When Scoffers Laugh

Beloved friends,

Pull up a chair. Grab your coffee or tea and settle in with me for a few minutes. I love these quiet moments when we can open the Word together and just talk it through, like old friends around the table.

Let’s walk slowly through these verses together, the way we do when the path feels a little uncertain and the voices around us grow loud. Peter writes:

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
(2 Peter 3:1-7, NIV)

Peter begins with tenderness: “friends.” He is not scolding; he is stirring. He wants us to remember two solid things: the words the holy prophets spoke long ago, and the command that came through the apostles from our Lord and Savior. When the world feels shaky, we go back to what has already been spoken. He wants to wake up pure minds—sincere, unmixed hearts that still want to think clearly about Jesus. Both of his letters have the same gentle purpose: to remind us of what the holy prophets spoke long ago and what the apostles of our Lord and Savior commanded. Our foundation is not new ideas or fresh revelations; it is the old, steady Word.

Then Peter gets practical. Above everything else, we need to understand this: scoffers are coming. Not might come—will come. In the last days they will walk after their own desires and mock the promise of Christ’s return. Their question drips with sarcasm: “Where is the promise of His coming? Everything has stayed the same since the fathers died. Creation just keeps rolling on.” It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The idea that nothing ever really changes, so maybe the promise isn’t real after all.

Notice Peter’s diagnosis. These scoffers are not merely confused; they are “willingly…ignorant.” They deliberately overlook the very history that God has already written in water and word. By the word of God the heavens and the earth were formed, the earth standing out of the water and in the water. That same word once brought a flood that swept the old world away. The scoffers pretend the universe is a closed system of unbroken uniformity, but Scripture records a catastrophic interruption. Judgment has already happened. Therefore, the same powerful word that once flooded the world now holds the present heavens and earth in store, reserved for fire—kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly.

Dear friends, this is not fearmongering. It is family talk. Peter is saying, “Remember what God has already done so you will not be shaken by what the mockers claim He will never do.” The delay is not denial. The apparent sameness of the days is not proof that the promise has failed. The same voice that spoke creation into being and once judged the world by water will one day purify it by fire. Jesus isn’t late. He’s patient. And His word is completely reliable.

So what does this mean for us on an ordinary afternoon?

When the news cycle, the dinner-table conversations, or the quiet doubts in our own hearts start whispering, “Nothing ever really changes…maybe He’s not coming,” we gently stir our pure minds again. We remember the prophets. We remember the apostles. We remember the flood. And we rest in the certainty that the same word that holds the stars in place is holding this present age until the appointed day.Jesus is not late. He is patient. And His promise still stands.

Personal reflection questions to sit with a while:

1. Where have you recently heard (or felt in your own heart) that scoffing question: “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?”
2. Is there any part of God’s past faithfulness—creation, the flood, the cross—that you’ve been tempted to deliberately forget or downplay lately?
3. What is one simple way you can stimulate wholesome thinking this week? (Maybe reading a prophet’s promise out loud, journaling a short prayer, or just pausing to thank the Lord for the word that still holds everything together.)
4. How does knowing that the same powerful word reserves the present world for its appointed day change the way you want to live today?

Your fellow sheep, still sauntering toward the Day, still grateful for the coffee (or tea) and the steady Word

Resting in the Word that never fails.