003:003 But, above all, remember that, in the last days, men will
come who make a mock at everything—men governed only by
their own passions,
003:004 and, asking, "What has become of His promised Return? For from
the time our forefathers fell asleep all things continue
as they have been ever since the creation of the world."
003:005 For they are wilfully blind to the fact that there were heavens which existed of old, and an earth, the latter arising out of water and extending continuously through water, by the command of God;
003:006 and that, by means of these, the then existing race of men was overwhelmed with water and perished.
003:007 But the present heavens and the present earth are, by the command
of the same God, kept stored up, reserved for fire in preparation
for a day of judgement and of destruction for the ungodly.
003:008 But there is one thing, dear friends, which you must not forget.
With the Lord one day resembles a thousand years and a thousand
years resemble one day.
003:009 The Lord is not slow in fulfilling His promise, in the sense
in which some men speak of slowness. But He bears patiently
with you, His desire being that no one should perish but that
all should come to repentance.
003:010 The day of the Lord will come like a thief—it will be a day
on which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise,
the elements be destroyed in the fierce heat, and the earth
and all the works of man be utterly burnt up.
003:011 Since all these things are thus pre-destined to dissolution,
what sort of men ought you to be found to be in all holy
living and godly conduct,
003:012 eagerly looking forward to the coming of the day of God,
by reason of which the heavens, all ablaze, will be destroyed,
and the elements will melt in the fierce heat?