TUESDAY 17th
2 Peter 3:8-13
V8 ‘But 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.’
We have arrived today to what is a reasonably well-known verse, which is seeking to express the realm of time in which we dwell in comparison to that of eternity in which God dwells. There is an Old Testament verse that reads ‘For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.’ (Psalm 90:4) I have already mentioned in a previous devotion that God does not dwell in time, he is eternal, we as humans can only think in terms of time, and we may use expressions such as ‘where did the time go’, or the exact opposite, ‘hasn’t time dragged today’, this is because our understanding of time is based upon the experiences we may be going through. So when you are on holiday enjoying yourself, times seems to fly, but if you are going through a difficult or a not so pleasant experience it seems to drag. But not so with God, for with God every day is exactly the same in that to him there is no difference between a day or a thousand years. Our lifespan of threescore years and ten is just a blink as far as God is concerned.
But Peter is using this statement in the context of the second coming of the Lord Jesus and he is answering the scoffers who are deliberately overlooking spiritual matters and as we saw previously the word of God or the promise of his coming.
Yes, Peter would say, you may scoff and comment where is the promise of his coming, and you may recall history and say that things are continuing as they always have done, but this is what you need to consider: Think of what you did a day ago, as far as you are considered that is still the present, it is a very recent event, well as far as God is concerned, what happened a thousand years ago is just as if it only happened yesterday, so to God it is still a very recent event. Therefore if Jesus stated two-thousand years ago that he would come again, remember this, as far as God is concerned that is only like two days ago, so the promise is as real today and as sure today as any promise you or I may have made two days ago! Jesus will come again.
And Peter continues by making a very encouraging statement in the next verse, ‘The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.’ This is good news, firstly, because two-thousand years is just like two days as far as God is concerned, he is not being slow and secondly from man’s point of view, because two days with God is two-thousand years for us, God is being very patient, he is waiting for humanity who seems to be slow in the uptake in understanding that he is giving plenty of opportunity for men and women to come to respond to the good news of the gospel.
Yes, be assured that God is not using time for his advantage, but rather for ours, so that many more will come to the place of repentance. God would rather wait patiently before he gives the signal for his Son to return so that heaven can be populated with a vast crowd of men and women who will stand before his throne.
So be encouraged today and be blessed by this thought, Jesus has tarried for two thousand years because of the joy he will receive of seeing you and me joining with the angelic choir around the throne singing ‘Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who sits on the throne.’