Main Idea:  Believers persevere knowing that Jesus will return.

Believing the Biblical Evidence that Jesus Will Return

• 1, 2  This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,
  • 2 Peter 1:19–21
  • Isaiah 13:10–13
  • Micah 1:3, 4
  • Zechariah 14:3-5
  • Matthew 16:27
  • 1 Corinthians 15:23, 24
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:14–16

Withstanding the Scoffers Who Insist Jesus Will Not Return

• 3, 4 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
  • Matthew 24:3–5
  • Jude 17, 18

Trusting in the Lord’s Providential Work from Creation to the Return of Jesus

• 5–7 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
  • Psalm 75:2–8

So What?

• The certainty of Jesus’ return provides fuel for our perseverance until our faith becomes sight.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:6–9

Definitions

• Providence: The continual action of God in preserving his creation and guiding it toward his intended purposes.