2 Peter - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

elieve in the 1,000 year Millennial Reign of Christ on earth believe in equivalency;
those who deny there will be a 1,000 year Millennial Reign of Christ on earth believe in a
generic comparison without equivalency. The Latin “mille” for “thousand” is where the
term millennium came from. It is my opinion that this is not a verse that should be used to
support the 1,000-year Millennial Reign of Christ.
Clarence Larkin, whose drawings I have enjoyed over the years, quotes this as a prooftext
for a literal 1,000 years. I do not agree with him. Even though there is a possibility of
equivalence, I believe the adverb here should be translated as a comparative. The next
passage adds support to the generic use of the comparative. The use of this phrase here,
however, does nothing to the literal 1,000-years in Revelation 20:1-6. Very few
premillennialists use 2 Peter 3:8 as a prooftext for the millennium. Failure to see the
literalness of the 1,000-years in the Revelation account, however, is a total breakdown
and denial of legitimate hermeneutical principles. If I was a professor of Hermeneutics,
and some of you may be happy that I’m not, I would not give a passing grade in my class
to anyone who denied the literalness of the passage in Revelation.
RELEVANT OPINIONS
Some suggest that this statement argues against premillennialism. They point out that the
concept of 1,000 years is not to be taken literally since it is merely a comparative time
reference. However, the literal 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth is strongly affirmed in
Revenation 20:1-6. Peter was simply using a simile. What to people, including scoffers, may
seem like a long time is to the Lord very short. The present Church Age has lasted, in God’s
eyes, not quite two days! (K. Gangel) The point of this statement is not something that
should be taken literally as a basis for calculating the age of the earth or some broad time
scheme in which references to “day” other than a calendar day should be assumed to be a
thousand years in length. Rather, the point is that God is not affected by time, so that His
essential nature changes or His plans change. The statement is associated with God’s
immutability. (W. Baker) Human and divine perspectives vary, and the delay of the parousia
is not delay from God’s perspective. (D. Watson) In spite of the denials by scoffers, God’s
sovereign plan and timetable will be carried out. (W. Baker)
God set cosmic time in motion when He made the universe. But when the day of the Lord
dawns, chronological time disappears in eternity. God regards time from a perspective that
differs from ours. In the next two verses, Peter teaches the reader to consider both time and
patience from God’s point of view. (S. Kistemaker) God’s aeonologe (eternal ages measurer)
differs wholly from man’s horologe (hour glass). His gnomon (dial pointer) shows all the
hours at once in the greatest activity and in perfect repose. To Him the hours pass neither
more slowly or more quickly than befits His economy. There is nothing to make Him need to
hasten or delay the end. (R. Jamieson) When the Lord Jesus returns to the earth at the end of
the Great Tribulation Period and establishes His kingdom here, He is going to renovate this
earth – but that will not be a permanent renovation. Not until after the Tribulation and after
the Millennium will the dissolution of the earth and the heavens (of which Peter speaks)
occur. So you see, my friend, even if the Rapture should take place tomorrow, it still would
be a thousand and seven years before this destruction. (J. McGee)