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 the creation.
Peter, one of Jesus' original twelve disciples, wrote this letter near the end of his life to encourage Christians who were growing discouraged because Jesus hadn't returned as they expected. This verse quotes the mocking voices Peter warned them about: people who use the passage of time as evidence that the promise of Jesus' return was empty. "Your ancestors died, and nothing changed," they say. "The world just keeps spinning. Where is this God who was supposed to come back?" It is the voice of a world that has grown cynical with waiting.
God, I'll be honest — sometimes the silence is hard. The waiting stretches long and my faith frays at the edges. Help me hold onto the possibility that your timing is not the same as my impatience. Keep me from cynicism. Keep me close. Amen.
Doubt rarely arrives with fanfare. It usually sneaks in through the back door of ordinary time. It sounds like: it's been years. Nothing has changed. Maybe nothing ever will. The mockers in Peter's letter aren't monsters — they're just people who watched and waited and eventually concluded that waiting was foolish. They looked at the unchanged world and made the reasonable observation: nothing is coming. What's interesting is that Peter doesn't shame the early Christians for feeling the pull of that skepticism. He knows it's real. What he does is reframe the silence: God's patience isn't absence. The delay isn't evidence of a broken promise — it might be evidence of a mercy still being extended. That's a harder comfort to hold than a clear timeline, but it's more honest. If you've been waiting — for healing, for restoration, for some kind of divine intervention that hasn't arrived — you're in ancient company. The question isn't whether you'll feel the doubt. It's what you'll do with it while you wait.
What argument are the mockers actually making in this verse, and why would that argument be genuinely compelling to someone whose faith is wavering?
Have you ever had a moment where God's silence felt like evidence against faith? What was happening in your life then, and how did you process it?
Peter suggests that God's delay is actually an act of patience and mercy, not absence. Does that reframe feel comforting or frustrating to you — and why?
How should you respond to friends or family members who are cynical about faith, especially when their cynicism comes from real disappointment and not just stubbornness?
What would it look like for you to live faithfully in the waiting this week — not pretending the delay doesn't exist, but not surrendering to cynicism either?
Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Malachi 2:17
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Mark 10:6
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
James 5:7
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
Proverbs 9:12
But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
Luke 12:45
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1 Thessalonians 4:13
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Ecclesiastes 8:11
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1 Thessalonians 2:19
and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming [what has become of it]? For ever since the fathers fell asleep [in death], all things have continued [exactly] as they did from the beginning of creation."
AMP
They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
ESV
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.'
NASB
They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
NIV
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.”
NKJV
They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
NLT
they'll mock, "So what's happened to the promise of his Coming? Our ancestors are dead and buried, and everything's going on just as it has from the first day of creation. Nothing's changed."
MSG