By inspiration Peter foretold that scoffers (mockers) would come in this final age. These would poke fun at Jesus’ promise to come again, citing the long-standing constancy of the created order as purportedly proving the possibility of a final day as ridiculous. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Pet. 3:3-4). However, it is evident that the universe had a starting point, when the eternal Creator brought it into existence; there is no excuse for failing to recognize this truth from creation (Rom. 1:20). Just as the universe had a starting point, it will have an ending point. Observation is all that is required to see that the physical world is wearing out or winding down from its original state of creation. Unlike God, the world has an expiration date: “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail” (Heb. 1:10-12).
Moreover, the notion that all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation is negated by the historical reality of the flood in Noah’s day. Peter went on to make this point in 2 Peter 3:5-7:
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
The general theory of evolution is based on this faulty assumption. The big word for it is “uniformitarianism”—that slow changes have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform processes. Yet, there was a catastrophe in the past wherein the entire world was upended. The flood interrupted the normal order of events on earth. Not only was the physical world drastically changed, but the world’s population was reduced to eight (1 Pet. 3:20).
Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5). He evidently warned of the impending judgment, but the people continued in their various pursuits without taking heed. Many disregard warnings of future judgment today. Jesus said, “For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man” (Matt. 24:38, 39, ASV). God has judged the entire world with a flood before, so let us not mock the idea of His universal judgment in the future that will come with fire.
Some hold that all the promises of the Lord’s coming were fulfilled spiritually in the end of Judaism in AD 70; thus, they denigrate the idea of a future judgment and the destruction of the physical universe. But what is Peter’s point in 2 Peter 3? What were these scoffers mocking? They were not scoffing because they had not seen the end of Judaism. The scoffers said that the physical universe is still here and has continued since the beginning of creation. To AD 70 advocates, I guess Peter should have told the scoffers they were looking for the wrong kind of fulfillment and explained it as figuratively representing Judaism.
But Peter is speaking of the end of the physical world and the universal judgment of all souls by God. Peter goes on to tell us the attitude we ought to have based on this truth: “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” (2 Pet. 3:11-12.) Instead of mocking, as those described in verse 3 do, we ought to take serious stock of our lives and prepare for the final day.
It is difficult to get some people to be sober minded about anything. While there is time for joking, eternal spiritual matters are of great importance. Because these scoffers deny the Lord’s coming, they walk in lusts. They indulge the flesh because they do not consider the judgment of God a serious matter. The devil wants us to dismiss the seriousness of the judgment. This is why people can recognize what the Bible teaches on how they are to live and turn from it — they focus on what they want now rather than preparing for later (2 Pet. 2:21-22). But the dismissal or ridicule of the plain truths of the Bible will not make them go away. In chapter 2 of this epistle, Peter had reminded his audience that God punishes sin. The angels that were not content to stay in their place were cast down to hell (2 Pet. 2:4). The ungodly in Noah’s day were drowned in the flood (2 Pet. 2:5). The ungodly practices of Sodom and Gomorrah, which are so glorified among many in our day, were the cause of their destruction by God (2 Pet. 2:6). Because those cities would not repent of their fornication —going after “strange flesh” (Jude 7)— they were turned into ashes and stand as an example of God’s judgment on the ungodly. We should take God’s attitude toward sin seriously and live right before it is too late! It is no laughing matter.
— Mark Day