Natural cycles like the motion of celestial bodies and the birth and death of human generations repeat over and over well after the ascension of Christ. Peter predicted as much when he said that the continuation of such cycles would be noted by people wondering if or when Christ's return would occur. As he puts it in 2 Peter 3:4, "They will say, 'Where is this "coming" he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.'" There are several noteworthy details and ramifications of this passage, which seems to address the Second Coming of Jesus even as it also specifically mentions God and other eschatological events, despite how Yahweh and Christ are very obviously separate beings according to the Bible (such as in Matthew 24:36). Either way, the contents of 2 Peter 3:3-9 are very much reflective of the Biblical period between the departure and second arrival of Jesus and then the planet being laid bare by fire as verse 10 mentions.
There is an irony in verse 4, specifically, in that anyone who thinks what Peter says "scoffers" will insist is validating at least that part of the prophecy. Anyone who says that there will be deniers of a prediction, though, will almost certainly be correct even if they could not have known ahead of time, and being right on this point is not the same as the predicted calamity itself actually occurring. This distinction clarifies the epistemological significance of Peter's claims. Thus far, there have been people, some of them even Christians, who might deny the possibility or probability of the Second Coming of Christ or Yahweh's final judgment and renewal of heaven and Earth (some forms of amillenialism literally would entail the idea that the Second Coming has already happened in full). That some people object would again of course ensure that this part of Peter's predictions comes true, but simply encountering dismissal or denial of Christ's return (or other eschatological events that are described more at length in this very chapter) does not mean Christ is just about to come--and does not verify the whole of Christian prophecy.
The "last days," a phrase used in 2 Peter 3:3, at times seems to be used more as a general window of time after Christ's death and resurrection but before the final resurrection and judgement, which are themselves preceded by the return of Christ. Like with the individual signs listed in Matthew 24, there is no one thing that points to the Second Coming or some other such event being in the very near future on this side of theological history. These scoffers of 2 Peter 3:3-5 are a prerequisite if the entirety of the Bible is true, but they are not the distinctive marker that some grand eschatological thing is on the very verge of happening. They are but one among multiple prophetic markers that, since the prediction was made, must come about if all Biblical teachings about the future are accurate.
In addition to the prerequisites of Matthew 24 not being met for the return of Christ at this time (so many things about the world have become better and not always worse!), Peter goes further to insist, in fact, that this "coming" will arrive like a thief (3:10), and what competent thief would come at a time when everyone expects them? Still, the somewhat unspecified, abrupt nature of his return does not mean that an extraordinary amount of time could not pass between the ascension and Second Coming. The delay in direct revelation of God or the next coming of Christ, says Peter, is because of divine mercy, as this is the very context in which one finds the renowned statement that God wants "everyone to come to repentance" and for none to perish--in a verse that Biblically refutes both Calvinism and the popular version of eternal conscious torment for every unsaved being all in one sentence (2 Peter 3:9). This is also the place where another popular statement is made: that a thousand years is like a day to God, and vice versa (3:8).
People who imagine that the Second Coming is imminent all throughout history are dramatically misunderstanding the actual nature of Biblical prophecies even as they might recognize the obligation to do good until that moment arrives (3:11-14). Even just in the context of 2 Peter 3, the very fact that scoffers would implicitly believe that natural cycles continuing refutes the Second Coming suggests that it would be an enormous amount of time between the first and later comings of Christ on Earth! There is no need to fret as if Jesus is likely to come today or tomorrow, and even the Biblical details about his return and the nature of contemporary events together evidence that we are actually in some ways far from that great day as it is described by the Bible. There is immense irony in any doubting of this return actually validating one of Peter's prophecies, certainly. There is also far more to Biblical eschatology and related epistemology than just this.
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