This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon. 

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Is it possible for followers of Jesus to hasten his return? In seeking to answer this question, let’s examine two seemingly paradoxical New Testament passages regarding the coming day of the Lord.

First, Paul ends his address on Mars Hill with these words:

Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:30-31, emphasis added).

Not long before his death, in seeming contrast to Paul, Peter writes:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming. Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat. But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3:10-13, emphasis added).

So, Paul tells us God has set a day for the judgment of all people, while Peter seems to imply that Christians may “hasten” that day. Are Paul and Peter at odds in their understanding of God’s revealed plan for the ages? Both apostles claim divine inspiration for their writing. So, why do they seem to take different approaches to the Day of the Lord?

To begin, we should acknowledge that the Bible is replete with warnings about a future, final judgment of all people. There are dozens of Old and New Testament passages that tell us all people must stand before God one day and give an account of our lives. 

For example, the writer of Ecclesiastes closes his book with these words, “For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil” (Eccles. 12:14). Paul writes to the Corinthians, “So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts” (1 Cor. 4:5). The writer of Hebrews notes, “it is appointed for people to die once – and after this, judgment” (Heb. 9:27). And Jesus reminds us, “Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work” (Rev. 22:12). 

We could cite other Scriptures, including those that focus specifically on believers, unbelievers, Satan, and evil spirits. But there’s a palpable thread running through the Bible that indicates God has fixed a time when he judges all people and all angels. 

Even so, do Peter’s words in 2 Peter 3 indicate that followers of Jesus may move up the day of judgment on God’s calendar? If so, how? And why would we want to do that?

Peter acknowledges that the Lord has delayed his coming – a message consistent with Jesus’ teachings and parables. Peter reminds us that God reckons time differently than we do because he is neither bound by time nor obligated to its machinations. More important, however, according to Peter, the Lord’s delay is a byproduct of his mercy, enabling all those who will trust in Jesus to do so – and to give Christ’s followers more time to share the gospel. 

This beneficial delay is not open-ended to God. One day, Jesus steps from the portals of heaven and returns to earth with his holy angels and the redeemed to resurrect and judge all people. Believers should not abuse Christ’s delay to drift into slothfulness or complacency. Unbelievers should not wrongly think the delay means ultimately God changes his mind about their appointment with him at the great white throne. 

God is omniscient. He has always known all things, including the names of those who receive his Son and those who reject him, as well as the precise moment of his Son’s return to earth in glory. That means God is decisive as well. He’s not tentatively gazing upon the earth and wondering how much longer he should wait to draw an end to human rebellion. He has always known exactly what he’s doing, and what he’s going to do. Even so, he is a compassionate God who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23; 33:11). He desires all people to repent and turn to him (2 Pet. 3:9). 

A seeming contradiction

So, how do we rectify the seeming contradiction between a definite day of judgment and the possibility that humans may alter it? Peter appears to be saying that God’s slowness to anger and his desire that all come to repentance do not – in fact, cannot – nullify the certainty of the Day of the Lord. The Lord eventually decides that the delay is over and the opportunity for sinful humans to repent is at an end. This occurs without prior announcement to people on earth, and thus it happens as quickly as the coming of a thief in the night.

Some commentators, like Peter Davids, read 2 Peter 3 as teaching that Christians, through their conduct, may hasten or slow the day of Christ’s return. Davids argues that Peter’s phrase, “hasten its coming,” means the Day of the Lord is not a fixed date; rather, it’s something believers can change by holy living. This idea is based on Isaiah 60:22, in which the Lord hastens a day of bringing his glory to Zion: “I am the LORD; I will accomplish it quickly in its time.” 

Second-Temple Jewish authors, and some early Christian writers, embraced the idea that God hastens or delays judgment due to Israel’s repentance, or lack thereof. Davids notes, “in the first couple of centuries after Jesus such sentiments are attributed to more than one rabbi.”

Davids further points to Acts 3:19-20, which ties repentance to the return of Christ: “Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.” The same idea is found in the extra-biblical book of 2 Clement 12:6: “When you do these things [good deeds, forsaking hypocrisy, sexual purity], the kingdom of my Father will come” (12:6) 

Davids summarizes:

Thus we see that our author [Peter] is following a solid Jewish tradition, including one found in the early Jesus movement, in declaring that the coming (Greek parousia) of the Day of God is not a fixed date, but that under the sovereignty of God and due to his mercy … it can be sped up (or, conversely, slowed down) by the behavior of the followers of Jesus. Thus an exhortation to hasten the day was appropriate then (and continues to be appropriate now).

Thomas Schreiner, in his commentary on 2 Peter, holds much the same view. “Peter clearly taught that believers can advance or hasten the arrival of God’s day by living godly lives,” he writes. “We think here of the prayer, ‘Your kingdom come’ (Matt. 6:10). Surely the idea is that our prayer has some impact on when the kingdom arrives.” 

Schreiner goes on to offer this insight: After two thousand years of history, how could we ever be sure Christians could live righteously enough to usher in the Day of the Lord? God’s sovereignty isn’t challenged. He foreknows – even foreordains – what we do (see Prov. 16:33; Isa. 46:9-11; Lam. 3:37-38; Eph. 1:11). Even so, this doesn’t cancel out the call to live godly lives, knowing it may hasten the return of the Lord. 

“We must not fall prey to rationalism that either squeezes out divine sovereignty or ignores human responsibility,” Schreiner says. “Both of these must be held in tension, and here the accent falls on what human beings can do to hasten the day of God.”

If this tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility proves troubling to us, we should take heart first of all in the steadfastness of God’s attributes: eternality, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability, and so on. Nothing undermines the qualities of God’s divine being. “Because I, the LORD, have not changed” (Mal. 3:6). 

Next, be encouraged that while we struggle with scriptural paradoxes – seeming contradictions that, when fully investigated, prove true – God does not. One day, when we see Jesus as he is (1 John 3:2), we understand more clearly what we view as dim reflections today (1 Cor. 13:12). 

Finally, consider the paradox of a fixed vs. fluid judgment day in light of other biblical enigmas. For example, Jesus teaches the already-but-not-yet qualities of the kingdom of God; it’s here now, yet it’s coming in the future. Or, ponder the doctrine of divine election, which embraces God’s sovereign choice of individuals to salvation, and the freedom he endows on all people to make choices for which he holds us accountable. Many other challenging biblical teachings confront us: Are we to judge or not to judge (Matt. 7:1; John 7:24)? Do we answer a fool or not (Prov. 26:4-5)? And should we test God or not (Mal. 3:10; Luke 4:12)? 

It’s okay to embrace the mysteries of the Bible, and to wrestle with difficult passages of God’s word. The Lord has spoken clearly in so many ways. And for reasons beyond our grasp, he has chosen to leave some biblical doctrines more obscure – at least for now. Among these ambiguities, of course, is the question at hand: Can we hasten the day of the Lord’s return? 

It’s best to rest in the knowledge that God has, indeed, set a day when he judges the world (Acts 17:31). This day is fixed according to God’s divine will and in keeping with his foreknowledge of all human activities. At the same time, we should live as if we may hasten that day through spiritual purity and godly living, for one day we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of our lives (2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Pet. 3:12). Whether we can truly hasten the Day of the Lord or not, it has no bearing on the certainty of Christ’s return and the inevitability of our day of judgment.

There is a point at which divine sovereignty and human freedom intersect. We can’t override God’s authority, yet we have real choices for which God holds us accountable. That much is biblically clear. When divine sovereignty and human freedom meet at Christ’s judgment seat, we’ll understand in real time what it means to experience the Day of the Lord.

Next: Jesus warns us to be ready