This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:
DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library
2 Peter 3:8-9
8 But [de], beloved [agapetos], be [lanthano] not [me] [humas] ignorant [lanthano] of this one [heis] thing [touto], that [hoti] one [mia] day [hemera] is with [para] the Lord [kurios] as [hos] a thousand [chilioi] years [etos], and [kai] a thousand [chilioi] years [etos] as [hos] one [mia] day [hemera].
9 The Lord [kurios] is [braduno] not [ou] slack [braduno] concerning his promise [epaggelia], as [hos] some men [tis] count [hegeomai] slackness [bradutes]; but [alla] is longsuffering [makrothumeo] to [eis] us-ward [hemas], not [me] willing [boulomai] that any [tis] should perish [apollumi], but [alla] that all [pas] should come [choreo] to [eis] repentance [metanoia]. KJV-Interlinear
8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 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. NASB
Quoting from the Psalms, Peter makes it clear that time is of no concern to God. God is infinite, and in eternity, whether past or future, God has all of the time He needs to accomplish His purposes.
Psa. 90:4
4 For a thousand years in Thy sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. NASB
Too often people will try to draw from this quote, an inference that God accomplishes in 1000 years what we think of as a day. This idea has been applied to Genesis, to the history of the human race, and to probably many other theories, or guesses as to how and when things have or will be accomplished.
The six day reatoration of the earth was not accomplished over a period of 6000 years. The history of humanity over the past 6000 years does not equate to some sort of hidden code for determining the end days. Some folks believe that the human race will end in 7000 years, or that the Millennium will be the seventh millennium of history. You have to lie awake long after dark and probably be smoking something in order to come up with these theories.
Now granted, God has a plan, and God is well organized in His plan, but He also gives us no clues as to how to predict future historical events.
All Peter is doing here is responding to the attitude of mockers, who collectively state that there is no God, there is no promise, that everything in history remains the same, with no changes in sight.
And here Peter’s point is that God has a plan, and God takes His time in accomplishing that plan.
People have little time in this world and as such, cannot accomplish all that they want to accomplish in life. People want things done and they want things done now.
But God looks down through the tunnel of time and has seen many generations of people who will be looking to Him and to heaven. God has infinite patience and God will allow history unfold so that those future generations of believers, will have their opportunity.
The other day, I presented a question of mockers, ‘Why did God not create everything perfect so that we do not have to go through all of this trouble in history?’
Now you think about that question for a moment. You already have the answer.
God, in eternity past, looked down through the tunnel of time and saw every possible scenario for history, including having no history at all. God saw the best scenario, and declared it in the Divine Decrees. We have already studied this.
But in this best of choices, God put free will volition into everyone, and He saw that angels and humanity would make choices for and against Him.
God did create the angels perfect. God did create the universe as perfect. We have not seen that universe. It was too long ago. But the angels exercised their free will and destroyed the universe.
God created man as perfect, in a perfect Garden. And if Adam and Eve had not sinned, they would probably still be living in that perfect Garden. But we know that sin came along and the ‘perfect’ was destroyed.
God creates things perfect, but sin, which is not from God, comes along and destroys it all.
The sins of angels did not take God by surprise. The sins of Adam did not take God by surprise.
When human history finally comes to an end, at the end of the Millennium, then judgment will clear away permanently and forever, all evil, and those who promoted it, leaving only believers and elect angels to go into the new universe and heaven.
That new universe and heaven will be perfect and it will never be ruined, ever. That new universe will most likely be something different than anything we are currently familiar with now, staggering the imagination to no end.
God is answering the impatience of mockers. Mockers are examples of people who want things there way and they want it now.
God is patient, and God wants things His way (perfect and truth) and He wants it for everyone in all of history, so He takes His time in allowing history to unfold, so that those who are alive today, have the opportunity to grow up in their spiritual lives, so that those who are yet to be born, may be born and have their opportunity to grow up in their spiritual lives, so that everyone in history has their chance.
God is not bored with history. God is never bored with history. God is never caught off guard.
If you record a game or a movie, and watch it over and over again, then you know all of the details of that recording. You have total confidence as to its outcome.
The same is with God and history. God has seen history. God inserts people into history in accordance with His plan. God knows all of the who’s. what’s, when’s, where’s, and how’s of history. God controls history – not you, not man, not governments, not empires, not angels.
People will make their own choices in history, and God does not interfere with anyone's decisions in life. He just knows and has known since eternity past, everything you will think and decide in your life.
God has all of the patience in the world and more. Whether He accomplishes something in a day or in a thousand years makes no difference. He has a plan and that plan is coming together regardless of what the mockers think or say.
