The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Peter — Section 81

a.re citizens of the heavenly country, fellow-citizens with the saints. Therefore they must adopt the modes of life which are characteristic of that heavenly country; their conduct as they move about among men must be holy in all the relations of life; they must live in the habitual pursuit of godliness in all its aspects. These things are of true, lasting moment. The prizes of this world, even those which seem to us the greatest and most to be desired, are but vanity, vanity of vanities, compared with the great realities of the spiritual life. 2. They must live in the expectation of the Lord's coming. 'fhey must daily look for the presence of the great day, and by thus looking for it, and making ready for it, they must (St. Peter says, in the condescendin" lan- guage which Holy Scripture sometimes uses) hasten its coming. For that day c~meth not till the chosen of God are safe. "Haste thee, escape thither," said the destroying angel to Lot; "for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither." So now "the lightnings of the judgment-day pause yet a while," stored in the armoury of God (' Christian Year: All Saints' Day'), till God's elect are numbered, till they are ready, not one of them lost, for their eternal home. 'rhen there is a sense in which, very strange and awful though it may seem, Christians may hasten the coming of the day of God. When the bride bath made herself ready, when the work of repentance is wrought out in the hearts of God's people, ,i-hen they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,-then the day of God shall come. Now the long-suffering of God waiteth, as it waited in the days of Noah. It is a holy and a blessed truth-he waits for us in his tender mercy; he is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish; his wrath does not strike at once the sinner in his sin. He is waiting now, giving us time; but that gracious waiting cannot be protracted for ever; the day of the Lord will come. It is our duty to do what lieth in us to hasten its coming, by the preparation of our own hearts, by stirring up others to repentance, and by our prayers. "Thy kingdom come," is our daily prayer, the prayer which the Lord himself puts into our mouths. "The kingdom of God" has more senses than one in Holy Scripture; but certainly one thing to which the Lord directs our prayers in those words is the coming of the day of God, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of onr Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. This is to be our daily prayer; if we use it in thoughtful faith, it will fix our hearts upon our eternal home. The Church on earth prays, " Thy kingdom come;" in Paradise the souls under the altar cry with a loud voice, "How long, 0 Lord, holy and true?" (Rev. vi. 9, 10). He will hear the prayer that goeth up to him day and night; he will avenge his own elect; the great day must come. 3. That day will bll a day of terrors. Because of its presence the visible heavens will be on fire; they shall be dissolved. The earth and the heaven, in the vision of judgment that was revealell to St. John, fled away from the face of him who sat on the great white throne, and there was found no place for them. St. Peter, too, saw the awful scene presented to the eye of his mind-be uses the prophetic present-the elements are melting, wasting nway, with fervent heat. Those startling words suggest thoughts of exceeding awe and terror: "'l'ake ye heed; watch and pray." 4. But there will be a new home for the righteous. St. John heard the voice of him that sat on the throne saying," Behold, I make all things new." God had promised this long ngo by the mouth of his prophet Isaiah. He will surely fulfil his word. He will not leave his people desolate and homeless. He provided a city of refuge for Lot, when his old abode was destroyed by the fire of the wrath of God. So, out of the appalling conflagration of the dreadful day there will arise a new and blessed home for his elect. We look for new heavens and a new earth; and they shall abide for ever. As once the promiso came to Noah that there should not be any more a flood to destroy the enrth, so God hath promised that "the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord." Heaven and earth shall then be very near, the one to the other; for tho holy city, new Jerusalem, shall come down from God out of heav~n; and the tahvrnacle of God shall be with men, and he will dwoll with them. The common- wealth that is in heaven shall be established (so lloly Scripture seems to teach us) upon the new earth. It shall come down from heaven, having the glory of God; the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; there his servants sba\l serve him. I-frarcn will come down to earth; and so the new earth will become a prt of heaven, very closely joined with heaven. God will dwell there with men, aucl they shall sea  76 'l'HE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL O:F PE'l'ER. [ctt. m. 1-18.