Jesus Is Coming Again: What the Bible Says About the Promise of Christ’s Return
The last word in the Bible is “Amen.” It is a plea, a request, a cry from the heart of the apostle John: God, let it be so. Send your Son. The Bible ends with a promise that Jesus is coming back. But not everyone believes that promise, and that tension is exactly what the apostle Peter addresses in Second Peter chapter three.
Why Did Peter Write About the Second Coming?
Peter was writing to believers who were surrounded by mockers and false teachers. These scoffers were spreading a dangerous idea: Jesus is not coming back. Peter’s response was not panic or anger. His tone, beginning in chapter three, shifts to something tender. He opens with the word “beloved,” and he uses it four times throughout the chapter.
His goal was simple: stir up believers to remember the truth, even in the face of opposition.
What Does “Stirring Up Your Sincere Mind” Mean?
Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:1, “Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.”
The word “sincere” or “pure” here points to a mind that is not swayed by false teaching. Peter is not writing because the believers had forgotten everything. He is writing because scoffers were coming, and grounded believers need to be ready. The antidote to spiritual drifting is deliberate remembrance of the Word of God.
What Are Believers Supposed to Remember?
Peter is clear in verse two. Believers are to remember the words of the holy prophets (the Old Testament) and the commandments of the Lord spoken through the apostles (the New Testament). In short, remember all of Scripture.
The second coming of Christ is one of the most prominent themes in all of Scripture. It appears over 300 times in the New Testament. Jesus Himself spoke about His return 21 times. Consider just a few examples:
- “Watch, for you do not know the day or the hour that the Son of Man is coming.”– Matthew 25:13
- “If I go, I will come again and receive you to Myself.” – John 14:3
- “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” – Acts 1:11
- “Let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:6
The promise is not obscure. It is woven throughout the entire Bible.
Who Are the Scoffers and What Do They Believe?
Peter warns in 2 Peter 3:3-4, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.'”
These are not new voices. Psalm 1:1 speaks of the “seat of the scoffers” as a place believers are warned to avoid. Mockery has always been the response of unbelief to the truth of God’s Word.
Why Do Scoffers Deny the Return of Christ?
Peter gives us three clear reasons.
1. They Are Motivated by Their Own Desires
If Jesus is coming back, then He is Lord over all of creation, including human behavior. Scoffers do not want that accountability. They follow their own lusts, and the return of Christ would mean answering for how they have lived. So they reject the promise because accepting it would require submitting to it.
2. They Use Circular Logic Based on Timing
Their argument is essentially this: Jesus has not come back yet, so He must not be coming back. It is the same flawed logic as saying, “I have not died yet, therefore I will never die.” The absence of fulfillment does not disprove the promise. It simply means the time has not yet come. God does not work on a human timetable, and His patience is not weakness. It is mercy.
3. They Willfully Forget
Peter says in verse five that “it escapes their notice.” The original language suggests this is not accidental. They intentionally choose not to remember. They do not want to recall what God has said or what God has done. Their selective memory serves their desire to live without accountability.
How Does Peter Answer the Scoffers?
Three times in verses 5, 6, and 7, Peter points back to the Word of God. His answer to every objection is grounded in what God has already said and already done.
God Created by His Word
Peter writes in verse 5 that “by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.” The universe did not create itself. It exists because God spoke it into existence. Creation is not independent of God. It is entirely dependent on His Word.
God Governs by His Word
Verse 6 reminds us that “through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.” The same Word that created the world also judged it. The flood was not random. It was God acting in accordance with what He had said. To the scoffers who claimed nothing had ever changed, Peter simply asked: have you forgotten the flood? For a hundred years, Noah preached coming judgment. They mocked. Then the rain came.
God Preserves by His Word
Verse 7 says, “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” The world continues today not because God is absent, but because His Word is actively preserving it. That same Word has set a day of final judgment. The fire is coming. The return of Christ is coming. God’s patience is not delay. It is grace extended to those who have not yet believed.
What Is the Answer to “Where Is the Promise of His Coming?”
The answer is not speculation. It is not date-setting or sensationalism. The answer is confidence in what God has said. He created by His Word. He judged by His Word. He preserves by His Word. And He will fulfill His promise by that same Word.
Peter’s message is this: remember what God said, remember what God has done, and remember what God has promised. When scoffers challenge your faith, you do not need a clever argument. You need a firm foundation in Scripture.
Life Application
This week, make a deliberate choice to remember the Word of God. Find one promise from Scripture about the return of Christ and write it down somewhere you will see it daily. Let it anchor you when doubt creeps in or when someone around you mocks your faith.
Ask yourself these questions as you reflect on this message:
- Am I grounded enough in Scripture to respond to doubt, whether from others or from within myself?
- Are there areas of my life where I am living as though Jesus is not coming back?
- Do I treat God’s patience as an invitation to draw closer to Him, or have I grown comfortable assuming nothing will change?
- When was the last time I said, with genuine faith, “Even so, Lord Jesus, come”?
Jesus is coming again. You have His Word on it. The question is not whether He will return. The question is whether you are ready, and whether you are living like you believe it.
