NOTES for Pe2 3:9

Almost every Christian has asked at least once: what is God waiting for? Why does He not intervene in events, why does He delay the moment of the complete and final triumph of the Kingdom? Could the Savior not return today? And would that not be better? At first glance it can appear that this is so. Indeed, then at last the evil in which the world still remains, insofar as it has not yet been transformed, would finally lose its power over it, and everything would become wonderful. And everything really would be exactly so, but with one correction: the moment of the Kingdom's triumph is also the moment of the last Judgment. That means the line under the present stage of world history is drawn by God, thereby depriving of a chance those who have not yet managed, have not determined, have not chosen. For those who have made their choice, the day of Judgment becomes the day of final establishment in the Kingdom. For those who have not yet managed to make it, it becomes a day of final and very serious testing, a test on whose outcome salvation depends. Therefore God is not in a hurry. He waits. Of course, He sees each heart and knows what can be expected from whom. He also knows whether it makes sense to wait further. Of course, we might say that in any case the line God draws under history will leave someone outside the Kingdom. But the question is who remains outside. Unreadiness for a final choice is one thing; a choice made not in favor of the Kingdom is another. The first can be corrected, the second cannot. And God waits, desiring to bring everyone to a conscious and final choice. For the human person is free, and his main choice must certainly be made freely and consciously. Those who have already chosen have only to wait, especially when everything has already been said and testified to. In this case waiting turns out to be the highest manifestation of love.

Peter reminds us of the day of Judgment. In doing so, he appears to have in mind the perplexities that were spreading among Christians already of the second, not the first, generation. The matter concerned unfulfilled expectations: both the first and the second generation of Christians expected the Savior's return literally from day to day, and still He did not return. This prolonged waiting gave rise to perplexity.

Against this background there appeared the very "scoffers" mentioned by the apostle: they openly questioned all of Christianity, being sure themselves and assuring others that there would be no return of the Savior and that all eschatology was merely an invention of a mind heated by the Christian texts that had already begun to appear.

Peter remains faithful to what he heard from his Teacher, who promised to return soon after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple that He had foretold. But the apostle also remembered something else: Jesus' words that not even He Himself knows the day of His return, and that all times are in the Father's power. Peter understands these words of the Savior to mean that the day of Judgment and His return is not predetermined in the sense of dates, but is inevitable because of the spiritual process that we today usually call the history of salvation. As for the dates, they are determined first of all by the spiritual condition of the Church, and also of all humanity.

The postponement of Judgment is not an indulgence for sinners, but a chance for their conversion. Of course, if God's goal were to punish sinners as strictly as possible, the day of Judgment would quite possibly have come long ago. But He has another goal: He wants as many sinners as possible to repent and turn, and therefore He leaves chances for conversion to everyone and each person as long as this has meaning. Of course, sooner or later the day will inevitably come when there is no one and nothing left to wait for.

But when it will come cannot be said exactly, and only the Father can determine the moment of its coming. This is understandable: He alone sees the whole of reality in all its fullness, and the full depth of every heart. Only He can determine when waiting no longer has meaning because everyone has already made his choice. We human beings cannot know this by definition. But we do not need to know it: what matters for us is to walk our path and reach the goal. To the Kingdom. Without waiting for the day of Judgment. All the possibilities for this have already been given to us now.

The Apostle Peter paints a terrifying picture: “the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire”... And yet he looks forward to this day with joy and calls us to do the same? Yes. Yes, because this destruction is a consequence of God’s coming. Nothing evil or sinful can endure before the face of God—and this entire world has been poisoned by human sin. But the Lord promises us a new heaven and a new earth, and this means that, purified by fire, the earth will become itself: as the Lord created it, as it was before the Fall. And therefore the last day, the day of God, is a day of joy: the day when our Lord will come!

We read Christ's prophetic words about the future of the world and the days before His Second Coming in power and glory. Everything that will happen will be terrible, and... all of it is already found in our world: earthquakes and wars, famine and epidemics. But what is the Lord's patience of which the apostle speaks? It consists in His waiting for every person and giving everyone opportunities to meet Him. He has given us the promise of which the apostle speaks: “According to His promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Our world can become these new heavens and this new earth if Christ's proclamation is heard by everyone; if Christ's works and people's love for Him become the foundation of human life; if through repentance and the fear of God each person acquires faith, hope, and love. Prayer for the world and for everything that happens in it, prayer to Christ for the salvation of human souls amid distress and misfortune, must resound every day in the heart of every Christian, just as it resounds every day in the Church.

Our age seems especially characterized by forgetting the expectation of the Second Coming. This thought may seem strange, for people constantly speak of the end of the world; everyone waits, trembles, and is afraid. But is anyone waiting for Him, for God? In this respect, fellowship with Jews who genuinely and sincerely believe is very useful for Christians. They remember that things will not always remain as they are today. They wait intently for the coming of the Messiah, and they wait not only with awe but also with joy.

Yet in principle we are waiting too... Only our lives show none of that intense and joyful expectation with which one awaits a beloved person, constantly running to the door and listening for footsteps... and also checking the mobile phone for a message explaining the delay.

We live as life carries us along. Sometimes we remember either that our world is finite or that we ourselves are finite. We become frightened. For a while, this fear may even move us to pray more often and do something for our salvation. Then we forget again. We forget that we are waiting not for the End but for the Beginning, that we are waiting for Someone who can change everything and make it new. We do not remember that in reality we “await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Truth is frightening.

And it is also frightening simply to place everything in the hands of God, the God for whom “one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” Therefore, to be with Him, we must forget about time and live as though eternity lay before us, yet we might die in the next moment.

If only for a minute we realize that each of our thoughts, every word, and every deed may be the last, while eternity nevertheless lies before us, then truth ceases to be a scarecrow and becomes reality. This very moment, this thought, this word, and this deed become truth. For God is the truth that illuminates every moment and all eternity.

At the same time, out of love for us the Lord humbled Himself so greatly that He was born, became man, and lived in time. More than that, He was “long-suffering” and saved us by His patience. Such a God does not inspire fear, and one longs to express gratitude to Him for salvation at least through the same patient waiting at the threshold, waiting for His Coming, for the coming of His Light and His truth that transforms the world.

We read the warning that in the last days insolent scoffers will appear, and we may wonder: whom is the apostle speaking about? There are many in our own time who can be included in the category he describes; does this mean that our days should be considered the last? In fact, there have been plenty of such scoffers in every age, yet the end of the world did not come.

Yes, those who revile everything holy displayed their zeal not only on the eve of the end of time. But we were also told that “about that day and hour no one knows” (Matthew 24:36). For us, who do not know the times, it is far more important always to be ready to meet Christ, regardless of whether His coming will take place soon or not soon. Looking at the signs of the last times, even if by human standards these times last a long while, we should not sit with folded hands in fear, but set about correcting our ways. God's perception of time is not like ours.

For that matter, even among people it often happens that periods which seem long to us pass in an instant.