Jesus Will Come Again

3 ¹My friends, this is the second letter I have written to you. I wrote both letters to you to help your honest minds remember something. ²I want you to remember the words that the holy prophets* spoke in the past. And remember the command that our Lord and Savior gave us. He gave us that command through your apostles.* ³It is important for you to understand what will happen in the last days. People will laugh [at you]. Those people will live following the evil things they want to do. ⁴Those people will say, "He (Jesus) promised to come again. Where is he? Our fathers have died. But the world continues the way it has been since it was made." ⁵But those people don't want to remember what happened long ago. The skies were there, and God made the earth from water and with water. All this happened by God's word. ⁶Then that world was flooded and destroyed with water. ⁷And that same word [of God] is keeping the skies and the earth that we have now. The skies and the earth are being kept to be destroyed by fire. The skies and the earth are kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of all people who are against God. ⁸But don't forget this one thing, dear friends: To the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. ⁹The Lord is not being slow in doing what he promised--the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. God doesn't want any person to be lost. God wants every person to change his heart and stop sinning. ¹⁰But the Day when the Lord comes again will be a surprise like a thief. The sky will disappear with a loud noise. All the things in the sky will be destroyed with fire. And the earth and everything in it will be burned.* ¹¹In that way everything will be destroyed like I told you. So what kind of people should you be? You should live holy* lives and do things to serve God. ¹²You should wait for the Day of God. You should want very much for that Day to come. When that Day comes, the sky will be destroyed with fire, and everything in the sky will melt with heat. ¹³But God made a promise to us. And we are waiting for what he promised--a new sky and a new earth. That will be the place where goodness lives. ¹⁴Dear friends, we are waiting for this to happen. So try as hard as you can to be without sin and without fault. Try to be at peace with God. ¹⁵Remember that we are saved because our Lord is patient. Our dear brother Paul told you that same thing when he wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶Paul writes like this about these things in all his letters. Sometimes there are things in Paul's letters that are hard to understand. Some people explain those things falsely. Those people are ignorant and weak in faith. Those same people also falsely explain the other Scriptures.* But they are destroying themselves by doing that. ¹⁷Dear friends, you already know about this. So be careful. Don't let those evil people lead you away by the wrong things they do. Be careful so that you will not fall from your strong [faith]. ¹⁸But grow in the grace (kindness) and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to him now and forever! Amen.

prophets People that spoke for God. Sometimes prophets told things that would happen in the future. apostles The men Jesus chose to represent him in a special way. will be burned Many Greek copies say, "will be found." One copy says, "will disappear." holy A holy person is pure and belongs only to God. Scriptures Holy Writings--the Old Testament.