JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q3. Delay in Christ's Coming - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q3. (2 Peter 3:9) According to Peter, why has Christ's coming been delayed? What does this teach us about God?

According to Peter, Christ's coming has been delayed because it is not the will of God that any human being perish, but that every person should have the opportunity to repent and get right with God. However, there is no delay with God because His timetable is not our timetable.

The delay(as per Peter) reveals to us the overwhelming patience and longsuffering of God in waiting upon souls to repent, having
sent his witnesses into this dark world by the direction of the Holy
Spirit.God speaks about "OTHER SHEEP " that He has that are not yet in the fold.
"

Q3. (2 Peter 3:9) According to Peter, why has Christ's coming been delayed? What does this teach us about God?
Christ's coming has not been delayed--according to God's time! His is such a different perspective than ours! We just don't comprehend that He is looking from the completed end. He knows some of us need more time to realize we must repent and come to Him for forgiveness. He loves all and wants to forgive us--but He cannot, in justice, do that as long as we refuse to come and repent of our sins! If we choose to sin and not obey Him, we are choosing to go to hell! He is not the cause for those in hell, and He tries to bring us to repentance so we don't have to suffer that! He is willing to wait for those who refuse to repent, hoping that He will be able to bring about circumstances in their lives that will lead them to acknowledge Him and repent!
It teaches us of His patience and His deep love for us!

Christ's coming has not been delayed. "For in just a very little while, "He Who is coming will come and will not delay." Hebrews 10:37 GOD knows when that last soul will be born from above and He will come at just the right time.

This teaches us that GOD is longsuffering and that He does not want anyone to perish. He wants everyone to receive His gift of salvation but He knows that not all will.

Q3. (2 Peter 3:9) According to Peter, why has Christ's coming been delayed? What does this teach us about God?

Christ coming has been delayed so as to give more sinners time to repent and turn to Him. God may seem slow to some believers, but that is not true. He is just not on the same timetable.

Psalm 90:4:

“For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night."


Moses reminds us that a thousand years are like a day to the Lord. God is not limited to time. Therefore, it is important for the believer not to get discourage but rather, to press on with the task at hand until it is accomplished.

We must not sit around waiting for Christ's return but to live for Christ with the anticipation and realization that time is short and we have important work at hand.
We are to be ready to meet Jesus any time of the day , yet we are to plan a course of action taking into consideration that He may not return for a long time.

Pastor Ralph, on Jul 27 2004, 11:01 PM, said:

(2 Peter 3:9) According to Peter, why has Christ's coming been delayed?
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (3:9b

What does this teach us about God?
That His thoughts are not the same as ours as we read in Isaiah 55:8-9, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'"
That He does not want to loose anyone and He will wait with the virtue of patience. Even though God is just and must judge sin, he loves us so much He gave his Son to suffer for our sins, it is done!!!
I am so greatful that it will be God judging me in the end and not manGod is patient with you. "Is patient" (NIV, NRSV) and "is longsuffering" (KJV) is the Greek verb makrothumeô, "to bear up under provocation without complaint, be patient, forbearing."[19]

Q3. (2 Peter 3:9) According to Peter, why has Christ's coming been delayed?

He is patient with me/us/all.

What does this teach us about God?

Same answer. I am not sure to say that his coming has been delayed is a correct sense of what is happening though. God is interacting with us but I would not believe that what we do actually changes anything in his plans. He has known always what we will do and has rocks prepared to take our place.

Christ's return is "delayed" because God is merciful and patient with us, that we all should have ample time to repent of our sin, and be saved. Our God is loving and understanding, as we wrestle with our old sinful nature, not wanting any of us to be lost. Jesus tells us that not even He knows the hour or the day of His return, but that it would happen in the "blink of an eye" when it did happen. For my part, I am glad that He has waited, for I have not been ready long!

Q3. (2 Peter 3:9) According to Peter, why has Christ's coming been delayed? What does this teach us about God?

According to our time it appears that God is delaying His return to earth to establish His kingdom. But God operates on a different time-scale. We are not privy to that. Jesus told His disciples that not even he knows the exact time of his return. God, in his own time-scale has set it correctly. If it appears as delaying to us, we have to think that it is because of millions of his creatures are still not accepting Him as Lord and Master and worshipping other Gods. This teaches to us that God is a personification of love. He loves His creation and wants everyone to be with Him when He establishes His kingdom on this earth. It also teaches us that we should not measure God by our time-scale and give Him His due as He is an Omnipotent and Omniscient God.

Quote

[color="blue"]3a.) I think 'MyBeloved' in their comments found it in their Scripture quotation of Hebrews 10:37. Our Omniscient God knows when He is coming, when the timing is perfect.[/color]
3b.) (2 Peter 3:9) What does this teach us about God?
[color="blue"]3b.) The Apostle John tells: "[/color][color="purple"]Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love[/color][color="blue"]." 1 John 4:8[/color]

This teaches that God is long suffering and not willing that any should perish. It teaches of His total grace and mercy on the human race and His great love for us. It teaches that He has a timetable according to what He knew about creation before creation and that He is in control and sovereign over all.
God Bless!!
Jen
I believe He knew our prayers before He were formed us in the womb (isn't that a case for life) and has already been at work on them before they were uttered. Does prayer matter? Yes!!!!!

God is not slackhe will not delay beyound his appointed time. what man as slack is really long-suffering and patience because dosen't want any to perish. It teach us that will keep his promise and his appointed time to come back and judge the world.
we just need to have our house in order when he returns as a thief or a robber in the night

Q3. (2 Peter 3:9) According to Peter, why has Christ's coming been delayed? What does this teach us about God?

God does not want any to perish. He is delaying the second coming and waiting for the unsaved to come to repentance and to acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior. This tells us God is a loving and merciful God.

According to Peter, Christ's coming has been delayed because his timing is not our timing! This teaches us that God is omnipotent, He knows all and controls all. When it is His time, He will come!

Peter challenges us to view the length of time our Lord has tarried in terms of just who God is rather than in terms of who we are. When viewed from the standpoint of who God is—His attributes—the time He has apparently delayed is inconsequential. Only from a human perspective can it be deemed “too long.”

In the mockers view, this length of time reflected badly on God’s ability or unwillingness to bring His kingdom about. In truth, the delay reflects the opposite as Peter moves in verse 9 to another of God’s attributes directly relating to His apparent “delay”—the patience of God. The length of the Lord’s delay in coming to establish His kingdom is directly proportionate to His patience and longsuffering toward sinful men.

The patience of God is toward His elect. God’s judgment will fall upon the wicked, but His grace is toward those hearts He opens, who therefore turn to Him in faith. The sovereignty of God in salvation may be difficult to accept for some, but it is certainly true, and it involves His longsuffering toward those who are doomed as well as toward the elect.

Our response toward the patience of God should be to regard the delay in terms of salvation. The delay of God in judging sinners has made possible our salvation. It also provides the opportunity for others to be saved and for us to be instruments in their salvation by proclaiming the gospel. How beautiful the “delay” of God’s kingdom now appears in light of God’s patience and the salvation of lost sinners, including us.

1. For God wants all to come to repentence
2. That God is long-suffering, God is Love, merciful, full of grace.

The delay of Christ's return is related to the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to the whole world. Then the end will come. Christ believes that all He predicted can be accomplished in their generation. We must live in a tension between the imminency of Christ's coming and the fact that Christ has commanded us to keep on spreading the gospel around the world. This does not mean that all will be saved, because if a person rejects God's grace and salvation, then they will remain lost.

God is patient and longsuffering, not wishing that any should perish. This teaches us that God IS Love.

God has not returned because He is patient. He is not willing that anyone perish. Even though God is not willing for anyone to perish, many are willing to perish because the truth of the gospel has been destorted. Sin and repentance are no longer taught in church. Without recognizing the need to repent, where has one to place his hope of salvation. It is today that is the acceptable time to repent and be saved. I have been struggling with the gospel message that is to save for this very reason. What must I do to be saved, asked Jesus. I am going to find what Jesus told Nicodemus and study that.

The coming of Christ is delayed because God is longsuffering and wants everyone to have the opportunity of repentance and salvation.

This tells us that God has a great longing for all His children to be with Him, and that none should perish or be lost.