“They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.”
2 Peter 3:5-7 NLT
As Peter critiques the scoffers he notes something of an incredible importance. These people are not ignorant of God or his role in history. Yet, they react to God ignorantly about it. This echoes the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Roman’s where we find that man’s sin is cultivated in a knowledge of God that is demoted from holiness, to sacredness, to equal and then eventually to less than. This happens while at the same time men’s knowledge is elevated. The irony is that without this knowledge that God provides through revelation, men would have no ground to cultivate their own knowledge. The effects of this process are devastating for humanity as much as they are devastating for that which lives under humanity’s care. Peter notes that scoffers should not mock God. This has happened before and just as in those times, those who mocked God and his people met with a judgement beyond the scope of their control. This is a riff on the Olivet discourse. As in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the end of days, both for the mockers and for their judgement.
JOSH McGARY. COM 