A Day Like A Thousand Years

I Peter 3:8-14

 

1. We are on the last day of this year 2006. Some of you may feel that this year has passed so fast, while some of you feel differently that it was too long to pass. Even though it is same one year of 365 days to everybody, everybody feels it differently because everybody has different experience, such as happiness and difficulty, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, hope and despair in the days of this year.

2. If we ask this question to God who operates this universe, what might be His answer? Might He feel this year 2006 shorter or longer than the other years? I do not know. But the Bible gives a clue to understand His feeling of time here in v. 8: “Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” To Him, some day is like a thousand years, but some thousand years are like a day. We understand His feeling of time because we humans have a similar feeling, but a thousand years are too long for us humans to feel the same.

3. When and why does God feel a day like a thousand years? Usually time is felt longer when it is hard. Perhaps, the longest day for Jesus might be the day of crucifixion. A long night of suffering and 6 tormenting hours on the cross! It was followed by three more long days under the continuing punishment of death. When he was resurrected and accomplished the redemption of humanity, a new era was dawn to save the world. It is between his Ascension and Parousia(Second Coming). God limited the time of salvation when Jesus waits in heaven. When he returns, the time of salvation will end. On the other hand, church will suffer too much in this world if it is too long. Therefore, the moment of Parousia will be decided by God for the best harmony.

4. In the period of persecution and suffering, the church felt a day too long to persevere. God felt even longer. Jesus could return any moment and many saints cried for Maranatha (Come, Lord) because of their painful sufferings! God’s heart felt so painful just as He felt when His beloved Son cried on the cross. He is our affectionate Father. He might have considered to quicken the Parousia. Whenever His children suffer, a day is like a thousand years to Him! He feels the day far longer and painful than we do.

5. However, it is also true that God feels a thousand years like a day. Because God works very busy for our salvation and providence, a day is too short, passing so fast as a flying arrow. Even a thousand years is felt like only a day. Even though some complained that the Parousia is too slow, God felt it too fast because He loved this world: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”(9) Even though almost two thousand years have passed already, God might feel like only two days have been passed.

6. Sometimes we feel that life is too short to achieve some meaningful things. When we are happy, we feel that a day passes so quickly and we hope that our life would continue eternally. God is so happy when sinners return to Him, one by one, endlessly. He wants every human not to perish but to repent and be saved. Therefore, it is very hard for Him to terminate the time of salvation and send His Son. Still, there are so many people unsaved and so many nations un-evangelized. Of course, it can’t be limitless. Someday Jesus will come back and the final judgment will begin. But God’s love extends the time as much as He can.

7. Somebody even denied the coming of the Parousia itself: “They will say, ‘Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation’.”(4) But Peter pointed out their deliberate self-deception. This universe was created by God. Because this world has its beginning, it is rational to expect that it has its end. Even though this world is perfectly created, it changes and wears out little by little. Today many ecologists are predicting its tragic end. There are so many natural disasters, but there will be the divine intervention in the Parousia when this old heaven and earth will be terminated: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”(10); “That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.”(12) Therefore, we “look forward to a new heaven and a new earth.”(13)

8. We may meet the Parousia in our lifetime, or we will die before it. Either way, our present life will meet its end someday. On this last day of the year, we may think the last day of our life in this world. When would be our telos or eschaton(end)? What would be the right way to live our life? Some suggests the judgment of history. Yes, we need wisdom to view our present from the perspective of future, the ultimate future, the end of our life. It is called teleological thinking or eschatological perspective. Your life will be judged by your children and successors. However, even it is not the ultimate end. That day is called “the day of God”(12) or “the day of the Lord,”(10) for it is the day when we will meet the Lord. When we live with the consciousness of this Day, we will be able to live our best life: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.”(11); “So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”(14)

9. The famous English preacher Campbell Morgan has lived everyday of his life to think the Day of Parousia: “To me the Second Coming is the perpetual light on the path which makes the present bearable. I never laid my head on my pillow without thinking that, maybe before the morning breaks, the final morning have dawned! I never begin my work without thinking that, perhaps He may interrupt my work and begin His own work… We are not looking for death, we are looking for Him.” When we are looking for Jesus and His Return everyday, it is to live a holy and godly life. Because Jesus is our Way, Truth, and Life, our life to follow and concentrate in Him will not make our life waste or wandering. Because we walk and run with looking the ultimate goal, we will not out of track or lose the right way.