Explore the Bible By Jay T. Robertson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
WITH ANTICIPATION
2 Peter 3:3–13, 17–18
A Sure Return (3–7)
If you love Jesus, read your Bible and live for the glory of God, people will mock you. Scoffers may arise in your family or among your friends, co-workers or teachers. You will be controlled by either the fear of the Lord or the fear of man. When confronted by scoffers, the fear of man will cause you to deny Christ, disown Christ or diminish Christ. If you are motivated by the fear of the Lord, however, you will not allow the scoffers to define you, destroy you, discourage you or dissuade you.
The scoffers will ask, “Where is the promise of His coming?” They are asking, “Where’s the Messiah?” The Old Testament Scriptures had prophesied that God would send fire upon the world (Mal. 4:1). Jesus came and did not set the world on fire and send everyone to hell.
The scoffers will call into question the biblical promise of the Lord’s coming. They scoff at the promise of the Lord’s return by arguing that because everything has stayed the same since creation, God will not intervene in the world. But these scoffers deliberately overlook the fact that God did intervene when He created the heavens and the earth with the word of His mouth and also when God judged the earth with water and it perished.
Their problem is not so much intellectual objections as it is moral rejections. Most people’s problem with Christianity is not with the facts but with the implications of the facts. If Jesus is Lord, then you cannot just do whatever you want to do.
In verse 7, God promises there will be a day of judgment for the ungodly. History will not go on forever. The end is coming. Jesus will return to the earth and bless the godly and punish the ungodly.
The Patient Father (8–9)
The Lord’s perspective on time is different from that of humans. It is not that God is slow in fulfilling His promise, but rather that He is patient. Patience indicates purposefulness and intentionality.
Peter explained that the delay of the Lord’s return is not a long time from God’s perspective. God is patient. He has not brought this period of history to an end because He does not wish that any perish. Although Jesus’ followers anticipate Christ’s return and the defeat of all evil, as long as the present stage of history lasts, an opportunity remains for people to be saved. The unsaved do not have forever; but one day they will. And it may be too late.
The Warning Issued (10)
God will not delay His judgment forever. When Jesus returns it will be sudden, without warning and like a thief. On the day of the Lord the heavens and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. There will be no place the ungodly can hide. The earth and the works performed in it will be laid bare before God. The new earth will emerge, having been purified by fire.
While Waiting (11–13, 17–18)
Your worldview determines your lifestyle. What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket. Do you really believe Jesus is coming again? Then the Second Coming of Jesus ought to motivate you to live a holy life.
We’re not to kill time waiting for Jesus to return. We’re to fill time with holiness and godliness. If you want to be holy, focus on godliness. Jesus’ followers are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus by spending time with Him daily, gathering with other believers weekly to worship, sharing life with other believers in small groups and engaging together to advance the gospel.
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