But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
2 Peter 3:8-10
Why doesn’t God come and bring justice, fix all the wrong in the world, and make everything right by putting an end to evil?
Peter answers that question here in two ways:
- He will.
- Not yet.
There will be a day where God brings His perfect justice “on earth as it is in heaven.” There will be a day when God sets everything right. It will be a day when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
But the reason it hasn’t come yet is because of God’s grace and patience with humanity. He wants everyone to come to Him in repentance and be saved. He holds back His judgment so that more and more people can come into the Kingdom. And as revival fires blaze around the world, that is exactly what is happening.
Read stories of Brazil, China, Mozambique, Pakistan, Indonesia and Ukraine. People are coming to know Jesus by the hundreds of thousands. If you’re not aware that nearly the whole world is in revival, it is only because the staleness of American Christianity has blinded us to the reality of what is happening around the world.
So while we wait for the final consummation of God’s answer to evil in the world, we are to be the answer to evil in the world. We who have been and are being transformed into the image of Christ, who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, who are the hands and feet of Jesus in the world are to partner with God to usher in His Kingdom on earth right now.
Jesus told a parable about God patiently waiting before bringing judgment. He gave us a picture of how God sees the history of humanity.
Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:24-30
Fire and Light 