1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 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, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 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.” 5 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, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 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.
8 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. 9 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. (2 Peter 3:1-9, New King James Version)
Scoffers abound in these last days, they call the Bible an ancient book that has no bearing on our lives today. They laugh and say that it has been so long since Jesus lived on earth, and that if He was going to return He would have done so already. They scoff at us Christians for continuing to put our faith in Him and in His promise to return. They claim that the earth has continued on as it is now from the beginning. They refuse to believe in the creative power of God. They willfully ignore all evidence that does not support their view. They ignore overwhelming EVIDENCE OF A GREAT FLOOD and FOSSIL EVIDENCE INDICATING THAT LIFE APPEARED SUDDENLY, ABRUPTLY, in complex forms. They ignore the COMPLEXITY OF A SINGLE CELL, and they ignore the scientific concept of IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY.
They do all of this willfully, it is not that they can't believe, it's that they won't believe. Harvard University Biochemist Dr. George Wald admitted to this when he said,"When it comes to the origin of life there are only two possibilities: Creation or spontaneous generation. There is not third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved one hundred years ago, but that leads us to only one other conclusion, that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds; therefore, we choose to believe the impossible: That life arose spontaneously by chance!" (George Wald, "The Origin of Life", Scientific American May 1954.) So they laugh and call Christians irrational, they say that Jesus has been gone to long and we are foolish to watch and wait for Him, and all the while they knowingly ignore mountains of evidence against the very base of their theories, and choose to embrace what they know is a scientific impossibility.
But God is not mocked, and neither is He late. Things are happening right on His time schedule, 2000 years is not a long time to Him, after all, in comparison to eternity what is 2000 years? He isn't taking this long because He has forgotten, rather He is giving humankind time to repent. He is giving time for us to fill ourselves up with our wickedness to the point that we are sick of it, and turn to Him. Many are turning to Him, and many others continue to fill up their iniquity to their own judgment.
10 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. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. (2 Peter 3:10-18, New King James Version)
Although God is patient, and although He waits to give us time to repent, He will not wait forever. He will return, at which time the chance to repent will be gone, it will time for judgment.
We Christians need to keep in mind that this earth will not last forever, it and all the sin and sadness on it, are temporary. We need to live our lives focused on eternity, in obedience to God, with our eyes on His Kingdom. Looking forward to the time when He makes a new Heaven and a new Earth, one without sin or all of the sadness, sickness, hatred, strife, and death that sin brings.
We must live for God, not for our own selfish desires and dreams. We need to become living sacrifices, aware that we are here to bring God glory, aware that we exist for Him, and not He for us. We need to realize, that while God does love us, while He does desire to bless us and give us joy, He doesn't exist for that, He doesn't exist in order to please us, we exist in order to please Him.
We need to keep in mind that the suffering of Christ is our salvation, we did not earn it, and have no reason to boast.
We need to study diligently, and guard against false teachers who twist scripture. We must look at all scripture in context and in light of what the rest of Scripture teaches. We must examine all teaching in the light of God's word. We need to apply God's word steadfastly and pray, and "grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
Lord, I thank You that You love me, even though You are not obligated to at all. I thank You that You have given me Your word, even though You did not owe me a thing. I thank You that forgive me even though I don't deserve anything from You. I pray Lord that You will take me and form me into the person You created me to be. I pray that You will do what You want with me, and that I will not get in the way. I give myself to You Lord, do Your will.