1. (1-2) Another reference to the importance of being reminded
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,
a. I now write to you this second epistle: Peter already wrote about the importance of being reminded (2 Peter 1:12-13). But here he wanted to emphasize what should be known in light of the coming of Jesus and the prophecies surrounding His coming.
i. “The purest minds need stirring up at times. It would be a great pity to stir up impure minds. That would only be to do mischief; but pure minds may be stirred as much as you please, and the more the better.” (Spurgeon)
b. That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before: Peter knew the importance of reminding his readers of the Scriptural message, both received from the Old Testament (spoken before) and contemporary to his own day (and of the commandment of us).
i. Peter clearly believed that the words of Scripture were important; the words themselves, and not merely the meaning behind the words.
ii. “Peter believed in the inspiration of the very ‘words’ of Scripture; he was not one of those precious ‘advanced thinkers’ who would, if they could, tear the very soul out of the Book, and leave us nothing at all; but he wrote, ‘That ye may be mindful of the words’ — the very words — ‘which were spoken before by the holy prophets.’ ‘Oh!’ says one, ‘but words do not signify; it is the inward sense that is really important.’ Exactly so; that is just what the fool said about egg-shells. He said that they did not signify; it was only the inward life-germ of the chick within that was important; so he broke all the shells, and thereby destroyed the life… If the words could be taken from us, the sense itself would be gone.” (Spurgeon)
c. By the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior: By placing the messengers of the new covenant on the same level as the messengers of the old covenant, Peter understood the authority of the New Testament, even as it was being formed.
i. Peter understood that Jesus gave His apostles the inspired authority to bring forth God’s message to the new covenant community. He understood this from passages such as Matthew 16:19, where Jesus gave the apostles authority to bind and loose, much as the authoritative rabbis of their day.
ii. “Your apostles does not merely mean ‘your missionaries’, the folk who evangelized you. When the New Testament writers mean merely ‘church emissary’ by apostolos, they say so, or the context makes it plain (Philippians 2:25). Peter is referring here to the ‘apostles of Jesus Christ’. It is they and they alone who are put on a level with the Old Testament prophets.” (Green)
iii. Significantly, Peter saw this authority invested in the apostles, not in him alone. He would think it strange for supposed papal authority to be credited to him.
2. (3-4) The message of scoffers.
Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
a. Knowing this first: Christians should not be surprised to find that there are those who scoff at the idea of Jesus coming again. Peter told us that the scoffers will come. This is the first thing to know.
i. “Every time a blasphemer opens his mouth to deny the truth of revelation, he will help to confirm us in our conviction of the very truth which he denies. The Holy Ghost told us, by the pen of Peter, that it would be so; and now we see how truly he wrote.” (Spurgeon)
b. Will come in the last days: In a sense, the last days began when Jesus ascended into heaven. Since that time, we haven’t rushed towards the precipice of the consummation of all things; but we have run along side that edge – ready to go anytime at God’s good pleasure.
i. “With the advent of Jesus the last chapter of human history had opened, though it was not yet completed.” (Green)
c. Walking according to their own lusts: These words remind us that scoffers do not only have an intellectual problem with God and His word. They also have a clear moral problem, wanting to reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ over their lives.
d. Where is the promise of His coming? This is the message of scoffers. In the thinking of these scoffers, Christians have talked about Jesus coming for two thousand years and He still hasn’t come back yet.
e. All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation: The scoffers base their message on the idea that things have always been the way they are right now, and that God has not and will not do anything new in His plan for creation.
i. “The argument of the false teachers is essentially a naturalistic one – a kind of uniformitarianism that rules out divine intervention in history.” (Blum)
3. (5-7) The error of scoffers.
For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
a. For this they willfully forget: The scoffers presume upon the mercy and longsuffering of God, insisting that because they have never seen a widespread judgment of God, that there will never be one. But they willfully forget God’s creation and the judgment God poured out on the earth in the days of Noah.
i. A literal belief in Creation, in Adam and Eve, and in Noah’s Flood are essential for a true understanding of God’s working both then and now. To deny these things undermines the very foundations of our faith. Sadly, today it is many Christians who willfully forget these things, thereby putting themselves in the place of scoffers.
b. That by the word of God the heavens were of old: The Bible clearly teaches that the active agent in creation was God’s word. He spoke and creation came into being.
c. The world that then existed perished, being flooded with water: Peter’s point is that things on this earth have not always continued the way they are now. The earth was different when God first created it and then it was different again after the flood. Therefore no one should scoff at God’s promise that He will make it different once again, judging it not with water but with fire. The same word of God that created all matter and judged the world in the flood will one day bring a judgment of fire upon the earth.
i. “The lesson taught by the flood was this is a moral universe, that sin will not for ever go unpunished; and Jesus himself used the flood to point to this moral (Matthew 24:37-39). But these men chose to neglect it.” (Green)
4. (8-10) Truths that scoffers deny but God’s people cling to.
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
a. That with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day: What seems like forever for us is but a short time for God, just as an hour may seem to be an eternity for a child but a moment for an adult.
i. Peter quoted this idea from Psalm 90:4: For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. “All time is as nothing before him, because in the presence as in the nature of God all is eternity; therefore nothing is long, nothing short, before him; no lapse of ages impairs his purposes.” (Clarke)
ii. “All things are equally near and present to his view; the distance of a thousand years before the occurrence of an event, is no more to him than would be the interval of a day. With God, indeed, there is neither past, present, nor future. He takes for his name the ‘I AM.’ … He is the I AM; I AM in the present; I AM in the past and I AM in the future. Just as we say of God that he is everywhere, so we may say of him that he is always; he is everywhere in space; he is everywhere in time.” (Spurgeon)
iii. Peter did not give some prophetic formula, saying that a prophetic day somehow equals a thousand years. He instead communicated a general principle regarding how we see time and how God sees time. When people use this verse as a rigid prophetic key it opens the door for great error.
iv. “God sees time with a perspective we lack; even the delay of a thousand years may well seem like a day against the back-cloth of eternity. Furthermore, God sees time with an intensity we lack; one day with the Lord is like a thousand years.” (Green)
b. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise: The truth is that God will keep His promise, and without delay according to His timing. Any perceived delay from our perspective is due to the longsuffering of God, who allows man as much time as possible to repent.
i. Many of those who are Christians today are happy that Jesus didn’t return ten years, or five years, or two years, or one year, or even two months ago. There is a compassionate purpose in God’s timing.
c. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance: Peter here revealed some of God’s glorious heart. The reason why Jesus’ return isn’t sooner is so that all should come to repentance, because God is not willing that any should perish.
i. We understand that God is not willing that any should perish not in the sense of a divine decree, as if God has declared that no sinners will perish. Rather, Peter’s statement reflects God’s heart of love for the world (John 3:16), and His compassionate sorrow even in the righteous judgment of the wicked.
ii. It is the same thought as expressed in Ezekiel 33:11: As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.
iii. “So wonderful is his love towards mankind, that he would have them all to be saved, and is of his own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost.” (Calvin)
iv. “As God is not willing that any should perish, and as he is willing that all should come to repentance, consequently he has never devised nor decreed the damnation of any man, nor has he rendered it impossible for any soul to be saved.” (Clarke)
d. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: Though the Lord’s longsuffering love to the lost makes it seem that perhaps He delays His coming, the truth is that He will indeed come. And when Jesus does return, He will come at a time that will surprise many (as a thief in the night). The ultimate result of His coming will be a total transformation of this present world (in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat).
i. God could destroy the earth again as He did in the days of the flood. “There is still water enough to drown the earth, and there is iniquity enough to induce God to destroy it and its inhabitants.” (Clarke) Yet God has promised to deal with this world with fire, not flooding.