But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (New International Version 1984) - 2 Peter 3:8-9

Each of these two verse presents something extremely important about the nature of God and His plans for us. Let's take a very quick look at each verse:

(v. 8) "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."

God (the Trinity) created time and exists outside of the dimension of time. This is often called the "Is-ness" of God. Because God dwells outside the dimension of time, He is always in the present unless we are referring to a specific event. This is such an important and intriguing aspect of God that I've written an entire series on it: Exploring the IS-ness of God. A look at time.

(v. 9) "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

This is another of the themes I write about often. In His commands, Jesus promised His disciples a place in heaven. He did not command us to go to heaven, however. His commands to His disciples are captured by two: The Great Commandment to love one another and the Great Commission, to spread the Good News. By these Jesus commands that we bring heaven to earth now!

As to His patience:

We humans ask "What's taking Him so long?"

Jesus looks at our progress on bringing heaven to earth and asks: "What's taking THEM so long?"

Shalom, Art
Alive in The Word