[Note: Our guest contributor, Dr. Ron Rhodes, is the founder and president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries and a beloved guest on our television program, Christ in Prophecy.]
The Apostle Peter, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prophesied that “scoffers will come in the Last Days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have from the beginning of creation'” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
This prophecy finds a chilling fulfillment today, as voices from across the intellectual and religious spectrum dismiss the return of Christ with cynicism and contempt. Whether it comes from the so-called “new atheists,” progressive theologians, liberal Christians, or even complacent churchgoers, the essential question remains: “Where is He?” The question is asked in countless classrooms, podcasts, radio shows, TV shows, and more—often with sarcasm.
No God, No Peace
Carl Sagan famously stated that “the cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be,” echoing the idea that “all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” More than one scholar has noted that Sagan’s comment seems to be a purposeful substitution for the Gloria Patri: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.” If that is indeed the case, it is understandable why some interpret Sagan’s words as containing an undertone of mockery.
The late atheist, Christopher Hitchens, never one to shy away from confrontation, openly scoffed at the idea of Christ’s imminent return. He often cited the Second Coming to illustrate what he saw as the irrationality, and even dangers, of religious faith.
Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion, argues that all religion is delusional, and he considers biblical prophecies remnants of ancient mythology. His worldview presupposes the uninterrupted continuity of natural laws and precludes the possibility of divine intervention, such as the Second Coming. This is known as “uniformitarianism”—the view that the natural order is unbroken and self-sustaining, and therefore divine intervention, such as the Second Coming, is implausible. To put it in the language of 2 Peter 3:4, if there has been no divine interruption since the patriarchs “fell asleep,” then there is no reason to expect one now. In a particularly theatrical jab, Dawkins declared that “even if there were this booming voice or the Second Coming in clouds of glory, the more probable explanation is hallucination or a conjuring trick by David Copperfield.” Dripping with disbelief and sarcasm, Dawkins then mocked, “Didn’t Jesus Himself say He would come again soon? Well, two thousand years later, He still hasn’t.”
Liberal Christian leaders have long dismissed the Second Coming of Jesus at mythology. This includes liberal Christian theologian John Shelby Spong and like-minded Jesus Seminar members John Dominic Crossan and Marcus J. Borg. I spoke with one liberal Christian minister at a large liberal church whose demeanor exuded a smug certainty, with more condescension than conviction. With a dismissive roll of the eyes, he brushed aside several millennia of eschatological hope and declared, “The Second Coming? Why, that’s just when someone rediscovers God in their heart. Nothing more. Nothing more!”
Even cultural humor has joined the chorus. Comedian George Carlin reduced the majestic hope of Christ’s glorious return to a cynical punchline: “Jesus is coming… look busy.”
Prophecy Fulfilled Before our Eyes
What Peter foresaw is no longer theoretical—it’s unfolding before our very eyes, in sync with so many other prophecies that are converging in our day. The mockery is real, and so is the spiritual erosion it signals. Yet, amid this chorus of disbelief, the Word of God stands unshaken. His promise remains, undiminished by scoffing and untouched by sarcasm.
Faithful followers of Christ who read the Bible for themselves have always lived “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13)—the Rapture and the subsequent Second Coming.
I would like to make several observations regarding Peter’s prophecy about scoffers. Right at the outset, I want to draw your attention to the prophetic nature of Peter’s words. The rise of scoffers was not a surprise—it was foretold. Their mocking is not a sign that prophecy has failed; it is proof that prophecy is being fulfilled.
In a striking twist of irony, the very ones who seek to discredit biblical prophecy end up validating it. Their scoffing becomes unintentional evidence that God’s prophetic Word is true. Such scoffers may pride themselves on their clever arguments, unaware that on the grand chessboard of truth, God is always ten moves ahead. While they believe they’re dismantling faith with logic, they are, in reality, playing right into the Hands of divine wisdom.
Notice also that Peter says, “scoffers will come in the Last Days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires” (2 Peter 3:3). A denial of Christ’s Second Coming serves as a pretext for moral license. If there is no Second Coming, then there will be no judgment that follows it. And if there is no judgment, then we are free to live as we want, pursuing our selfish desires without fear of accountability. This means that scoffers have a strong motivation to deny the Second Coming and subsequent judgment; it makes them feel more comfortable in their immoral lifestyle. They seek to silence the voice of conscience. By rejecting divine intervention in the future, they attempt to erase divine authority in the present.
Peter then refutes the scoffers by pointing to the historical reality of Noah’s flood—a clear example of divine upheaval that was sudden and unexpected (2 Peter 3:5-6). People of that time may have reasoned, “God has not judged us yet for our immoral behavior, so He won’t in the future either. Let’s keep living it up.” But then judgment suddenly fell, and it was inescapable. The parallel Peter draws is powerful. Just as there was a divine upheaval associated with the Flood, so human history will experience another divine upheaval at the Second Coming of Christ. Those who scoff at the Second Coming might “keep living it up,” but they’re living on borrowed time, and their day of judgment is coming (Revelation 20:11-15).
Peter then pursues another line of argument to answer the scoffers: “Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). In other words, God is not confined by time—He is timeless. Unlike us, whose brief lives are like “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14), God is eternal. From the limited viewpoint of human beings, Christ’s coming has seemed long delayed. But from God’s vantage point, it won’t be long. It’s coming. God “is not slow to fulfill his promise” (2 Peter 3:9).
Peter now turns to what may be his most compelling argument against the scoffers: What is perceived by humans as a divine delay of the Lord’s coming is, in fact, a deliberate act of mercy on God’s part: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). This perceived postponement is not neglect—it is compassion. It reflects the heart of a Savior who longs for more souls to receive eternal life.
Yet such patience is not a justification for complacency about the Second Coming. The Lord warned that “the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him” (Matthew 24:44). And again, with piercing clarity, “Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake” (Revelation 16:15).
God’s Perfect Timing OR Waiting For God’s Timing
As I reflect on the human tendency to perceive a “delay” in the Second Coming, I’m struck by how often we, as finite humans, misread divine timing. What feels to us like a pause or postponement is, in truth, the unfolding of God’s sovereign plan—precise, intentional, and never late. We see stillness; He sees strategy. We feel waiting; He is working.
Consider the anguished cry of martyred believers in Revelation, pleading for immediate justice: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood?” (Revelation 6:10, emphasis added). They were impatient for God to act. God reveals there is a sovereign purpose for waiting: they are instructed to “rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been” (verse 11). Then and only then would judgment fall. Judgment was most certainly coming, but only when the time was right in the unfolding of God’s sovereign purposes.
The same sovereign patience appears in Jesus’ response to Lazarus’ illness. “When He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was” (John 11:6). His choice to do this was not neglect—it was preparation for a message and a miracle. The message was this: “I am the resurrection and the life” (verse 25). The miracle then followed: He resurrected Lazarus from the dead (verse 43). Sovereign timing became a powerful testimony.
Abraham and Sarah waited decades for a son. In the end, Isaac’s birth, well beyond nature’s bounds with Abraham and Sarah, magnified the faithfulness and power of God (Genesis 17:15-19; 21:1-2). God had a sovereign purpose for what was perceived as a delay in the birth of the promised child.
Joseph’s long season of betrayal, slavery, and confinement could have been perceived as a divine delay of God’s intervention. However, that long season served as a furnace from which God forged a deliverer who would later declare, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good” (Genesis 50:20). Again, God had a purpose for the long years Joseph spent waiting.
Moses waited forty years in obscurity, during which he was transformed from a prince into a shepherd. Only then did God commission him to confront Pharaoh and lead a nation (Exodus 2:15; 3:1). God had a sovereign purpose for the forty-year wait.
Israel itself wandered forty years through the wilderness—a delay that became a crucible, refining a people for covenant faithfulness (Numbers 14:34; Deuteronomy 8:2).
And in the grand sweep of redemptive history, Paul reminds us that even Israel’s temporary hardening serves a sovereign end: “A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25). What may be perceived as a delay in God removing this “hardening” from Israel is actually God’s window of time for many Gentiles to be saved.
My point in all of this is that God’s perceived delays are never wasted moments. They are sacred interludes, filled with purpose, precision, and promise. The same is true regarding the precise timing of the Rapture and the Second Coming. These events will occur in God’s perfect and sovereign timing.
I Can’t Wait to Have Patience OR Waiting Patiently But Eagerly
Now, I grant you that even believers find it challenging to wait for the Lord’s coming. Though we possess the firstfruits of the Spirit—a divine pledge of what is to come—we still find ourselves groaning inwardly, yearning for the full redemption that Scripture promises. As Paul put it, “We ourselves… groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). This longing points to that glorious moment when, at the Rapture of the Church, we will be clothed with incorruptible bodies, forever free from sin, sorrow, and decay (1 Corinthians 15:50-54).
Until then, we are urged not merely to wait, but to wait well: “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7). This is no passive patience—it is a hopeful endurance, rooted in the certainty of His promise and sustained by the Spirit who dwells within.
I close with a reminder that in the end, those who scoff about the Second Coming unwittingly become signposts pointing to the very truth they deny. Their ridicule, far from undermining prophecy, serves as confirmation that we are indeed living in the days Peter foresaw. They mock because they do not understand the mercy behind the so-called delay, nor do they grasp the majesty of a God who is never late, but always right on time.
For the faithful, their mockery only strengthens our resolve. We will not be swayed by the noise of unbelief. Instead, with eyes fixed on the skies and hearts anchored in the promises of Scripture, we wait—not with doubt, but with confident expectation—for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
