Here Peter skips over the millennium, the period of time from the Lord’s coming to the judgment of the great white throne. To Peter, as to the Lord, that one thousand years will be as one day (v. 8), a short time. Peter is dealing here with God’s governmental judgment. The millennium will not be for this purpose in God’s dispensation.
Here Peter speaks concerning the “mountain peaks” of the Lord’s coming and of God’s final judgment, but not of the “plain” of the millennial kingdom that lies between the “peak” of the Lord’s coming and that of the final judgment. In this Epistle Peter is concerned with God’s judgment, not with the peaceful kingdom of the thousand years. For this reason he passes over the matter of the millennial kingdom.
In verse 8 Peter says, “But do not let this one thing be hidden from you, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Literally, the Greek word rendered “be hidden from you” means escape you, that is, escape your notice.
With the Lord God, who is eternal, the sense of time is very different from what it is with man. Hence, for the fulfillment of His word, especially the word of His promise, time is not the crucial matter. The crucial matter is the fact. Whatever God has promised will eventually become a fact. We should not be troubled by the sense of delay according to our reckoning of time.
Verse 9 says, “The Lord does not delay regarding the promise, as some count delay, but is longsuffering toward you, not intending any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” Here Peter says that the Lord does not delay, or is not tardy, regarding the promise, as some count delay, tardiness. The mockers must have been those who count the Lord’s delay as tardiness. They may have accused Him of being idle, since tardiness is a delay that is related to idleness.
In verse 9 Peter says that the Lord is longsuffering toward us. The Lord’s heart is set not on the time of the fulfillment of His promise, but on His people, whom He possesses peculiarly as a treasure (1 Pet. 2:9; Titus 2:14), so that none of us, His precious redeemed ones, would be punished by His governmental judgment, but have a prolonged season to repent so that we may be spared from His punishment.
The words “to perish” in verse 9 mean to be destroyed. Since “you” in this verse refers to the believers in Christ, “to perish” refers not to the eternal perdition of the unbelievers, but to the punishment of God’s governmental discipline of the believers (1 Pet. 4:17-18; cf. 1 Thes. 5:3, 8). Likewise, the word “all” refers to the believers. Furthermore, “repentance” here is repentance unto salvation (2 Pet. 3:15), repentance for not being watchful for the day of the Lord’s coming (v. 10) and not living a life in a holy manner and in godliness (v. 11).
We need to realize that the Lord’s heart is not set on the time of the fulfillment of His promise, but is set on His people. If necessary, the Lord can wait for another day, another period of a thousand years, to fulfill His promise. Today many Christians are saying that the Lord Jesus will come back soon. However, the Lord’s coming may not be as soon as people think. In Revelation 22 the Lord said, “I come quickly.” Nevertheless, nearly two thousand years have passed since the Lord spoke that word. To Him, this is only two days, for with the Lord a thousand years are as one day.
Do not listen to those who set a time for the Lord’s coming back. In the past some predicted the time of the Lord’s coming. In the last century one group of people believed that the Lord Jesus was coming on a particular day. They made themselves ready and even put on white robes. Of course, nothing happened.
After World War I, a number of books were written on the prophecies concerning the Lord’s coming. Some Bible teachers claimed that, according to their view of the world situation, the Lord’s coming was at hand. But more than fifty years have passed since those writings appeared, and the Lord Jesus still has not come. We need to be reminded, therefore, of Peter’s word concerning a thousand years being as one day to the Lord.
When the Lord Jesus comes back, He will not only judge the negative things, but will also receive His bride. This means that He will come both as the Judge and as the Bridegroom. Hence, in order for the Lord to come as the Bridegroom, the bride must be prepared for Him. Is the bride ready for the Bridegroom’s coming? Is it possible for the Lord to come today as the Bridegroom? Because the bride is not yet ready, we may say that it is possible that the Lord’s coming will not be as soon as some figure. The bride can be prepared only through growth in life, and this takes time. Higher forms of life require more time to develop than lower forms do. The higher a certain life is, the longer it will take to grow. Because the bride must be prepared for the Bridegroom and because this preparation is through the growth in life, a growth that requires time, it is not likely that the Lord Jesus will come back right now.
My point here is that we should not be bothered or surprised by any delay concerning the Lord’s coming. Do not blame the Lord and say, “Lord, You said in Revelation 22 that You were coming quickly. Why, then, has it been so long?” Instead of blaming the Lord for delaying His coming, we should be diligent to prepare ourselves to meet Him. We should also minister life to others so that they may grow and be prepared. This is the only way to hasten the Lord’s coming back.