“He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3 is one of my favorite New Testament chapters, mostly because it details more clearly than most how things turn out in the end.  I’m a guy who likes certainty and clarity.  And if 2 Peter 3 is anything, it is certain and clear.  At least to me.

The chapter begins with Peter revealing his purpose in writing his two letters: “to stimulate you to wholesome thinking” (v. 1).  Boy, could we use some of that these days!  Then in verses 3 and 4 he beautifully recaps the current thinking behind the majority of scientists predisposed — by their prejudicial opinions, not by the facts — to philosophic naturalism that must maintain a uniformitarian position to keep God out of the equation of how the universe and life began.  Did you get that?  If not, just read verse 4.

In the next several verses, Peter shows the blinders that scoffers (many using junk science and the religion of earth worship) wear: “they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.  By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed” (vs. 5-6).  In other words, the continents emerged out of their submersion in water during Creation Week.  Much later, that water was the same water (plus a lot of rain thrown in — no, dropped in — from the sky) to cause the flood of Noah’s day.  Scientists rejoice over allegedly finding a scintilla of water on Mars, but then wonder incredulously, “Where did all the water go?” when asking about the flood.  Duhhh, I dunno.  “Only” 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by the stuff.  The Pacific Ocean alone covers nearly 50% of the planet.  Hmm … now where did all that water go anyway?

According to Peter, past judgment is a preview of coming judgment, only this time by fire (v. 7).  That in itself shows how unchanged man’s nature is.  In light of that, Peter writes that the God who sits above time (v. 8) “is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (v. 9).   Those of us time-bound creatures, subject to the limitations of the fallen and finite world, get impatient when he doesn’t act when and how we think he should.  Not God.  He’s limited neither by time nor space nor any handicap.  He is totally free to act as he will.  And because he’s in no hurry, we frequently think he’s slow or late.

Let me use a simple analogy, and any sports fan can relate to this.  Back in the dark ages of the NFL after the merger in 1970 and before cable TV, playoff games were not shown on TV within a certain radius of the stadium if the game didn’t sellout 72 hours before kick-off.  Being a diehard Dolphins fan, I remember driving with friends to motels close to the edge of the blackout area to watch the game live.  Other times I couldn’t make the drive and had to endure the silence of waiting for the game to be broadcasted later or listen to it on radio.  Sometimes I couldn’t take the silence and asked people who did listen to the game to answer me one question: “Who won?”  If the Dolphins won, it changed the whole tone of the game as I watched the delayed broadcast.  It didn’t make any difference what the other team did: go up by 21 points, knock out one of our players, whatever.  I knew we won in the end.  If we fell behind, I knew we’d catch up.  I was confident — I watched with what in literature is called the omniscient view.  Another way of saying it is that I was patient.  This is the way God watches the game of life played out in the stadium we call planet Earth.  He knows his team — that’s us — wins.  Nothing can change that.

But there’s more.  There are two Greek words that are translated “patient”.  One is used of people being subjected to other people.  The other is used of circumstances.  The latter is never used to describe God.  The earlier one is makrothumia, literally meaning, “long temper”.  In other words, God calmly endures a lot of abuse, name-calling, blasphemy, iniquity, etc., from unbelievers waiting for his team to win.  And then the fire comes.

This guaranteed win should strongly encourage us “to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (vs. 11-12).  Indeed, “our Lord’s patience means salvation” (v. 15).  Salvation for you, me and countless others who have yet to hear the gospel, but will hear and believe.  Does this win stir your heart?  Are you speeding the coming day of God?