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Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, \u201cWhere is this \u2018coming\u2019 he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.\u201d But they deliberately forget that long ago by God\u2019s 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. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:3-9)

Many great tales in our world are woven of the stuff that 2 Peter references. \xa0Tolkien\u2019s Lord of the Rings is one of them. \xa0In The Fellowship of the Ring, Galadriel speaks of the ring of power, and says: \u201csome things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.\u201d

Tolkien speaks through Galadriel here of something quite commonplace. \xa0Us human folk can live no where else but in the present moment we inhabit. \xa0So events of the distant past and promises given for the future can equally pass from history, to legend, to myth, to becoming lost entirely. \xa0

This is what Peter confronts. \xa0The line between remembering and forgetting is very thin indeed. \xa0All it takes is a few people to question the narrative, to buck the norms, to \u201creinterpret\u201d things according to their liking for the foundation underneath our feet to unravel. \xa0In nothing more than the serpent\u2019s words from Eden, whole worlds of meaning and cohesion can be undone. \xa0A wee seed of doubt: \u201cdid God really say\u2026?\u201d \xa0That\u2019s all it takes. \xa0

The serpent\u2019s voice echoes in the words of the scoffers (and in the words of Morgoth and Sauron in Tolkien\u2019s world). \xa0The lie enters when Peter\u2019s scoffers ask \u201cwhere is this \u2018coming\u2019 [Jesus] promised?\u201d \xa0It is an argument from silence, or an ad hominem attack against God\u2019s faithfulness\u2014logical fallacies we are warned not to entertain.

Peter responds that these scoffers have made a deliberate choice to forget the scriptures and the Word of God that created the world, spoke in judgement and in redemption in the days of Noah, and that has decreed an end to history when all will be set right and made well in the cleansing and justice-bringing of God.

Peter invites us to make a different choice: to deliberately choose to remember what we have received in the scriptures instead of forgetting it. \xa0God is still faithful to his promises. \xa0Jesus will come again. \xa0

One other doubt is addressed here too though. \xa0We tend to find God\u2019s judgement too indecent and, well, \u201cjudgemental\u201d for modern consumption. \xa0Yet don\u2019t all our most satisfying stories and movies still end with a \u201cputting things right\u201d that resolves the narrative tension? \xa0And when they don\u2019t\u2014like in the movie Marriage Story that matches our modern sensibilities of \u201cno resolution please\u201d\u2014we\u2019re left with nothing more than a discordant, restless malaise. \xa0Yuck. \xa0

Peter writes to remind us both that the scriptures are a reliable witnesses to His-story (God\u2019s), but also that this God in whom we have believed is a Good God. \xa0His desire in judgement is not to punish, but in his patient, merciful forbearance to restore all people to himself. \xa0The narrative tension will be resolved to justice, but God is willing to wait long years and ages for a positive resolution. \xa0Will we wait as patiently as God, in hope and trust that the one who began this work will see it through? \xa0Peter invites us to, even as he sends us out with a blessing.

Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).

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