The general denial that will be made in the last days of the possibility of Christ’s return, should not unsettle the believer, but quicken and excite him to a serious minded and firm adhering to what God has revealed in His Word. Those who now scoff will find the day of Christ’s coming a day of terrible vengeance.
II Peter 3
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That ye 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 Saviour:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after 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 the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
II Peter 3:1 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 3:2-4 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 3:5-6 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 3:7-8 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 3:9 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 3:10 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 3:11-12 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 3:13 – J. Vernon McGee
II Peter 3:14-18 – J. Vernon McGee
2 Peter 3:1-9 – Longsuffering Delay
Peter does not hesitate to place the commandments of himself and the other Apostles of Jesus on a level with the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and he repeats his admonitions because of the urgency of the crisis then threatening the Church. Apparently there was a well-grounded fear that she would relax her attitude of expectancy and give credence to the materialistic philosophy of the age.
Men argued then from the appearances of things, and especially from the regular routine of cause and effect. They did not realize that, from time to time, there had been the intrusion of the divine personal will into the course of history, introducing a higher set of laws and arresting the ordinary succession of events; as for instance, the Flood and the miracles of Old Testament history. Why, then, should not the ordinary course of nature be broken in upon by the Second Advent, when the Lord shall gather His saints about Him and reign gloriously? What God has done He can do again! There is a person and a will behind the slight veil of the present life. —Through the Bible Day by Day
II Peter 3:8—One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.
There is no succession of time with God: no past, no future; He dwells in the eternal present, as I AM. As we may look down from a lofty mountain on a stream in the valley beneath, tracing it from its source to its fall into the ocean, and feeling that each part of it is equally distant from the spot where we stand, so must time appear to the Eternal; who was, and is, and is to come.
One day is as a thousand years.—He could do in a single day, if He chose, what He has at other times taken a thousand years to accomplish. Do not say that He will require so long to do this or that—to restore or convert the Jews; to introduce the millennial age; to undo the effects of the Curse, and fill the years with blessing. Do not say that He must have as long to make the second heavens and earth as the first. Do not say that the overthrow of the empire of darkness, and the conversion of multitudes to God, can only be achieved by the processes which are now in vogue. All this could be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and between sunrise and sunset God could effect the work of a thousand ordinary years.
A thousand years as one day.—Periods that seem so long to our finite minds are not so to God. A thousand years in our reckoning is but a day in his. You say it is nearly two thousand years ago since Jesus died, or at least that we are in the evening of the second thousand. But in God’s reckoning, the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection, took place in the morning of yesterday. Take wider views of God’s horizon; believe in his mighty march throughout the centuries; He takes up the isles as a very little thing, and the centuries are the beats of the minute-hand. —Our Daily Homily
2 Peter 3:9 – When the Spirit renews in our minds a Gospel truth, let us turn it into a present plea, and be God’s remembrancer of His own promises, as the Spirit is our remembrancer of Divine truths. We need not doubt some rich fruit of the application at such a season. (Charnock)
2 Peter 3:10-18 – “Holy Living and Godliness”
How quickly the great European convulsion broke upon the world in the summer of 1914! Who expected such a sudden burst of the great storm! We are evidently near some vast change in the history of mankind, which may fitly be compared to the coming of new heavens and a new earth, as mentioned in II Peter 3:13. The condition of the world calls on each of us to be holy, as the virgins in their pure dresses, with burning and well-filled lamps. See Matthew 25:1-13. This is the manner in which we may hasten the coming of the day of God. It is not enough to say, “Thy kingdom come.” Each day we should move some pebble from its pathway!
In twenty-four hours God can do as much as all His servants at home and abroad could not accomplish in a thousand years. According to God’s chronology, it was on the morning of yesterday that Jesus died. Be watchful. Christ’s coming is certain, but not the hour. If we are blameless now, we shall be faultless presently. See Jude 24. —Through the Bible Day by Day
2 Peter 3:18 – Five degrees of growth in grace:
New born babes – 1 Peter 2:2
Weaned child – Isaiah 28:9
Little children – 1 John 2:12
Young men – 1 John 2:13
Fathers – 1 John 2:13 (Moody)