Gary DeMar, on 2 Peter 3, states:
Second Peter 3 links “scoffers” (v. 3 in KJV; “mockers” in NASV) with “the last days” (v. 3), “the promise of His coming” (v. 4), the “day of the Lord” (v. 10), and the passing away of the “heavens” and the “earth” (v. 10). The “last days,” in Peter’s use of the phrase, is not code for events leading up to either the “rapture” or the second coming. Gordon Clark comments:
"The last days,” which so many people think refers to what is sill [sic] future at the end of this age, clearly means the time of Peter himself. I John 2:18 says it is, in his day, the last hour. Acts 2:17 quoted Joel as predicting the last days as the lifetime of Peter. . . . Peter obviously means his own time. ((Gordon H. Clark, II Peter: A Short Commentary (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1975), 64.))
I read those words back in 2010, just a month or two before I renounced hyper-preterism. And I remember this particular section standing out to me because of the reference to Gordon Clark, who is one of my favorite theologians. So, I looked up the reference.
Notice what Gary does. He says, “The ‘last days,’ in Peter’s use of the phrase, is not code for events leading up to either the ‘rapture’ or the second coming.’” And then he goes on to quote Clark. Now, you can see where one could be led to think that Clark was saying the same thing as DeMar about the “last days,” but Clark did not! While it is true that Clark believed that Peter was living in the “last days,” Clark did NOT restrict the “last days” to Peter’s generation, as DeMar does (“…is not code for events leading up to….the second coming.") In fact, Clark wrote something to hint at that fact in that very paragraph, and DeMar removed the words. Here’s the complete quote: [emphasis on words removed]
“The last days," which so many people think refers to what is still future at the end of this age, clearly means the time of Peter himself. First John 2:18 says it is, in his day, the last hour. Acts 2:17 quotes Joel as predicting the last days as the lifetime of Peter. There are also verses that refer to the end of this age and some where the exact reference is unclear. Compare John 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 2 Timothy 3:1; James 5:3, and some other places. Peter obviously means his own time.
Secondly, Clark goes on in his commentary to say something that definitely would not sit well with DeMar: [emphasis mine]
3:8 ‘And don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.’
This echo from Psalm 90:4 is appropriate not only to the false teachers but also to the most devout. The false teachers assume that unless God fulfills his predictions in less than fifty years, there will be no fulfillment. Liberals today adopt and adapt their predecessors’ complaint. Sometimes they assert that the apostles expected Christ to return during their own lifetimes, and that their disappointment shows the fallibility of their writings. Peter, however, was not of this opinion. Christ had prophesied his death. No doubt Paul too had read Psalm 90. Their sense of time and their view of world history was not what the liberals believe it to have been.
True Christians, while they realize that the Gospel had to be preached to every nation and tribe before Christ should return, are also, not deceived, but sometimes cast down and sorrowful that Christ seems to delay his coming. This is a natural state of mind for the longing heart. But however much we wish that Christ would come today, we understand what Peter said in the next verse:
3:9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some calculate delay...
The remainder of this verse is separated here because it presents a problem quite different from that of the second coming
3:9b but is longsuffering to you [or, on our account], not willing that some [plural] should perish, but that all should withdraw [from the world?] into repentance.
…It is the called or elect whom God wills to save. Peter therefore is saying simply that Christ will not return until everyone of the elect has come to repentance.
So why do I point all this out? Christians, be careful of who and what you read. And don’t assume that authors are handling other theologians correctly. Look stuff up!