2 Peter 2:17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
In the sixties and seventies the rock bands had what were called “groupies,” an odd collection of people who flocked around the stars themselves. They were enamored by the stars and the fame they had received, and they wanted to be a part of the action. They would do almost anything to get close, and many did compromise in order to be close!
These groupies didn’t have any of the actual fame and fortune of the stars. They couldn’t sing or play as the stars did. The three chords were too difficult to master! And few could scream or get their hair to look like the stars, although they tried.
This secondary layer of people were not the stars. They only signaled that the stars were around the area that the stars existed. Kind of like the paparazzi of today’s stars. Where the cameras with large zoom lenses are pointing, that is where the celebrities of our day exist.
Our text speaks of a secondary layer of teacher in this early stage of the Church. They weren’t actually affected by the Gospel. Their lives had not been permanently changed. But they were close to the action.
And since they weren’t actually changed by the Gospel, their knowledge was non-tangible. And it seems as though they didn’t want actual knowledge, but only to be around the Truth.
The author uses two pictures to help us understand this lack of firsthand transformation. He writes that they were springs without water. When a spring dries up, you can still tell there was a spring there. At one point in time, water flowed bringing refreshment.
But it no longer had that ability to refresh. It was a hollow promise, a hope with no substance. Those who went to the spot would leave disappointed and thirsty.
The other picture is of the mists driven by a storm. The storm has power; the mist is just the tagalong remnants. The mist has no power in itself. Going for the mist as a means to gain power will end up with misty hands, but nothing more.
And apparently, these people were leading others down this path of emptiness and disappointment. It was bad enough for they themselves to be deceived, but to lead others into that darkness was far worse.
Many people start a diet with great hope, but then learn that the diet they have chosen is not what they wanted or needed. So if they start promoting the diet based on their lack of success, they are leading others to not reach their weight loss goals. Their promotion is an empty one.
The outcome of these false teachers is not a reward. “Blackest darkness” does not sound too appealing. And thus the warning and appeal. These people are not to be trusted or followed.
Are you looking in the wrong place for fulfillment of our spiritual thirst? Are we attempting to grasp a mist in an attempt to satisfy our thirst? Only the well of living water can satisfy. Jesus!
The Arnold Journey 