God Knows The Time 2 Peter 3:9
The ‘scoffers’ from both inside the church and outside have criticised Jesus for failing to keep his promise to return in judgment and doubted his ability to do this. Peter now responds by saying that the delay is not because of his inability but because of his love for people. He explains that God is not impotent but is being gracious and merciful in giving people the opportunity of entering his kingdom. He writes,
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
The Bible’s message is the very opposite to that of the sceptic, God, who has revealed himself in Jesus, longs for our salvation. Paul wrote similarly,
“ . . . God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.” 1 Timothy 2:4-5
The criticism over the apparent inactivity of God is nothing new. People have always wondered why God stays in the background. Why doesn’t he act in more obvious miraculous ways. Why is he such a slowcoach! The prophet Ezekiel explained the gracious nature of God, saying,
“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their wicked ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:23
However long people are given and however many reminders they are given that there is a deeper meaning to life, many will use their freewill to turn their backs on their creator and Saviour. The consequence of this will be that people will be eternally separated from God and all the good he has lavished on us.
“ . . . being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. . . He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:7-9
The logic behind this verse is that God’s people must prioritise the sharing of the Christian gospel with as many people as they can. When Jesus returns, it will be too late for many to change direction. This is why God is waiting.
Deep down many people think that God cannot control his world. They may even say they believe in God but they live as practical atheists. These scoffers don’t know God because they do not know the Scriptures.
God and Moses
When the Lord introduced himself to Moses on top of Mount Sinai he described his own character,
“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished . . .” Exodus 34:6-7
This is the same character that Peter had seen in Jesus, slow to anger, patient, kind and loving but who in the end will not tolerate rejection. Yet as so often happens the chosen people rebelled. Moses urges the angry people,
“Only do not rebel against the LORD.” Numbers14:8
Then comes a remarkable statement that describes in what form the Lord’s almighty strength was to be displayed. The people are then reminded of the earlier Scripture God had given them.
“Now may the LORD’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.’
God’s power is demonstrated in his loving patience. We see a reflection of this is the way a loving parent calmly disciplines a rebellious child. They don’t immediately lose their temper and thrash out. They calmly wait. Self-control is the mark of power, not weakness. Scoffers do not know God because they do not know the Scriptures.
God and Jonah
All of God’s ministers are dependant on there being a valid word from God that they can pass on to others. Jonah was given a message from God, a message of impending judgment for the exceptional wickedness of the people of Nineveh. Eventually Jonah did obey God and preached in Nineveh. Remarkably the people responded and turned back to God. Even the king had a complete change of heart and made a public proclamation,
“Let every one call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn aside from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” Jonah 3:8-9
Jonah was distraught at this change of heart, he became angry and complained to God,
“I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” Jonah 4:2
It is this nature of God that Peter had come to understand,
“He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
A New Mysticism
There is a new kind of mystical religion floating around today which says that people whatever their religious affiliation, or lack of it, can still know God better and better. It doesn’t matter if it is called Feng Shui, Transcendental Meditation or the mystical feeling of being taken up into the spirt of melodious liturgies or other forms of ecstatic worship. None of these will bring anyone to God. If people have moved away from the Jesus revealed by his prophets and apostles in the Bible, they have moved away from God. This passage is not teaching a form of universalism, that everyone will be saved in the end - that would fly against the very clear teaching of the rest of the Bible. The Bible is clear that after his second coming, which will usher in God’s judgment of us all, there will not be any further opportunity to repent. God is waiting and giving us all every opportunity to turn back to him in repentance now, before it is too late. The writer of the book to the Hebrews put this very succinctly,
“Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:27-28
It is clear that only those who love the Lord Jesus, who are waiting for his return, will be forgiven for their rebellion against the Lord.
There are many today who presume on the kindness and patience of God - accepting all he gives us but only offering a mild nod in response. Such presumption is only foolishness. Paul called it being contemptuous,
“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness leads you towards repentance.” Romans 2:4
An Old Gospel
God’s message is clear. He is waiting for us to act and to return into the arms of our loving Father. There are some who don’t feel they are rebels against God, they are decent people, even better than most. A Christian salesman was staying in an isolated village inn and one evening was talking to the bar maid about the gospel. She was a pleasant girl who didn’t feel she needed God’s forgiveness. The wise sales man asked her to do one thing, ‘Would you please pray every day and ask God to show you yourself as he sees you.’ She did just this and was amazed and what she came to see in herself. By the time the salesman had returned he found a different bar maid. She had come to realise how far short she fell from God’s standards and had found Christ as her Saviour.
The great writer C.S.Lewis was slow in recognising the Lord’s ‘right to his life’. Lewis had rejected Christianity in his early teens and lived as an atheist through his twenties. He later opened his life to Christ in 1931, partly with the help of his close friend J.R.R. Tolkien. At one stage in the evolution of his thinking, when he became an atheist, he depended on the “Argument from Undesign” that had been so well described by Lucretius, (99 – 55 BC), a Roman poet and philosopher. He had argued that if God had designed the world, it would not be a world so frail and faulty as we see. There always have been scoffers! However this way of thinking left C.S.Lewis with only nihilism and he recognised that there was clearly more to life than that! Once while riding on a bus in Oxford, Lewis had the sense that he was “holding something at bay, or shutting something out” and he knew this something was God. He could either open the door or let it stay shut, but to open the door “meant the incalculable”. He did submit himself to God and he became, as he himself described, the most “dejected and reluctant convert” in all England. This belief in God happened in 1929, but it was not until 1931 that he surrendered himself to Christ. He later wrote his biography, ‘Surprised by Joy’ in which he rejoices that God was so patient with him.
The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) had an awakening when eating pigs food. He knew that God was slow to anger and he also returned home to his Father. He then found the Father running out towards him to welcome him home and back into his family.
Even the apostle Paul recognised that he continued to fall far short of God’s standards but he understood the grace of God and wrote:
“Here is a trustworthy saying that demands full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, christ might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:15-17
What a reassurance this is for all of us. No-one need be excluded from God’s kingdom and family, what we must do is accept him into the ruling seat of our lives. As Jesus said to the lukewarm, self-righteous members of the church at Laodicea, about whom he had been critical,
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.” Revelation 3:19-20
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