. . . 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
The Lord has had considerable experience in dealing with ungodly people, so we should understand that He knows what He is doing! While we know that God is all-powerful and all-knowing, when we see illustrations showing how He has dealt with situations in the past, we can be assured that He is fully capable of handling our present situations of persecution and suffering. He will judge the unrighteous and rescue the godly. Period!
The Holy Spirit uses Peter’s passionate personality to rail against the unrighteous. He pulls no punches, showing that if God does this to the worst of sinners, He can undoubtedly deal likewise with “lesser” sinners. Keep in mind, the context for this denunciation is the goal of helping believers in their suffering and persecution, of which Peter himself was quite familiar.
God will “keep the unrighteous under punishment,” meaning their judgment is certain, although God is holding it back until the end-time judgment. As believers, we need godly patience, and for some, this may mean for their entire life. We need to wait and endure; there will be an end to unrighteousness and a judgment on the evildoers in our lives.
God has a particularly harsh posture toward those with corrupt desires (see Romans 1:18–32) and who are completely anti-authoritarian. They refuse to bow to anything or anyone greater than themselves, even God. Their boldness in immoral behavior knows no bounds (“daring”); they are entirely under the mastery of their own self-directed and self-beneficial intentions and deliberations (“self-willed”). In other words, they are completely self-centered, consummate narcissists who view the world as centering on themselves.
They demonstrate their audacious but completely foolish boldness by their fearlessly taking on the angelic world, as it were. Whether Peter refers to directly confronting angels or is speaking metaphorically, he ridicules such attitudes by pointing out that the angels of God do not revile the demonic angels, even though the former are more powerful than the latter (see Jude 9). How ridiculous, then, for mere humans to insolently dare to set themselves up in their unrighteousness to act so boldly!
Lord, help me not cower before my persecutors but see them as judged already.
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