Peter: Legacy - 2 Peter 3:8-14

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One day, near the end of a long and busy life, Peter paused.  

He paused long enough to put pen to paper, and record for future people, things that he had been saying all along, face to face with believers. Things he’d been preaching on street corners, debating in marketplaces and in courtrooms and in jail cells, and discussing at dinner tables. He knew he needed to put these things on paper because he knew that he was running out of time. He chose to leave behind these letters... 

...Because I know that this tent will soon be laid aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to ensure that after my departure, you will be able to recall these things at all times. 1 Peter 1:14-15

He sat still long enough to write down the truth he'd been given. Long enough to define his legacy for future believers. Long enough to look forward, and to look back.  

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The Future: 

A significant part of Peter's legacy to us in 2025 is the person of John Mark.  

As we understand it, John Mark was younger than Peter. They would have met decades ago in Jerusalem, possibly on that last day: the day before Jesus was killed.  

We commonly understand that the house where the Last Supper was shared belonged to John Mark's mother, Mary. Given that, it seems likely that on that evening, after that meal, when Jesus and the disciples went out and headed down towards the garden of Gethsemane, John Mark tagged along. He was there when Jesus was arrested.  

When he saw what was happening, he tried to run away. There's a funny little note in Mark's gospel about an unnamed man who, in his desperation to escape the Romans, tore away so fast he left his tunic hanging in the guard's hand (Mark 14:51-52). We understand that Mark was talking about himself.  

Mark’s cousin Barnabas was a significant leader in the early Church: the courageous man who introduced the previously hostile Saul of Tarsus (now becoming the apostle Paul) to the apostles Peter and James, creating a bridge that has been a great gift to the church.  

Mark's mother Mary's house became a hub for the Church in Jerusalem where people gathered and prayed together, and that's probably where Mark met Paul.  

Barnabas, Paul, and Mark teamed up, setting out from Jerusalem to preach Christ's good news. They visited a bunch of places and travelled around, but then... something went wrong. We don't know what, but we do know that at some point in that journey, Mark bailed. He left. He went home.  

Whatever that conflict was, it impacted the next journey planned by Paul and Barnabas. Barnabas wanted to bring Mark along. Paul said, ‘Absolutely not. I am not traveling with him again.’ Which created two teams: Paul and Silas, Barnabas and Mark. 

Whatever went wrong between Mark and Paul, eventually something went right. They were reconciled. Paul writes in his letters, ‘Hey, you guys. Mark is with me and he says to say hi.’ When Paul is in jail in Rome, he writes in another letter, ‘Can you please send Mark to me? He is such a help. I want to have him with me.’  

So Mark found himself in Rome in the last days of Peter's and of Paul's life. He worked with them. He heard them preach. He paid attention. He took notes.  

Another ancient writer (whose historical perspective we find helpful) is named Papias, a Church leader around the year 100 AD. 

Papias writes this:  

John Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not necessarily in order, everything that Peter remembered of the things said and done by Christ. Mark neither heard the Lord nor followed Him, but afterward followed Peter. Mark committed no error while he thus wrote some things as Peter remembered them. He was careful of one thing: to not omit any of the things that he had heard, and to not state any of them falsely.

This younger man, who Peter called “my son,” preserved for us Peter's voice, and his experience of walking with Christ. Mark gave us our first portrait of Jesus, blending the details of a biography with the depth of Christ’s teaching as it intersected with His life. 

Nobody had really done that before, so that when Matthew and Luke started writing their own accounts, they used Mark's as a starting place. 

Matthew filled out more and different details. Luke applied Mark’s template to his own account of events and teachings. But it all started with Mark.  

And Mark's writing is entirely based on Peter's remembrance.  

When Peter looked forward, wondering what his legacy is would be, he couldn’t possibly have imagined what we hold in our hands as the gospel of Mark. The gift it is to us, and how much weight it carries. 

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The Past: 

We cannot ignore Peter’s connection to his people’s past. 

In the same way that Mark's Holy Spirit-inspired work was part of Peter's legacy, Peter's own ministry was the legacy of the generations who had come before him. Generations who had themselves been Holy Spirit-filled and Holy Spirit-inspired, as they wrote about what ancient believers called ‘The Day of the Lord,’ and what we today call the second coming of Christ.  

Coming back to our scripture focus for this week, let's look at it verse-by-verse: 

2 Peter 3:8  

• In this verse, Peter is echoing the words of Holy Spirit-inspired Moses, writing 1400 years before Peter. 

For in your sight, Lord, a thousand years are but a day that passes or just a watch of the night. Psalm 90:4 

2 Peter 3:9

• Peter is echoing the prophecies of Holy Spirit-inspired Habakkuk, who lived 600 years in Peter's own past.  

...for the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie.  Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3 

2 Peter 3:10 

• Peter is echoing the words of Holy Spirit-inspired Isaiah, writing 700 years before.  

All the stars of heaven will be dissolved and the skies will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their stars will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like foliage from a fig tree. Isaiah 34:4 

2 Peter 3:11-12

• Peter is echoing the words of Holy Spirit-inspired Malachi, writing 400 years before.  

But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? He will be like a refiner's fire, like a launderer's soap, and he will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.  Malachi 3:2-3

2 Peter 3:13

Peter is echoing again the words of Holy Spirit-inspired Isaiah.  

For behold, says the Lord, I will create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, and nor will they come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. Isaiah 65:17-18

 2 Peter 3:14  

Peter is echoing the words of Holy Spirit-inspired David, writing a thousand years before Christ was born.  

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, and who does not lift up their soul to an idol. Psalm 24:3-4

All through this letter, Holy Spirit-inspired Peter has been echoing the words of Holy Spirit-sending Jesus.  

...The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything that I have told you. John 14:26

Peter is not making stuff up. He is not riffing. He is not innovating and looking for new ideas. He's not looking for the twist that nobody's ever noticed before.  

Holy Spirit-inspired Peter is reminding all Holy Spirit-filled believers (from John Mark on down to you and me) of what we have already been told. Jesus and His Spirit have already told us: 

• That we are citizens of His kingdom,  
• That we are children of His family,  
• That we are empowered to do His work,  
• That we are deputized to speak His good news,  
• That we are commanded to disciple each other in this faith. 

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Peter took this time to sit still long enough to look forward and to look back, as we all ought to do from time to time. But there was something unique about Peter's perspective. Something Peter knew that no one else has ever actually known: that Jesus was going to return, but he himself was not going to see it happen.  

Perhaps as he came closer to the end of his life, as he felt ‘this tent’ starting to fall away, maybe he began to understand that it better and better. He had seen how other believers had died, he had seen how Christ Himself had died, and he knew that death awaited him.  

Looking back now just three decades to what Jesus said to him that morning on the beach after Jesus' resurrection. Before Jesus’ return to eternity.  

Truly, truly I tell you, when you were young, Peter, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. John 21:18 

Holy Spirit-inspired John includes for us this explanation:  

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. John 21:19 

Believers everywhere were looking forward to Jesus' return.

Peter knew that he was going to honour God in his death.  

So how did Peter process that? How do you come to terms with that? How do you live a life of faithfulness, knowing that you're not going to see what everyone else has the hope of seeing: Jesus’ return to earth in glory?  

What was Peter’s response? It was the same as what he told us ours should be.  

As we look back on the example of Peter’s life, we see him living in the way that he tells us to live.  

Peter’s final recorded words (was he speaking to us... or to himself?):

Beloved—dear friends—you already know these things. So be on guard, and then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people. You will not lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and the knowledge of our lord Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:17-18 

Peter's own response to Jesus' demands on him, to the working of the Holy Spirit in his life, was to recognize that he knows what he needs to know. To live his life on guard. Being mindful and self-aware. He was not led away by error, and he did not lose his footing. He grew in grace. He grew in the knowledge of Christ. 

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He lived out of the legacy of those who came before him, and he prepared the ground for the generations to come.

Because Holy Spirit-filled Peter, Holy Spirit-leaning Peter, understood that it's all about Jesus.

Now and forever.

Amen. 

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