2 Peter 3 has our author reminding his audience of the certainty of the last days and God’s promise. There will be plenty of things to distract us from remembering what God has promised. “I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires”. God has given us plenty of promises about our future, but there will be many that scoff and throw cold water on what we know to be true.
How will false teachers try to dispel God’s truth? “For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly”. God created the heavens and the earth. He spoke them into existence. He will also hold us accountable on judgment day when we stand before Him and give account of our life. We’ll come up short. It’s why we need Jesus!
It’s going to happen. It doesn’t matter whether we believe it will or not. God’s truth will happen. We don’t know when, but we do know that it will come. “Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. God doesn’t want any of us to perish. But judgment is coming, and the world as we know it will pass away. We’ll end up one of two places, depending on how we stand before God and give account. Without Jesus, we won’t make it to heaven. We need a Savior.
What should we do to prepare for judgment day? “Be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you….grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”. We need to be ready. None of us know when our day will come to stand before God. We all need to know that the day will come. We will need to give account. And the key to being able to meet God’s requirements of sinless perfection is to be covered by the blood of Christ so our sins are forgiven and God sees us as holy in His way.