Peter's wording "IN WHICH" refers to a long spans of time (involving a great many things that will transpire WITHIN that long spans of time).
The "long spans of time" are for this purpose,
account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation 2Pet.3:15
Peter is comparing the heavens and earth being engulfed in fire by the 2nd coming to the days of Noah.
Where is his promised return?....vs.4
And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man. Mt.24:39
Here's some posts I made which touch on that "time period" [a few different posts gathered here, but see especially at the bottom section about 2Pet3:10-12]:
[quoting from my previous posts]
1 Corinthians 15:23-28 (note especially the bold I'm pointing out) -
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. [<---note how far apart, time-wise, these two listed items take place]
Paul's focus isn't the time span. It's that we were made Christ's before he appears. Before we see him as he truly is.
24 Then [G1534 - eita ] cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
He's giving his Kingdom to his Father. His kingdom doesn't include the ungodly. It only consists of those who lived by faith.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Yes, but death for the ungodly wasn't put under his feet by faith in him (like it was for believers), because the ungodly didn't have faith in him. Do you understand? Paul is saying Jesus will put death under his feet for them another way. He destroys them.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
Paul isn't comparing Jesus to his Father. He's comparing Adam to Jesus.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Yes, but the context of being "subdued" is with respect to the resurrection (Christ the firstfruits, then his people). Paul is teaching that when the saints are seen glorified, Jesus will also be seen glorified as he truly is and should be, as God.
The word "G1534 -
eita - THEN" is a
SEQUENCE word "
with no time-element attached" to it (
unlike another Greek word translated "then" which is "G5119 -
tote" like is used in 2Th2:8 and other places). THIS word for "THEN" (G1534) is only with regard to
"SEQUENCE"... and if you'll notice the THREE items LISTED here START with Jesus' own Resurrection some 2000 YEARS [+] before the NEXT LISTED item. So it is
no problem at all for the THIRD LISTED item to be speaking of something that SEQUENTIALLY takes place 1000 years
after the second listed item! (Note: the word "
comes [cometh]" is
not in the text. The text just reads
"THEN [G1534] the end"... and it is
NOT "THEN
IMMEDIATELY the end," as the Amill-teaching [and others]
skews it to mean!
)
The end comes when we receive glorified bodies,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 1Cor.15:54
He will swallow up death in victory....And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God
Isa.25:8-9
[and]
The Thessalonians were being [wrongly] convinced that "the Day of the Lord IS PRESENT"... THAT was what was on their distraught minds, that "the Day of the Lord IS PRESENT"
--not that it was "near / approaching," but "IS PRESENT"
--not Jesus Himself, but "the Day of the Lord" (a time period involving JUDGMENTS and VERY NEGATIVE things, just like they were already ENDURING... so this idea that it "IS PRESENT" was PERFECTLY *REASONABLE* to them... they were not dippy people)
Paul is linking Christ's coming and gathering his people with the day of the Lord, but cautions them as Jesus did, so as to avoid false Christ's in the midst of suffering.
--not that His Kingdom had arrived (SOMEwhere... over there, somewhere. No, they well knew of Jesus' teachings on that, Paul wasn't neglecting to tell them such truths)
Well, Christ's kingdom is in our midst. Unbelievers aren't part of it, or do they see it for that matter.
--not that "a singular 24-hr day" had arrived
--and NOT [was on their distraught minds] anything about the "Caught Up/Away" Truth (absolutely no one had disappeared, and they were under NO SUCH DELUSION that that had taken place--the CONTEXT of their "thinking" was what Paul SAID, here, and that was, essentially, "don't let anyone convince you that THE DAY OF THE LORD [an EARTHLY TIME PERIOD involving JUDGMENTS, etc] IS PRESENT.
Well, besides possibly being deceived by false Christ's, they may have confused the persecution by men with the wrath of God. Where Jesus's own sufferings are concerned, the vast majority today certainly have.
[because] ONE THING must happen *FIRST*..." [according to the text here]. This is Paul's corrective to them [and this SEQUENCE is REPEATED 3x in this chpt 2, as well as being the SAME SEQUENCE as was shown in 1Th4-5!] And in verse 15 [at the other end of this entire context] says, basically, "believe what WE taught you INSTEAD!" And Paul had already acknowledged that they understood WHAT "the DOTL" involved and that [they knew perfectly that] it "so cometh as a thief IN THE NIGHT" in his previous letter to them, 5:2-3;
--In 2Th2:3-9a, he is elaborating on this and saying that "the DOTL [time period]" won't be present [to unfold upon the earth] until ONE THING happens *FIRST* ... *AND* the man of sin BE REVEALED [and that happens at the START of the 7-yr trib, in the "whose COMING/ARRIVAL/ADVENT/PRESENCE/parousia" of the man of sin "IN HIS TIME" parallels Daniel 9:27[26]'s "prince THAT SHALL COME"... "for ONE WEEK [7 yrs]" at the BEGINNING of it [2Th2:3-9a has the SAME "BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END" that Dan9:27a/b/c does!], aka the INITIAL "birth PANG [SINGULAR; 1Th5:2-3; Matt24:4/Mk13:5 - "G5100 - tis - 'A CERTAIN ONE'," when Jesus will "STAND to JUDGE" at the START of the 7-yrs/70th-Wk when HE HIMSELF [in Heaven] will open the FIRST SEAL [aka the INITIAL "birth PANG [SINGULAR]" unfolding upon the earth)
So "the DOTL [time period]" will be present at the same time that "the man of sin" is present to DO ALL he is slated TO DO (over the course of the ENTIRE 7-yr period: [its ARRIVAL at] its BEGINNING, its MIDDLE, its END... ALL of that).
Again, the portion of the DOTL Paul is referring to is the return of Jesus and gathering us. The text says,
Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.
He's equating the DOTL with the return of Jesus, like this,
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. Mt.24:23
Paul didn't want them to be deceived.
[and this correlates precisely with]
"... note additionally the TWO "PUNISH" words (in Isaiah 24:21-22[23]) which are SEPARATED by "and after many days" (meaning, that "punish" not only occurs at His Second Coming to the earth BUT ALSO the later GWTj [the TWO "punish" words in Isa24:21-22(23)]) and correlating [time-wise] with that of Revelation 19:19,21/16:14-16/20:5 at the time (context/setting) of His Second Coming to the earth. Meaning, there is still much "time" that will transpire on the earth following His Second Coming to the earth. And this is what the "IN THAT DAY" of Zechariah 14 shows [the MK time period].
I
answered your Isa.24:21-23 in an earlier post and was ignored. As far as Zech.14, Jesus already came to the Mt. of Olives and turned it into a plain (spiritually speaking) and living waters flow from Jerusalem (spiritually speaking) and we know those who go to war against the Lord are dead on their feet already (spiritually speaking) and we acknowledge we're living in tempoary shelters (spiritually speaking) and those who don't have no rain (spiritually speaking), so the text is the result of Christs 1st coming, not his 2nd.