2 Peter 3:9, commentary and pictures

The apparent delay in the promise of His coming is not neglect or forgetfulness, but patience and longsuffering toward people. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and receive life and eternal life. This willingness flows from a gracious, compassionate and merciful character that loves sinners while they are sinners, bears long with their perversity and mistakes, and freely receives and abundantly pardons all who turn to Him. He gave Jesus to live and die for the whole human family so that none need be lost, yet He leaves all free to accept mercy, so those who perish do so by their own choice of their own way. His forbearance holds back judgment to give time for warning, hearing and shelter in Christ, but it has a limit and will end in certain judgment without remedy upon persistent refusal, so the waiting time is to be used in watchful, holy living and urgent work to save perishing souls.

Promise and Apparent Delay

The apparent delay in fulfilling the promise of Christ's coming is not slackness, and not neglect or forgetfulness of His children, but longsuffering and patience toward people. He is patient because He is unwilling for anyone to perish and desires all to come to repentance, so His patience is opportunity for salvation and explains why the promised day has not yet come. He is ever working, and all heaven is engaged in the work on earth to draw men to Christ and repentance. His delay allows the wicked to reveal their character and to fill up the measure of their iniquity, so that those who desire to do God's will will not be deceived, and it allows the righteous to be purified through affliction and suffering, to show others the reality of faith and godliness, and by faithful conduct to condemn the ungodly and unbelieving. When their iniquity is complete, His justice and mercy will be seen in their destruction, and they will receive just punishment for their oppression of His people, though the wicked may prosper for a time.

What people count as slowness is His patience, even while scoffers question the promise and sinners mistake patience for proof He will never come, yet the day of the Lord will nevertheless come. What may seem like delay is forbearance toward the wicked as part of a merciful plan to save souls, and this patience does not mean the promised coming will fail. He delays Christ's coming in mercy to give sinners time to hear the warning and find shelter in Christ before wrath is poured out, and to give more people opportunity to be saved and ready. This patience is a time to prepare for His coming through watchful waiting and earnest work, and it calls for patience rather than haste. Those who look for that day, which brings destruction of the present heavens and earth, should live in holiness and godliness and be diligent to be found in peace, spotless and blameless, while awaiting the promised new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells.

He is not slack in keeping His promises, for He is faithful to what He has promised and does not delay or fail. He will not refuse or delay the counsel and support needed for continual advancement and continued progress when they are received and put to use. He keeps His promise to give conquering power in the battle against evil to everyone who surrenders self to Him without reserve, being present on the ground to secure victory after victory instead of defeat by vain human effort, so that the church will see His salvation. He gives His angels charge over His children and upholds the tempted, so that those who nearly slipped testify that He upheld them and that His way of coming in trial to help was best. Even the most faulty and perverse are assured He can restore God's moral image in the soul and deliver people from evil. The promise is not fulfilled to those who disobey, as Israel's repeated rebellion in the wilderness kept them from entering the promised rest while Caleb and Joshua followed fully, and His promises stand sure toward His people when they obey His requirements, with the condition of being received by Him to come out and be separate from the world, because His followers and the world cannot unite.

God's Merciful Character

The verse means God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and receive life, eternal life, and the knowledge of truth. What men count as slackness or delay in fulfilling the promise of His coming, and the delay of the Bridegroom, is not neglect or forgetfulness but His longsuffering patience and mercy toward people, given as opportunity for salvation. That patience explains why the promised day has not yet come even while scoffers question the promise, yet the day of the Lord will nevertheless come. There is therefore hope, good hope, for all through faith in Jesus Christ, which works by love and purifies the soul. His patience reflects His mercy and willingness to forgive, giving the repentant assurance that He will accept and pardon them. He continues to call sinners through appeals, warnings, and assurances of compassion for as long as another opportunity can still offer hope of salvation, so responsibility for perishing rests on the sinner and not on any decree from God.

This will flows from a gracious, compassionate, merciful, long-suffering character of boundless goodness, not from any merit in people. He freely loves sinners even while they are sinners, heals their backsliding, and is able to pardon and save even those burdened by great sin. He bears long with perversity, mistakes and sins, patiently and lovingly pointing out errors and pleading with wrongdoers to return to Him, and if they refuse His invitations He speaks more plainly and often sends judgments to lead them to repentance and the forsaking of sin. His pity continues despite neglect and resistance of His mercies and claims on the heart, for if He dealt only by strict criticism all would perish. This compassionate character was perfectly represented and revealed in Christ on earth, who revealed the true character of the Father and exposed Satan's false picture of God.

He will graciously receive those who turn to Him and abundantly pardon them, loving freely and receiving the repentant with compassion. He loves the sinner and calls the sinner to return and live, Jesus having died so they may live, so that even those who have abused His love and squandered His blessings may repent and return to the Father. The very longing to come back to God is itself the tender drawing of His Spirit, who lovingly draws and pleads with the wanderer to come back to the Father. The parable of the returning son illustrates this, that God welcomes the repentant sinner with compassion even while the sinner is still far from home.

Satan had charged God with the attributes Satan himself possesses, and Christ as the perfect representation of the Father refutes Satan's misrepresentations by His own character and practices, flashing the light of truth and purity against sin and moral darkness. The salvation of human beings is a vast enterprise calling into action every attribute of the divine nature, in which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have pledged themselves to make God's children more than conquerors through Him that loved them, with provided power to enable all to be overcomers. Refusal of His offered mercy and matchless love grieves the heart of Jesus, who sorrows over and pities the sinner who has walked into darkness and is deeply grieved by the loss of even one of the souls for whom He made so great a sacrifice, desiring to bring all into the kingdom to see the King in His beauty. He does not give the sinner up but calls him to submit to God, to remove the barriers that shut out light, and to value his own soul and Christ's work that puts eternal life within reach, for there is great power in the atonement to heal a troubled, doubting, wavering mind in desperate need of a physician, fulfilled when the sinner is filled with repentance and remorse, followed by a sweet sense of pardon and pure, holy joy. His longsuffering is merciful, gracious goodness, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, healing backslidings and loving freely even while people are yet sinners, so that no sin is too great for Him to pardon.

Salvation Provided in Christ

God's love for the fallen race was not caused by Christ's death, for while men were still sinners and rebels against His law He gave Jesus to bear their sins so that pardon may come to all who believe on Him. Jesus, who is equal with God and knew no sin, came to earth as the only hope of the world to live the law in humanity, testifying that humanity in a sin-cursed world can keep the law in obedience. Through Him believing sinners may be pardoned, become partakers of the divine nature, and become obedient children of God who receive eternal life. The Father has done all that is possible to save fallen humanity, and Christ's death was the only way for people to be brought into harmony with God's unchangeable law, with the infinite price He paid showing His love and the choice of perishing or living placed before each one.

Christ's blood was shed for the whole human family so that none need be lost and not one soul needs to perish. Those who are lost perish only because they choose to forfeit an eternity of bliss for the satisfaction of having their own way. This was Satan's choice, and the crime and misery filling the world, including the horrible murders of daily occurrence, are the fruit of men submitting to Satan's principles and making that same choice. Losing eternal life is a terrible thing, and it never happens alone, because those who lose it take others with them through the power of their example and influence.

He clothed His divinity with humanity in coming to this world so that His unveiled divinity would not quench the life of sinners. For this reason, being unwilling that any should perish, the Lord Jesus leaves them room to live to receive warnings and reproofs condemning sin and exalting righteousness. Those warnings are sent that sinners may be warned and led to repentance.

Before the foundation of the world was formed the Father and the Son counseled together and laid open the wonderful plan of redemption, determining that Satan should not be left unchecked to exercise his cruel power upon man. Because He loved man God gave His Son as a sacrifice for sin, pouring out all heaven in one gift to make it possible for man to come into possession of eternal riches. This reveals a Creator who deals justly and loves mercy, whose grace of priceless value is conferred through goodness and mercy. God does not compel obedience but leaves all free to say whether they will take advantage of His offer of mercy, so the verse does not mean all will be saved regardless.

Through repentance and surrender of the will to Him all may be received, recreated in His image, and given life that measures with the life of God, a life Christ gave His life to make available to everyone. People can trust God's pledged word rather than depend on changing feelings, for Christ gave His life and paid an infinite price for salvation. The sacrifice made at Calvary reveals the value God places on each soul, so no one should be left to perish, and God calls people to give Him whole-hearted service and works through those who submit to His guidance.

Judgment and End of Probation

God holds back judgment in mercy while the warning message is given to the world, giving time for those who have not yet heard testing truths to hear, respond, and find shelter in Christ before wrath is poured out. Probationary time continues a little longer because He is longsuffering and does not want anyone to be lost, and the time of judgments by the Holy Spirit and by calamities is still a time of mercy for those who have not yet had opportunity to learn what is truth, whose heart of mercy is touched toward them with hand still stretched out to save, so that large numbers hearing truth for the first time in these last days will be admitted to safety. This delay was not what He desired for His people, whose unbelief kept them in a world of sin and sorrow, but it allows others opportunity to repent and be saved.

The delay permits the wicked to expose their character and fill up the measure of iniquity, so that those who desire to do God's will and seek His will will not be deceived, and when iniquity is complete His justice and mercy will be seen in their destruction with just punishment for oppression of His people. It permits the righteous to be purified through affliction and suffering, to show others the reality of faith and godliness, to witness by faithful lives and conduct that condemn the ungodly, unbelieving and unbelief. The same patience and compassion toward His tried people accompanies a period in which oppressors may triumph and all are tested, giving each opportunity to reveal loyalty or disloyalty to heaven's laws, making the final triumph of God's people more marked and complete.

He bears long with perversity, mistakes and sins, patiently and lovingly pointing out errors, pleading with wrongdoers to return, sending warnings and reproofs condemning sin and exalting righteousness, with clear light, admonitions, and judgments to lead to repentance and forsaking of sin. He long has spoken through the Holy Spirit striving with guilty hearts to convince of sin, and now speaks also by judgments, giving time and opportunities to appreciate infinite compassion, turn from selfishness and departure from His Word, have eyes opened, and be thoroughly converted and renovated. He came clothing divinity with humanity so sinners could live to receive those warnings, for unveiled divinity would have quenched their lives, leaving them room to be warned and to repent. If invitations are refused He speaks more plainly and often sends judgments, yet those who persist in rejecting admonitions, following their own will, insulting the Spirit and rejecting light, waste time and stand in danger of being lost, for patience does not mean pardoning continued rebellion.

His forbearance has a limit and will not continue forever; His dealings will change and transgressors will face punishment. He patiently gives warnings, clear light, and opportunities to accept salvation and holds out forgiveness even to the undeserving, but when people harden hearts and refuse warnings and means of salvation there is no second probation, and judgment will destroy without remedy. He bears long with one who chooses his own way, continuing proving for a time after warnings even amid careless, heedless disregard and giving every opportunity to repent, but judgments will certainly fall on those who go on in hardness of heart, and He will certainly punish the transgressor who takes might to himself and uses it opposed to God to forward transgression and injustice. The tenderness mocked is then exhausted, so the arm strong to save becomes strong to execute certain judgment on persistent hardness and rebellion, and the ungodly who do not use present time to turn from sin and prepare for immortal life will face destruction.

Responsibility for perishing rests on the sinner, not on a decree from God, for He continues to call through appeals, warnings, assurances of compassion, light, and opportunities for as long as another opportunity can still offer hope of salvation, desiring all to come to repentance, knowledge of truth, and eternal life, and He does not destroy or finally abandon while there is hope. Many misuse kindness, mistake delayed sentence and patience for license and proof He will never come, see no reason for alarm, and say the Lord delays His coming, while the delay continues because the work for the wicked has not been done and yet patience will not prevent judgment carried out with justice and accuracy. Each rejection of conviction and resistance to the Holy Spirit prepares the way for greater resistance to later light, until the heart is hardened, no longer responds, and is placed beyond further appeal.

Prophetic Setting and Fulfillment

The chapter in which the promise stands is alone worth living for, because it foretells the abominations and crimes and wickedness that would prevail in the last days. The present condition of the world fulfills that prophecy. That fulfillment calls true Christians to lives of humility and prayer.

As in Noah's time, divine patience accompanies a warning of coming judgment with an offer of escape through repentance and faith in Christ. Many nevertheless scoff at the warning and reject the offered refuge. The time God gives before the end is opportunity to prepare for Christ's coming, not to be spent in self-gratification instead of honoring God and helping others, lest people be left unprepared for judgment.

The Flood is the pattern for the coming deluge by fire. As the old-world despisers of God's authority perished in the Flood for transgressing His law and refusing admonition, so before the earth is deluged by fire God's judgments will fall and the impenitent will know that transgression of God's holy law caused their ruin. Conscience will be aroused to know there is a God who rules in heaven, and they will call earnestly and stretch out for salvation, but their entreaties will be vain and His ear will not be open to their cry. They will acknowledge sin from fear of punishment and will know just where their sin lies, in despising His holy law, yet they will feel no true contrition and no abhorrence of evil and would return to defiance of Heaven if the judgment were removed, just as the Flood sinners did.

Sodom, Jerusalem, and the Chaldeans illustrate the same sure result of persistent transgression and refusal to come to repentance. God long delays His judgments because He is longsuffering and unwilling that any be humiliated and perish, pleading with the disobedient not to provoke Him and sending visitation as a last effort to check them in evil and bring them to repentance. When punishment finally comes it is proportionate to intelligence and to the warnings despised, brought at times by instruments such as the Chaldeans against the Jews. As Sodom was destroyed because its inhabitants would not obey the laws of God's kingdom, and as Jerusalem was destroyed because Israel would not heed the messages given them, so the whole world will finally be destroyed by fire because of transgression and impenitence. The destruction of Jerusalem is only a symbol of the greater destruction coming upon a world that will not take warning, this time not by a flood but by fire. While weeping over Jerusalem Christ looked beyond that city to the impenitent souls of the whole world through all time, for whom He was about to give His life as the great sacrificial offering for redemption, His omniscient eye discerning that greater calamity and embracing all time as a lesson on this sure result.

The promised day of the Lord will nevertheless come, bringing the destruction of the present heavens and earth. It is connected with the coming establishment of God's government on earth, when the earth is made pure by the fire of God's retributive justice. Those who look for that day are to live in holiness and godliness and be diligent to be found in peace, spotless and blameless, while awaiting the promised new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness dwells. That judgment day is right upon us, which makes the time very solemn. The judgments already fallen on wicked cities, most terrible places where all kinds of revolting sin and iniquity are practiced and the Lord's name is greatly dishonored, are a warning but not the finishing of the punishment that will come upon them.

Watchfulness and Saving Work

The waiting time is a probationary period that will seem short when looked back upon from eternity, and Christ's coming is delayed in patience because He is unwilling for anyone to perish but desires all to repent and receive eternal life. If He should come now many would be found unready, so the merciful delay is the reason for greater necessity of unceasing watchfulness rather than lack of vigilance. Those who look for that day are to live in holiness and godliness and be diligent to be found in peace, spotless and blameless, while the promised day will nevertheless come bringing the destruction of the present heavens and earth and the promised new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells. This delay calls for patience rather than haste, with the coming of the morning to the faithful and of the night to the unfaithful right upon us and the moments fewer and the period shorter than at first.

Those long looking and waiting for His coming must do all in their power to hasten it by cooperating with the divine agencies, for He is ever working and all heaven is engaged in the work on earth to draw men to Christ and repentance. They are to serve as channels of light, asking daily what the Lord wants them to do, practicing self-denial as Jesus did, praying with stirred hearts to receive grace and the Holy Spirit, and using wisdom, ability, and means to save souls that are perishing without Christ.

God does not want anyone to perish and has provided abundant means of salvation for all who will accept His invitation and the eternal life Christ died to offer, and His compassion for those who lack the truth is why He spares the world and gives it more light. His mercy makes gospel work urgent in the fast-closing short time, for if His people give the invitation as they should many can be won to Christ, including many hearing truth for the first time who will be saved. God's people must go forth and give that invitation to thousands, carrying it to the cities and to the world, and if they had done so many souls would have been added to the church of those who shall be saved. His longsuffering gives time for the essential work in the cities that has scarcely been touched, and ministers and physicians united together, walking humbly with God and striving daily to overcome, are to take up that work faithfully in humility and gain precious victories day by day, while true missionaries have God's Spirit abiding with them to furnish power for service. This calls for determined, compassionate efforts to help those in danger of being drawn away from God, without accusation or dictating their steps, and for awakening from slumber because the church was not established by human might and human wisdom and cannot be destroyed by them.

That same unwillingness that any should perish is to be in believers as the Spirit of soul-saving, moving them to work with determined effort and zeal and love to save those Satan has bound. Those who receive the Light of the world must absorb its divine rays and let their light shine in good works and earnest personal labor, so many souls will be led to glorify the Father in heaven. Teachers are to give personal instruction and pray with and for those in their care to give themselves to Jesus, and all are to lay hold of the person and draw with Christ rather than stand by, to help and not accuse, to draw with all their power without prescribing the precise steps to be taken, with the assurance that if the erring one will draw nigh to God, God will draw nigh to him. In this way tempted, guilt-burdened souls ready to despair are to be pointed to Jesus who loved them and gave His life for them as the Star shining in moral darkness to lead tempest-tossed souls to safety.

There is hope, good hope, for all through faith in Jesus Christ, and that faith works by love and purifies the soul. His patience reflects His mercy and willingness to forgive, and gives the repentant assurance that He will accept and pardon them, so that through Christ anyone who is willing may come to God and live. The Lord is not willing that the close, penurious, money-loving man should perish, but would have him take hold of His strength and make peace with Him by conforming his will to His divine will, seeking with his whole life effort the transforming grace that makes him a new man, because his course in money-getting and his increased money-loving propensity are a curse and an additional weight to sink him to perdition. Even church members who are not converted may be converted if they humble their hearts before Him, and God is glorified when people accept Him as personal Saviour and Leader. Pardon brings repentance, remorse, sweet forgiveness, and holy joy when the sinner submits, removes barriers shutting out light, sees sin in the law as mirror, and trusts Christ's blood.

This calls for giving self fully to His service, abiding in Christ and sharing His blessing with others in this life so as to enjoy eternity, since His desire to bless is greater than the desire to be blessed. Because Christ wills the salvation of all and is deeply grieved by the loss of even one soul for whom He made so great a sacrifice, His workers are not to stay in constant perplexity over the inconsistent course of professing Christians or keep looking at the defects of others, but are to look ever to Jesus and in word and deed fulfil His purpose for sinners perishing in sin, serving as His agencies of healing to save them. They are to love as brethren with tenderness and kindness without variance, and to cultivate humility, meekness, and lowliness as lights amid moral darkness, resting in His love, shutting the soul to earth and opening it toward heaven, and entrusting the soul to His keeping as a sympathizing friend and helper who gives peace and rest. He clearly makes His will known and gives evidence after evidence of it, including Christ's lessons from the birds and flowers and the fowls of the air and flowers of the field, which obey God's will and rebuke human ingratitude, distrust, unbelief, disobedience, and departure from God's plan.