2 Peter Chapter 3
The False Teachers’ Denial of the Lord’s Return
3:1 Dear friends, this is already the second letter I have written you, in which I am trying to stir up your pure mind by way of reminder:
The first letter was 1 Peter. This verse proves that Peter was speaking to Messianic Jews who were scattered throughout the diaspora. His purpose was to bring to them a reminder of what they had been taught.
3:2 I want you to recall both the predictions foretold by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.
Peter reminded them to recall the two types of divine revelations which were given to them. The prediction of the holy prophets was the Old Testament. The commandments of Jesus through the apostles were in the New Testament.
3:3 Above all, understand this: In the last days blatant scoffers will come, being propelled by their own evil urges
Peter warned about the false teachers entering immediately into the church. His next warning concerned the last days, when scoffers would come.
3:4 and saying, “Where is his promised return? For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.”
The mockers in the last days will attack the doctrine of the Second Coming of Jesus. Evolutionists have now influenced all educational institutions worldwide to teach primarily the doctrine of uniformitarianism, which states that all things continue to be the same from creation. They teach that there was no special creation by God; that creation happened by natural forces. They teach that change is very slow and cannot be observed; that there is no such thing as divine intervention or miracles. They teach that nothing will interrupt this cycle of nature. This teaching is all biased because it rules out God before the premises are made.
3:5 For they deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water.
There is plenty of information available, but these evolutionists have deliberately suppressed the fact of special creation by God. Sea life fossils are found on the top of every mountain in the world, but they explain away the global food with uniformitarianism.
3:6 Through these things the world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water.
God miraculously interfered with this cycle by the judgment of the flood. Science cannot interpret the history of the earth correctly unless they get rid of their bias and accept the Biblical account of the flood.
3:7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
God will interfere with nature again, but the next judgment will be by fire.
3:8 Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.
Peter quoted Psalm 90:4. God is not bound by time. He can see the past, present, and future all at the same time.
Some use this verse to teach that the six days of creation are all 1000 years and the seventh day is the 1000 years of the Millennial Kingdom. However, this is spiritualizing the text to make it fit one’s personal theology. The Bible never mentions a 7000 year prophetic plan of God.
3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
God is not slow on His promises. He is simply showing divine patience. He does not wish for anyone to perish. He is giving the unbelievers more time to escape the wrath to come. When the last of His elect is called, then He will return.
3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare.
The Day of the Lord is the seven years of the Great Tribulation which preceded the Second Coming of Christ. When a thief enters a house to steal everything, the owner is completely shocked, surprised, and destitute with nothing left. In a similar way, the unbelieving world is ignorant of Biblical knowledge, so they will be completely surprised.
During the Great Tribulation, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. This event was predicted in Isaiah 3:13 and 34:4. Jesus confirmed the same judgment in Matthew 24:29. John saw it happen in the future in Revelation 6:12–14 and 8:12.
Not only will the heavens pass away, but the earth will be burned up as well. The surface of the earth will burn in the first, second, third, and sixth Trumpet Judgments and the fourth Bowl Judgment. Over two thirds of the earth’s surface will be burned during the Great Tribulation. The mocking uniformitarians claim that the earth is eternal, but they will learn differently during the Great Tribulation.
3:11 Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must we be, conducting our lives in holiness and godliness,
Until the Great Tribulation occurs, the believers are to live godly lives.
3:12 while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze!
Peter encouraged these believers that they should earnestly seek, desire, and look for the Great Tribulation. Two thirds of the global population will be killed during the Great Tribulation, yet the Holy Spirit encourages believers to desire this day.
3:13 But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides.
The reason believers are to look for the Great Tribulation is because it must precede the Millennial Kingdom. The Great Tribulation is necessary, because it is the process in which all evil will be purged out of the world.
There will be two more new heavens and new earths to come. The Great Tribulation judgments will destroy over 2/3 of the earth’s surface. Isaiah 65, 66, and Revelation 20 predicted that the Millennial Kingdom will be the first new heavens and new earth.
The second new heavens and new earth was seen prophetically by John in Revelation 21-22. This new heavens and new earth is also called the eternal order. The eternal order was new revelation. It was not found in the Bible, except for Revelation 21-22.
Exhortation to the Faithful
3:14 Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence.
Until the Millennial Kingdom arrives, the Messianic believers are to be waiting in peace, without spot or blemish. The way to have peace with God is to know His mind and apply his will. One cannot know the mind of God or apply his will unless they are grounded in Bible doctrine. The way to become clean with God is to continually confess all known sins, according to 1 John 1:9.
3:15 And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him,
God is slow in returning, because He does not want anyone to perish. Peter called Paul his “dear brother”, even though Paul rebuked him for his earlier hypocrisy when Peter refused to eat with Gentiles in front of other Jews. Peter must have come to realize that Paul was correct in his rebuke. Paul wrote Galatians earlier to the Jewish Christians. Many suggest this other letter may have been the Book of Hebrews.
3:16 speaking of these things in all his letters. Some things in these letters are hard to understand, things the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures.
Paul wrote about the things of God at a very deep level. It is difficult to grasp some of his writings, unless one is grounded in the entire counsel of the Word of God. They can be understood, but it takes deep study. The Judaizers and the pagans were attempting to twist the writings of Paul. However, these twists will lead to their eternal destruction. Peter considered the writings of Paul as Scripture, equal to that of the Old Testament, the gospels, and the writings of the apostles.
3:17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these unprincipled men and fall from your firm grasp on the truth.
Peter called these Hebrew Christians “dear friends,” meaning that they were fellow believers. He informed them to ground themselves in the Word of God so that they would not be deceived by false teachers.
3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the honor both now and on that eternal day.
Peter closed this letter by encouraging these Messianic believers to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. According to Ephesians 4, the proper way to grow is by the study of Bible doctrine by a gifted-pastor teacher. God gives one grace so that he can understand it. Peter closed his epistle by glorifying Christ.