Remember That He’ll Be Back

Peter first asserts that God has sovereignly manipulated his creation in the past to accomplish his purposes. He starts with this subject and spends the most time on it for two reasons: it’s foundational for the other reminders, and it’s the aspect of God’s nature that the scoffers most obviously overlooked. There was a fundamental flaw in the scoffers’ worldview, and it came about by their own willful decision to ignore the teachings of the prophets and apostles (see v. 2). The phrase “they deliberately overlook” (v. 5) syntactically makes more sense if the word “this” is the object of the clause. And since the word “overlook” is best translated “maintain,” the idea is “When maintaining this, they overlook the fact . . .” (Bauckham, 2 Peter, 297). The word “this” refers back to verse 4—the scoffers forgot something crucial when they maintained that God doesn’t intervene in the natural order of his creation. Peter has charged believers to remember what was said by the prophets and apostles when formulating our position on the second coming. The scoffers obviously forgot some important facts when formulating theirs (Schreiner, 1 and 2 Peter, 375).

But what exactly did they forget? Peter points out that the scoffers overlook that the sovereign hand of God actually has interrupted chaos with order and interrupted order with chaos several times before in history. And that track record suggests he’ll do it again in the future. The bottom line is that it’s foolish to suggest that things have stayed the same throughout history and that they will stay the same in the future. The scoffers “mistake was to forget the laws of nature are God’s laws; their predictability springs from his faithfulness” (M. Green, 2 Peter, 151). So Peter proposes that because God intervened cosmologically at creation (v. 5) and at the flood (v. 6), he surely can be expected to do it again when Christ returns (v. 7).

God first brought the order of creation out of the chaos of a water-covered cosmos (cf. Gen 1:1-2). Peter says, “The heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about from water and through water” (v. 5). When he says the earth was formed “through water,” he’s obviously drawing from the Genesis 1 account where watery chaos covered the earth. God brought order to this chaos by making the sky to separate the waters above and the waters below (Gen 1:6-8). And the waters on earth were allocated in such a way that dry ground came into existence (Gen 1:9-10). The scoffers apparently ignored this early creation account of God’s interrupting what had been the natural, albeit chaotic, order.

They also had a memory lapse about when God later messed up the orderliness of his creation by flooding the earth during Noah’s day (cf. Gen 7). Peter says, “The world of that time perished when it was flooded” (v. 6). God even used the same substance that brought order to the world—water—to destroy it! The wording of this verse implies that the flood wasn’t merely a natural disaster, but it was God’s judgment on the world. It was a foretaste of what God will do when Christ comes in final judgment. Nonetheless, it was another example of how God has interrupted the creative order for his sovereign purposes. This fact conveniently had slipped the scoffers’ minds. While certainly much has been the same since creation, there hasn’t been full continuity. We’re actually in the second age of the world, an age that began after the flood when God restrained chaos and reset the world to its original order (Davids, Letters, 271).

After demonstrating that God’s sovereign hand has interrupted the routine of history several times, Peter then declares that he will do it again at Christ’s return (v. 7). God’s judgment through the flood set the precedent for another age to begin when he judges the earth with fire. Like the original creation, this demarcation between ages will involve “the present heavens and earth,” which “are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” Instead of using water, this time God will use fire because he promised after the flood not to destroy the world with water again (cf. Gen 9:11-17).

This is the only place in the Bible we’re told the world will be destroyed by fire. However, the Old Testament often associates fire with enforcing judgment and even makes some references to that happening at the end of the world (e.g., Deut 32:22; Ps 97:3; Isa 30:30; 66:15-16; Ezek 38:22; Amos 7:4; Zeph 1:18; Mal 4:1). While the fiery destructions in the Old Testament refer to the destiny of people as opposed to the cosmos, Peter doesn’t seem to separate the two. The “day of the Lord,” as it was often called in the Old Testament, will be the day of judgment and the day of destruction for the ungodly. When it comes, it will be too late for the false teachers to realize and correct their oversight that God does in fact sovereignly interrupt the general order in creation (Schreiner, 1 and 2 Peter, 377–78).

One more important note should be made about God’s sovereign activity in these verses. His “holy interruption” comes about by the power of his word. This truth shows up in all three of these verses. Peter points out that “by the word of God the heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about” (v. 5), and “through these” same divine words he brought about the flood that destroyed the earth (v. 6). Furthermore, “by the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire” (v. 7). The truth of the matter is that any order that’s ever been in this world has been due to the word of God (cf. Ps 75:3; Col 1:17; Heb 1:3). Truly, God’s sovereign activity throughout history at the very least should have made the catastrophic events surrounding Christ’s return a strong possibility for the gospel detractors.

Peter’s treatment of the remainder of God’s attributes that counter the scoffers is marked by two qualities. First is his appeal for Christians to not “overlook” these attributes of God like the scoffers were doing (see v. 5). He knew we would be susceptible to forget since we live under pressure from false teachers who will always argue that too much time has elapsed for the promise of Christ’s return to be credible. The second quality is another expression of Peter’s pastoral heart for his readers. Again he calls us “dear friends” (agapetoi; cf. 3:1,14,17) because he wants us to remember that he’s speaking from a sincerely burdened heart for our well-being.

In 3:8 Peter specifically puts on the table God’s boundless nature regarding time in order to dispute the scoffers’ argument. He draws on Psalm 90:4 to remind his readers that—because God is omniscient and omnipresent—he views all time as equally near. He urges us not to overlook the fact that “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” Peter likely had been accused of appealing to the relativity of time to justify the delay in Christ’s coming. But Michael Green points out that he actually was just leaning on Jewish exegesis of the psalm passage—“with thee the hours are as the ages, and the days are as the generations” (M. Green, 2 Peter, 157; see 2 Baruch 48.12–13). God’s eternal nature is being contrasted in the verse with the temporal nature of human beings. Marking time is irrelevant to him because he transcends it. So, if the passing of time doesn’t diminish God in any way, and if he transcends time so that its passing doesn’t affect who he is, then we shouldn’t be concerned about any perceived delay of Christ’s return (Schreiner, 1 and 2 Peter, 379–80).

Like all New Testament writers, Peter believed Christ was coming soon. But he wisely refused to put a date on it. He was willing to live in the tension between the nearness of our Lord’s coming and the uncertainty about when it would happen. He was OK knowing that God isn’t bound by time like we are and, therefore, relates to it differently than we do. Consequently, even now the seeming delay in Christ’s return isn’t proof that it won’t actually occur. After all, if to God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day, then it’s only been a couple of days since he was here the first time!

Some of the scoffers apparently were saying the delay in Christ’s return was evidence that God made a promise he can’t keep. Peter rebuts by suggesting that instead of the delay being evidence of God’s unfaithfulness, it’s actually evidence of his mercy. He says, “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you.” Here Peter reaches back specifically to the promise of Christ’s coming mentioned in verse 4 but also to the general assurance of his “very great and precious promises” in 1:4. Against that backdrop he draws an implication from 3:8 that if God doesn’t mark time like we do, then it’s obvious that he’s not slow about keeping his promise (cf. Hab 2:3). The phrase “as some understand delay” is best understood as a reference to the false teachers (Moo, 2 Peter, 187). Peter appeals to believers not to misunderstand the seeming “delay” of Christ’s return like those guys are doing.

In contrast to God’s being slow to keep his promise, Peter asserts that he’s actually “patient with you.” God’s patient and long-suffering nature is a common theme in the Bible. It was part of his self-revelation to Israel: “The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth” (Exod 34:6). Moses appealed to this quality when he prayed for God to forgive Israel: “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion” (Num 14:18). This aspect of God’s nature was so prevalent that Jonah even complained about it to justify his desertion: “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster” (Jonah 4:2). Similar to his patience, the Bible contains numerous references to God’s being “slow to anger,” represented in the Septuagint by the same Greek root as the word used here in 2 Peter 3:9 (e.g., Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Pss 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; 4:2; Nah 1:3). Furthermore, God considers his long-suffering nature so crucial that he requires it of his children, who are to be like their Father (cf. 2 Cor 6:6; Gal 5:22; Eph 4:2; Col 1:11; 3:12; 1 Tim 3:10; 4:2; Heb 6:12). “One cannot properly claim to follow a Father who is patient and slow to anger if one is herself impatient and quick to anger” (Davids, Letters, 279).

However, God’s patience isn’t without redemptive motive. He’s patient, Peter says, because he’s “not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” God’s patience as a means of provoking repentance also is a familiar biblical concept (cf. Joel 2:12-13; Rom 2:4). Instead of casting doubt on his promise, God’s seeming delay actually highlights his heart! His waiting isn’t due to his impotence but to his mercy. Ironically, what the false teachers were using as an argument against God’s promise was the very thing that should have led them to repentance!

Don’t miss the fact that God desires people to repent because the stakes are so high. Peter says that he’s “not wanting any to perish.” The word “perish” (apolesthai ) typically refers to eternal punishment, and here it contrasts with the word “repentance” (metanoia), which is necessary for eternal life. Peter wants believers to remember that what’s at stake here is God’s desire for people to be saved from his wrath that results in hell! He says God is not wanting any to experience that end. The word “wanting” isn’t a word indicating mere preference, like I might want a certain gift at Christmas. Instead, it expresses a conscious choice in which God desires that not one person would perish under his judgment but that all would come to repentance (cf. 1 Tim 2:4). That includes the scoffers! Mistaking God’s patience for incapacity or impotence is a grave error with eternal consequences.

Before leaving this attribute of God’s mercy, we must acknowledge here another mysterious tension in which believers are called to live. Does God’s desire that not “any” should perish but that “all” should repent mean that his will is for everyone without any exception to repent? Or does it reflect his displeasure in the perishing of some even though he decrees it as such (see Ezek 18:32)? We find a similar debate over the reference to “everyone” in 1 Timothy 2:4, where Paul says God “wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” As we’re all aware, many people push back on the idea that God ordains that only some will be saved, citing both Peter and Paul. Others, however, wholeheartedly embrace the idea based on other biblical texts (e.g., John 6:37,44-45,65; 10:16,26; Acts 13:48; Rom 8:29-30; 9:1-23; Eph 1:4-5,11).^[1] But to debate that here is to miss the point of God’s mercy. It is

better to live with the tension and mystery of the text than to swallow it up in a philosophical system that pretends to understand all of God’s ways. God’s patience and his love are not illusions, but neither do they remove his sovereignty. (Schreiner, 1 and 2 Peter, 382–83)

This verse contains wonderful—yet urgent—news for those who are without Christ. God as merciful is manifested in his patience with people to repent of sin, trust Jesus to save them, and thereby avoid the eternal condemnation of God. The absence of his appearing is not the result of unfaithfulness on his part. It’s not due to some inability or inadequacy that he has. And it’s certainly not an indication that he’s not coming at all. It’s because he’s waiting . . . and he’s waiting for those who have yet to believe. The apostle Paul asked, “Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” (Rom 2:4). We must plead with unbelievers not to presume on his kindness but to know that he’s being patient because he loves them and desires them to repent and trust Jesus today!

Peter completes his response to the scoffers by reminding us that God is a righteous judge and he will bring about what is just and fair. The announcement that “the day of the Lord” is coming closes the loop Peter formed in 2:3-10, specifically when he said of the false teachers, “Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep” (2:3), and God knows how “to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment” (2:9). In the Bible the day of the Lord culminates “the last days,” or the time between Jesus’s first and second comings. It’s marked by the catastrophic and extraordinary intervention of God in history for the purposes of decisive judgment against his enemies and gracious salvation of his people.

A quick glance at the whole of 3:10, however, indicates that Peter primarily has condemnation in mind (Moo, 2 Peter, 189). The testimony of Scripture is that the day of the Lord will culminate in God’s final judgment of the wicked on earth and the destruction of the universe as we know it. The Old Testament prophets saw it as a day of unparalleled darkness and damnation when the Lord will utterly destroy his enemies, vindicate his name, reveal his glory, and establish his kingdom (Isa 2:10-21; 13:6-22; Joel 1–2; Amos 5; Obad 15; Zeph 1:7-18; Zech 14; Mal 4). The New Testament references are no less weighty in describing it as a dramatic, awesome, and fearful event (cf. Matt 24:29-31; 2 Thess 2:2).

The warning that this day of God’s justice “will come like a thief” reflects the unexpected nature of the timing of Christ’s coming and the unpreparedness of people to face God’s judgment (cf. Matt 24:43; Luke 12:39). The arrival of this terrible day won’t be accompanied by any more warning than that of a midnight burglar who comes by stealth to rifle through your belongings while you sleep. Using the same image, Jesus warned his hearers to prepare for this sudden arrival:

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matt 24:42-44 ESV; cf. Rev 3:3; 16:15)

Paul picked up the same simile, saying the day of the Lord will happen when people least expect it and are least prepared for it:

For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thess 5:2-3)

Circumstances will say otherwise, supposed “signs of the times” won’t be sufficient, and false teachers will be proclaiming that all is well. But the day of the Lord will come, and it will come without warning. And because people won’t see it coming, they won’t prepare for it.

Peter then reminds his readers of what they knew from the Old Testament as well as from their Lord: the day of Lord will come with dramatic and catastrophic effect! Isaiah prophesied that it will be a day when “all the stars in the sky will dissolve. The sky will roll up like a scroll, and its stars will all wither as leaves wither on the vine, and foliage on the fig tree” (Isa 34:4; cf. Isa 13:10-13; 24:19; 64:1-4; 66:16; Mic 1:4). Jesus described it as a time when “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matt 24:29), and he declared that “heaven and earth will pass away” (Matt 24:35). He also said, “Then there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and there will be anguish on the earth among nations bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the waves” (Luke 21:25). Scripture describes that day as not just a time of disrupting the universe’s order but of utterly destroying it.

This horrific time is described in the present passage as having three particular effects. First, we learn that “the heavens will pass away with a loud noise.” The word translated “loud noise” is a colorful, onomatopoeic term that can refer to the swish of an arrow through the air, the rumbling of thunder, the crackle of flames in a fire, the scream of a whip as it descends, the rushing of mighty waters, or the hissing of a serpent (M. Green, 2 Peter, 161–62). It’s as if Peter attempts to unite many horrifying properties into one in order to describe the extreme nature of the sky’s demise. And if that weren’t enough, we’re told next that “the elements will burn and be dissolved” as well. Fire as a picture of enforcing judgment is found throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Deut 4:24; Mal 4:1), and it’s frequently used to describe Christ’s return in the New Testament, including here in 3:7,10,12. The “elements” could either mean the physical elements of earth (i.e., air, earth, water) or the heavenly bodies (i.e., sun, moon, stars, etc.). Regardless, these first two descriptions together unfold the utter destruction of the heavens and the elements of the world.

The third and final description reveals that not only will the physical elements of the universe be wrecked, but its wicked inhabitants will be destroyed as well. The phrase “the works on it will be disclosed” suggests that God’s judgment will end with a definitive pronouncement of a just and fair penalty on mankind’s sin. The exact meaning of “disclosed” is uncertain, but it seems to allude to the revealing of the deeds of men and women. The word suggests that both the inhabitants of the earth and their deeds will be “laid bare” (NIV) in God’s court. The whole world will pass away, and only man will be left to give an account of himself to his Creator (see Bauckham’s discussion, 2 Peter, 319–20). When Christ comes, it will be clear that God is acting with righteous judgment against sin as he said he would.

People have debated whether what’s being described in 3:10 is literal or figurative. Admittedly, Peter’s language isn’t entirely clear regarding all the detail we’d like to have. After all, he is attempting to describe the indescribable! Personally, I lean toward his description here being literal for numerous reasons, the most significant of which may be the immediate context. Peter obviously uses “water” in 3:5-6 in reference to a literal event. So it would seem odd for him to switch to figurative language in verse 7, where he introduces the element (“fire”) that obviously causes the effect here in verse 10 (“burn”). But whether the description is literal or figurative, what’s certain is that the judgment of God against sin will come; and when it does, it will be purifying, awful, and devastating. Peter’s “main purpose is to lift up the eyes of his readers to the climax of history” (M. Green, 2 Peter, 161). And he wants us to know that when we see it, it will be completely fair in light of God’s holy justice (see 2 Thess 1:5-12).

I’ve found myself longing for Jesus’s return more in recent years than I remember doing in a long time. I longed for Jesus to come back when I saw the news recently about a young man driving his vehicle into a crowd of people who were protesting a white supremacist rally in Virginia, killing one person and injuring nineteen others. When I heard recently that North Korea has now developed a hydrogen bomb more powerful than the ones we dropped on Japan during World War II, I longed for Jesus to come back. When I heard about a Christian brother getting gunned down in cold blood in Benghazi, leaving behind a young wife and son, I longed for Jesus to come back. When I heard about an ISIS sympathizer killing forty-nine people in an Orlando nightclub and wounding fifty-eight others, I found myself longing for Jesus to come back. And these are just a few of the more recent occasions that have caused me to look toward the eastern sky and say, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”

But I must admit that every time I hear about how messed up our world is, and every time I look toward the east and Jesus isn’t there, I stare in the face of discouragement and doubt. I face the temptation to buy into the same thing so many people in our day believe: he’s not coming. And as more time passes, more and more Christians run the risk of wandering. And the closer we get to his coming, the more people will ridicule and attack this truth that we believe and value.

However, while the world trashes what we treasure, the Word of God and the nature of God both assure us of Christ’s return. So in 2 Peter 3:1-10 Peter makes another installment in his theme of promise. In 1:4 he submitted that God “has given us very great and precious promises.” Those promises no doubt include the promise of Christ’s return and the inauguration of his eternal reign. The verbal form of the word promise then shows up in 2:19 in reference to the empty promises of freedom made by the false teachers, who ironically are slaves themselves. In this current passage Peter picks up the theme by using the same word (3:4) specifically to reference Christ’s second coming (Davids, Letters, 263–64). Although false teaching tries to undermine our belief in God’s promises, he will be faithful to fulfill all that he’s committed to his children. Jesus will make good on his promise, “I’ll be back!”