2 Peter 3:12

looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat?

Peter seems here to be repeating the words he had heard from Jesus' own lips.

Earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God ... An acceptable translation of this is "hastening the coming of the day of God," as in our margin, and in RSV and New English Bible (1961). "This is a striking suggestion, implying that men, in some way, can speed up God's plans."[49] Such an understanding does not commend itself to all commentators; but there is no good reason for rejecting it. Peter implied the same thing. No! He said the same thing in Acts 3:19-21. For an elaboration of this, see in my Commentary on Acts, pp. 75,76. J. W. McGarvey said:

A certain amount of work in the saving of men was to be accomplished before his coming. This is indicated by the qualifying remark, "whom the heavens must receive until the restoration of all things whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets."[50]

It is suggested by many that this underlies Jesus' commandment to pray, "Thy kingdom come," meaning the kingdom in its eternal phase. From the Book of Common Prayer, the Funeral Service has this line:

Beseeching thee, of thy goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom.[51]

Caffin also observed that the remarkable coincidence of thought between this passage and the one in Acts 3:19-21 "furnishes an argument of considerable weight in favor of the genuineness of this epistle."[52] See also under 2 Peter 3:9.

Day of God ... in this verse is used of the very same day called "the day of the Lord" in 2 Peter 3:10, where Jesus Christ is clearly intended, being an incidental but powerful witness of the apostolic identification of the Lord Jesus Christ with deity.

Elements melt ... fervent heat ... See under 2 Peter 3:10 where these same expressions are studied. Caffin noted that the word for "heat" here is even a stronger term than used in 2 Peter 3:10, meaning "being melted away," or consumed, also, that, "The tense is the prophetic present, implying a certain fulfillment."[53]

[49] David F. Payne, op. cit., p. 605.

[50] J. W. McGarvey, New Commentary on Acts (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1892), p. 63.

[51] B. C. Carlin, op. cit., p. 68.

[52] Ibid., p. 69.

[53] Ibid.