• Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
• Psalms 85:9-142
• 2 Peter 3:8-14
• Mark 1:1-8

2 Peter 3:8-10

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years
and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,”
but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar
and the elements will be dissolved by fire,
and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.

An atheist farmer often ridiculed those who believe in God. He wrote a letter to the local newspaper in which he scoffed, “I plowed on Sunday, planted on Sunday, cultivated on Sunday, and hauled in my crops on Sunday; but I never went to church on Sunday. Yet I harvested more bushels per acre than anyone else, even those who are God-fearing and never miss a service.”
The editor printed the man’s letter and then added this remark: “God doesn’t always settle His accounts in October.” (Taken from “Our Daily Bread,” date unknown.)

Do you ever wonder why God delays judgment on this wicked world? Why doesn’t Christ return to judge the world as He promised? But then you realize, “What if He had returned to judge the world while I was still an unbeliever? I would have been lost!” And so while we join millions of believers down through the centuries in praying, “Your kingdom come,” we have to be content to leave the timing in God’s hands.
Peter wrote this letter to churches where false teachers were scoffing at the promise of Christ’s coming again to judge the world. Their theological error stemmed from their greedy, lustful lifestyles. Although they claimed to believe in Christ, they did not submit to Him as Lord. Their evil views were snaring some who professed to be Christians. So Peter wrote to refute their errors by showing that if Jesus Christ is returning to judge the living and the dead, then you must live in submission to His lordship.

Thus in chapter 3:1-7, Peter shows how God’s day of judgment is certain in spite of the mockery of certain men. In verses 8-9, Peter gives two truths to help explain why God seems to delay the return of Christ to judge the world:

Christ’s return in judgment seems delayed because God has a different perspective on time and because He patiently waits for all to come to repentance.