Today’s devotion comes from 2 Peter 3:8-9.
“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8-9.
——————
We remember that Peter is addressing the chosen, the elect. “… To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:” 2 Peter 1:1. “… To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen” 1 Peter 1:1. Thus, to the chosen, the elect, the Lord “is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
“For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:3.
“9 “Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.” Isaiah 46:9-11.
We also remember the context of this verse is the coming day of the Lord, “the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7. Peter was assuring the chosen, the elect, that not one of them would perish in this coming day of the Lord, “the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men”, but all of them, the chosen, the elect, would come to repentance and be saved before the coming of the Lord would occur.
Thus, the Belgic Confession states in the beginning of the Article on the Last Judgment that the Lord will come when “the number of the elect complete”.
Article 37: Of the Last Judgment.
Finally we believe, according to the Word of God, when the time appointed by the Lord (which is unknown to all creatures) is come, and the number of the elect complete, that our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, corporally and visibly, as he ascended, with great glory and majesty to declare himself judge of the quick and the dead; …
“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” Matthew 24:30-31.
“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” John 6:39.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” John 10:27-28.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 