2 Peter 3:1-9 - Our Longsuffering Lord

2 Peter 3:1-9

God’s Promise Is Not Slack (Genesis 6:5—8:22)

1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

God is extremely longsuffering with us!  Though He chooses and draws us to Himself and bestows faith in our hearts of stone to believe and receive His Son, He still yearns for all to come to Himself (Ezekiel 33:11, Romans 2:4) and not perish in the eternal suffering of judgement’s lake of fire.  How the Lord calls us to repentance and faith with a Father’s heart because He created us in His image in the beginning and longs to recreate us in Christ (Galatians 4:19, 1 Timothy 1:15) and not see us lost forever from grace.  We know that John 3:16-17 reveals the heart of God in Christ to save us from such consequences of our sin but also makes it abundantly clear in John 3:18-19 that many will continue in sin of disbelief and reject Jesus Christ to pursue darkness instead.  These are the scoffers that Peter points out here to us, men and women who live for their own passing pleasures of sin in disregard for Him and His word given us from the beginning of time to draw us to repentance and the faith of Abraham (Genesis 22:18, Luke 24:25-27, Romans 4:13, Galatians 3:8-9).  These doubt the second coming of Christ and scoff at the judgment to come on all flesh for eternal accountability.  They have not seen this yet and so doubt God’s word and promises when they hear because they have no faith in their Creator as Lord and Sovereign King of them and us all.  They ignore the fact of the creation recorded in Genesis and the flood that wiped out all but eight souls from all the earth in judgment on their hearts set on sin (Genesis 6:5, 11-12, 2 Peter 2:5) and therefore do not accept he fact that God will preserve the world until Jesus returns to consume it with fire instead of water.  These are reserved for judgment of condemnation.  It is an unpleasant fact that many do not wish to mention or speak about, but the good news has its backdrop on this bad news we all face apart from receiving God’s Son for whom He is and what He has done to deliver those who take Him at His word as Abraham did and act on it.  God is indeed patient and longsuffering in His grace, but there will come a day when the sentence will be served on all who have refused to believe and receive (John 1:12) Jesus as the Son of God come to set us free from sin and death.  Because the timeframe of God is so much longer than our own, we tend to doubt the fact that the day is coming and some pretend that it never will come and they will not be held accountable for what they did with the good news.  He calls all to repentance from sin and to trust in Him.  What temporary pleasures and pursuits can compare to an eternity in the presence of our Maker?  Our longsuffering Lord has appointed a day (Acts 17:31) to judge the entire world by his Son.  Kiss the Son lest He be angry (Psalm 2:12) forever for your disbelief and unrepentant sin and find eternal blessings in trusting Him!