Be Encouraged That the Lord Is “Not Slow to Fulfill His Promise”
Share
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
The Bible is the best interpreter of itself, and when we come across passages which confound us, we first need to see what else Scripture has to say about the matter. 2 Peter 3:9 has proven to be a confusing verse to many, but we will investigate God’s Word for the correct interpretation of this verse. What does 2 Peter 3:9 mean?
What Is the Context of 2 Peter 3:9?
To better understand the verse, we need to examine the context of the passage, starting with 1 Peter.
In his first letter, Peter wrote encouragement to his readers who underwent suffering and persecution (1 Peter 1:6-7; 2:18-20; 3:9, 13-17; 4:1-4, 12-19; 5:9). Peter called the long-suffering believers to look toward Christ’s return with the hope of being proven in their faithfulness. He exhorted them to remain true to the Lord Christ in the midst of such hardship.
Peter highlights who these believers are in Christ, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). No matter how secular society viewed them, they were called by God for His purposes, and just as Jesus lived a life of righteousness, they were to follow His example. As such, they were to live righteous lives in the presence of others so their opponents would see their godly behavior and perhaps be won to the faith.
Since this is Peter’s second letter to his audience (1 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 3:1), he was probably writing from his prison cell in Rome (2 Peter 1:12-15) to the exiled believers (1 Peter 1:1; 2:11) in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
2 Peter follows the encouragement of the first letter with warnings to the believers against false teachers and to practice godliness as they anticipate Christ’s return. They were hit with remonstrances from unbelievers who sought to bring doubt with questions such as, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3:4). Peter reminded his audience of the words of the prophets who said, “scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires” (2 Peter 3:3).
The environment in which the believers lived was full of the false teachers’ heresies, greed, sensuality, lust, wicked actions, and rejection of God’s authority (2 Peter 2:1-22). These false teachers promised freedom but instead were slaves to their sinful desires. The CEV renders 2 Peter 2:3 as, “Those false teachers only want your money, so they will use you by telling you lies. Their judgment spoken against them long ago is still coming, and their ruin is certain.” Our environment reeks of the same sinful actions by false teachers.
Peter confronted the false teachings with the truth of God’s character (2 Peter 2:4-10a), the absolute authority of Christ, the veracity of God’s Word, the authority of the apostles’ words (2 Peter 1:16-21), and the last things to come.
What Does This Verse Mean?
The immediate context of this last chapter of 2 Peter has to do with the last days, especially the Day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:3, 10). The exiled elect were anxiously waiting for the Lord to return, and some had lost hope, especially amid the persecution and scoffing they endured. Just as we long for vindication for our faithful obedience, so too did they.
Peter urges the believers to remember what the prophets said throughout the Old Testament and the command of the Lord Jesus (the Gospel) as given through the apostles (2 Peter 3:2).
Let’s start with the first part of the verse, “The Lord is not slow (to fulfill His promise) as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,” (parentheses added).
1. “The Lord is not slow… as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,”
In 2 Peter 3:8, the verse which immediately precedes our key verse, Peter says, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
What does this mean but time — all time — is according to the Lord. Time did not exist until God created the sun and the moon (Genesis 1:16; Psalm 104:19). God Himself is timeless, and all moments are as the present to Him. Christianity.com writer Alyssa Roat explains, “He (God) is simultaneously in the past, present, and future. When He tells what is to come, He isn’t making a prediction; He is already there” (John 4:24; Revelation 1:8).
Slowness is a subjective condition, and God is not subjective regarding humans, nor does He show partiality (Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11). God is accountable to no one’s idea of what His timing should be because He alone is the Lord, and He is perfect and holy (Leviticus 18:4; 2 Samuel 22:31; Revelation 6:10). Trusting Him is an obedient action.
As an example, in Malachi 4:5, the Lord spoke through His prophet, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” When? The prophet did not utter words of when; he spoke the words God gave him. Four hundred years of silence followed Malachi’s pronouncement, and no word came from the Lord during that time between the Old and New Testament times.
What the people were left with was the prophecy, “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (Malachi 4:5). That was according to God’s timing, and while the people waited, the political landscape changed and the Jewish people formed the Pharisees and Sadducees and built on their tradition.
Through all of history, we see God’s patience displayed. In the Garden of Eden, God could have wiped out the first humans because of their sin, but He initiated His plan of redemption by His promise to Adam and Eve (and all humankind) (Genesis 3:15). All of Scripture points to Christ, and history will be culminated in His return. God was patient with the rebellious Israelites, the men He used to bear the good seed, men whose lives were touched by God as lessons for us (Job, Jonah, etc.), and with Jesus’ disciples as they walked with Him for three years on this earth. Peter held all of this history and relayed the truth of God’s character to his readers.
2. “to fulfill His promise…”
This parenthetical phrase speaks of God’s character. What God promises, God fulfills.
Our Bible’s New Testament begins with Matthew. Matthew launches his Gospel with the supreme fulfillment of God’s promises, the genealogy and birth of Christ (Matthew 1:1-25), an immediate look back at His lineage and a look forward as He is described as the long-awaited Messiah (Isaiah 7:14). God’s promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
As we saw, God’s timing is perfect according to His standards, not ours, and it’s His standards which matter.
Why Do We Sometimes Think God Is Slow?
Our view of God and His timing is from a human perspective. Most of us have been conditioned to a fast-paced life, from daily activities to our needs and wants, we want it all now. Waiting, therefore, is hard.
God’s promises are the height of excitement for us because we know He will bring about what He says He will do.
Yet, we grow weary of this sin-sick world, where society has skewed God’s moral principles beyond recognition. Babies are murdered. Children are not only permitted but are encouraged to change genders. Wicked lifestyles are plastered on media outlets as entertainment at least and an example to be followed at most. The devil is hard at work seeking people to devour (1 Peter 5:8). He is a liar from the beginning (John 8:44) and he knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12)
Christians have the peace of Jesus within them, but we long for a peaceful world as soon as possible. We must trust God to enact His will in His perfect time.
What Does the Second Part of 2 Peter 3:9 Mean?
2 Peter 3:9b tells us, (God) “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Since chapter 3 is about the coming Day of the Lord, judgment is at hand. The church Peter writes to in his epistles was in what we would say were dire straits. They longed for the Lord to return to institute His kingdom on earth and exact vengeance on His enemies (2 Peter 3:7). They were under severe persecution and feared they would perish before He returned.
Peter explained God was not acting in reluctance or slowness to save them; He was being patient in His dispositional will. In a long yet well-defined article on God’s will, Dr. R. C. Sproul clarifies, “We should understand God's will as it is discussed in 2 Peter 3:8–9 as describing His will of disposition. Here, Peter speaks about God's will through anthropomorphic expressions that describe God’s will and affections in a manner that we can understand by describing them in a way analogous to our experience. In this way, "God does not delight in the death of the wicked — He doesn't get some great, personal thrill out of sending people to hell, even though He wills to do it." He is just, and must serve His justice.
How Do We See God's Patience and Love in This Verse?
God knows who belong to Him in Jesus Christ and who will be His (Matthew 24:22, 24, 31; Luke 18:7). There will come a day of reckoning for the wicked when God will judge and condemn those who have refused His Son. That time and action does not belong to sinful man; it rightfully belongs to our sovereign Lord.
We petition our merciful God to make everything right, and we are eager to see “His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). As of this writing, more will be added to the Lamb’s Book of Life, for when the work of men as the Lord’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) is finished (according to God’s timetable), Jesus will return and judge.
All who are elect will be saved and ushered into eternity with Christ. Those who are not will be forever in hell, apart from the goodness of God (Matthew 13:47-50). When we think of when we came to the Lord in repentance and faith and surrendered to Him, we are reminded of God’s patience with us and thankful for His everlasting love (Psalm 103:17).
How Does this Verse Encourage Us in Our Daily Walk?
Just as Peter reminded his audience to remember what the prophets, Jesus, and His apostles said, we can immerse ourselves in the Bible and read about God’s provision, protection, and fulfilled promises. All Scripture is for our use and betterment (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and through the Holy Spirit we are able to understand (1 Corinthians 2:1-16; 2 Peter 1:21), exalt (Psalm 34:3), and glorify the Lord (Psalm 86:12) when we obey His commands (2 Peter 3:2).
We thank God for His patience with us as we are being sanctified and conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). We reflect His goodness when we display patience with others within and outside the church. As Peter spoke of his audience’s godliness perhaps winning some to the Lord, so too God may use our walk with Christ to spur others to repent in faith and to love and obey Him.
Christians all over the world undergo persecution, some to very small degrees of censure when families, friends, and/or others mock our faith. And Christians in countries either politically ruled or culturally driven by false religions may suffer torment and even death.
Peter’s message to persevere and remain steadfast in our hope mimics Christ’s magnificent promise, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Amen.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/PIKSEL
