April 18, 2023: 2 Peter 3:1-4 - Where is the Promise of His Coming?
“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, 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.’” - 2 Peter 3:1-4
Let us examine the Scriptures to see where exactly is the promise of His coming, Jesus’ second coming to the earth. There isn’t just one, there are many. I have included several below.
When Jesus was alive, He told His disciples that He would leave them but He would come again and take them with Him:
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (Jesus Christ; John 14:1-4)
Before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples that He would come again but at that time, it would be in His glory and He would judge the nations:
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…’ Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 25:31-34, 41)
After Jesus was resurrected to life, walked the earth for forty days, and ascended to heaven:
“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.’” (Acts 1:9-11)
In both the Old and New Testaments, there are other prophecies of Jesus’ second coming and of His everlasting kingdom:
“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, 'One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14)
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 24:29-31)
“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.” (Jude 14-16)
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7)
“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Jesus Christ; Revelation 1:8)
King Solomon wrote on the subject of people thinking delay in judgment means it won’t come and that they not only continue in sin but abound in it:
“Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are a shadow, because he does not fear before God.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11-13)
Are we not seeing this in our world today, with evil and lawlessness rising exponentially? The western nations which once believed in God and His Son and were restrained by their adherence to God’s commandments have abandoned their faith and have unleashed evil that is spreading across the world like a contagion. God’s judgment is promised, and it is coming much sooner than I believe most people realize.
The apostle Luke spoke of the fact that God has an appointed time at which He will judge the nations through Jesus Christ. God’s delay does not mean that He has acquitted us of our sins; only believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior can do that. Rather, the delay only means that we have another day to trust in Jesus with our hearts that He is who He says He is, and that only He can save us from all our sins. We must be careful not to confuse God’s delay with God’s forgiveness of sins by anything outside of believing in His Son Jesus the Christ:
“Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man [Jesus] whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:29-31)
Mockers and scoffers should take heed to those who mocked and scoffed long ago when God tried to wake up His people, the divided nation of Judah that had split from the nation of Israel. Both nations were deep in sin against God. But they didn’t listen to His messengers, and they didn’t listen to God:
“And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)
The Bible promised Jesus’ first coming long before it happened. When Jesus came the first time, He fulfilled at least 300 prophecies written about Him. Gotquestions.org has written an excellent article about this. (See: https://www.gotquestions.org/prophecies-of-Jesus.html). Just as the Bible promised Jesus would come the first time, so it promises that He will come again. Based on fulfilled prophecy alone, the Bible, God’s word, can be trusted in what it promises.
I believe God is trying to wake up the world, but for the most part, we aren’t listening to His warnings. We aren’t listening to what the prophets warned about in His word. We aren’t reading His word. We aren’t listening to the warnings of Jesus, the signs He told us to look for before the end of the age and before He comes again, which are all around us. Many in churches are listening to false prophets and false teachers who they themselves aren’t listening to God’s warnings. God’s judgment is coming, and I believe it is coming quickly. When Jesus comes the second time, it won’t be like His first coming. This time, He will judge each and every person who rejected His free gift of salvation, who chose evil instead, so that they could remain in sin and walk according to their own lusts. The time to decide is now: are you for Him or are you against Him? Are you a believer or are you a mocker and a scoffer? I pray that today, you will choose Jesus and will not be subject to His judgment, but will have eternal life in Him.
“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:10-12) ✝️