2 Peter 2:9

the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;

The great point of this is that the righteous will be preserved through all of God's judgments against the wicked.

Under punishment ... From this, some have concluded that the fallen angels, and other wicked beings are now suffering punishment; but Peter may well have used "under punishment" as a short form for "under sentence of punishment." It seems clear from Matthew 8:29, that there is "a time" appointed for the punishment of the wicked, a time yet future. (See Jude 1:1:6). See more on this below.

This verse is actually the culmination of all Peter had been saying, reaching all the way back to 2 Peter 2:4. As Kelcy said, "The protasis (that is, the conditional clauses antecedent to a conclusion) begins in 2 Peter 2:4; the apodosis (conclusion), is here."[31]

Despite what is said in the second paragraph above, scholars like Russell and Caffin are sure that the wicked are under punishment at the present time. Caffin said, "The wicked are already under punishment, awaiting the judgment, as indicated by the parable of Dives and Lazarus."[32] Russell has the following:

This verse implies that the unrighteous are always under punishment from the time that sin is committed, both before the judgment and after. Even between death and the judgment there is apparently a division between the righteous and the wicked (Luke 16:19-21).[33]

We do not despise such views as these, for there is certainly a measure of truth in them. The only uncertainty pertains to the scarcity of information in the Bible about such things, and the inability, really, to be certain about the full implications of what is revealed. The Lord simply has not given people a blueprint of the unseen world. Zerr, for example, on this very verse made the deduction from the word "reserve" (as in KJV) that, "The punishment of the unjust is to be at a future time."[34] Barnett struck a kind of middle position, which may be exactly right, saying, "They will get a foretaste of the punishment which will become their permanent destiny after the Second Coming."[35]

[31] Raymond C. Kelcy, The Letters of Peter and Jude (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company), p. 141.

[32] B. C. Caffin, op. cit., p. 45.

[33] James William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 592.

[34] E. M. Zerr, op. cit., p. 274.

[35] Albert E. Barnett, op. cit., p. 191.