by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Peter predicted that scoffers would ask this (II Peter 3). The Lord has promised to come again. That is one thing that has not happened yet<\/strong>. The scoffer wants you to forget all “the prophetic word made more sure<\/em>” (II Peter 2:19f) by amazing fulfillments, but they think they have found a promise that has taken too long in their estimation to come about.<\/p>\n They start their reasoning with a flawed assumption that everything continues as always. In the science world, it is the premise of “uniformitarianism.” They assert that all things continue as they have for millions or billions of years. However, this premise is not factual. There have been catastrophes that have interrupted and changed things in drastic ways. Already mentioned in chapter 2 is “the ancient world” in the days of Noah (II Peter 2:5). The flood event was still so obvious, etched in the legends of every culture, and marked out in land formations and fossil remains everywhere. Also mentioned in chapter 2 was the “ashes” that remained of Sodom and Gomorrah. The evidence of the remains still testified to and helped people remember the wrath of God. Yet, the scoffer will downplay all of that and try to explain it all away with naturalistic explanations and will exploit the subject of Jesus’ coming again.<\/p>\n But why would God build toward the first coming of Jesus with 4,000 plus years of preparatory history and then cut off the redemptive program in less than 100 years? Two thousand years since Jesus came, the first time is not much time for such a redemptive plan. Why would we doubt the second coming when only half the time has passed compared to the time before His first coming?<\/p>\n The Lord has never failed in one promise He has made, and you can be more certain that the world will pass away before God fails to keep the promise of His coming again. You can either scoff as they did in the days before the flood or entrust your soul to the God, who cannot lie or fail in any promise. As for me and my house …<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Peter predicted that scoffers would ask this (II Peter 3). The Lord has promised to come again. That is one thing that has not happened yet. The scoffer wants you to forget all “the prophetic word made more sure” (II Peter 2:19f) by amazing fulfillments, but they think they have found…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1139,339],"class_list":["post-80520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-ii-peter","tag-second-coming"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":82739,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ii-peter-3-and-new-creation-theology\/","url_meta":{"origin":80520,"position":0},"title":"II Peter 3 and New Creation Theology","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chris Reeves via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 5, No. 1, January-March 2025 Peter's words in II Peter 3 are being used today to teach that the righteous will come back after the judgment day and live on a renovated earth for all eternity. Jehovah's Witnesses have used II Peter 3\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51878,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/disbelief-in-the-coming-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":80520,"position":1},"title":"Disbelief in the Coming of Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Peter 3:1-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many false doctrines are rooted in a simple belief that word or phrase that has a particular meaning in one context has the same meaning in all other contexts. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For example, the Greek word presbuteros in Acts 2:17 means someone advanced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41529,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-promise-of-his-coming\/","url_meta":{"origin":80520,"position":2},"title":"The Promise of His Coming","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Peter 3:1-13 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The variety of beliefs regarding Jesus\u2019 return is large. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many expect Jesus to return to rule here on earth \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0II Peter 3 stands as a rebuke to those who desire to see the coming as anything other than what it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29686,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-ii-peter-38-mean-gods-days-are-different-from-peoples-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":80520,"position":3},"title":"Does II Peter 3:8 mean God’s days are different from people’s days?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day\"\u00a0(II Peter 3:8). I don't understand this verse? Didn't you say that God's days and people's days weren't different? Answer: \"Knowing this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56104,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-end-of-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":80520,"position":4},"title":"The End of the World","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel via Truth Magazine, XV: 38, pp. 8-10, August 5, 1971 Among many religionists, there is an expectation that Christ will come again and reign on earth. Some believe that the eternal abode of the righteous will be on the same globe which we now inhabit, following a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93535,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/studies-in-ii-peter-3-naturalistic-uniformity\/","url_meta":{"origin":80520,"position":5},"title":"Studies in II Peter 3: Naturalistic Uniformity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Pat Hardeman via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 2, June 1994 The second coming of Christ is the first of those \"last\" things (Greek: eschatos) scorned by scoffers in mocking words: \"Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}