2 Peter 3 End of UNIVERSE John MacArthur vs APOSTLE'S LITTLE WHILE

Hello, it's William Bell. I want to welcome you to our YouTube channel and to our study on 2 Peter chapter 3. Is this the end of the universe? I listened to and watched a video by John MacArthur where he said, based on 2 Peter 3 and I guess 2 Peter 1 in the book of Revelation, that the coming of the Lord was at hand, that it was near. And he also said the universe was about to be destroyed. And I find that very interesting and intriguing, especially in the light of what the Bible teaches. And this is why we took the time to go through the time statements and to show the application of those statements to the people who were then living because we have to understand it in real time from their perspective. Now what I want to do is take a moment to walk you through a couple of passages that will demonstrate why Peter spoke of the little while and show you how that refers to the heaven and earth that he's discussing in chapter 3. Because remember, in our first video, we talked about it was a reminder. So I'm going to make this as quick as I possibly can. I have a longer video that I will refer you to that you can go and watch that goes into much more detail. But I'm going to make this one very, very quick because I won't say very quick, but at least I'm going to shorten this one considerably compared to the length of the other one, which goes into much more detail. Now, the text that I'd like to bring to mind would be first Peter chapter 1 and verse 6, where Peter tells them that they were undergoing various trials for a little while. And this is a statement that we need to pick up in terms of establishing what the text means. So in first Peter 1, again, the verse is 6. He says in this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. Now this statement in a little while is very key because this is a statement that is pregnant with meaning in terms of the end of heaven and earth, as well as the establishing of the new heaven and earth that is taught in second Peter chapter 3. So the first thing that we want to do is want to go back and get some Old Testament foundation for this, because again, Peter said he wanted to remind them of the words that were spoken of in the prophets and of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So the first reference that we want to consider is found in the book of Haggai. And when we turn to the book of Haggai, beginning in verse 6, what we learned is this. The Bible says, for thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while. Please underline that phrase, because it's going to be quoted word for word in the New Testament. But it's also important to understand what the context is. Haggai was talking about the building up of the temple that had been neglected. And so this is a chapter. This is a book actually about the rebuilding of the temple. Then he says, well, thus says the Lord of hosts. Once more, it is a little while I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of nations. And I will fill this temple with glory. Now, understand the shaking of heaven and earth. And then in contradistinction to the shaking of heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land, he says there's going to be a new temple. So please get that contrast in mind. Here is a new temple. Why didn't he say a new heaven and new earth? It's because the temple was regarded as the heaven and earth. Josephus mentions that the Jews referred to their temple as the heaven and earth. Of course, he did. And also we can see that in scripture. So what stands opposite to the shaking of heaven and earth is a new temple of the Lord. He wasn't talking about the end of a universe like John MacArthur is saying in his messages. He was talking about the end of the old heaven and earth, the old Jewish covenant system, which involved their temple and the contrast between the new one. Now, he says the silver is mine, the gold is mine. The Lord said the Lord of hosts, the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former. Well, the latter temple came at the end of the shaking of heaven and earth. So what then could the former be? The former would have to be the old heaven and earth. But again, that was or the old temple, excuse me, but that was the heaven and earth. You have to see how important that is. You have to recognize the significance of that. And also keep in mind that statement for once it is a little while, yet once more it is a little while. So that's connected to it. Now let's go to the New Testament and let's compare that with some things found in the New Testament. One of the background books of the Gospel of John is Haggai. Again, Haggai is talking about the temple. Well, let's look very quickly about Jesus's reference to the temple in the Gospel of John, about that emphasis on the temple in the Gospel of John. And you can see that Haggai is a backdrop to that book. In John chapter one, verse one, the Bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. Now watch verse fourteen. And the word was made flesh and dwelled among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now what's significant in this verse is the fact that the word dwelt is the word skene in the Greek. It means tabernacle. And so what he's actually saying is that and the word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, clearly referring to Jesus Christ as a tabernacle among the people. Then in John chapter two, to show you how this theme and motif of the tabernacle runs through the Gospel of John. In John chapter two, Jesus was talking to the Jews and he said to them on one occasion, as they were looking at the building, he says, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. This is after he chased the money changers out of the out of the temple. And he says, do not make my father's house a den of thieves. And then he tells them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Well, they thought that he was talking about the about Herod's temple, because they said forty and six years was this temple in building. But Jesus said, you know, he was speaking rather later. The disciples recognized that he was talking about the temple of his body. They understood that after he rose from the dead. Now, from that perspective, Jesus is looking at himself as a temple. He says, destroy this temple, the one that was dwelling among them, that was tabernacling among them. And he says, and in three days I will raise it up. That's what was going on in Jesus's death that a lot of people do not get. And that is he's dying as one temple, but he's rising as an entire new temple. Now, again, to show you this theme of the tabernacle, the temple that runs through the gospel of John, look in John chapter four, where Jesus has this conversation with the woman at the well in Samaria. And she comes to him and says, our fathers worshiped in this mountain. What is she talking about? She's talking about a place of worship. She's talking about a temple. On the other hand, she says, and you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place to worship. Well, Jesus tells her that he said, woman, he says, you know, not what you worship. He says, for salvation is of the Jews. He says, God is seeking true worshipers to worship him. And then he tells her, you will neither worship God in this mountain that is in Mount Gerizim, nor yet in Jerusalem. Now that's very important for you to understand that no place physically is the place for the temple of God, not in Jerusalem or not in Mount Gerizim and not in Jerusalem. So for every dispensationalist out there, for every futurist, for every person who is a Christian Zionist that wants to go to Jerusalem to build a temple, Jesus tells you right here, not in Mount Gerizim, nor in Jerusalem. He says, but the father is seeking true worshippers to worship him. And he says, well, God is a spirit. They who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. The temple is no longer geocentric. It is centered in God and Christ. God is a spirit and they worship him, must worship in spirit and in truth. That's why in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 21, and the verses 22, when John is, when the angel is showing John the city and he says, and I saw no temple in it for the Lord, for the, for God and the lamb are its temple, God and the lamb are its temple. So it's the father and the son who are now the temple of God. This is what is developed in John in comparison to the old temple they had. And if you don't think the glory of God and Christ far exceeds the glory of that latter temple, then maybe you need to go and just do a little bit more research and prayer to get God to kind of straighten things out in your mind. All right. Now, having seen that it's important now for us to go to John chapter 16, actually John chapter 14, because in John 14, Jesus is talking about going away and coming again. The Bible says, let not your heart be trouble. You believe in God. Believe also in me and my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again and there receive you to myself. Now notice that Jesus is going away. Where is he going to the father's house? And he says, and if I go, I'm going to come again and there receive you to myself. Now, from that perspective, there is a going away and there is a coming again. He's not talking about going to the grave. He's talking about going to the father's house. There is a timeframe between it. But most people want to see thousands of years between the going away of Christ and the coming again. But that's not what the Bible said. Remember, we read in Haggai that the distance between the two temples was a little while. That's where we started in Peter. We'll watch what Jesus says about his going away and about his return. When you turn to John chapter 16, beginning at verse 16, notice that what the text says a little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me. Why? Because I go to my father. What's the distance in time from the going away and the return? It is the little while. This is why Peter mentions the little while, because he has the old temple and the new temple in mind. That's what the gospel of John is about. Then the text says, then some of his disciples said among themselves, what is this that he says to you? A little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me. And because I go to the father, they said, therefore, what is this that he says? A little while we do not know what he is saying. Now, Jesus knew that they desire to ask him. And he said to them, are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said? A little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me. Did you notice how many times he said a little while? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament. What did Peter say they were doing for a little while? Undergoing persecutions. What does Jesus say here? For a little while, they're going to weep and lament. That is all about persecution and suffering. He says it's going to happen for a little while. And then he says, but the world will rejoice and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman when she is in labor has sorrow because her hour has come. But as soon as she is given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore, you now have sorrow. That's the persecution they were about to undergo. You now have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice. And no, and your joy, no one will take from you. That's the joy that Peter was talking about that was going to come to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now in John 14 and verse 23, notice what Jesus said regarding the tabernacle of himself and his father. He said, Jesus answered and said to them, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. Where does God dwell? In the presence behind the veil. Where does he dwell? In the tabernacle. That's what he was opening up to all mankind to enter into in the new heavenly tabernacle. And he says, he who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the father who sent me. So he's talking about the tabernacle of God coming to men and the father and the son are in that tabernacle. That's why he said no longer in Mount Gerizim, no longer in Jerusalem, but in me is the place where you ought to worship. Now, let's tie this down and go on to Hebrews chapter 12, and let's see how we pull Haggai, the gospel of John and the little while together with 2nd Peter 3, so that you understand what Peter is talking about, not the end of the universe, but he's talking about the end of the old Jewish heaven and earth, the old temple system and bringing in this new tabernacle where the glory is going to far exceed that of the former. So when we look in Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12, let's begin at verse 25. The Bible says, see that you do not refuse him who speaks, for they did not escape, did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth. Much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. Now he's referring back to Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he says, oh, he is promised saying yet once more, I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now notice he's going to shake not only the earth, but also heaven. What did Haggai say was going to be shaken? I'm going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. And he says, for once it is a little while. Now watch the text. Now this yet once more, or rather, let me back up because I missed a point. He says, but now he is promising yet once more. There's a quote from Haggai. Yet once more, I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this yet once more indicates the removal of things that are being shaken. There's a couple of points I want to make here. First of all, he says the things were already being shaken. They were the heaven and earth was already being shaken when at the time this was written in the first century, that couldn't be the universe. Why do we have all these chicken little preachers running around talking about the sky is falling. The universe is about to come to an end. That's not what Peter was talking about. That's not what the writer in Hebrews was talking about. Whatever heaven and earth he was talking about was already being shaken at the time that he wrote. Look at the words of the text. The heaven and earth is being shaken. That's present. That's going on at the time. And then he said yet once more, not only do they have a problem with. Understanding the context of the scriptures. They have a problem with counting because the Bible says yet once more. Well, if this shaking in the first century of heaven and earth was the once more, how do you get another one after the once more when he says. And this once more means the removal of those things that are being shaken as the things that are made that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. There is no other shaking. So there is no sky falling eschatology out there. In addition, when he says as a things that are made, that's an elliptical phrase for things that are made with hands. Notice that the tabernacle, the heavenly tabernacle, the tabernacle of God in Christ is a tabernacle not made with man's hands. So the contrast here is very elliptical, but that's what it means. The house that was made with hands was being torn down. It was being shaken and it was going to be replaced with a house not made with hands. That's the father and the son who are our new tabernacle. When you see that phrase not made with hands, go back to Daniel 244 and 45, and you'll see where he's talking about the stone that was cut out of the mountain. Notice without hands. That is the new tabernacle. It's the kingdom. That's why the next verse says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom, which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. What stands against the shaking of the heaven and earth? The one that was being shaken. It was the kingdom that stood in country distinction to that. The kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God, the father and the son who have come to make their home with us. Last point, we got to tie together. Okay, where's the little while we've got the yet once more. We've got the shaking of heaven and earth. Where is the little while turn back to Hebrews 10 and notice verse 37. Hebrews chapter 10 and the verses 37. The Bible says for yet a little while and he who is coming will come. Christ said, my father and I will come and we'll make our home with you. When in a little while. It's all here in the book of Hebrews, a little while, not a long protracted time of thousands and thousands and thousands of years or hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. All of it would happen within the first century. It is in a little while. The meaning of the little while in first Peter one in verse six has within it. It's impregnated with Haggai chapter two and the shaking of heaven and earth. That's why Peter said, I'm reminding you in the second epistle. What I've already told you in the first epistle. It was the end of heaven and earth that would take place in a little while. That's why it was at hand in the first century. So John MacArthur is absolutely incorrect. When he is talking and teaching this chicken little doctrine that the sky is falling. We got to get our heads out of the literal clouds. Out of the literal elements out of the literal sun and moon and stars and get them into the word of God so that we can be guided by inspiration and not by our own imagination. That's our message today. I'm William Bell with all things will feel. Make sure you subscribe to our channel. Leave us any comments below any questions that you have. We'll be sure to entertain them as best and as quickly as we possibly can and share this video with your friends. With that, you have a great day. I'll see you in the next video.