Hastening the Day

“Who then is a faithful and sensible slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time? That slave whose master finds him working when he comes will be rewarded. I assure you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions.”
(Matthew 24:45-47 HCSB ©®)

Moreover, dear friends, do not ignore this: with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins. However, the Day of the Lord will come “like a thief.” On that Day the heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will melt and disintegrate, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up.

Since everything is going to be destroyed like this, what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives, as you wait for the Day of God and work to hasten its coming. That Day will bring on the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt from the heat; but we, following along with his promise, wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will be at home. Therefore, dear friends, as you look for these things, do everything you can to be found by him without spot or defect and at peace. And think of our Lord’s patience as deliverance, just as our dear brother Sha’ul also wrote you, following the wisdom God gave him. Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
(2 Peter 3:8-16, Complete Jewish Bible)

While He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached Him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what is the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”

Then Jesus replied to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many. You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these events are the beginning of birth pains.

“Then they will hand you over for persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name. Then many will take offense, betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered. This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.”
(Matthew 24:3-14 HCSB ©®)

• The slave who will be rewarded at the return of the Master is the one who is working, not just one who is sitting at the bus stop.
• The Complete Jewish Bible and several others translate what Peter wrote as “working to hasten the coming” of the day of the Lord. Some others translate it as “yearning for,” though the other places the word appears in the New Testament, these usually translate it “hurrying.” This makes me think some translators don’t think we can hasten the day by doing what we were told to do, and therefore, don’t have good ideas for translating Peter’s admonition.
• In response to a question about the end of the age, Jesus said that the good news about His Kingdom would be preached to all the nations (every “ethnos”) and then the end will come.

Preaching the Kingdom is not telling people how to avoid hell by getting born again. It is telling them there is a King Who has the wisdom and power to lead them into righteous lives, and the authority to judge their obedience to His instructions. We aren’t doing much of that. We are not hastening the day. We are delaying it.