Free Bible Commentary
“Second Peter 3:8-9”
Categories: Second Peter“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
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Jesus had promised that He would return for His disciples and receive them unto Himself (John 14:1-3). The angels who were present at the Lord’s ascension had assured His Apostles that He would descend in the same manner in which they had watched Him ascend into heaven (Acts 1:11). The Apostles of Christ taught under inspiration the Lord’s imminent return, and they did so with all earnestness and conviction (Hebrews 10:25; 1 Peter 4:7). None of the inspired writers of the Bible predicted the timing of Christ’s Second Coming, but we are strongly encouraged by God’s word to always be ready for that day, and to live our lives as if it could happen at any moment because we “do not know the day” our “Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42) . “The Judge is standing right at the door” (James 5:9), and He will walk through it at the exact moment that best suits His purposes.
In all truthfulness, it has been a very long time since the first promise of the Lord’s Second Appearing, and it is understandable why some people have become skeptical. But please “do not let this one fact escape your notice” (verse 8): our eternal Creator is not bound by the time constraints of His finite creation. The one Psalm accredited to Moses reads, “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4). With God there is little difference between a 24 hour day and the span of a millennium because Yahweh dwells in the realm of eternity. The end is coming at the time of the Lord’s choosing. It will be God’s perfect timing that will put an end to time and usher us into timeless infinity. That time always has been and always will be “at hand”.
Friend, it is the love of God that keeps the earth spinning on its axis. God doesn’t want to see anyone languish in Hell for eternity, “but is patient” granting time “for all to come to repentance” (verse 9). The Lord “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). But please do not consider the Lord’s slowness as untruthfulness or negligence, or mistake His patience as tolerance of our evil ways. Just like in the days of Noah, His long-suffering and forbearance with the sinfulness and wickedness of mankind will reach its end, and He will judge, condemn and destroy the world. And this time it will be permanently and completely with fire and not temporarily and limitedly with water (verses 6-7). Please honestly evaluate your current spiritual condition and position with God. Make your life right with the Lord before He returns because His coming will be sudden.
Please read 2 Peter 3:10-13 for tomorrow.
Come Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20)
