Elijah that verse is about the Second Coming .
Here is a similar verse that speaks of God's longsuffering. I think if you understand this longsuffering then you will also see the other... hopefully.
1 Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
===== God was longsuffering of the wicked for NOAH's SAKE ! =====
Until the ark was built !
Same kind of Longsuffering involved in this verse:
Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
GOD was longsuffering of the Wicked UNTIL THE ARK was built to save NOAH.
Not longsuffering of the wicked hopeing the Whole World would get saved.
Look at only 3 verses earlier than the verse you quoted....
2Peter 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
==== ONLY THREE VERSES EARLIER ====
Speaking of that same longsuffering OF THE WICKED to get the means and job of Saving Noah and his family done that is spoken of by Peter here...
2 Peter 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
Elijah.. I know you think the verse you quoted teaches that GOD LOVES the Wicked and is patiently waiting for them to be saved...
Did God waiting in the days of Noah help to see more souls saved ?
What could have changed ? Men more reasonable these days - NOT !
Elijah...Let me show you what the verse is about.
These preceding verses talk about God's Judgement !
2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 ¶ And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
Peter goes right back to the fall of satan.. then the Flood of Noah
Interesting that people call it the flood "of Noah" It was God's flood :-}
Then Reminds US to whom the Bible is written about Sodom and Gommorra
So Peter is talking about the JUDGEMENT of the WICKED as well as the SALVATION of the Righteous Noah and Lot..
=== Two cases of only 2 men being saved out of the masses ! ===
KEEP THIS IN MIND !!! It is KEY ! or Think about it TWO MEN SAVED.
Next verse :
2Peter 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
The wicked have a reservation you know like to a HOTEL CALIFORNIA !
I do not think it funny that the wicked will be destroyed but it is something God asks us to FACE and to warn people of !
Peter then speaks of what the wicked are like look at this verse:
2Peter 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
He speaks in this verse about the wicked being made for the purpose of destruction. It is like these verses:
Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
There you have the same longsuffering that Peter is talking about concerning the fallen angels and the Whole world in the Days of Noah and those two Great Cities that saw God's Wrath.
Verse 23 However shows that GOD SUFFERS the WICKED for the ELECT !
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
There is the LOVE and the HATE of GOD side by side !
Love to us but woe unto those who are His enemies.
Psalms 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
After those verses Peter spends 10 verses talking about those who are damned. He say that they are even in the Church look:
2Peter 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
===================================================================
Then Peter.. after setting the tone for what follows points out what these evil men are doing and how they scoff at the SECOND COMING !
2Peter 3:3 ¶ Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
====================================================================
Here Peter says the UNGODLY are scoffing about the Judgement of GOD.
Verse 5:
Next verse he teaches that the wicked purposely ignore the plain and clear evidence of God's previous displays of Judgement on the Ungodly.
2Peter 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
There are records of the Flood of Noah apart from the Bible that have been excavated from other cultures other than the Hebrews. In fact a native American told me that in their folklore there is a record of a Great Flood ! ( I can't verify that however hearsay to me )
Next..
2Peter 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
He brings us back to the Flood of NOAH and talks about the Reservation again same as Chapter 2:9 So God is bring our minds back to what He is trying to say IN ALL THESE VERSES not just one verse taken out of context !
These verse again speak of the reservation unto Judgement of Fire:
2Peter 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Peter then put us to mind that TIME and PURPOSE are in a class of their own when it comes to GOD ! I know lots of Christians who hope that Jesus will come back in their lifetime. WHY ?? The dead in Christ shall rise first.. it's not like they will miss anything !
2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Basically TIME is NOTHING to GOD... How then can God be accused like these wicked men do in the next verse:
2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Peter is defending God against the accusation that He is Slack or even a LIAR concerning the threat of the Return of Jesus in Judgement !
What does Peter point out... That the Wicked are reserved and will be punished so TIME will not change their fate...
BUT RATHER that God is suffering those wicked men in order that WE MAY BE SAVED !
God's Primary Purpose is not the destruction of the wicked in Hell.. He is getting a Bride for His Son Jesus. Who is washed in the BLOOD of the LAMB.
So then this verse is an answer to the wicked about God being Slack
Jesus WILL RETURN in JUDGEMENT.
The elements will melt with FIRE when He DOES !
but...
== Jesus will not return until the Last of His Elect is SAVED ==
That Elijah is what the verse was written to say !
2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Revelation 19:6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
I honestly hope this helps... either you or someone. This is work ! |
