SCOFFING AT THE SCOFFERS (2 Peter 3:1–10)

How important it is for us as Christians to understand God’s truth! Today we are surrounded by scoffers, people who refuse to take the Bible seriously when it speaks about Christ’s return and the certainty of judgment. In this paragraph, Peter admonished his readers to understand three important facts about God and the promise of Christ’s coming.

I. God’s Word Is True (2 Peter 3:1–4)

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.”

A. The Day of the Lord.

What the Bible teaches about the Day of the Lord was not invented by the Apostles. The prophets taught it and so did our Lord Jesus Christ. When the scoffers denied “the power and coming” of Jesus Christ, they were denying the truth of the prophetic books, the teaching of our Lord in the Gospels, and the writing of the Apostles! The Scriptures cannot be cut apart without ruining the whole.

As far back as the days of Enoch, God warned that judgment was coming. Many of the Hebrew prophets announced the Day of the Lord and warned that the world would be judged. This period of judgment is also known as “the time of Jacob’s trouble” and the Tribulation.

B. The scoffers who deny the Word.

A scoffer is someone who treats lightly that which ought to be taken seriously. The people in Noah’s day scoffed at the idea of a judgment, and the citizens of Sodom scoffed at the possibility of fire and brimstone destroying their sinful city. If you have tried at all to witness for Jesus Christ, you have no doubt met people who scoff at the idea of hell or a future day of judgment for this world. Their presence is proof that the Word they deny is the true Word of God! We should not be surprised at the presence of these apostate mockers.

Why do these apostates scoff? Because they want to continue living in their sins. Peter made it clear that false teachers cultivate “the lust of uncleanness” (2 Peter 2:10) and lure weak people by means of “the lusts of the flesh” (2 Peter 2:18). If your lifestyle contradicts the Word of God, you must either change your lifestyle or change the Word of God. The apostates choose the latter approach, so they scoff at the doctrines of judgment and the coming of the Lord.

What is their argument? The uniformity of the world. “Nothing cataclysmic has happened in the past,” they argue, “so there is no reason to believe it will happen in the future.” They take the “scientific approach” by examining evidence, applying reason, and drawing a conclusion. The fact that they willfully ignore a good deal of evidence does not seem to disturb them.

II. God’s Work Is Consistent (2 Peter 3:5–7)

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.

A. The work of God at Creation, and the flood in Noah’s day.

God created the heavens and the earth by His word. The phrase “and God said” occurs nine times in Genesis 1. “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9). Not only was Creation made by the word of God, but it was held together by that same word. The same God who created the world by His word can also intervene in His world and do whatever He wishes to do! It is His word that made it and that holds it together, and His word is all-powerful.

The Flood was a cataclysmic event; in fact, the people living on earth had never seen a rainstorm or the fountains of the deep broken up, but these events happened just the same. Their “scientists” could have argued as the scoffers argued, “Everything goes on as it did from the beginning. Life is uniform so nothing unusual can happen.” But it happened! The same God who created the world by His word can also intervene in His world and do whatever He wishes to do! It is His word that made it and that holds it together, and His word is all-powerful.

B. Everything in God’s original creation was good.

It is man’s sin that has turned a good creation into a groaning creation. God could not permit sinful man to live in a perfect environment, so He had to curse the ground because of man.

God is able to intervene in the course of history. He did it in the past and He is able to do it again. The Day of the Lord that was promised by the prophets and Apostles, as well as by Jesus Christ, will come just as surely as the Flood came in Noah’s day and the fire and brimstone came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

The scoffers had their argument ready: “Then why the delay?” The promise of Christ’s coming and the judgment of the world has been around for centuries, and it is yet to be fulfilled. Has God changed His mind? The world today is certainly ripe for judgment!

III. God’s Will Is Merciful (2 Peter 3:8–10)

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. 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.

A. The ignorance of the scoffers.

Not only were they ignorant of what God had done in the past, but they were also ignorant of what God was like. They were making God in their own image and ignoring the fact that God is eternal. This means that He has neither beginning nor ending. Man is immortal: he has a beginning but not an ending. He will live forever either in heaven or hell. But God is eternal, without beginning or ending, and He dwells in eternity.

Since a thousand years are as one day to the Lord, we cannot accuse Him of delayed fulfillment of His promises. In God’s sight, the whole universe is only a few days old! He is not limited by time the way we are, nor does He measure it according to man’s standards. When you study the works of God, especially in the Old Testament, you can see that He is never in a hurry, but He is never late.

God could have created the entire universe in an instant, yet He preferred to do it over a period of six days. He could have delivered Israel from Egypt in a moment, yet He preferred to invest eighty years in training Moses. For that matter, He could have sent the Saviour much sooner, but He waited until “the fullness of the time was come”. While God works in time, He is not limited by time.

B. The scoffers don’t understand God’s eternality nor do they understand His mercy.

Why is God delaying the return of Christ and the coming of the Day of the Lord? It is not because He is unable to act or unwilling to act. He is not tardy or off schedule! Nobody on earth has the right to decide when God must act. God is sovereign in all things and does not need prodding or even counsel from sinful man. God delays the coming of Christ and the great day of fiery judgment because He is long-suffering and wants to give lost sinners the opportunity to be saved.

God’s “delay” is actually an indication that He has a plan for this world and that He is working His plan. There should be no question in anybody’s mind whether God wants sinners to be saved. God “is not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9). It is worth noting that God revealed this same long-suffering in the years before the Flood. He saw the violence and wickedness of man and could have judged the world immediately; yet He held back His wrath and, instead, sent Noah as a “preacher of righteousness.” In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, God patiently waited while Abraham interceded for the cities and He would have spared them had He found ten righteous people in Sodom.

God was even long-suffering toward the scoffers of that day and today! They need to repent and He is willing to save them. This is the only place where Peter used the word repentance in either of his letters, but that does not minimize its importance. Repentance is a change of mind that results in an action of the will. If the sinner honestly changes his mind about sin, he will turn from it. If he sincerely changes his mind about Jesus Christ, he will turn to Him, trust Him, and be saved. “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” is God’s formula for salvation.