2 Peter 3:3-4

3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

Here Peter begins speaking about the last days by saying that there will be mockers making light of the last days—I suppose, saying that people need not worry about the future, or making any preparations for the future. But before we get any further in these verses, I think we need to define the last days. When do they occur, and how do we distinguish these days?

As far as when these last days will occur, two verses will make it clear. First of all, in Hebrews 1:2 it says, “In these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son…” Also, In 1 Peter 1:20, Peter states, “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.”  Hence, these verses tell us that since Jesus came into this world it has been the last days.  And it should be clear to us that they will continue until He returns to set up His kingdom.

We may distinguish these last days by the godless description of these days. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 we read,

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Also, in 1 John 2: 18, we read, “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”

Then also, in Jude 18, which also confirms our text, the last days is a time when mockers will come mocking His return.

Now if you are wondering why they mock, verse three tells us: it is because they are following their own lusts. That is, they have a lustful, carefree lifestyle, and they don’t want anything—not even the truth of His coming—to get in the way of it. Hence, they choose to reject the truth of His coming and will build up false reasons for their beliefs and lifestyle.

They will, in a sense, sit back in their armchairs and say all is well, the earth and the universe continues day after day as it always has from the beginning, believing perhaps in evolution, that things will get better and better.