2 Peter

2 Peter 3: The patient Lord keeps His promise

Begin in prayer

Before listening to the promise of Christ’s coming in 2 Peter 3, ask God to teach your family how to wait. His patience gives time for repentance, and His promised new heavens and earth call His people to holy living.

Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,

Deuteronomy 7:9

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You are patient and that You keep Your promise. Help us to look for new heavens and a new earth, and to be more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Peter answers mockers who treat Christ’s promised coming as proof that everything will continue unchanged. They deliberately forget God’s word in creation and His judgment through the flood. That same word keeps the present heavens and earth for fire, while the Lord’s patience gives time for repentance. His day will come suddenly, so believers must live in holiness as they await the promised new heavens and earth. Peter warns that twisting Scripture brings destruction, and he ends by calling the churches to grow in Christ’s grace and knowledge.

As you read 2 Peter 3, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The Lord is patient, and He will keep His promise to bring new heavens and a new earth.

The mockers want an unchanged world because they want to keep following their desires. Creation and the flood expose their claim, for God’s word both made the world and interrupted its life with judgment. The same word reserves the present heavens and earth for fire, so the promise has lost none of its force. A thousand years are like one day to the Lord, whose patience must never be measured by a human clock. His patience toward His readers seeks repentance, while the destruction of the ungodly remains certain. The coming day will dissolve the things people trust, making holiness urgent now. God’s promise of a new world where righteousness dwells gives believers hope as they wait. Peter counts Paul’s letters with the other Scriptures, and warns that twisting them brings destruction. Growing in Christ’s grace and knowledge guards the churches against the lawless error that would carry them away.

How does 2 Peter 3 show us that the Lord is patient, and that He will keep His promise to bring new heavens and a new earth?

God’s word answers those who mock Christ’s promised coming.

The mockers follow their own desires and claim everything has continued unchanged since creation (verses 3 and 4). They deliberately overlook God’s word that formed the earth and judged the world through the flood. The same word keeps the present heavens and earth for fire and the destruction of ungodly people (verses 5 to 7).

The Lord’s patience gives time for repentance before His sudden day.

A thousand years are like a day to the Lord, so His waiting gives no reason to call Him slow (verse 8). He is patient toward His readers, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” That patience must be regarded as salvation (verses 9 and 15). The Lord’s day will still come like a thief, when the earth and its works will burn (verse 10).

God’s promised new world calls His people to holiness now.

The things people depend on will be dissolved, so Peter asks how they ought to live (verses 11 and 12). Believers await new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells (verse 13). That hope calls them to diligence, peace and a blameless life in His sight (verse 14).

Christ receives glory as His people guard the truth and grow.

Peter calls Paul a beloved brother who wrote with God’s given wisdom (verse 15). Some things in his letters are hard, and the ignorant twist them as they twist the other Scriptures. Their end is destruction, so difficulty never excuses bending God’s words to suit our desires (verse 16). Believers must guard against lawless error carrying them from steadfastness, and grow in Christ’s grace and knowledge (verses 17 and 18). Glory belongs to this Lord and Savior now and forever.

Memorise

But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

2 Peter 3:13

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, am I using the Lord's patience to turn from my sin and trust Him?

Mockers ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Peter answers that the Lord is not slow. Peter says the Lord is patient with his readers, not wishing any to perish but all to come to repentance. That patience is mercy.

The day of the Lord will come, and the heavens and the earth as they are now will pass away. But Peter says God's people look for “new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” No sinner can enter such a place by his own goodness. Jesus Christ went to the cross for His people, bearing the punishment their sins deserved. His sacrifice is enough, and it can never be repeated. The Father raised Him to life, and He will come again.

So do not waste His patience. Come to Him today. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus. Those who come find forgiveness, and they grow in the grace and knowledge of their Lord and Savior.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the Lord is patient, and that Jesus will come again to bring new heavens and a new earth. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Please also let them see you look for His coming with joy.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for His patience and His promise, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

“Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work.

Revelation 22:12

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your patience and Your promise of a world where righteousness dwells. Bring us to repent and trust You while there is time. Help our family to wait for Your coming with holy lives, and keep us from twisting Your Word to excuse our sins. Grow our knowledge of You this week. Amen.