Episode 21
2 Peter — Read the NT in 90 Days
What would you do if you knew your days were numbered? In this episode of Seek Go Create, we dive into 2 Peter—Peter’s farewell manifesto written from the heart of a burning Rome, urging believers to resist scoffers and live with purpose under the threat of persecution. Host Tim Winders unpacks the urgent wisdom, eyewitness testimony, and timeless hope found in Peter’s last letter. Join us as we explore how these ancient words still challenge and equip us to live ready today. If you’re seeking context, courage, and spiritual insight, this episode is a must-listen.
“Remember, resist the scoffers, and wait with holy lives.” - Tim Winders
Access all show and episode resources HERE
Episode Resources:
- NT90 Hub – This is the central website for the 90-day New Testament reading plan, with downloadable, printable plans, background information, and links to all episodes and resources.
Episode Highlights:
00:00 Peter’s Farewell Manifesto (2 Peter Intro)
01:06 Key Facts: Author, Date, Audience & Why It Matters
02:30 Rome After the Fire: Nero’s Persecution Ignites
03:57 Peter’s Imminent Martyrdom & Jesus’ Prophecy
05:32 Why 2 Peter Now: Urgent Themes You’ll Hear
07:45 Reading Plan + What’s Next (Titus)
08:28 Picture AD 64: Receiving Peter’s Final Letter
09:25 Final Charge: Promises Sure—Be Ready
Transcript
Peter's Farewell Manifesto.
Speaker:The city still smells like Ash from Nero's fire.
Speaker:Peter knows his time is short, and he writes one final word.
Speaker:Remember, resist the scoffers and wait with Holy Lives.
Speaker:This is Seek Go Create.
Speaker:You're listening to read the New Testament in 90 days, 27 books in order in context.
Speaker:We're walking through the New Testament, the way it was written, so you can hear it
Speaker:the way the first churches, the original.
Speaker:Audiences did so we can get it in context.
Speaker:Make sure you get the reading plan at K two M Foundation slash NT 90.
Speaker:There's a hub there with a bunch of great stuff.
Speaker:K two M Foundation slash NT 90 today.
Speaker:Stop.
Speaker:Second Peter final letter.
Speaker:From a man who knows he's about to die.
Speaker:We'll talk about that in just a moment.
Speaker:Let's talk about some key facts here.
Speaker:We know the author of this is Peter.
Speaker:There is some discussion about that.
Speaker:I will say it's somewhat bothersome to me that we question that because
Speaker:there are a few times in this letter where the author specifically says, I
Speaker:Peter, or calls himself Peter, and if we question that, then I think we start
Speaker:questioning quite a bit in our Bible.
Speaker:So I am putting this pretty firmly from my standpoint as Peter being the author.
Speaker:But many scholars will question that the date we believe it
Speaker:was written right at AD 64.
Speaker:I believe it makes a lot of sense to be right here in AD 64, the audience,
Speaker:it's believers facing false teachers and scoffers the setting 34 years
Speaker:past the resurrection, past that time that we know that Peter sat.
Speaker:On the beach with the risen Jesus Christ and was told to feed his sheep.
Speaker:He's doing that now with this letter Rome, the setting.
Speaker:Rome still, it is just recently burned and it still probably
Speaker:smells like ash from the fire.
Speaker:Peters martyrdom.
Speaker:Is imminent.
Speaker:You sense that you feel that the historical context, let's
Speaker:talk about Rome for a second.
Speaker:Two thirds of Rome has just burned rumors say that Nero watched the city
Speaker:burn while singing of Troy's fall.
Speaker:Some speculate that he actually set the fire so that he could
Speaker:rebuild portions of the city without having to get Senate approval.
Speaker:Whether that's true or not, the emperor needed someone to blame.
Speaker:And the Christians, this group of Christians were the easy
Speaker:targets, a strange sect accused of cannibalism and incest.
Speaker:Now, believers are being torn apart by dogs in the arena.
Speaker:Crucified set on fire to light Nero's Gardens at night.
Speaker:Real persecution is going on.
Speaker:Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, the temple is still intact and we know it's six
Speaker:years before that will be destroyed.
Speaker:The church, the fiery trial that Peter warned about in his
Speaker:first letter just recently.
Speaker:Has arrived.
Speaker:False teachers are multiplying, scoffers are mocking.
Speaker:Where is the promise of his coming?
Speaker:Here's the tension.
Speaker:Jesus told Peter how he would die.
Speaker:When you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and
Speaker:carry you where you do not want to go.
Speaker:That's from John 2118.
Speaker:The stretching of hands points to crucifixion.
Speaker:Peter has carried that knowledge for over 30 years now.
Speaker:Watching believers being crucified and burned in Nero's Gardens.
Speaker:He sees his own death approaching.
Speaker:A tradition says he'll be crucified, upside down, feeling unworthy
Speaker:to die the same way as his Lord.
Speaker:This isn't a surprise.
Speaker:It's what Jesus warned on the Mount of Olives back in Matthew 24.
Speaker:They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death from Matthew 24 9.
Speaker:The generation Jesus spoke of is living through it.
Speaker:Now where Peter writes from, we believe that Peter is in
Speaker:Rome, and he terms it Babylon.
Speaker:Remember that code?
Speaker:As we head into some of the other books, as we finish up the New Testament, you
Speaker:will hear the term Babylon, and that is the code for believers for Rome.
Speaker:You'll see that in one Peter five 13.
Speaker:Peter is in the heart of the empire watching believers die around him writing
Speaker:to scattered communities in Asia Minor.
Speaker:Why now Peter writes really a farewell, something they can
Speaker:return to after his departure.
Speaker:Remember, resist live.
Speaker:Ready, what we're going to encounter in two Peter.
Speaker:It's urgent and final, A dying man's charge.
Speaker:We'll hear about the Virtue Ladder.
Speaker:Supplement faith with virtue.
Speaker:Knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, love.
Speaker:We'll hear the eyewitness testimony.
Speaker:Peter was on the mountain.
Speaker:He heard the voice.
Speaker:This isn't myth.
Speaker:He was a. Witness, the prophetic word is confirmed.
Speaker:Pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.
Speaker:Peter encourages false teachers are exposed.
Speaker:Waterless springs mist driven by a storm promising freedom while enslaved.
Speaker:The scoffers are answered.
Speaker:Where?
Speaker:Is the promise of his coming.
Speaker:In chapter three, verse four, Peter's answer isn't be patient for
Speaker:thousands and thousands of years.
Speaker:It's the Lord is not slow, he is patient.
Speaker:Chapter three, verse nine, the day of the Lord will come like
Speaker:a thief, the same language that Jesus used on the Mount of Olives.
Speaker:And then we hear about the day of the Lord.
Speaker:The end of the age, the day of the Lord, Peter tells them to hasten.
Speaker:It's coming.
Speaker:Chapter three, verse 12.
Speaker:You don't hasten something that's thousands of years away.
Speaker:The end of the age is close.
Speaker:We now know within six years that temple will burn.
Speaker:Judgment will come.
Speaker:That is the day of the Lord that is imminent.
Speaker:For the audience of second Peter, Peter will be crucified within
Speaker:months, but before he dies, he writes, the promise is sure be ready.
Speaker:All right, you're gonna be reading second Peter over two sessions,
Speaker:chapters one and two, then three.
Speaker:And you know, I keep saying this, but try to read it all at once if you can.
Speaker:Maybe read it a couple of times, maybe out loud.
Speaker:What's next after this, we go to Titus Good Works that adorn the gospel,
Speaker:building healthy churches in hard places.
Speaker:Titus is a cool letter that Paul wrote to Titus on the island of Crete.
Speaker:Don't forget, make sure you're following along K two M Foundation slash NT 90.
Speaker:And before we read two Peter.
Speaker:Picture this.
Speaker:It's AD 64.
Speaker:You're in Capa Docia, one of the scattered communities Peter addressed
Speaker:in his first letter months ago.
Speaker:He wrote, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you.
Speaker:You wondered what he meant.
Speaker:Now you know, word has reached you from Rome.
Speaker:The city burned Nero blamed the believers.
Speaker:Christians are being torn apart by dogs in the arena.
Speaker:Crucified set on fire to light the Emperors Gardens at night, and
Speaker:now a second letter has arrived.
Speaker:Peter's handwriting his final words.
Speaker:You unroll the scroll.
Speaker:He writes of scoffers mocking the promise.
Speaker:He writes of the day of the Lord coming like a thief.
Speaker:He writes of new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
Speaker:Peter knows he's about to die.
Speaker:Jesus told him 30 years ago how it would end, but he's not writing in panic.
Speaker:He's writing with certainty the promises.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Be ready now.
Speaker:Let's read.
