Waiting for Our Patient God
2 Peter 3:1-13
Main Idea: Though he feels delayed, God is patiently keeping his promises for those waiting in repentance, holiness, and godliness.
I. A World of Transcendence (3:1-7)
Peter once more (cf. 1:12-15) urges his readers to remember the predictions of the holy prophets (Old Testament) and the commandment of the Lord and Savior, through the apostles (New Testament).
We must hold fast to the Word of God because “scoffers will come in the last days,” sarcastically asking “Where is the promise of his [Jesus’] coming?” These scoffers essentially make the same secular argument prevalent today, claiming “all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” with no divine intervention or judgment to come.
Peter says these “scoffers” and false teachers are deliberately overlooking three realities:
God’s sovereign act of creating and sustaining the world (3:5; cf. Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:19-20; Heb. 1:3)
God’s divine intervention in judgment with the flood (3:6; cf. 2:5)
God’s certain and promised future judgment (3:7)
Matthew 24:37–39: For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
“Do you believe in divine judgment? Do you believe in a God who acts as our judge? Many, it seems, do not. Speak to them of God as a Father, a friend, a helper, one who loves us despite all our weaknesses and folly and sin, and their faces light up; you are on their wavelength at once. But speak to them of God as Judge and they frown and shake their heads. Their minds recoil from such an idea. They find it repellent and unworthy. But there are few things stressed more strongly in the Bible than the reality of God’s work as Judge.”
~ J.I. Packer, Knowing God
II. A God of Patience (3:8-10)
In response to these “scoffers,” Peter points out three realities about the perceived delay of God’s return:
1. The Lord is not like us (3:8)
God does not have the same relationship with time as we do; for him “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (cf. Ps. 90:4). “We are servants of time, but God is its sovereign Master.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
“You cannot judge God by your calendar. God may appear to be slow, but he never forgets his promises. He may seem to be working slowly or even to be forgetting his promises, but when his promises come true (and they will come true), they always burst the banks of what you imagined… God’s grace virtually never operates on our time frame, on a schedule we consider reasonable.”
~ Tim Keller, Hidden Christmas
2. The Lord is patient toward us (3:9)
The Lord’s seeming “delay” is not due to slowness but grace, allowing more time for repentance. Romans 2:4: Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
3. The Lord’s return will surprise us (3:10; cf. Mt. 24:43-44; 1 Thess. 5:2)
Peter uses symbolic language to describe what the prophets have promised. One day, the “skies will roll up like a scroll” (Isa. 34:4; Rev. 6:14) and reveal all that has been hidden. The language of “burning up” is describing the purifying fire often associated with the “Day of the Lord.” (cf. Mal. 3:2-3; 4:1-2; 1 Cor. 3:11-15). The Lord will use this “fire” to cleanse and purify the earth from sin and its effects to usher in the new heavens and the new earth.
III. A People of Repentance (3:11-13)
As we wait for the new heavens and the new earth, Peter says we ought to be a people of “holiness and godliness.” Good and proper eschatology ought to lead to beautiful ethics in the Christian life.
In addition to holiness and godliness, Peter urges us to embrace the paradox of “waiting” and “hastening” the coming Day of God. “Waiting” reminds us that we are not the ones who usher in the Kingdom of God, while “hastening” invites us to participate in bearing witness to what will be by declaring and displaying the gospel.
“Waiting in the New Testament is not a passive word. The idea is an intentional effort to look for something. Don’t think of this word as being like watching a baseball game. It’s more like a guard scanning the horizon. There’s a sense of anticipation implied in the word… Peter is encouraging suffering Christians to direct their attention and be alert to the future. The idea is to live with a posture of spiritual watchfulness. Waiting in this context isn’t something that happens to you; it’s an intentional way of life as a Christian."
~ Mark Vroegop, Waiting Isn’t a Waste
James 5:7–8: Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Psalm 25:1-3: “Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame.”
