Looking for and HASTING UNTO the coming of the day of God

Looking for and HASTING UNTO the coming of the day of God

2 Peter 3:12

Promoters of the modern bible versions attempt to insist there are no doctrines of the Christian faith which are affected in any way by the differences between the King James Bible and the new versions. This is blatantly false in several critical areas. This article will address only one of several doctrines which have been changed in such modern versions as the NKJV, NIV, NASB, and Holman Standard.

Puny man, who is but of dust, can do nothing to effect in any way the timetable already established by Almighty God. Man can neither speed up nor slow down God's timetable. This view is contrary to much modern Christian thought, that portrays God as a grandfatherly figure, anxiously wringing His hands, hoping things will turn out for the best, but He just can’t seem to get man to cooperate with His wishes.

The Biblical position reveals a God “who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” When king Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding returned to him, after 7 times has passed over him by the decree of the Most High, he said: “ I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou.” Now, that is the God who is truly worthy of worship.

Let’s look at some Scriptures which reveal who controls time; is it God or man? Acts 1:7 Jesus said unto them “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own hands.” Acts 17: 26, 31 tell us God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation”...”he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness.” Notice that God alone determined the times, and the day of judgment has already been appointed by Him. It is “circled on His calendar”.

Revelation 9:15 “And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” This judgment has already been prepared by God down to the specific hour. While on earth, the Lord Jesus often told His disciples that His enemies could not yet take Him captive, because His hour had not yet come.

Daniel 2: 20, 21 “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: He changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings, and setteth up kings”

Daniel 8:19 the angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel to give him understanding, and he said “Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.”

Daniel 9: 24, 25 "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression... And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself”

Daniel 11: 27, 29, 35 ”yet the end shall be at the time appointed”...”At the time appointed he shall return...” “even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.”

Habakkuk 2:3 “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

It is just as the Psalmist said in 31:15 “My times are in thy hands.”

Genesis 18:14 “Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee...and Sarah shall have a son.”

In Judges 7: 10-14 Gideon is told that if he is afraid, to go down to the host of the Midianites. He goes down, and just as he is there listening, two men relate a dream which reveals that God will destroy the Midianites by the sword of Gideon. Coincidence? No, the timing of God.

In Esther 6:1 Haman is plotting to kill Mordecai, but the night before Haman requests of the king to slay Mordecai, the king cannot sleep and calls for the chronicles to be read to him. Therein he reads of Mordecai having previously revealed a plot to kill the king, and he saved his life. Whereupon, the king decides to honor Mordecai. Coincidence that the king couldn’t sleep? No, the timing of God.

Jeremiah 29: 10 - 12 “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.” God sent this judgment upon Israel, and no matter how much or fervently they might have prayed, they would not be delivered from Babylon, till the appointed time of 70 years had passed.

You might then ask, What does all this have to do with 2 Peter 3: 12? The verse says: “Looking for and HASTING UNTO the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.”

This is the reading of the King James Bible, Tyndale 1525, Miles Coverdale 1535, the Bishop's Bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1599, Young's "literal" translation, the Douay 1950, the Spanish Reina Valera bibles of 1909 and 1960, the Diodati Italian Bible 1602, Webster’s 1833 translation, the 21st Century KJV, and the Third Millenium Bible

However many new versions have changed the doctrine of the timing of God, by how they have mistranslated the inspired text. The NKJV, RSV, ESV, and the NASB say: “looking for and HASTENING the coming” while the NIV says: “as you look forward to the day of God and SPEED ITS COMING.” These versions clearly imply or state that man can do something to speed up the timetable of God. This is a false doctrine and a contradiction.

Some other versions, like the Revised Version, the American Standard Version, Holman Standard, and the Contemporary English Version, have yet a different meaning than the others. They say: "EARNESTLY DESIRING the coming of the day of God", or "LOOKING FORWARD TO the day of God". While this rendering is different than that of the King James Bible, at least it doesn't teach the same false doctrine as do the RSV, ESV, NASB, NIV and NKJV.

A good question to ask is How are we “hasting unto” the coming of the day of God, as the King James Bible and many others say? It is really quite simple. Verse 8 of this same chapter states: “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousands years as one day.” If you or I should live to be a hundred years old, that would be equivalent to less than two and one half hours of God’s time.

We are on this earth but a very short time and all of us are all hastening unto the coming of the day of God.

Psalm 90:4-6: “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood: they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.”

Ps. 39:5: “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth: and mine age is a nothing before thee.”

Ps. 102:11: “My days are like a shadow that declineth: and I am withered like grass.”

Job 4:20 speaks of man as: “They are destroyed from morning to evening”, Job 7: 6: “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle”

Job 8: 9: “For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.” Job 9: 25: “Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away,” Job 14: 1- 2: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.”

We are all hasting unto the day of God. Our time here is quickly over and we pass away. That day has already been appointed by God who put the times and the seasons in His own power, and nothing either you or I do or don't do will change by one second when this appointed day comes.

False bibles lead to false doctrine.

One prominent Christian who has a lot of good teaching in other areas is Dr. John Piper of Desiring God Ministries. Unfortunately he does not believe that any Bible or any text in any language is now the inspired and inerrant words of God. He promotes the use of the 2001 ESV (English Standard Version), which is basically the old liberal RSV dressed in new garb. The ESV frequently rejects the Hebrew readings and its New Testament is based primarily on the Westcott-Hort Greek text. It omits even more whole verses (18) from the N.T. than does the NIV.

John Piper comments on 2 Peter 3:12, which in the ESV says: "waiting for and HASTENING THE COMING of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fair and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn."

Mr. Piper says: "Verse 12 says that as you look for the coming of the Day of God in this way you will hasten it. Verse 9 said that God is holding back the final Day that you may repent. It follows that repenting and living a life of holiness helps remove the cause for delay. We don't hasten the Day in an absolute sense because Acts 1:7 teaches that the Father has fixed the times and seasons by his own authority and Jesus said in Mark 13:22 that the Father knows the hour of the Son's return. But from our vantage point we can hasten the Day by fulfilling the pre-conditions of Christ's return, namely the preaching of the gospel to all the nations (Mk. 13:10) and the repentance of the full number of the Gentiles who must come in before the end (Rom. 11:25). Evidently Peter believes that lives of holiness and godliness will indeed fulfill these conditions and hasten the Day of God." - Dr. John Piper

First of all, verse 9 says nothing about God "holding back" the final day of judgment. It merely explains that God's timetable is not the same as ours, and that He is longsuffering to us-ward. Mr. Piper is a staunch Calvinist, and he believes that God alone gives repentance and faith to His elect, and none of them will be lost.

Secondly, there is no place in Scripture that supports the idea that by holy living and repenting we will in any way speed up the coming of the day of God. There are no pre-conditions that we can or must fulfill so that this final day will come any quicker than God has already appointed. Mr. Piper contradicts his own theology and speaks out of both sides of his mouth in his attempt to justify the false doctrine taught in many new versions that we can somehow by our actions move God to change or speed up the coming day when He will judge the world in righteousness.

Thirdly, it is somewhat amazing that a man like Mr. Piper would say: "Evidently Peter believes that lives of holiness and godliness will indeed fulfill these conditions and hasten the Day of God."

Wrong! The Bible is NOT about what "Peter evidently believes", though WE know better. There are numerous other verses of Scripture that contradict what Mr. Piper says Peter "evidently believes". The true Holy Bible, the King James Bible, is the inerrant words of Almighty God, and it does not contradict itself, as do the modern versions like the NKJV, NASB, NIV and ESV.

The doctrine found in the King James Version is consistently true and harmonizes with the rest of Scripture on any given topic. This cannot be said of many modern versions. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

For those who object to this article

I understand that If I object to this article, that I need to take certain steps:

1. I need to clearly understand for myself what is the specific basis of my objection

2. I need to remember that other people cannot read my mind and may not understand what I have a problem with, and I will need to be patient in explaining my objection. 

3. I need to examine my own motives and decide what is pushing me or motivating me to respond about this article. If there is an issue of lack of accuracy, then I do need to bring this up.

But if the issue is that the article is accurate, then I need to understand how I should be responding to the parts that I already know and understand are true. 

4. I need to be wise, so that I do not use my own lack of knowledge, as the basis for objecting too fast. There are many questions and much documentation that can be provided to those who may object. If I have a problem I can ask for this documentation, but I need to be sure and ask myself just what I am placing my SECURITY in, as a fellow Christian.  

5. does the article upset me because it may be TRUE, and I am disturbed because I am finding that I have put my security in a Version of the Bible that either is NOT accurate or that was NOT accurately translated ?

6. does this mean that I may be in spiritual danger, and that I need to do much more research personally, for myself, and stop taking the word of some Pastors or leaders who are simply telling me NOT to worry about these issues, but to be warm and filled and go back to sleep ?

7. Do I need to undertand that even though some of these Pastors who "bless" all versions may have good intentions, that they may not have the gift of Biblical Discernment, and therefore they may not understand either their own need to do a great deal of personal research on this matter, so that they do not endanger the Congregation and individual Church members that they have been entrusted with ?

8. Is the church that I am going to either part of a denomination that now is Liberal or has turned its back on God or historic Christianity, or part of a group that is endorsing Unbliblical or Anti-Historic Practices such as Word of Faith or selling the Gospel by Trends such as using Church Consultants that are far more committed to Church NUMBER growth, and NOT the individual Spiritual Maturity of the Christians that are ALREADY there ?

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The Real Question is what are you going to do with the information that was presented in this article.

Is the Information True ?

Is the Information Accurate ?

Is the Information documented ?

Do I - before God - have a responsibility if I am a Christian to accept and act on the information in this article ?

Am I comfortable in the knowledge, that some leaders under the guise of clarifying the text of the Bible, are actually changing that text, and changing MY understanding of what God wants to share with me through His Holy Word, the Old Testament and the New Testament ?

Do I understand that these "small" changes number from the hundreds to the THOUSANDS depending on which Modern Versions I use, and that these changes serve to cut away the clarity and the specific understanding found in the Greek New Testament, that these new modern versions are preventing me from understanding ?

Do I understand that most of these new Modern Versions were not developed because there was a genuine need, but because the teams of Bible Translators were Hired by PUBLISHING companies who are eager to make a profit on the Word of God, which remains the Number ONE bestseller every week of every year, and that these Publishers decided to cash in ?

Do I understand that the problem was that if these Bible Adjusters and Correctors did NOT make the changes that they chose to, that they would not be able to claim copyright protection, and therefore they would not be able to make a financial Profit from their new versions ?

Do I understand that there are Spiritual Forces that want to prevent me from having GREATER spiritual understanding about God, but that God himself is always in MORE of a hurry than I am, for Me to get to know HIM ?

Do I realize what my personal state of preparation will be, within me, when Islam becomes the Dominant Religion in the United States, as it is already in Europe, and how I will personally be required to defend my Faith, by argument and persuasion, using knowledge of the Bible and of History and of Christianity, and that God will rightly hold me accountable because I am claiming to be His Child and a personal follower of Jesus Christ ?

In view of these facts, should I try to set aside more time for the study of the Word of God, and more time for the study of History and the true history of the Christian Church, and to learn about how other Christians in the past, actually learned to have and to gain GREAT spiritual strength ?

If no one reaches out to help prepare me for the coming challenges, whose job is it STILL for me to be prepared to answer these challenges and questions ?

FREE Ebooks for your encouragement, consideration and learning (PDF) Page can be found here: http://www.exorthodoxforchrist.com/free_ebooks_instant_downloads_pdf.htm 

I Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
 

II Timothy 2: 15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
 

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