Jesus Is Coming Again, It’s Time to Prepare Now

Shared on March 16, 2025

Introduction

Jesus is coming again!  Do you believe that or not?  Many don’t take the promise of the second coming of Christ seriously.  The believer should not be a part of that crowd!  The child of God must not be caught off guard when it comes to the second coming of Christ.

The Scoffer

In Jude 17-18, we saw his reference to there being mockers in the last days.  A mocker mimics the thought of their being Christ, nonetheless the thought of Him coming again.  

Our lesson opens with Peter saying the same thing, “scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts.”  A scoffer is one that derides, or mocks, believing their wisdom is truth.  Like Jude, Peter wrote that the scoffer would mock, asking the question, “Where is the promise of His coming” (2 Pet. 3:4).”

Now, in general, when some mock others, they do so to force laughs and giggles.  When people mock others, they often do so with the hopes of drawing a reaction.  There are other times when people will mock with the intent of trying to dissuade and then persuade another.

I can remember as early as my teenage years, when other kids would say, Jesus hasn’t come and it’s been x-amount of years.  They would say those things trying to make me feel foolish for my faith in Christ.  I learned early on that the scoffer will try to make those of faith feel foolish as they try to persuade us to stop believing.

Let’s be clear, the scoffer is the fool that Proverbs speaks of.  Proverbs 1:7 tells us that fools despise wisdom and instruction (Prov. 1:7).  As Peter said, the scoffer willfully choose not to believe that God created all that is known and unknown (2 Pet. 3:5-6).  The scoffer willfully choose not to believe that God is going to give His final judgment at the end (2 Pet. 3:7).

You will be mocked because of your faith.  You are going to be mocked by those you don’t know and even by those you do know.  You are going to have family that mock you because of your faith, and you will have friends that mock your faith.  

Jesus taught that we would face persecution in His name (Luke 12:49-53; John 15:15-25).  Of those who hate us and persecute us, Jesus said, “He who hates Me hates My Father also.”  Those who stand in opposition to the Lord are those awaiting their destruction.   

The Day Is Coming

Do not be dissuaded by scoffers.  You do not want to join the judgment that awaits them.  God’s judgment of the sinner, casting them away from His presence, is why Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slack concerning HIs promise (2 Pet. 3:9).”  

 The scoffer believes that Christ isn’t coming because it’s been 2000 years since Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Again, they love to use the notion of how long it has been to ridicule the believer.  To answer this notion of it being such a long time, Peter wrote, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8).”  

Now, many of us take Peter’s saying that 1 day is as 1,000 years in the eyes of God as a factual truth.  Many have taken Peter’s statement to say that it took God 6,000 years to create the universe and the earth.  Peter likely used 1,000 in this scenario because it’s a large number.  

For all we know, a million years is as a day in God’s eyes!  God never tells us what time is like for Him.  Do you know why God never tells us how time is to Him?  The reason why is because God is eternal, which means that God is beyond our concept of time.

Jesus has only told us He is coming again, and the only one that knows when He is coming is the Father (Matt. 24:36).  So, anyone who says they know when He is coming is someone that is lying to you.  We cannot even guess when Christ is coming.  Truly, the only thing that we do know is that He is coming soon as He has given us signs to look out for (Matt. 24:3-14).

Peter quoted Jesus when He spoke of the day and the hour of Jesus’ coming (2 Pet. 3:10).  You see, when Jesus taught the disciples about His second coming, He likened it to a thief coming at an unknown time.  

Jesus said to them, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Matt. 24:42-44).”

Jesus made the message plain and clear to His disciples, they must always be ready for His coming.  This is the message that Peter was expressing through this letter:  the believer should live each second with the thought in mind that Christ can come that very second.  

To prepare for the day, Peter encouraged believers to look forward to the day of Jesus’ coming and be diligent to be found by Him in peace (2 Pet. 3:14).  All of us should not be living in a manner where we think that Jesus isn’t coming back while we live.  To live in such a manner is to live just as the scoffer!  The scoffer does not live in obedience, which we already know the end of their disobedience is condemnation (John 3:18).

The Day of the Lord

Now, I could end my commentary of this week’s lesson here, but I do want to touch more on something stated in 2 Peter 3:10.  

Peter spoke about the passing away of all things.  Peter wrote, “The heavens (space) will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”  Peter’s teaching follows that of Jesus and is similar to that of Paul’s teaching.

Jesus, when He spoke of His second coming, said, “After the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Matt. 24:29).”  Then He said, “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great joy.  And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet (Matt. 24:30-31).

Paul, following Jesus’ teachings, wrote, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God (1 Thess. 4:16).”  Peter and Paul were not making up anything they wrote about the finality of this creation.  John, in the vision of the Revelation of Christ, saw the passing away of the first heaven and earth, and the coming of the new (Rev. 21:1).

The end of the universe is not something that we have to theorize about – this creation will end.  Science theorizes as to whether the universe will rip apart, freeze, or compact together in a fiery ending.  I cannot speak to science or when the end will be, but I do know the end will come.  The end will come at the hands of God.  

What is most important for us is to remain faithful, whether that ending is today or tomorrow, or billions of years from now.  The truth of the matter is that our lifespan is not long, which means that our end could potentially be tomorrow.  Yes, tomorrow, we could meet the Lord!  So, we must always live in obedience so as not to be consumed by the day.