One of the oddest parts of the Olivet Prophecy, at least from a cursory reading, is when Jesus warned his four Apostles, who were with him on Mount Olivet, not to go after false christs (Mark 13:21-23). How could he think the Twelve would ever reject him and go after another? Nevertheless, in his second epistle Peter mentions folks, whom he refers to as scoffers. They were men not claiming to be Christ, per se, but they came in Jesus’ name (cp. Mark 13:5-6) wanting to rule over the Lord’s elect. That is, they sought to get Jesus’ followers to believe and follow them. They named Jesus as the Messiah, but they wanted the Messiah’s power and influence over the elect.
There was a real danger of Jesus’ own Apostles being deceived by these people (cp. Galatians 2:11-13), called scoffers by Peter (2Peter 3:3), for they sought to deny the fact that Jesus intended to judge Jerusalem, destroying both the nation and the Temple. Notice:
“Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2Peter 3:4, emphasis mine).
Notice that the scoffers put creation after the time the fathers fell asleep. This being so, how could they be speaking of **the** creation of Genesis 1:1? It seems, therefore, the scoffers were Judaizers, false christs or the many, who came in Jesus’ name in order to deceive (Mark 13:5-6, 21-23). The fathers who fell asleep, then, were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It logically follows that the creation that came afterward would have been the beginning of the Old Covenant, when Abraham’s descendants were made into a nation. Understanding this also adds meaning to the term new creation (2Corinthians 5:17). In other words, anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. That is, he has entered into the New Covenant (cp. Jeremiah 31:31), and all things are made new (2Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5). This is what the false christs preach against. They want to prolong the Old Covenant even into our own day, saying the Law of Moses is still in effect. These false prophets claim there is prophecy yet to be fulfilled, a new Temple must be built in Jerusalem and all things weren’t fulfilled in Christ.
The key to understanding these things is the end of the age (Matthew 24:3) was actually the end of the Jewish age (Deuteronomy 31:29; 32:28-29) or the end of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:13). The prophet Malachi predicted the coming of John the Baptist, who was to herald the coming of the Lord, Jesus (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 17:10-13). Malachi also predicted the judgment that would follow (Malachi 4:1). This was to be covenantal judgment, which must occur before the Old Covenant was put away and the New Covenant established. Although both covenants were in effect during the Apostles’ ministry (31 AD to 66 AD) only the New Covenant would survive the end of the age. Thus, the Law of Moses couldn’t have been destroyed or nailed the cross, as some say, early in the first century AD. It ended in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in covenantal judgment, the very thing the false christs, also referred to as scoffers in Peter’s second epistle, preached against, and men like them, today, want to rebuild what the Lord has destroyed in judgment!.
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