The Second Letter Of Peter- 12

Subtitle: A Final Exhortation

A link to the audio can be found at the bottom of this article.

2 Peter 3:14-18.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 11, 2026.

Peter finishes this letter with a final exhortation to believers on how we should now live in light of the future that God has planned and revealed to us.

Let’s look at our passage.

Be diligent to be found by Him in peace (v. 14)

This verse opens with the condition, “since you look for these things…”  The word for looking here has the sense of an expectant attitude.  It could be translated as “looking forward to these things.”  This should be our condition of heart.  As opposed to the earlier scoffers, we hold on to the promise of God’s judgment and look forward to it.

Peter’s main exhortation is for us to be diligent, or exert ourselves, to be found by Him in peace.  The second part helps us to understand what kind of exertion we are to give ourselves.  To be in peace refers to a particular state or way of life that is marked by God’s peace in our life.

This peace originates internally.  We are no longer enemies of God but are at peace with Him through Jesus.  This reality is the bedrock of our inner life.  It is then supposed to express itself through a life of peace towards others.  Even when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and points us to repentance, we can respond in the reality of His grace towards us.  His purpose is not to destroy me and cast me out.  His purpose is to teach me, train me, help me to grow into the character and faith of Jesus.  We can repent with the peaceful joy that this is His desire, and we will be accepted.

We also need to live at peace with the wisdom and timing of God’s judgments.  Many people scoff at the word or even turn back from following Christ because they allow their hearts to be stirred up in turmoil against the judgments of God.  Rather than kicking against them and falling back into a life of scoffing unbelief, we are to trust Him and hold onto the peace that comes into our heart when we know that we are at peace with God.

In reference to the idea of being found by Him, it is easy to jump to the belief that this is talking about the Second Coming alone.  Thus, it would have the idea of being diligent so that Jesus will find you living in His peace when he arrives.  This can definitely be a part of what Peter is saying.  However, the verb “to be found” has the sense of an inspection or examination.  Yes, the return of Christ will be a day that reveals the results of God’s inspection and examination of every heart.  However, the Holy Spirit within believers is helping us every day to hear the Word of God and inspect our own hearts.  This co-laboring process ensures that we will be found on the ultimate day, whether his coming or our death, in his peace.  In fact, the phrase “by Him” is literally “to him.”  It has a sense that we are inspected and found “in his estimation” to be in peace.  It doesn’t matter what the world thinks about us, but what Christ thinks about us.

Peter then adds two extra descriptions of this state of peace: spotless and blameless.  It emphasizes the imagery of a sheep that is being inspected by the Good Shepherd.  It can even emphasize a sacrificial lamb that is inspected by the Priest in order to determine if it is worthy of offering (notice that Christ is both our High Priest and Good Shepherd).  We want our lives to be a holy offering unto God that, when inspected by the Priest (Jesus), is found worthy.  That is not something that we wait for the end of our life to discover.  It is a daily spiritual walk with Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Remember also that in 1 Peter 1:19, Peter had reminded them (us) that they were redeemed by “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”  Just as the life of Christ was found acceptable as a sacrifice that would redeem others, so we should want our lives to be acceptable to him by following his path.  Of course, our sacrifices cannot pay the price for the sins of others, but they don’t need to do so.  Jesus has already done that.  Our sacrifice in a lesser but still important way can help people to see and embrace the forgiveness of sins found in Christ.

How can I live a life of sacrificial love that is spotless and blameless?  We won’t do it in the same way that Jesus did it, i.e., without error.  However, we can be spotless and blameless by walking in God’s love through repentance and forgiveness.  This is not just between us and God, but also between us and others.  We need to be quick to ask forgiveness from people we have wronged.  We also need to be quick to give forgiveness to those who ask.  Our goal must be to draw people into the peace of Christ and help them remain there by the love of Christ. 

By the way, this is not blameless in the eyes of people, or even yourself.  You may ask forgiveness and turn away from prior sin, but some people may never let it go.  They may continue to blame you as a bad person because of something you did in the past.  This is blameless in the eyes of Jesus.  He sees your heart and your attempts to make things right with people.  They may hold on to blame in your regard, but they will have to answer for their lack of forgiveness.  None of us will stand before Christ blameless because we have never sinned.  We will do so because we have followed the Holy Spirit on the path of repentance and following Jesus, the path of loving God and loving others.  It is only the judgment of Jesus that puts us in a place of being spotless and blameless in his peace.

The Lord’s patience is salvation (v. 15a)

In verse 15, Peter reminds us of the earlier point that the Lord’s seeming delay is actually patience making room for salvation (2 Peter 3:9).  We are to consider, regard, the Lord’s patience (the long time of not coming yet continued to this day) as the opportunity of salvation for those who are even now perishing.  Each day that he doesn’t come is another opportunity of salvation for the lost.  In fact, each day that a person wakes up on the right side of the dirt is a gracious opportunity of salvation.

The “delay” of Christ should not be called a delay.  It is truly an exercise, a gift, of patience.  It is an opportunity of salvation.  It is a cause for rejoicing and not complaining to God or scoffing at His promises.

Working for the Lord in this life is meant to be a joyful thing.  Even when people bite your head off simply for pointing them to Jesus, we can rejoice as Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12.  “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  We rejoice because we have a ministry of reconciliation that can turn enemies into fellow brothers and sisters.  We rejoice because we are in good company and have a sure reward for our labor.

Paul’s letters (v. 15b-16)

Peter brings up the Apostle Paul and the letters that he had written to these same Christians.  Paul had founded these churches and was the primary apostolic influence.  Peter emphasizes that what he tells them is no different from what Paul had already written to them.  God had given Paul wisdom, which he had shared with these believers in person and in letters.  It was a message that agreed with Peter and the other apostles.

This is important because there have been attempts by certain teachers through the years to present Paul as having hijacked the early Church.  They accuse Paul of changing the Gospel.  Yet, this is not the testimony of Peter who had sat at the feet of Jesus as he taught.  The early apostles were clear on the reason why Jesus had not come back yet.  Christ had not come back yet because God was patiently keeping the door of salvation open for the lost.  Yet, this would not be without an end, which is the main point of this chapter.

In verse 16, Peter mentions that some of the things that Paul has written are hard to understand.  Paul was trained in the Scriptures to a high degree.  When this was surrendered to the Holy Spirit, it gave him a deep understanding of what God was doing in Christ and how that connected to the Old Testament.  People (apparently even Peter) found it hard to follow his train of thought and line of argument.

We should also notice that Peter includes Paul’s letters in the category of Scripture: “some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures…”  The Apostles knew that their teaching was inspired by the Spirit of Christ.  The duty was upon them to lay the foundation of faith for the Church, once and for all.  Their writings about the Gospel were inspired (God-breathed) and binding upon those who would follow Christ.

Let’s broaden our perspective on this.  When Paul wrote a letter to the churches that he had founded, his letters were not out of the blue without any context.  He had taught them many things and answered many of their questions.  They knew his mind about many things. 

Even if his letters were hard to follow, they understood the bottom line of what he was teaching.  They could not twist Paul’s words to mean something other than what he had already taught them and remain intellectually, even morally, honest.  However, those who were untaught and unstable had no such guardrails.  Even if they were told of Paul’s true meaning, their wisdom and flesh would pull them away from that meaning to a distortion, a lie.  You cannot live out lies and find life.  It always leads to destruction, for yourself and for those who follow you.

The scoffers earlier in the chapter are in this category.  They were distorting, perverting, and twisting Paul’s words to mean something that he did not mean.  The Judaizers in the book of Acts similarly twisted Paul’s words.  In this case, they were accusing Paul of teaching error.  They accused him of promoting lawlessness and destroying the Law of Moses.  Of course, Paul was not doing this.  Anyone who knew him knew that this was not the case.

Be on your guard (v. 17-18)

Both Peter and Paul have done their job to forewarn Christians of the danger posed by those who twist Scripture and the words of the apostles of Jesus.  Thus, we must be on our guard against such false teachers.  However, the guarding begins in our hearts.  We must know the Word of God and refresh our memory in it every day.  We must prayerfully work it into our lives by the various helps of the Holy Spirit.  Yet, this guarding has an external aspect.  We are to reject false teachers as they surface in our lives and in the lives of our Christian communities.  Church elders must clearly stand against any false teachers who come into their assemblies.

If we do not stay on guard, then we (or others) can be carried away by the error of these “unprincipled” men.  He calls them unprincipled because they are a person who refuses laws, boundaries, and wisdom in order to gratify the desires of their flesh.  They cast off sound teaching, or twist it to support their desires, in order to follow paths that are not from the Lord.

Earlier in the letter, Peter had mentioned Balaam in connection with these false teachers (2 Peter 2:15).  They stray from the path of Jesus onto the path of Balaam.  The path of Balaam was a path of trying to gain riches through God’s Word.  The lie behind this is the same lie that the devil told Eve.  You can get something better by going your own way, rather than God’s Way, i.e., Christ’s Way.  This lie always leads to destruction, unless we repent and turn back to the Way of the Lord.

Not only can we be pulled down a path of error, but it can also be described as falling from our steadfastness.  Believers have been securely set upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus.  As long as we remain in Him, we are secure.  However, we can be deceived, seduced, discouraged into following a path of error.  We step off the foundation of Jesus and the place of security that God has given us.  It would be as if one of Noah’s sons jumped off the boat as the flood waters began to rise.  Those who have faith in Jesus remain in the place and life that God has set them.  They hold to the truth despite the chatter of unbelievers and false Christians.  This is what Peter is warning against.

Peter closes with the call for Christians to grow, to increase and become greater, in grace and knowledge of Jesus.  The grace of Jesus is the foundation upon which we grow to become more like him.  Grace is the whole measure of God’s good gifts, particularly salvation.  It is the constant supply with which we are enabled to become more like him.  This is true as individuals but also true for us as a local expression of the Church.  We are all called to be a part of God’s grace to one another.

Knowledge of Jesus is primarily what Jesus taught.  We come to know this through the faithful work of the apostles recorded in the New Testament.  However, it is also how that teaching (knowledge) affects our life and makes us more like him.  Therefore, it is a knowledge that comes from experience and relationship with Jesus and his teaching.

Peter reminds us of just what Jesus is to us.  He is Lord.  That not only meant that he had authority over all powers on the earth (Lord of lord and King of kings), but also in the heavens (save the Father Himself).  It was also understood to directly tie into the covenant name of God at Sinai.  He is Yahweh of the Old Testament, the LORD.

He is also Savior.  He is the one who has delivered us, or rescued us, from sin and the slavery in which we were stuck.  He has rescued us from the path of error and destruction while placing us in a place of being children of God.

He is also Christ, the Messiah.  He is the Anointed One of God sent to redeem humanity back to its rightful place of direct relationship with the Father and Imagers of His dominion upon the earth.

Peter lastly declares that to Jesus be the glory now and forever.  Our aspirations in life should be to give him all the glory, the credit, the praise.  But also, we should desire that our life itself be lived in a way that causes Him to be praised.  Thus, we glorify him in the present, but everyday until eternity.  The idea is not that it stops when eternity starts, but that it continues to eternity.

May God help us to live lives that are growing each day to be more like Jesus.  May we bring glory to him and may we praise God for all that Jesus has done for us.

Remember this.  The wrong things that happen in the Church or are done by Christians, happen because someone wants the glory, the praise, of others.  Don’t give people the praise that belongs to Jesus alone.  In short, let him who boasts boast in the LORD Jesus!

Final Exhortation audio

The Second Letter of Peter- 11

Subtitle: The Impact of Judgment Day

A link to the audio can be found at the bottom of this article.

2 Peter 3:11-13.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 4, 2026.

Peter has reminded us that the Day of the Lord will come upon the world like a thief.  They will not be ready for it, even though they have been warned for twenty centuries and more.  He even warns us that these heavens and this earth are going to be melted down in which all bonds are broken apart.  He then ties this to the promise that God will create new heavens and a new earth (generally understood to be from the same material).

Let’s look at our passage.

The proper response to this (v. 11-13)

In verse 11, the phrase “all these things” refers back to all that he has just mentioned about God’s judgment and the melting down of the universe.  It is then followed up with an exclamation declaring how we should then live in the light of those things.

Some versions translate this as a question, “What manner of persons ought you to be…?”  The sentence goes through verse 12, so the question mark is generally found at the end of it.  It is true that a word is used that implies a question.  However, there is another word present that causes this to be more of an exclamation and exhortation simultaneously.  This has a more powerful exhortative feel to it as opposed to a simple question that he seems to answer for them within the question itself.  “What manner of people ought you to be…!  Peter can see no other proper response to the judgment of the universe than to embrace the holy conduct and godliness of Jesus himself.

This is in contrast to the earlier response of the scoffers to these matters.  They did not believe it, and so they are among those who will be caught by surprise.  Our response is in contrast.  We do believe it, and it affects how we live our lives in the present.  We are not among those who will be caught by surprise at these events.

What sort of people ought you to be is not so much a question but a declaration that we should be inspired by these things to follow Jesus with even greater zeal.

He first mentions that we should respond in holy conduct or behavior.  It should be holy because we have been called to God’s purpose in Jesus.  Our life should be to accomplish his purpose and for his glory.  Technically, all of humanity was created for such a holy purpose.  However, in our sinfulness, it takes the redemption of Jesus and our response of faith in that redemption to secure our holy purpose in this life.

Holy conduct also carries the connotation of being pure.  The destruction of all that we see and is around us should inspire a conduct that is different from those who do not believe.  This is not a holier-than-thou attitude.  Rather, it is a head down, doing what Christ told us to do, which is to love people with the same love that Christ gave to us.  Jesus told his disciples to love one another as he had loved them.  Jesus loved them, loved us, sacrificially and at his own cost.

Peter adds another description of our life, Godliness.  The underlying word refers to the good response (good piety) of a person to God.  Godliness is a reminder that we were created as image bearers of God.  We can fight against this nature and use this imaging ability to image the devil, but it is our true nature to image God, regardless.  The man Jesus was the perfect imager of God the Father.  To see him is to see the Father.   Doing things the way that Jesus would do them is the definition of godliness.  We could also recognize that this is the same thing that the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, leads us to do from within us.

I know that a new believer may feel like praying is unnatural.  However, that is more a product of your upbringing than it is of your true nature.  It is a product of the broken way of life that you have lived for so long.  There is nothing more natural than to address the Creator who made us all.  Just like a newly wed couple may feel strange in each other’s presence for a while becoming accustomed to one another, so we can come to enjoy talking with God about our lives each day.

In verse 12, Peter mentions that we should live with an expectation of the coming of the Day of God.  It is not just a looking of trying to find something, i.e., when is this going to happen.  It is a looking forward to in the sense of an excited expectation that affects our life today.  This is a promise given to us from God which gives us great hope in the present.

This is not so much an expectation that He is supposed to come today.  This is not about a daily disappointment that He didn’t come back today and then pinning our hopes on tomorrow.  No.  This is a deep-seated confidence that it is coming.  It is a deep-seated confidence that our response is proper.  It is a confidence that we do not need to fear that day but can rejoice as God removes wickedness from our daily experience.

It is important to realize that the things around us are not as real and solid as they seem to us now.  In a moment, everything on this planet could melt down at God’s command.  Yes, we must deal with them as they are substantially here, but we want to be on the good side of the future melt-down that is coming.  In fact, God wants us to be on the right side of that as well.

It is good to note that Peter refers to the “coming” of the Day of God.  The word here speaks of a coming of presence.  Christ is here by the Spirit of God, but on that day, his presence will come to this earth to deal with the rebels and their rebellion.  Such a coming has several stages to it.  It is not so much about an instant in time when he arrives.  It is a series of events that initiates the removal of wickedness and the recreation of all things.  Christ is coming back physically.  This will initiate a series of events that will eventually lead us into new heavens and a new earth.

Peter also mentions that we should be “hastening” the coming of the Day of God.  Hastening is the idea of speeding something along as opposed to slowing it down or as opposed to being an observer only.  Our holy conduct, godly lives and looking forward to his coming will actively participate in the coming of Christ and the Day of God.  Somehow, it speeds up this coming.

We may not know all the ways that it speeds it up, but we can use Scripture itself to gain some understanding.  Jesus mentions that the end of this age will not come until the Gospel goes to the ends of the earth (Matthew 24:14).  Thus, as we take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, we bring the world closer to the end of this age.

Another aspect to note is that Scripture speaks of God restraining the devil’s plans for this earth (2 Thessalonians 2:5-12).  As we take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, it not only triggers the end of the age in the coming of Christ, but it also triggers the end of the restraint of great evil.  The breaking forth of the Antichrist with multitudes taking his mark and pledging allegiance to him will also speed up the coming of the Day of God.

The Gospel saves some, but it also provokes others.  Satan does not like humans at all, but he hates true Christians deeply.  Many who side with him will become channels of his vehement vitriol.

Though the destruction of this universe should inspire godly living today, there is a good hope on the other side of that judgment.  Verse 13 reminds us that we are looking for (excitedly expecting) the fulfillment of God’s promise of new heavens and a new earth.  God is not just going to judge all things.  He is also going to re-create all things in which no evil thing can reside!

Though we are excitedly looking forward to such things, it should not inspire an attitude that discounts this world, e.g., “Good riddance!”  Jesus did not do that.

I have seen some Christians accuse those who promote righteousness as trying to “polish the brass on a sinking ship.”  Jesus taught his generation the truth.  They crucified him for it.  However, he taught them knowing what they would do to him.  He laid his life down for them knowing that many of them would not believe.  Was he polishing brass on a sinking ship?  Or what was he doing?  He was offering the love of God to people who didn’t deserve it, to people who would cast it aside.  Yet, many did believe.

There is a tension between this world being your hope and this world being the field in which you labor for Christ.  If all of your hopes are on the things of this world, then maybe you are simply polishing the brass on a sinking ship.  However, if you are attempting to save some of the people on that ship so that they do not perish, then you are doing more than polishing brass.  You are being a channel of the love of God to a perishing people.

We are to share the Gospel and demonstrate right living to the world.  How this impacts our neighbors, city, Republic, or world, is between them and God.  Our is to be faithful.  This life is good and meaningful when it is lived in Christ.  Yet, God has something even better ahead!

Notice that Peter describes the new heavens and new earth with the phrase, “where righteousness dwells.”  This description of them reminds us that God will have removed all unrighteousness.  The word “dwells” may even intentionally tie back to Peter’s theme of Christians being sojourners in this world.  We are only passing through this temporary world.  While we live here for a season, we witness to the world around us of a city, a universe, whose builder and maker is God.  A place where no wicked thing is allowed (see Revelation 21:27).  It is a dwelling place for The Righteous (those who believe in Christ) and for only righteousness.  Imagine a place where we will never experience evil from another person or spirit again!  Or even better, where we will be made perfectly like Jesus and not interested in giving ourselves to wickedness at all towards one another!

This is God’s plan for us, for you!  Let us be the righteousness of Jesus sojourning on this planet until He brings us into our permanent and perfect home!

Impact audio

The Second Letter Of Peter- 10

Subtitle: Has God Changed His Mind About Judgment Day?

A link to the audio can be found at the bottom of this article.

2 Peter 3:8-10.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, September 27, 2026.

In this chapter, Peter has referenced scoffers in the last days who would particularly ridicule the Second Coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord.  They will say [are even now saying], “Where is the promise of his coming?”

The scoffer’s problem is partly willful ignorance and partly a blindness that comes from willfully ignoring the Word of God.  The cycle starts by pushing away truth and turning towards a desired lie.  However, this then hardens a person’s heart and leaves them insensitive.  It takes more and more powerful conflicts with truth to break through to their heart; and yet, they can just ignore that too.

Peter in these verses turns his focus from the scoffers to believers.  We must not let ourselves be affected by the scoffers.  We must hold fast to faith in God’s promise to judge the wickedness of this world, both spiritual entities and humans in league with them (knowingly or unknowingly).

Let’s look at our passage.

The issue of time with the LORD (v. 8-9)

We generally understand how time limits and affects us as humans.  However, it is easy to blindly insist that those same limitations are effective upon God.  Scoffers are not just willfully ignorant of the reality of God’s Word, but they do not understand the relationship between God and time.

We experience time as those who are being carried along by it and only have so much of it to do what we want to do.  If something takes longer than a lifetime, then we have difficulty waiting for it or working for it.  Our modern age has only exacerbated this reality.  If we do not have an immediate effect, we look for alternative ways to make it happen.  Or we give up completely and go in a different direction.

We might be able to conceive how angels think of time.  They were created at the beginning and have existed all this time, millennia.  They can think about long periods of time without becoming impatient.  However, God is not a high-powered angel.  He is the Creator of all things including time itself.  It has no control over Him and holds no fear to Him.  It is something that He imagined and brought into being.  He is the Lord of time and yet, works within it.

In verse 8, Peter tells us not to let “this one fact escape your notice…”  Unlike the scoffers who willfully ignore and become blind to these matters, we are not to let the following fact escape our notice.  We are not to travel down the same path as the scoffers.  The long period of waiting for God to keep His promise about the Second Coming and the Day of the Lord does not logically support the contention that it somehow disproves the promise or God Himself.  Instead, we are to keep in mind that “with the Lord” 1 day is like 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is like 1 day!

Let’s contemplate the second part of that, “1,000 years is like 1 day.”  This is not meant to be some kind of equation that we can use to crack the meaning of prophecy.  God does use symbolism in the length of time of His works, but we must be careful of treating this as a law of the prophetic universe.  It simply means that long periods of time to God are shrugged off like one day to God. 

It is probably even greater than Peter states because he is probably thinking of Psalm 90:4. “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night.”  Notice that Moses doesn’t treat it as an equation.  It is not only like yesterday (i.e., one day), but it is also like a watch in the night.  This would have been about four hours. 

The point is that it is something short (though for humans a watch in the night might seem to take forever when you are sleepy).  In fact, when it is dark, it is easy to let the eyelids rest for just a moment.  Many an army has been caught off-guard by their enemy with such men on watch.

Because we are talking about the Promise taking so long, this is the salient part of Peter’s statement.  However, we should note that he also makes the opposite contention.  “1 day is like 1,000 years.”  God’s ability with time is beyond our imagination.  He not only takes long periods of time to do something, but when He does it, He can accomplish 1,000 years of work in a day, or even one hour!  His ability is beyond our imagination, but it should not be beyond our belief!

When a human delays decades, or even the majority of their life, it is easy to give up hoping for what they promise.  God is not like us.  He keeps His Word.  We should not read into the long period of time in which He works the idea that it is no longer going to happen.

Verse nine tells us that God is not delaying His promise as men consider delays.  The word for delay here is not just about something being late as in being tardy.  It also has the connotation of being so late as to non-fulfillment, i.e., that God has changed His mind about doing it or is unable to do it (it’s too late!).  It is one thing to make such determinations about human endeavors (though we can easily be wrong), but it is quite another to make such judgments about God and His works.

Now listen.  Scoffing is not just something that comes from outside of the Church.  There are plenty Christians who scoff at this promise.  Some have gone so far as to treat it all as an allegory about a person gaining enlightenment about the genius of Jesus and the path of love.  This is what Peter is nipping in the bud.  People coming up with alternative ideas within the Church.

God means to keep His promise.  So why is the coming of Christ taking so long?  Peter’s answer is that God is being patient with humanity.  The word for patient here has the sense of having a long fuse.  His patience comes from the fact that He does not want anyone to perish.  Some versions say that He does not wish for people to perish, but I think this is nonsensical with God.  He does not desire anyone to perish, so He has planned a long period of time.  For Jesus to come back is to shut the door on this age of grace.  It is to seal the fate of so many people.  Only God can righteously make such a call.

It is also His desire that people come to repentance [and faith in Jesus].  This is His path of escaping the path of perishing on which we are careening into the future.  Yet, God will not force people to repent and be saved.  This issue of freedom, desire, and power is at the root of all that we are facing today.

In any project, taking too long is not seen as good.  However, when it comes to issues of love, taking too long, or being unimaginably patient, is not seen as bad.  Rather, it is remarkable as a great goodness that is not deserved.  God’s long “delay” in sending Jesus is precisely such.  It is a powerful testament to His patient love towards us.

It seems that modern man wants its cake and to eat it too.  We want to blame God for the evil in the world, saying that He has taken too long, and yet, we repel at the idea of a God that will hold us accountable for our sins.  How dare God be so patient!  Yet, the true nature of God is perfect in these matters.  He is not quick to judge sinners, and in fact, does what He can to help them avoid the fate that is only right for those who cause pain and suffering in this world. 

The Day of the Lord will come (v. 10)

In verse 10, Peter emphatically states that the Day of the Lord will come.  The Second Coming of Jesus is not equivalent to the term “Day of the Lord.”  It is only one aspect of the larger concept of the Day of the Lord.  It can be thought of as the event that initiates the Day of the Lord, but there are also events that lead up to the Second Coming, having been triggered by its timing.

The Day of the Lord is an all-encompassing phrase that refers to the judging of the world by God.  Revelation 19-20 reveals that this will be initiated in the years leading up to the Second Coming, often referred to as the Great Tribulation.  The pouring out of the wrath of God culminates in the Appearance of Jesus to remove the devil, and his angels, and the kings and powers of the earth.  This leads to 1,000 years of peace under a direct rule of Jesus and His resurrected administrators on this earth.  At the end of this time, the devil will be released from his prison and allowed one last deception upon humanity.  The ensuing rebellion will perish in fire.  The fire engulfs the heavens and the earth as all beings are brought before the throne of God for judgment.  Following this judgment, God creates New Heavens and a New Earth for those who proved righteous.  Those who did not prove righteous will be walled off from that good creation.  The Day of the Lord encompasses all of that.

Some may protest that there are places in the Old Testament where the Day of the Lord is used for a judgment that was in the past and not for all nations.  This may be true, but it is not what Peter is talking about.  Peter is looking ahead to a time when the elements of the heavens and the earth will melt with intense heat.  It is the ultimate Day of the Lord, of which all previous and smaller days of the Lord were only harbingers.

We must never let ourselves doubt that the day will eventually come when God triggers these events.  In fact, through Christians, the peace terms of Christ are going out to the whole world.  We are planting the seeds of truth, watering them, and harvesting as people respond with faith.  We don’t know when this time will be closed, but we can be faithful to God’s grace being extended through us.

Peter also describes the Day of the Lord as coming like a thief.  It is going to catch the world by surprise.  This is surprising since they will have been warned about it for thousands of years!  Paul makes this same point in 1 Thessalonians 5.  However, he adds something in verse 4. “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.”  We have been given the truth so that we can be saved, so that we are not taken by surprise on that day.  We will not be surprised by it because we live our lives holding on to the promise of the coming of our lord and His perfect judgments.

Sodom and Gomorrah were surprised on that day, but they didn’t have to be.  They could have remembered The Flood and God’s clear warning of judgment to humanity.  They could have taken note of the man Lot who testified to them that they were going too far in their sin.  Yet, they scoffed at such things and cast-off restraint.  They ignored God’s Word and so judgment caught them by surprise.

Peter speaks about the heavens passing away with a roar, or a sudden loud sound.  This seems to be a clear reference to the picture found in Revelation 20.  At the end of 1,000 years of peace under Jesus on this earth, there will be a rebellion.  This will lead to a rapid series of events.  Revelation 20:9 says that fire will come down from heaven and devour the rebellion.  Verse 10 states that the devil who deceived them will be cast into the Lake of Fire forever, never to return.  Verse 11 then states that heaven and earth “fled away” from the Great White Throne and Him who was seated upon it.  I believe that the fleeing away is connected to the fire that falls out of heaven in verse 9.  It doesn’t just engulf the wicked; it engulfs all of creation, melting it down as all beings are brought before the throne.  Thus chapter 21 opens with the presence of new heavens and a new earth, walled off from the wicked by a great firewall called the Lake of Fire.  Heaven will pass away with a sudden noise.

Then the elements (2 Peter 3:10) will be destroyed with intense heat.  The word translated “elements” refers to the underlying things that hold something else up.  In this case, we are talking about the creation.  Thus, the elements here can be thought of as the underlying things of matter itself, whether molecules, atoms, quarks, etc.

The word “destroyed” does not mean to go out of existence.  It is the idea of breaking the bonds of something that exists to the point that it is no longer what it was.  Like the temple of Jerusalem being pulled apart stone by stone and cast into the valley below is a destruction, so this destructive event will separate the bonds of matter itself.

How do you survive such an event?  You don’t, at least not as a mortal human.  Only those who have put their faith in Christ will come out the other side into the goodness that God has for them.  You survive it by knowing Jesus!

Finally, Peter says that the earth and its works will be burned up.  This is not just talking about the wicked works but works in general.  It goes beyond human works.  It involves even the work of God in the prior creation, or even post flood.  The mountains, the seas, the animals, and all living things on the earth will be burned up.  This is the final judgment of God upon this creation.

There is a textual issue with the word translated “burned up.”  There are some manuscripts that have a different word that means to be laid bare and exposed in a destructive sense.  Burned up could be expected due to the previous “intense heat.”  However, some older manuscripts have the word that pictures the works of the earth being uncovered and laid bare.  This is a concept that is often connected with judgment in the Bible.  It is a day of finding out the hidden realities of something and judging them.  Regardless, we end up at the same place.  A creation that will be so judged by God that it will be broken apart to the smallest degree and laid bare before the God who created it.

Has God changed His mind?  The short answer is no.  Believers do not need to fear the coming of the Lord.  For us, this is a promise that is meant to be our hope while we live in this life, often in the face of great wickedness.  God will judge all these things.  Yet, He doesn’t want to catch people by surprise.  He doesn’t want to catch you like a thief. 

May God help us to be the expression of His patient desire that none perish.

Has God Changed His Mind audio

The Second Letter Of Peter- 9

Subtitle: Scoffers In The Last Days

2 Peter 3:1-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, September 20, 2026. A link to the audio can be found at the bottom of this article.

We have reached the last chapter of this letter.  In some ways, the message in this chapter can be connected to the false prophets and false teachers warned against in chapter two.  However, there is a clear transition here in chapter 3:1-2. Although the case can be made that false teachers and false prophets are clearly scoffers of the truth of God’s Word, Peter is separately warning of scoffers that will exist particularly in the Last Days.  He is stating that such people will particularly be a problem in the Last Days, and we must not let them influence our faith.

Let’s look at our passage.

A call to remember (v. 1-2)

The first two verses establish a clear break from chapter two.  Verse one establishes that this is Peter’s second letter (to the people of Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey).  Of course, 1 Peter is the first letter.  In both letters, he desires to stir up our sincere minds by reminding us to remember some things that they (and hopefully we) had been taught.

Let’s talk first about the idea of a “sincere mind” here.  The emphasis in the Greek is a pure, clean, undefiled mind.  This is not a statement about perfect control and never having a thought that you have to take captive.  It is a statement about our faith in Christ and embrace of His Gospel.  The Word of God (both Old and New Testaments) has a purifying effect upon our hearts and minds.  There is an immediate cleansing that happens as our faith switches from self, false gods, and false philosophies to the commands of Christ.  However, there is a daily and life-long cleansing work as we listen to the Holy Spirit and follow Him.  Our minds are pure because of the presence of the Spirit of Christ by faith.  Much of the Christian life consists in the battle to keep our hearts and minds free from the influence of the world and to keep them tethered to the Spirit and the Word of God.

Verse two highlights two things that Peter wants us to continually remember: the words of the prophets (Old Testament) and the commandments of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, given to them by the apostles of Jesus.

There are some issues in the text that are not important to theology.  However, Peter is most likely emphasizing that they had received these things by “your apostles.”  Peter is recognizing that the apostolic work of Paul and Barnabas who had founded many of these churches.

Peter warns against scoffers in the Last Days (v. 3-7)

The phrase “first of all” in verse three can be used to introduce a list that includes secondary and tertiary issues.  However, we do not find in the rest of the letter such phrases as “second of all,” or “secondarily,” etc.  Peter is simply emphasizing that the following is an area that is of primary importance.    Believers must not forget the warning he is going to give about scoffers.

Several versions use the word “mockers” as opposed to “scoffers.”  There is no true difference between them.  The idea is that they treat certain Christian teachings with derision and ridicule.  They both scoff at the teachings and mock them.  This is a very different person than someone who expresses arguments of disagreement but are willing to seriously engage the arguments of God’s Word.

There is a Hebrew idiom employed here.  In English, it comes across as redundant to say that scoffers will come with their scoffing (or mockers).  However, in Hebrew, this is a way of intensifying the expression.  This scoffing will be more than individuals here and there who are keeping it to themselves.  Rather, it takes on the nature of an assault of many scoffers flooding the public discussion with their derision and ridicule of the Scriptures.

Peter also emphasizes that he is speaking about “the last days.”  This is a phrase that connects to the same phrase in the Old Testament along with a whole group of similar phrases.  “The Last Days,” “the Latter Days,” “End Times,” and even the “Day of the Lord” generally point to the same things but also have some particular emphases that can distinguish them.  They are not necessarily synonymous.  You need to pay attention to the point the author is making, whether it is general or specific, etc.

In fact, prophecies that are forward looking have an effect that is sometimes called the Mountain Peak Effect.  When you look at a mountain range, it may appear that many of the peaks are about the same height, but experience teaches us that there may be large distances between them.  A peak may actually be taller than all the others, but it is farther away.  Prophecies in the Old Testament sometimes will speak of things that clearly point to the first coming of Christ and then also include things that are clearly from His second coming.  We know this because the first coming of Christ gave us more information from Jesus himself through his apostles.

We are technically in the last days of God’s work of bringing in the Kingdom of His Messiah.  It involves the offer of peace to any person in any nation with God the Father through Jesus His Son.  At some point, this age of God’s peace offer (an Age of Grace) will come to an end.  His Son will then come forth to take up control of the nations.

Yet, we can also recognize that this period is coming up on 2,000 years in duration.  Thus, there are the end times, latter days, where we approach the final years before Christ’s second coming.  If we are not in these now, we are rapidly approaching them.

It is of no surprise that we see all kinds of scoffing and mocking towards Christians who believe God’s Word, as Peter told us- really as the Holy Spirit told us through the Apostle Peter.

Peter says in verse three that they do this “following after their own lusts.”  There is a repetition in the use of the pronouns “their” and “own.”  Again, this is not redundancy but intensification.  Their strong desires are leading them, pulling them along.  In fact, there is a willfulness involved in this as well as a bondage to it.  This cycle of choosing something that then becomes a shackle and stronghold in your heart and mind is as old as humanity itself.  There is nothing wrong with having questions about God’s Word and the things it teaches.  However, be careful that you are not willfully following the lust of your flesh.

In verse four, we are given a particular scoffing that will be prevalent.  It is not the only one that will exist in the last days, but it is the one the Holy Spirit emphasizes.  “Where is the promise of His coming?”

Remember that this is not the question of a heart that is seeking truth.  This question is being asked by someone who holds such an idea in derision and ridicules it.  They reject it and deny it.

Such a scoff definitely comes from some militant atheists who believe that religion is holding humanity back from greater evolution.  However, it can come from a person from a false religion as well.  Finally, I would warn that it also can come from within the Christian community itself.

There are those who interpret the second coming of Christ as an allegory of a person accepting the way of Jesus.  They do not believe in a day of judgment in which the nations of the earth will be judged for what they did with the Gospel of Jesus and the truth that God has anointed him as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  Such people often boil the message of Jesus to this.  Love everybody.  However, it is always in a non-judgmental way that embraces all kinds of things that Scripture calls sin.  It is as if Jesus died so that nothing can be called sin anymore.  True love helps promiscuous heterosexuals as well as homosexuals to face their sin and turn to Christ.  Christ taught us to love God by listening to His Word.  If you love such people as I have listed, then you will warn them of the destruction that comes from following your flesh over the boundaries designed by the Creator.

Such “Christians” see those who believe in a literal return of Christ as the problem that is holding us back from Utopia.  This is the foundation approach of people like James Talarico in Texas and the strange things he says as a “Christian.”

Verse four continues with support for their questioning the return of Jesus (why they think it so ridiculous).  Their evidence is that everything continues as it always has since creation.

This appeal to the uniform character of what we see today is prevalent in the science of today.  We extrapolate long periods of time because we require a natural solution.  Yet even that does not naturally require long periods of time.  Huge canyons can be carved out in a day by large catastrophes.  Erosion that would normally take a million years can happen in a matter of hours in catastrophic conditions.

This leads to a greater problem.  We don’t see God “creating” new things today, so we refuse to let that be the explanation for why anything exists at all.  We tell ourselves that we must use what we see today to explain what happened yesterday. 

In all of this, there is a hidden motivation. If we weren’t trying to get rid of any connection to God and Jesus, then perhaps we could carefully let what we see today help us understand what happened in the past.  The question of nature is wrapped up in a moral issue.  Is Jesus who God says he is?  If so, then what does that mean for me and my life now?

The early leaders of the scientific method were generally Christians.  They believed that the same God who gave us reasoning powers also made the world around us in rational ways, ways that we could discover.  Without that common bond, there is no rational basis for believing that we can figure everything out on our own.

The use of “the fathers” in this argument from uniformity- i.e., that the rates of natural processes today can help us explain the past- is a reference to the patriarchs of the Old Testament.  This would be the list of men from Adam down to Jacob.  These men lived with an expectation that God would send a “Seed of the Woman,” an “Anointed One,” who would fix all the issues of sin and our domination by Satan.  The use of this phrase is likely an indication by Peter that these scoffers would be led by people from within Christianity.  It is possible that it is simply using Christian language for something that a person from outside of Christianity would say in different language, but I would lean towards the first interpretation.

Verse five has a grammatical issue.  There is one word that can be paired with either verb, which gives a subtle change to the meaning.  Peter is either saying that these scoffers willfully ignore the fact (of the flood), or he is saying that, as they assert the fact of uniformity, it is hidden from them how God’s Word has always been the foundation to all that happens.

I don’t think this is a critical difference because Scripture speaks of both scenarios being a problem for those who reject God’s Word.  The first interpretation simply emphasizes that these scoffers are willfully ignoring critical evidence for whatever reason.  God has shown them, but they refuse to see it or recognize it.

The second interpretation emphasizes how willfulness (to follow our flesh) not only holds a bondage within it, but also a debilitation.  “It is hidden from them,” is the flip side of the spiritual blindness that happens to those who willfully push aside God’s Word.  Sin hardens hearts and minds to truth.  Truth becomes something that is harder and harder for them to see.  Without God’s grace of revelation and salvation, we would all be stuck in that condition.

Peter reminds us that the world hasn’t gone on the same without interruption (vs 5 and 6).  The heavens and the earth came into being, existed, by the Word of God.  “Let there be light!  And there was light.”  This is an interruption of what was (or wasn’t) before it.  God speaks and it interrupts the current uniformity.  Again, at The Flood, God’s Word of judgment interrupted the ancient world.  If not for Noah and the ark, humanity and the animals would have ceased to exist on this planet.  Yet, Noah and the others stepped onto a world radically different from the one on the other side of the Flood, a Great Interruption of the Uniformity.

This brings us to the point.  God’s Word also speaks of another Great Interruption that is coming upon the heavens and the earth.  They are currently being reserved for a fire that will destroy all ungodly men (even melting down the universe- see 2 Peter 3:10).

Peter is speaking in general terms. 

In Revelation 20, we are given more specific information about how this fiery judgment will connect with the second coming of Jesus.  I believe it is clear that Christ’s second coming will institute a kingdom of peace for 1,000 years.  During this time, God fulfills all His promises to national Israel, to the nations, and to the righteous.  Yet, at the end of that millennium, a final rebellion will be instigated by Satan.  It is then that we are told of a fire that comes down out of heaven.  The scene swiftly moves.  The rebellion is devoured by fire.  The devil is cast into the Lake of Fire.  The Great White Throne appears causing the heavens and the earth to flee away.  If we couple this last statement with 1 Peter 3:10, it appears that they melt down to a plasma and are moved away.  Then all who have ever lived that have not been resurrected yet (mostly the wicked) are resurrected, judged and sent into the Lake of Fire (if their name is not in the Book of Life).  The very next statement is that there are new heavens and a new earth.  It seems logical to see that the old has melted down to a plasma and then remade.  You might think of it as a purification, renewal, even a rebooting of the Creation.  This Great Interruption lays ahead of humanity and the spiritual hosts of heaven (wicked and righteous), all of Creation.

In the last days, scoffers will attempt to dissuade believers that these things are coming.  If we are dissuaded of that, then the impulse to live righteously is greatly undermined.  The hope for humanity becomes something of our own making, led by our own lust, and led by a devil who hates humanity.

Let us hold fast to the faith and hope that we have been given by the apostles of Jesus!

Scoffers audio