Peter’s Faith in the Second Coming of Christ

Peter kept the hope of Christ’s return alive in his heart, and he assured the church that the Savior’s promise, “I will come again” (John 14:3), would certainly be fulfilled. His coming might seem to be delayed for a long time, but the apostle assured them, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (NRSV).ULe 196.2

“Since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”ULe 196.3

“Beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”ULe 196.4

Peter closed his ministry in Rome, where The emperor Nero ordered his imprisonment about the time of Paul’s final arrest. In this way the two apostles, for many years widely separated in their labors, were to bear their last witness for Christ in the world’s greatest city, and on its soil to shed their blood as the seed of an immense harvest of believers.ULe 196.5

Peter had faced danger bravely and had shown a noble courage in preaching a crucified, risen, and ascended Savior. As he lay in his cell, he called to mind Christ’s words: “When you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish” (John 21:18). Jesus had revealed ahead of time that the disciple’s hands would be stretched out on the cross.ULe 196.6

As a Jew and foreigner, Peter was condemned to be scourged and crucified. In looking ahead to this fearful death, the apostle remembered his sin in denying Jesus in the hour of His trial. Once he had been unready to acknowledge the cross, but now he counted it a joy to yield up his life for the gospel. Yet he felt that to die in the same way his Master had died was too great an honor. He had been forgiven by Christ, but he could never forgive himself. Nothing could lessen the bitterness of his sorrow and repentance. As a last favor he asked his executioners to nail him to the cross with his head downward. They granted this request, and so the great apostle Peter died in this way.ULe 196.7