2 Timothy 3:1-9 English Standard Version (ESV)

Godlessness in the Last Days

3 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. ⁶ For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, ⁷ always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. ⁹ But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

I was tempted to modify verse 6 were Paul identifies “weak women” because the truth is that all of us can be misled if we are not careful. So often I read this chapter of 2 Timothy and I am drawn into the long list of behaviors of people who act out primarily because they love themselves. At the end of the list are some telling words that contradict the preceding list, they appear to be godly.

How could anyone perceive people that demonstrated that long list of abuses as godly? Perhaps that is because we who see this as a contradiction are not misled. We see those abuses and must resist the temptation to scream out “the end is near”. The truth is that Christians have been looking for Christ’s return since the first century. Abuses noted have occurred before and continue. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun.

That list and the associated timing can be something to mislead us if we do not focus on the truth.

Our call to spread the gospel and make disciples must increase if we believe the end is near.

Numbers 20:12 English Standard Version (ESV) And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

We will see this again, we have seen it in our generations. Leaders for various reasons disobey God’s command and lose their position and influence over flock. Sad but true and it just means they are human. Perhaps it is hard to be humble when so many people trust you and depend on you to lead them. I say you in the generic sense because I am not a leader. My readers may not be leaders now but God has plans for all of us.

Learn the lessons of past leaders and why they went astray. Moses struck the rock twice when told to speak to it to receive water. That does not seem like a big thing to many but God sees things differently. The Rock was a representative symbol of His Son Jesus Christ. He had been struck once and now Moses strikes Him again. The reference passages appear thousands of years later but for God it happened there and then at Meribah.

Hebrews 6:4-6 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴ For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Then remember also that the water still flowed at Meribah and Moses continued to lead Israel to the promise land but he himself did not enter into the inheritance.