2 Peter 3:8
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Peter urges his readers to remember that to the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day.
What Does 2 Peter 3:8 Mean?
Peter addresses his readers again as "beloved" and urges them not to overlook "this one thing": with the Lord, "one day is... as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." God does not measure time as we do. What seems a long delay to us is nothing to the eternal God, who stands above the rush of human days.
This answers the scoffers' impatience directly. They mocked the apparent delay of Christ's coming, but they measured by human clocks. To God, vast stretches of time and a single day are alike; His promises are not slowed by the passing of centuries. For the believer, this brings deep rest. We are not to grow anxious or doubtful when the fulfillment seems long in coming. The Lord's reckoning is not ours. What feels like delay to the watching soul is, to God, perfectly on time. The promise has not failed simply because it has not yet arrived; it waits in the patience of the Eternal One.