark /
                 Church / Bride) for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them."

                a. Was the apostle Paul wrong?
                      
                      The apostle Paul in the 1st century said that time is short (1Cor.7:29). Was he wrong? Of
                      course not. He is writing under the same inspiration of God, that Inspired Peter to write
                      that one day is with the Lord is as a 1000 of our years (2Peter.3:8-9, 2Tim.3:16-17). The  
                      Thessalonians were the one's that got it wrong. They thought that "the day of Christ was
                      at hand" (2Thes.2:1). This was corrected by Paul in a second letter (epistle) to them 
                       (2Thes.2:1-8). What we must remember is that all the scripture concerning "time" and the
                      "last days," must always be considered in the context of a day with the Lord is as a thousand
                      of our years (2Peter.3:1-9). The "scoffers" in Peter's day failed do do so.


              b. Was Peter wrong? 
                   
                      Peter said on the day of Pentecost that it was the "last days"[3](Acts.2:17). The same Holy
                      Spirit that inspired Luke (Acts.1:1 / Luke.1:3) to write Acts.2:17, is the same Holy Spirit [11] that
                      inspired Peter to write that "one day with the Lord" is as a 1000 years (2Peter.3:8).

                c. Was the writer of Hebrews wrong?
                  
                      The apostle Paul says that God hath in "these last days spoken by His Son..." (Heb.1:1-2). To    
                      say that Paul, John and Peter were mistaken is to say that the Holy Spirit of God made a  
                      mistake because He was the one that inspired them to write (2Tim.3:16-17, 2Peter.1:20-21).

                d. Was John wrong?
                      The apostle John says, "it is the last time" (1John.2:18) Was he wrong? Of course not. He was
                      also writing under the anointing  and inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2Tim.3:16-17). All of these
                      apostles were speaking of the last two thousand year days from the Cross until our time.
                      They were speaking of the 5th and 6th day of God's Redemptive Week.
          
     C. The "same word" that numbered man's day before the flood
             
           Peter said, "the heavens and the earth,  which are now  (from the 1st century unto our present
           day), by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
           perdition of ungodly men" (2Peter.3:7, Jude.1:14-19, Rev.19:11-21; 20:1-3). Note: Remember, Peter
           was taught by Jesus (Luke.24:44-45) who said, "as it was in the days of (Noe) Noah (when man's
           days were numbered Gen.6:3-13) so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man" (Luke 17:26). 
            Those that scoff at that thought of man's days being numbered, are scoffing at Jesus!

​Review: HOME / PURPOSE, BIBLE LANGUAGE, Phase 1, 2

​NEXT:PHASE 3,  Page 2 

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(Matt.1:1-17)