The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is not somehow slow in fulfilling his

promise to return. His delay is purposeful. So what are we as Christians supposed to be doing

while we wait for him to return? Alistair Begg focuses on that question today on Truth for Life as he teaches us from 2 Peter 3.

Now in verses 3 to 7 he gives to us what he says to us is the first thing that they need to understand.

This is a priority he says. This is number one in what I want you to be getting hold of.

I don't want you to be unsettled by the existence of scoffers. First of all he says you need to understand that in the last days.

And of course Peter's reference to the last days can be understood not only from here but also from what he said post-pentecost.

You remember when the people came and they said it looks as though folks in Jerusalem have been up very early in the morning drinking alcohol because there is a great holocaust going on in Jerusalem and Peter stands up and he says folks these individuals are not drunk as you think.

They haven't been going out to the bar early in the morning but this is nothing other than what was reported by the prophet in these last days I will pour out my spirit upon you.

And he says what the prophet said would happen in the last days has happened making clear that the understanding of the Bible concerning the last days is a reference first of all to the days between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ.

Now in verse 8 and following he says having said first you need to understand this and then he tells us what they need to understand then in verse 8 and following says there are a couple of things I don't want you to forget.

In fact the first thing I don't want you to forget my dear friends is this that you can't ask God to think of time the same way we think of time.

God is not working on our clock we hope for things to happen in our lifetime and if they don't happen in our lifetime three score years and ten perhaps a little bit more if you stay around for longer if it doesn't happen in our lifetime then we say to ourselves well you know this is no good at all.

Peter says well I don't want you to forget the fact that God is not working on our clock.

If you try and work out the return of Jesus Christ on the basis of our time space mechanisms then you're going to come up really short.

I don't want to delay on this or divert myself from it but if you read old books on prophecy and I mean old books on prophecy you will find this born out.

Napier of Napier College was a mathematician he invented logarithms.

He's a great hero of mine as you can imagine and having invented logarithms he then used his logarithmic formula to determine the date of the return of Jesus which he said somewhere early in the 19th century.

Now on the strength of that is book went through multiple printings until it reached the date and it hasn't sold particularly well in the second half of the 19th century on.

Clearly not because he went to it and he said you know I can figure this out according to my clock and Peter says listen he's not working according to your clock.

Also you need to realize that God is not being slow here in the fulfilling of his promise in the way that we might understand slowness sitting at traffic light waiting for the light to change sitting outside waiting for a friend to come waiting for somebody to come out of the grocery store whatever it may be what in the world are they doing now.

Why they being so slow what's the hold up here.

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