2 Peter: Faith In A Skeptical World Exemplo

Recently, two elderly gentlemen from some cult group were at my front door telling me that Jesus’ return would happen very soon. I asked them, ‘How soon is soon? This month? This year? Five years? The next 100 years?’ They replied, ‘Oh no, not 100 years.’ That seemed too far away for one of the elderly gentleman, who is quite convinced it will happen in his lifetime. These verses warn us about defining what ‘soon’ really means. After all, will God act soon as we define soon, or as He defines soon? 

In the previous verses, Peter was saying something like, ‘Make no mistake about it. History teaches us that God can and will act decisively to judge and renew the earth.’ And if we think God is taking longer than He should, then we need to consider what God does from God’s perspective, rather than from our own finite perspective. 

‘With the Lord’ time must be seen on a different scale (v. 8). Does God feel He is taking too long to act? Is God frustrated by ‘delays’ holding up His plans? Did God intend that Jesus would return in power shortly after His ascension to heaven, but has had to postpone this due to ‘technical difficulties’? We are foolish if we forget His grandeur while considering what He may or may not do. 

If Jesus’ return comes 10,000 years after His ascension, is that a long time for God? Hardly. God doesn’t feel the passing of time as we do, nor is He restrained by it. In verse 8 Peter quotes the Prayer of Moses in Psalm 90 which rejoices that for the everlasting God ‘a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night’ (Ps. 90:4). We cannot assess the likelihood of Jesus’ return on the basis of what feels to us like a long, or long-enough, amount of time. 

Indeed, God has a reason for holding heaven’s door open longer. Each day there is a flow of people entering the ‘ark’ of Christ’s salvation while the door remains open. Repentant sinners find salvation because God is patiently, daily drawing His people in (v. 9). 

Slow? No. Patient? Yes! Rather than complain about the delay, or even worse, suspect Christ is not going to return at all, we could instead gratefully, urgently, use each opportunity we have to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 

Reflection

Paul quotes Isaiah 49:8 when he writes, 'For [God] says, "In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation' (2 Cor. 6:2). To what extent do you share Paul's (and Peter's) view of the value of 'now'?