Chapter 3. These False Teachers Also Deny That The Lord Has Come At All, But All Should Recognise That He Has Come and His Final Manifestation Is Sure And Will Usher In A New Heaven And A New Earth.
Peter now calls on his readers to remember the teaching of the prophets, which pointed forward to His coming, and the teaching of their Lord and Saviour as given through him and his fellow Apostles, which is evidence both that He has come, and that He will yet return again to judge the world.
They are to recognise at the same time that false teachers will arise who will mock at the idea that He has both come and will come (that is at the idea of the ‘manifested presence' of God's Saviour in history - His Parousia). And they will do it on the grounds that what people have expected has been so long delayed. For what they have been awaiting is His powerful and glorious intervention in history, with the result that His initial coming (which was in veiled glory) has passed them by.
And yet let them not doubt that the final phase of that will come when He arrives to sum up all things. It may have been delayed because of God's mercy, but it will surely come. For what these people forget is that the Flood appeared to be delayed, but then it suddenly came and the whole world perished. And they should take note that in the same way God is now storing up the present world for destruction by fire.
For the truth is that the reason for the delay is the longsuffering and mercy of God. However, let all be sure of this. The Day of the Lord will come, and it will steal up on them like a thief in the night. And then everything will be burned up with fire. In view of this, therefore, what holy lives they should be living as they await that day and keep in mind that everything earthly will be destroyed. It should make them look rather therefore for the new heaven and the new earth which is the dwellingplace of righteousness, and therefore only accessible to those who have been made righteous.