How to Deal with End-Times Scoffers

They have closed their eyes and ears to God's Word. They will be judged.

It is obvious to me that we are living in unusual times. I almost typed “uncharted” times, but caught myself. These times are charted! They’ve been predicted in the Old and New Testaments for centuries.

For many living in our society today, the overwhelming amounts of conflict, sickness, hunger and anxiety may feel “unprecedented.” How often have we heard that word over the past year? But these events are not a surprise to God. These are the birth pains of a world that is nearing its last days.

It is obvious to us because we know the Bible and we believe the Bible. But it is not obvious to everyone. As our nation emerges from a pandemic, people may be feeling more optimistic than usual. They are planning vacations and shopping. They are meeting friends and gathering with family.

You may mention to them the events in Israel, increasing godlessness or worrisome advances in technology and all you get from them is a quizzical look. They don’t get it. They might even be thinking: Why can’t you just relax about the end times and enjoy the summer?

What they don’t realize is that their reaction is also one that the Bible predicts about the last days.

Scoffers in the last days

The apostle Peter was very specific about people who think this way:

Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle…knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”—2 Peter 3:1-4

When the end comes, Peter writes, there will be mockers scoffing about the last days. When they hear or read teachings like these articles, they will ridicule them. They may even ridicule people like you who believe these teachings! They will say, “Nothing has ever changed. Everything has always been the same since the beginning.”

Peter says these people have given into their own lusts. They are not godly people. They are unsaved and immoral individuals. In other words, he is not writing about people who have somehow never encountered end times teachings. He is writing about those who have heard these teachings, who understand them, and—according to the next verse in this passage—who still willfully reject them.

These scoffers have made a conscious decision to close their eyes and ears to God’s Word.

The days of Noah

Consider the next part of this passage:

For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.—2 Peter 3:5-7

He is writing about the days of Noah, another moment in history when people closed their eyes and ears to the Word of God. The Lord told Noah to build an Ark, and Noah obeyed. His corrupt contemporaries saw him building an enormous boat on dry land but didn’t believe Noah’s warnings about the destruction God had promised.

Then the Flood arrived. Noah and his family were safe. Everyone else faced judgment.

That was then. In the case of our present world, God is preserving our planet until it will soon be consumed by fire during “the day of judgment.” Peter is saying the scoffers he is writing about will be judged one day.

A thousand years

Then the apostle takes a sharp, unexpected turn in this passage:

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.—2 Peter 3:8-9

For one thing, he reminds us that God doesn’t want anyone to perish but for everyone to come to repentance. He is patient. He is waiting for us to turn to Him. His love for us is vast and eternal.

He also tells the recipients of this letter to remember one very important thing: that with the Lord, “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” This is a critical concept for us to understand. God sees a day as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. This is a reference to Psalm 90:

For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night.—Psalm 90:4

In writing about the end times, Peter is saying to his readers, “God isn’t playing around. He isn’t waiting for some arbitrary date before Jesus returns. God is not disorganized. He has a plan.”

But remember, Peter tells us: God’s clock doesn’t operate like human clocks. His calendar doesn’t turn pages in the same way as human calendars.

The Lord considers one day to be on the same scale as a thousand years, and a thousand years to be as a single day. His plans don’t look like human plans.

Running out of time

God has His own personal planner. He’s been carefully following that planner since time began. That planner is nearing its end.

From the very beginning of Creation, the Lord laid out how much time He would set aside for human history—and we are at the end of that allotment. We just happen to be the people living on earth when that allotment runs out. We are almost out of time.

So don’t be alarmed or confused by the scoffers. The New Testament tells us they will be present. They will insult you. They might even persecute you. But don’t let them make you feel bad for paying attention to Bible prophecy. Don’t let them shame you for what you believe. Remember, Peter says people like this will face judgment.

Would you rather listen to those who were warned about the coming Flood but thought those warnings were ridiculous?

Or would you rather be like Noah, who heard God’s warnings and began to prepare for it?

It is obvious to me that we are living in unusual times. And it is obvious to me that now is the time to prepare. We may not know the exact day or hour, but we know the seasons. This is the season of the end. Prepare your heart, and when Jesus comes, you will be ready for the Bridegroom.