Once again, Peter exposed the ignorance of the scoffers. Not only were they ignorant of what God had done in the past (2 Peter 3:5), but they were also ignorant of what God was like. They were making God in their own image and ignoring the fact that God is eternal. This means that He has neither beginning nor ending. Man is immortal: he has a beginning but not an ending. He will live forever either in heaven or hell. But God is eternal, without beginning or ending, and He dwells in eternity. Eternity is not just “extended time.” Rather, it is existence above and apart from time.
Peter was certainly referring to Psalm 90:4—“For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” Isaac Watts used Psalm 90 as the basis for the familiar hymn “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.” A thousand ages, in Thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night, Before the rising sun.
Since a thousand years are as one day to the Lord, we cannot accuse Him of delayed fulfillment of His promises. In God’s sight, the whole universe is only a few days old! He is not limited by time the way we are, nor does He measure it according to man’s standards. When you study the works of God, especially in the Old Testament, you can see that He is never in a hurry, but He is never late.
He could have created the entire universe in an instant, yet He preferred to do it over a period of six days. He could have delivered Israel from Egypt in a moment, yet He preferred to invest eighty years in training Moses. For that matter, He could have sent the Savior much sooner, but He waited until “the fullness of the time was come” (Gal. 4:4). While God works in time, He is not limited by time.
To God, a thousand years is as one day, and one day as a thousand years. God can accomplish in one day what it would take others a millennium to accomplish! He waits to work, but once He begins to work, He gets things done!
The scoffers did not understand God’s eternality nor did they understand His mercy. Why was God delaying the return of Christ and the coming of the day of the Lord? It was not because He was unable to act or unwilling to act. He was not tardy or off schedule! Nobody on earth has the right to decide when God must act. God is sovereign in all things and does not need prodding or even counsel from sinful man (Rom. 11:33–36).
God delays the coming of Christ and the great day of fiery judgment because He is longsuffering and wants to give lost sinners the opportunity to be saved. “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation” (2 Peter 3:15).
God’s “delay” is actually an indication that He has a plan for this world and that He is working His plan. There should be no question in anybody’s mind whether God wants sinners to be saved. God “is not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9). First Timothy 2: affirms that God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” These verses give both the negative and the positive, and together they assure us that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23, 32; 33:11). He shows His mercy to all (Rom. 11:32) even though not all will be saved.
It is worth noting that God revealed this same longsuffering in the years before the flood (1 Peter 3:20). He saw the violence and wickedness of man and could have judged the world immediately; yet He held back His wrath and, instead, sent Noah as a “preacher of righteousness.” In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, God patiently waited while Abraham interceded for the cities, and He would have spared them had He found ten righteous people in Sodom.
If God is longsuffering toward lost sinners, why did Peter write, “The Lord … is longsuffering to us-ward”? Who is meant by “us-ward”? It would appear that God is longsuffering to His own people!
Perhaps Peter was using the word us in a general way, meaning “mankind.” But it is more likely that he was referring to his readers as the elect of God (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:10). God is longsuffering toward lost sinners because some of them will believe and become a part of God’s elect people. We do not know who God’s elect are among the unsaved people of the world, nor are we supposed to know. Our task is to make our own “calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10; cf. Luke 13:23–30). The fact that God has His elect people is an encouragement to us to share the good news and seek to win others to Christ.
God was even longsuffering toward the scoffers of that day! They needed to repent and He was willing to save them. This is the only place where Peter used the word repentance in either of his letters, but that does not minimize its importance. To repent simply means “to change one’s mind.” It is not “regret,” which usually means “being sorry I got caught.” Nor is it “remorse,” which is a hopeless attitude that can lead to despair.
Repentance is a change of mind that results in an action of the will. If the sinner honestly changes his mind about sin, he will turn from it. If he sincerely changes his mind about Jesus Christ, he will turn to Him, trust Him, and be saved. “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21) is God’s formula for salvation.
The word translated “come” at the end of 2 Peter 3: carries the meaning of “make room for.” It is translated “contain” in John 2: and 21:25. The lost sinner needs to “make room” for repentance in his heart by putting away his pride and meekly receiving the Word of God. Repentance is a gift from God (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25), but the unbeliever must make room for the gift.
As you review Peter’s arguments, you can see that his evidence is irrefutable. He pointed out that the scoffers willfully rejected evidence in order that they might continue in their sins and scoffing. He proved from the Scriptures that God has intervened in past history and that He has the power to do it today. He showed that the scoffers had a very low view of God’s character because they thought He delayed in keeping His promises just as men do. Finally, he explained that God does not live in the realm of human time, and that His so-called delay only gives more opportunity for lost sinners to repent and be saved.
Having refuted their false claims, Peter then reaffirmed the certainty of the coming of the day of the Lord. When will it come? Nobody knows when, because it will come to the world “as a thief in the night.” Our Lord used this phrase (Matt. 24:43; Luke 12:39) and so did the apostle Paul (1 Thess. 5:2ff). When the world is feeling secure, then God’s judgment will fall. The thief does not warn his victims that he is coming! “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:3).
We do not know when it will happen, but we are told what will happen. Kenneth Wuest gave an accurate and graphic translation of these words: “In which the heavens with a rushing noise will be dissolved, and the elements being scorched will be dissolved, and the earth also and the works in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).
Many Bible students believe that Peter here described the action of atomic energy being released by God. The word translated “a great noise” in the King James Version means “with a hissing and a crackling sound.” When the atomic bomb was tested in the Nevada desert, more than one reporter said that the explosion gave forth “a whirring sound,” or a “crackling sound.” The Greek word Peter used was commonly used by the people for the whirring of a bird’s wings or the hissing of a snake.
The word melt in 2 Peter 3: means “to disintegrate, to be dissolved.” It carries the idea of something being broken down into its basic elements, and that is what happens when atomic energy is released. “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” said our Lord (Matt. 24:35), and it appears that this may happen by the release of the atomic power stored in the elements that make up the world. The heavens and earth are “stored with fire” (2 Peter 3: wuest), and only God can release it.
For this reason, I do not personally believe that God will permit sinful men to engage in an earthdestroying atomic war. He will, I believe, overrule the ignorance and foolishness of men, including wellmeaning but unbelieving diplomats and politicians, so that He alone will have the privilege of “pushing the button” and dissolving the elements to make way for a new heaven and a new earth. Peter no doubt had in mind Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 13:10–11; 24:19; 34:4; and 64:1–4 when he wrote these words. The first passage is especially emphatic that God will bring judgment and not sinful man. “And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity,” says the Lord. It does not sound as though He will give this task to some nervous military leader or some angry politician.
Of course, this great explosion and conflagration will not touch the “heaven of heavens” where God dwells. It will destroy the earth and the atmospheric heavens around it, the universe as we know it; this will make room for the new heavens and earth (2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21:1ff.).
Man’s great works will also be burned up! All of the things that man boasts about—his great cities, his great buildings, his inventions, his achievements—will be destroyed in a moment of time. When sinners stand before the throne of God, they will have nothing to point to as evidence of their greatness. It will all be gone.
This is certainly a solemn truth, and we dare not study it in cavalier fashion. In the remaining verses of this letter, Peter will apply this truth to our daily living. But it would be wise for us to pause now and consider: where will I be when God destroys the world? Is what I am living for only destined to go up in an atomic cloud, to vanish forever? Or am I doing the will of God so that my works will glorify Him forever?
Make your decision now—before it is too late.