“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to repentance.”--II Peter 3:8-9

Peter mentions in the first verse of this chapter that he wants to stimulate the readers to wholesome thinking, especially during times of severe tribulation. During Peter’s time, faithful Christians were being persecuted severely under the regime of the ruthless Emperor Nero. The only hope they had was for the Lord’s Return in order to truly relieve them out of the misery. They hung on to the Lord’s promise that He would imminently. It is only fitting to see Peter addresses this theme before he signs off this letter.

Why should the Lord be so long in coming? These two verses offer two answers. First, God counts time differently than we do. We are bound by a time-and-space sphere, in which we operate with a twenty-four hour day, but God who is the creator of time is above this limitation. Peter uses a simile to show that two thousand years is just a brink of an eye for God.

The second reason to the seemingly delayed Return is that God wants as many people to be saved as possible. The word slow, literally means hesitate or delay, is used only once here in the New Testament. It isn’t that God can’t make up His mind. He purposefully waits patiently for more people to repent. We need to understand the words not wanting anyone to perish do not suggest Universal Salvation. Peter is using a human emotion term to express God’s desires instead of expressing a decree.

Peter deliberately chose the word patient to describe the Lord’s Return so that we may also have the same attribute of patient. With patient, we look forward to His Coming. Peter’s final exhortation is to “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him” (14b) while we are waiting.

The World waited for thousands of years for the Lord’s First Advent in order to be redeemed. As we celebrate His Birth this month, let’s continue to keep our hope high for His Second Advent, for in which time, He comes to lift us up to a new heaven and a new earth. Oh! What a wonderful moment that will be! God’s time is mysterious, so be on the alert and live holy and godly lives.

p.s. After eight years of writing the Scripture of the Month, I will take a break from writing so I may concentrate on writing the Devotional Journal. Thank you for all your past encouragement and support. May the Word of God always be our guide—a light in this darkened world.