The Day is Coming

Peter opens with a reminder that Christ’s return is not a side issue or a Christmas-song idea. “Joy to the World” reaches beyond Bethlehem to the day when the Savior reigns, the curse is removed, and creation itself repeats the sounding joy. Christ’s return brings joy to those who belong to Him, but scoffers treat His promise like an empty story.

Peter identifies those scoffers as people living after their own lusts. Their denial is not neutral or intellectual. Their pursuit of sin blinds them, so they say that everything has continued just as it always has. Their whole argument is a farce, empty and patently ridiculous, because they forget that God created by His word and once judged the world by water.

Peter places the church in “the last days,” meaning the whole church age between the Spirit’s coming and Christ’s return. The warning was real for Peter’s first readers, not merely for some distant generation. Scripture, the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles all testify that the Son of Man will come, judge evil, raise the dead, and gather His people to be with Him forever.

God’s patience does not mean God is slow. God does not measure time as man measures it, and His promise does not weaken with the passing centuries. God waits because He desires repentance and salvation, just as He waited while Noah built the ark. Judgment did come in Noah’s day, and judgment will come again, even while many carry on as if nothing could ever change.

Peter then turns the promise into a searching question: “What sort of people ought you to be?” The coming destruction of the present world and the promise of a new heaven and new earth call for holy conduct and godliness. Holy conduct concerns the way a Christian lives, while godliness concerns the reverence in the heart that shapes that life. Christ will examine His people, and Peter calls them to be found in peace, spotless and blameless.

The new creation gives believers more than an escape from trouble. God promises a place “in which righteousness dwells,” where sin and all its consequences are gone. Christ’s return should produce anticipation, not mere expectation, because anticipation carries desire and excitement for the Christ of salvation.

Peter also connects Christ’s coming with repentance. God’s patience is salvation, and the conversion of the lost stands connected to the day of restoration. The church must stay ready, clothed in Christlike character, rather than trying to get ready only when the whistle blows. Christ has promised that He is coming. The question remains: are His people ready?

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God’s delay is patient mercy [20:25] God’s patience should never be mistaken for procrastination. The long space between promise and fulfillment gives sinners room to repent, but it does not erase the certainty of judgment. God’s mercy is real precisely because He does not take pleasure in destruction, yet human rebellion remains responsible for refusing that mercy. [20:25]
• 2. Scoffing grows from enslaving sin [11:10] Peter ties the mockers’ denial of Christ’s return to their own lusts. Sin does not merely break commands; it distorts sight, so that a person begins calling truth foolishness because truth threatens the life he wants to keep. Faith requires more than winning an argument, because it requires refusing the blindness that cherished sin produces. [11:10]
• 3. Holy conduct flows from coming judgment [23:37] Peter’s question about “what sort of people” cuts through vague religious language. The certainty of Christ’s return reaches into motives, habits, choices, and character. Holiness means being set apart from what God hates, while godliness means living with a reverent desire to please Him. [23:37]
• 4. Stay ready, not merely getting ready [35:26] George’s clean clothes beneath his coveralls picture a life already prepared for the whistle to blow. Readiness for Christ is not a last-minute burst of religious activity after hearing that His return is near. Christ calls His people to put on His character now, so that His arrival finds them at peace rather than scrambling.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:20] - Joy to the World and Christ’s Return
• [03:16] - Peter’s Warning About Scoffers
• [06:51] - Faith in the Face of Farsity
• [07:52] - Understanding the Last Days
• [10:21] - Why Scoffers Deny Christ’s Coming
• [15:54] - Scripture Promises Christ Will Return
• [19:57] - God’s Patience and Salvation
• [23:00] - What Sort of People Ought to Be
• [26:14] - Anticipating the Hereafter
• [29:11] - Hastening the Day Through Repentance
• [32:24] - Ready for Jesus’ Return

Bible Reading

2 Peter 3:1–18
“This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’ For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 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.” [03:33]

Matthew 24:36–39
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” [17:59]

“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” [18:23]

1 Thessalonians 4:15–18
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” [19:25]

Titus 2:11–13
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” [23:09]

Observation questions

1. What reasons do the mockers give for doubting Christ’s return in 2 Peter 3:3–4, and what important parts of history do they ignore in verses 5–7? [04:00]
2. According to 2 Peter 3:9, what does God desire for people during the time before the day of the Lord comes?
3. What words does Peter use to describe the kind of life believers should live while looking for Christ’s return? What is the difference between “holy conduct” and “godliness”? [24:47]
4. In 2 Peter 3:13–14, what future are believers looking for, and how are they told to be found when Christ returns? [31:10]

Interpretation questions

1. Peter connects scoffing with people “following after their own lusts.” How can a desire to hold onto a sinful way of life make Christ’s return seem unwelcome or unbelievable? [11:10]
2. Jesus compares His return to the days of Noah, when people continued ordinary activities right up until the flood came. Why is ordinary life not itself the problem, and what does this warning reveal about spiritual unpreparedness? [18:41]
3. Peter says that the Lord’s patience is salvation, not slowness. How does that truth hold together both God’s mercy toward sinners and the certainty of coming judgment? [20:25]
4. Titus says grace trains believers to deny ungodliness while looking for the blessed hope. Why should hope in Christ’s appearing produce a changed life now instead of merely curiosity about future events? [23:09]

Application questions

1. Where do you hear the promise of Christ’s return treated as unimportant, unrealistic, or something to joke about? How can you answer that attitude with steady faith rather than fear or anger? [16:00]
2. Is there any sin, habit, relationship, entertainment, or pattern of thought that you are tempted to protect rather than bring into the light? How might that sin be affecting your readiness for Christ’s return? [11:20]
3. God’s patience gives people time to repent. Is there someone in your life who needs the hope of Christ and the call to repentance? What could faithful, loving conversation or prayer for that person look like this week? [30:02]
4. Peter asks, “What sort of people ought you to be?” What is one specific area of conduct where holiness needs to become more visible in your life? What would godliness—reverence and a desire to please God—look like in that same area? [25:02]
5. The new heaven and new earth will be a place where righteousness dwells and sin’s effects are gone. What present sorrow, injustice, weakness, or consequence of sin makes you long for that promised world? [31:37]
6. Readiness for Christ is not a last-minute effort to clean up a life when the whistle blows. In what ways are you already “staying ready,” and in what ways have you been merely meaning to get ready someday? [35:46]
7. Christ’s return is meant to be a source of comfort and anticipation for His people. What might help your household or this group keep that hope before you more regularly? [19:57]