While You Wait — 2 Peter 3:14-18

Introduction

We’re living in one of those moments again—when war headlines feel apocalyptic, when global tensions seem prophetic, and when conspiracy theories spread faster than Scripture. You’ve got Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Iran, earthquakes, famines, and mass shooters crashing into churches. And, everyone’s an analyst. Politicians, pundits, preachers, and podcasters all step up to the mic, offering their takes on what it all means. But with so much noise, it’s hard to know who to trust—and virtually none of them agree.

In moments like this, I have two deep concerns. First, there are those who don’t actually love the Kingdom of God—but they do know how to weaponize Christian language. They twist headlines into fear-fueled talking points, using theological hype to gain power, clicks, or votes. Second, I worry about sincere believers who are left overwhelmed. With so much chaos and commentary, they either grow anxious and confused—or shrug their shoulders and say, “What’s the point?”

God’s Word

But God has not left us without clarity. In 2 Peter, while staring down the barrel of martyrdom, Peter writes back to a group of Christians in Asia minor to help cut through the noise of the End Times. He’s writing to address both concerns about those posing as Christians to twist the chaos toward their own agendas and to genuine Christians trying to figure what they’re supposed to think and do. Peter’s concern isn’t so much to give you a deep analysis of the events of the End Times. His purpose is to address false teaching by giving you Three Reminders While You Wait (Headline) for Christ’s return.

“How” you wait.

2 Peter 3:14 “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”

There are two different types of waiting. The first kind feels like prepping for a colonoscopy—marked by dread, delay, and fear about what they’ll find. The second kind is like waiting in line for the Avatar ride at Animal Kingdom—full of excitement, beauty, and anticipation. The waiting itself is the only hard part, but what you’re waiting for is so good, it shades the whole experience with joy.

It’s this second type of waiting that Peter has in mind when he says, “since you are WAITING for THESE.” The “these” he’s talking about are the “new heavens and new earth.” And, he’s saying that we should be so looking forward to this experience that we are filled with joy while we wait. In verse 14, he’s telling us “how” we can do that.

First, you…

“Prepare” your “heart.”

He says that you should “be diligent” while you wait so that you’ll “be found by him without spot or blemish” when Jesus comes. He’s drawing into our minds the type of sacrifice from the OT that was acceptable to the Lord — “without spot or blemish.” The false teachers were denying Jesus’ return, meaning no judgment or new earth. So, they urged indulgence now.

But, we don’t live like that because we don’t believe like that. That’s Peter’s point. We know the Kingdom is coming, and so our concern isn’t to maximize our enjoyment today. Our concern is that we’re ready for when the King comes. We’re living for re-creation, not this creation. So, we aim to offer a life that is worthy of God’s glory — “without spot or blemish.”

Peter is calling us to intentionally, “diligently” live a holy life as we wait for Jesus to come. It would be easy for us to see this call to diligence as a call to miserable duty, but that’s missing how driven by anticipation it is. Deep love in pursuit of deep joy always drives a sense of diligent duty.

When I do premarital counseling, for couples who really love one another and truly understand the magnitude of marriage, it’s easy to get them to do the work. They know the Day they’ve been waiting for is soon approaching, and they want to be as prepared as possible. They’ll read, prepare, and open up—doing the hard work because they love the person and long for the day.

And, Peter’s point is that your wedding is almost here, and you need to be ready. You need to prepare your heart. The Groom is about to be here for his Bride, and the desire of the Bride is to be “without blemish” for the Groom — because the Bride loves the Groom and is certain the Groom loves the Bride.

Is this how you’re living? Is your life driven by “diligent” preparation for the coming of Jesus because you love Jesus so much?

Well, Peter also wants you to..

“Avoid” cold “feet.”

We might expect Peter to tell us to need to be found holy, but we might surprised that he calls us to “peace.” We’re used to people caring about what we do, not how we are. He means that we’d be at “peace” with our position in Jesus’ coming Kingdom. That is, we aren’t meant to be a “cold-footed bride.” We may live between two worlds, but we aren’t actually torn by them. We’re “at peace.” We have found everything that we will ever need in Jesus, and we believe that so fully that we aren’t worried about how things will play out. I heard someone say recently: “We aren’t auditioning. Everything that matters the most about us has already been settled on the cross.” (Carey Podcast)

Jesus’ church is famously a “cold-footed” Bride. We worry ourselves to death that our Groom won’t make us happy enough or provide for us enough or protect us from enough.

It reminds me of a passage from the Song of Songs that I love to discuss in premarital counseling. In chapter 3, the Bride is up all night—nervous about the wedding, insecure, unsure if he loves her enough, afraid the marriage will disappoint. Do you know why we live for the world? Do you know why we rebel against Jesus? We’re afraid He’ll let us down. We’re afraid He’s not good enough to satisfy.

But when morning comes, she hears a parade off in the distance. There’s so much incense burning that there’s a column of smoke—like the one that guided Israel through the wilderness. He’s surrounded by sixty of his mightiest men, all armed. And it’s “the day of the gladness of his heart.” That is, there’s a big smile on his face.

What’s the picture? The Groom arrives to reassure his nervous Bride. His presence promises provision, protection, and passion—all wrapped in a smile. The incense, the warriors, the joy—they all shout: “You’re safe with me.”

He loves her, and he’s coming for her. His love for her is settled, and so she is secure. That’s our position in this. Your dad may not have provided for you. Your mom may not have cared for you. Your husband may not have protected you. Your wife may not have delighted in you. But, you can be “at peace” because your Groom is on the way, and it’s settled.

Let the assurances of Jesus interrupt your insomnia. Obsess over his love until you rest in his return.

“Why” you wait.

2 Peter 3:15 “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,”

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

The false teachers were checking their watches and mocking Jesus’ delay. With so many problems in the world, Jesus felt absent. But Peter says: Jesus isn’t late. He’s patient. “Count the patience of our Lord as salvation.”

If we think Jesus is just late, everything in life will feel random. Iran, Pride Month, your miscarriage—it’ll all feel like chaotic pain. Like losing sleep because your teenager forgot to call. But if we understand Jesus as patient, not absent, then we can trust there’s a purpose behind everything. Nothing is wasted. Everything is headed somewhere—on purpose.

Peter uses the word “salvation” with two layers of meaning. And in his letter, both are embodied in Noah’s Ark.

First, he means it as…

A “provision” of “salvation.”

In Noah’s day, God was slow to act. It may have taken 50–100 years to build the ark. Have you ever thought about that? That’s decades of warning—decades where people could’ve repented. Could’ve built a boat. Peter’s saying: God is being patient again. He’s calling people to salvation again. Before, it was water. Now, it is fire. Salvation is urgent.

2 Peter 3:9 says: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” You see, the Ark is both a picture of God’s provision of salvation and a picture of his judgment. It showed both how good God is and how hard our hearts are. Don’t you think of that story and wonder: “Why didn’t y’all just build a boat, too?” Well, goodness, isn’t trusting Jesus even more obvious and more simple than building a boat?

Imagine Noah in the ark, hearing the screams of those who once mocked him. He saw husbands begging for their families and mothers holding up their babies. And, this went on for weeks until the earth was covered. Noah understood the stakes of grace. I imagine him praying through tears, “Lord, thank you for your patience with me—but please, patience for them too.”

If we truly grasped what’s at stake in salvation, we’d stop being frustrated with Jesus’ delay and start praising his patience. That’s Peter’s point.

And maybe today, you’ll realize: Jesus’ patience has been for you. Jesus has come. Salvation has been provided. Please—come. You don’t need to build anything. You just need to entrust your life into the hands of Christ.

There’s a second sense of “salvation” found in the Ark. It was..

A “process” of “sanctification.”

We often fail to realize that sanctification is part of salvation. There’s a moment in which we are saved. But, there’s also a sense in which we are being continually saved. There was a moment in which the doors of the Ark closed, and they were saved. But then, there were 40 days and 40 nights of rain in which they were being saved. There were over 100 days of flood waters during which they were being saved. So, they were saved when they closed the door, and then they kept being saved, kept growing in their understanding of God’s salvation, kept deepening their understanding of grace. That’s our experience while we wait for Jesus. We’ve been saved. We’re still being saved. We’re waiting for our final salvation. And, it’s during this time of BEING SAVED that we learn the depths and riches of God’s character. It’s during this time in which He reforms us into who we’re meant to be. That’s what we mean by sanctification.

Think about Noah. Before the rain, he heard “scoffers”. He had to trust in the word of God. During the rain, he heard cries and screams covering the whole face of the earth. He had to trust in the mercy of God. After the rain, he heard nothing but ear-piercing silence. He had to trust in the provision of God. When he finally saw the rainbow, he began to hear the birds sing. He was seeing how trustworthy was the grace of God. And, all of it was for his good and for God’s glory, wasn’t it?

That’s what the process of sanctification looks like. Today, we hear the world laugh at Christians for living for something that looks like it will never happen — like the flood, like Christ’s return. Will we trust the word of God? We see storms—Russia, Ukraine, Pride Month, economic instability. Will we trust the grace of God? Sometimes it’s just silent—we don’t know how to raise our kids, pay the bills, or carry our pain. Will we trust the provision of God?

Because the rainbow reminds us: Pride doesn’t win. Mercy does. Jesus isn’t late. He’s patient. And that’s for your good—and his glory.

So, you need to remember how to wait, why to wait, and…

“Where” you wait.

2 Peter 3:16–18 “as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

Peter says that the false teachers take his letters and Paul’s, and they “twist” them to mean what they aren’t meant to mean. “Twist” is the word that was used to “twist” together a rope, where you took one thing and manipulated it so that it became something else. That’s what false teacher’s do.

And they don’t twist the Bible to benefit you—they twist it to benefit them. But here’s the trick: they make it sound like it’s about you. The easiest way to get someone to do what you want… is to give them what they want. The Big Story reminds us that, since the Garden, we’ve wanted to be masters of our own destinies. And that’s exactly what false teachers offer. They give you a gospel where you are at the center.

Think about it: How do prosperity preachers get rich? By promising that you will get rich. How do open theists (those who say God doesn’t know the future but responds to our choices) gain a following? By convincing you that you are in control. How do political gospels gain power? By promising that you can have the life, family, and economy God intends—if you just follow their plan.

But here’s the deeper issue: At the root of all false teaching is the relocation of your hope. And if someone can move your hope, they can redirect your loyalty—and your love—to wherever they want it to be. That’s what the false teachers were doing in Asia Minor. And, friends, that’s what I fear many politicians, pundits, and even preachers are doing today when they talk about the End Times.

The strength of your “gospel” determines the stability of your “hope.”

So, Peter says, “take care that you are not carried away.” “Be sober-minded” so that you don’t “lose your stability.” I wonder if you feel like you’ve lost your “stability.” Well, the strength of your gospel will determine the stability of your faith. If your gospel is the prosperity gospel, as soon as you are broke and sick, your faith will unravel. If your gospel is the open theism gospel where God reacts to everything that happens instead of planning everything that happens, you’ll never have confidence then you’ll be crushed under the weight of believing you have to control the future. If you believe a social justice gospel or a Christian nationalist gospel, then you’ll be as unstable as the political culture.

The location of your “hope” determines the direction of your “life.”

No, the antidote is the Kingdom Gospel. The antidote to an unstable life is the same antidote that neutralizes every heresy. The antidote to an unstable life is to remember WHERE your hope is found. It’s to remember where your hope is found and keep your heart there (“grace”) and mind (“knowledge”) there. The location of our stability is the finished work of Jesus. And, if your heart and mind are locked on him, then you won’t be swept up by the chaos while you wait. You’ll be swept up by the anticipation of joy.

You see, the location of your hope determines the direction of your life. It determines whether you’ll be blown here and there by every political, cultural, and theological wind that comes or if you’ll maintain your “stability.” I think that’s why Peter closes this the way that he does. Think about it. These are the last words that Peter, the preeminent leader of the early church, would write before he was crucified upside down. And, what does he say? “TO HIM be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

“To Him” summarizes the Christian experience. The whole Christian life is lived headed to Him. That’s what we’re waiting for—not just to survive the times, but to make it to Him.

Let me close with a picture: Two men are told there’s a million dollars on the other side of a frozen lake, and whoever walks the straightest line to it gets the prize. The first man keeps his eyes glued to his feet. Every time the wind howls or the ice cracks or he thinks he hears a wolf, he panics. He overcorrects. And when he finally looks up, he’s walked in circles. He never even made it to the money.

The second man starts walking—and walks straight to the prize. The first man asks, “How did you do that? With the cracking ice, the wind, and the wolves—how’d you walk so straight?” And he said: “I didn’t look at any of that. I didn’t even look at my feet. I just looked at the prize—and walked straight to it.”

That’s Peter’s message. Don’t fixate on what’s happening. Focus on where you’re heading. Just keep your eyes on the prize—and walk straight “to Him.”