“The Longsuffering of our Lord Is Salvation” (2 Pet. 3:15a)

Since the beginning of time, God has exalted people and God has destroyed people. In the Bible, God is shown to do this both by direct, miraculous intervention and by an indirect, providential means. He takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11). He only wants them to repent and be blessed (2 Pet. 3:9). For this reason, many times God is found to be patient or longsuffering toward those who are guilty.

When God “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5 ESV), He was determined to destroy them all with a flood. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). Therefore, God did not destroy the world immediately. He delayed the flood long enough for Noah and his family to be able to build an ark, in which they would be saved. Also, we know that God purposed this intermediate period as a time in which the people would have an opportunity to repent. God had determined that they deserved punishment. But the fact that He did not instantly destroy them, but rather delayed the flood for a time, is an example of God’s longsuffering. Noah is called a “preacher of righteousness” in 2 Peter 2:5. He must have been warning the world of their impending doom, calling them to repent. He was able to save only his family.

God made this promise to Abram in a dream: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen. 15:13-16).

First, God is telling Abram that the Egyptians will enslave his descendants. Then after four hundred years, God would judge Egypt. But even before He would bring the ten plagues, He would give Pharaoh the opportunity to repent and obey the Lord.

Second, God tells Abram that his descendants would return to Palestine/Canaan; but that return was going to be delayed, because He wanted to give the people of the land an opportunity to “complete” their “iniquity” in repentance, rather than destroy them in their impenitence.

In both cases, God brought destruction upon the Egyptians and the Canaanites, but only after exercising His longsuffering and giving them opportunity to turn to Him in repentance.

Now after God made this promise to Abram, he found himself in a difficult situation regarding his nephew, Lot, who was a resident of the evil city of Sodom. God had said to Abraham, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know” (Gen. 18:20-21). Abraham’s response to the Lord is one of obvious concern for his nephew, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked” (Gen. 18:23)? Then he begins a negotiation of sorts. Starting with fifty, then forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and finally ten, Abraham asks God if this number of righteous people in the city would cause the city to be preserved. God’s response is: “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it” (Gen. 18:32b).

In this situation, we find God offering His longsuffering to these evil cities, if He can find at least ten righteous people living among them.

We can think of longsuffering this way: A man is found guilty of a crime and punished with a fine. The judge tells the man that on a particular date he will have to pay the fine on his own (with no help). The judge does not tell him when this day will be. It could be tomorrow. It could be next year. But the judge offers the criminal to pay his fine for him on the spot, if he will first repent of his criminal ways and commit to live an upright life from now on. The judge does not have to delay the punishment or offer to pay the fine. It is only out of compassion and love for the man that he makes this offer. Maybe he will take the judge’s offer immediately. Maybe he will ponder the offer for a long time, not sure if he is really willing to change his life. The judge would rightly exact justice by punishing him immediately. But the judge offers a window of time to be able to satisfy justice on behalf of the man, if he will but take up the judge on his offer. This window of time is a literal grace period in which the grace gift is still on the table. This is what the longsuffering of God is like. But most people squander His longsuffering, refusing to embrace His grace, choosing rather to face the punishment of justice on their own, whenever that unknown day arrives.

For those of us who have embraced His grace, the longsuffering of God is our opportunity to save others. In fact, God has purposed our remaining time here for this very thing. We should be living out the rest of our lives with the goal of bringing as many people to heaven with us as we can. As for the preservation or destruction of nations, the indirect outcome of sharing the gospel with individuals is that it changes cultures and nations one person at a time, as they begin to seize the opportunity of the longsuffering of God.

Speaking of the coming destruction of the world, Peter urges us to be ready for that day, with the understanding that “the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation” (2 Pet. 3:15a). Every second this earth remains is a gift of the grace of God given for evil men to “come to their senses” in repentance and faith, while their punishment is still being delayed (2 Tim. 2:26).

-Cary Gillis D.Min.

September 20, 2020