Joseph Hill on God’s time
interpretation
On: one day is with the Lord as a thousand years
Source quotation · Joseph Hill, continuation of Matthew Henry’s Commentary, 2 Peter 3:8
The apostle comes in these words to instruct and establish Christians in the truth of the coming of the Lord, where we may clearly discern the tenderness and affection wherewith he speaks to them, calling them beloved; he had a compassionate concern and a love of good-will for the ungodly wretches who refused to believe divine revelation, but he has a peculiar respect for the true believers, and the remaining ignorance and weakness that the apprehends to be in them make him jealous, and put him on giving them a caution. Here we may observe,
I. The truth which the apostle asserts - that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day. Though, in the account of men, there is a great deal of difference between a day and a year, and a vast deal more between one day and a thousand years, yet in the account of God, who inhabits eternity, in which there is no succession, there is no difference; for all things past, present, and future, are ever before him, and the delay of a thousand years cannot be so much to him as the deferring of any thing for a day or an hour is to us.
II. The importance of this truth: This is the one thing the apostle would not have us ignorant of; a holy awe and reverential fear of God are necessary in order to our worshiping and glorifying him, and a belief of the inconceivable distance between him and us is very proper to beget and maintain that religious fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. This is a truth that belongs to our peace, and therefore he endeavours that it may not be hidden from our eyes; as it is in the original, Let not this one thing be hidden from you. If men have no knowledge or belief of the eternal God, they will be very apt to think him such a one as themselves. Yet how hard is it to conceive of eternity! It is therefore not very easy to attain such a knowledge of God as is absolutely necessary.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Bible: Second Peter · Complete commentary, posthumous continuation by Joseph Hill. Sacred Texts HTML transcription; full expositions headed 2 Peter 3:8 and 3:9 (the latter includes verse 10). Transcription inspected.
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Public-domain eighteenth-century commentary. Hosted transcription only; modern site material excluded.
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2026-09-10T19:00:34+00:00
The apostle comes in these words to instruct and establish Christians in the truth of the coming of the Lord, where we may clearly discern the tenderness and affection wherewith he speaks to them, calling them beloved; he had a compassionate concern and a love of good-will for the ungodly wretches who refused to believe divine revelation, but he has a peculiar respect for the true believers, and the remaining ignorance and weakness that the apprehends to be in them make him jealous, and put him on giving them a caution. Here we may observe,
I. The truth which the apostle asserts - that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day. Though, in the account of men, there is a great deal of difference between a day and a year, and a vast deal more between one day and a thousand years, yet in the account of God, who inhabits eternity, in which there is no succession, there is no difference; for all things past, present, and future, are ever before him, and the delay of a thousand years cannot be so much to him as the deferring of any thing for a day or an hour is to us.
II. The importance of this truth: This is the one thing the apostle would not have us ignorant of; a holy awe and reverential fear of God are necessary in order to our worshiping and glorifying him, and a belief of the inconceivable distance between him and us is very proper to beget and maintain that religious fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. This is a truth that belongs to our peace, and therefore he endeavours that it may not be hidden from our eyes; as it is in the original, Let not this one thing be hidden from you. If men have no knowledge or belief of the eternal God, they will be very apt to think him such a one as themselves. Yet how hard is it to conceive of eternity! It is therefore not very easy to attain such a knowledge of God as is absolutely necessary.
Preparing for Christ’s coming
interpretation
On: what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness
Source quotation · Joseph Smith
When I contemplate the rapidity with which the great and glorious day of the coming of the Son of Man advances, when he shall come to receive his saints unto himself where they shall dwell in his presence and be crowned with glory & immortality; when I consider that soon the heavens are to be shaken, and the earth tremble and reel to and fro; and <that> the heavens are to be unfolded as a scroll when it is ⟦folded⟧ <rolled> up, that every mountain and island are to flee ⟦away⟧ <away> I cry out in my heart, What manner of person ought I to be in all holy conversasion and godliness!
You remember the testimony which I bore in the name of the Lord Jesus, concerning the great work which he has brought forth in the last days. You know my manner of communication, how that in weakness and simpleness I declared to you what the Lord had brought forth by the ministering of his holy angels to me, for this generation. I pray that the Lord may enable you to treasure these things up in your mind; for I know that his Spirit will bear testimony to all who seek diligently after knowledge
from him. I hope you will search the scriptures, to see whether these things are not also consistant with those things that the ancient prophets and apostles have written.
Letter to Moses Nickerson, 19 November 1833 · JS, Letter, Kirtland Mills, Kirtland Township, Geauga Co., OH, to Moses Nickerson, Mount Pleasant, Brantford Township, Wentworth Co., Gore District, Upper Canada, 19 Nov. 1833. Retained copy, [ca. 19 Nov. 1833], in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 62–65; handwriting of Oliver Cowdery; JS Collection, CHL. Joseph Smith Papers historical transcription. Historical spelling retained; line wrapping and whitespace normalized; page markers removed. ⟦…⟧ marks deleted manuscript wording, <…> marks insertions, and square brackets mark supplied readings. Web transcription.
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2026-09-11T16:24:26+00:00
When I contemplate the rapidity with which the great and glorious day of the coming of the Son of Man advances, when he shall come to receive his saints unto himself where they shall dwell in his presence and be crowned with glory & immortality; when I consider that soon the heavens are to be shaken, and the earth tremble and reel to and fro; and <that> the heavens are to be unfolded as a scroll when it is ⟦folded⟧ <rolled> up, that every mountain and island are to flee ⟦away⟧ <away> I cry out in my heart, What manner of person ought I to be in all holy conversasion and godliness!
You remember the testimony which I bore in the name of the Lord Jesus, concerning the great work which he has brought forth in the last days. You know my manner of communication, how that in weakness and simpleness I declared to you what the Lord had brought forth by the ministering of his holy angels to me, for this generation. I pray that the Lord may enable you to treasure these things up in your mind; for I know that his Spirit will bear testimony to all who seek diligently after knowledge
from him. I hope you will search the scriptures, to see whether these things are not also consistant with those things that the ancient prophets and apostles have written.
What manner of persons ought we to be?
interpretation
On: what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness
Source quotation · D. Todd Christofferson
The Apostle Peter reminds us that in the latter days, there will be doubters who question the Second Coming of Jesus Christ: “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming?” Peter reminds us that the Lord is not “slack” and that if there is any seeming delay in His return, it is because of His long-suffering mercy in giving us more time to repent before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” “But the day of the Lord will come,” Peter forcefully declares, “in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth and also the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Since we know that the Lord will come and establish a new earth where righteousness prevails, Peter asks, “What manner of persons ought ye to be?” He counsels that we should be preparing diligently now so that when the Lord comes, He will find us, quote, “in peace, without spot, and blameless” unquote, leading lives of holiness. As I’ve pondered Peter’s question “What manner of persons ought ye to be?”, I've decided to speak today about the character of Jesus Christ. It is in emulating the character of Christ that we become the “manner of persons” we ought to be. Acquiring the character of Christ is one of the most important ways we take His name upon us.
The Character of Christ · Official Gospel Media English captions for The Character of Christ, April 2026 general conference. Selected passage at 00:01.331–01:42.332. Caption cue breaks joined; source wording and punctuation retained. This quotation uses the official caption edition.
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The Apostle Peter reminds us that in the latter days, there will be doubters who question the Second Coming of Jesus Christ: “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming?” Peter reminds us that the Lord is not “slack” and that if there is any seeming delay in His return, it is because of His long-suffering mercy in giving us more time to repent before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” “But the day of the Lord will come,” Peter forcefully declares, “in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth and also the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Since we know that the Lord will come and establish a new earth where righteousness prevails, Peter asks, “What manner of persons ought ye to be?” He counsels that we should be preparing diligently now so that when the Lord comes, He will find us, quote, “in peace, without spot, and blameless” unquote, leading lives of holiness. As I’ve pondered Peter’s question “What manner of persons ought ye to be?”, I've decided to speak today about the character of Jesus Christ. It is in emulating the character of Christ that we become the “manner of persons” we ought to be. Acquiring the character of Christ is one of the most important ways we take His name upon us.
Whiston in 1727: the six thousand years end in 1517, or in 1766 by the Samaritan count
interpretation
On: one day is with the Lord as a thousand years
Source quotation · William Whiston, A Collection of Authentick Records, Part I (London, 1727), pp. 462–464
N. B. Since we have a little above met with the earliest Mention of the seven Days of Creation, as Typical; or of the seventh of Rest, the Sabbath Day, as directly a Type of the seventh Millenary, and of the Consummation of Sinners: which seems to have been delivered in the Prophecy of Haggai, as cited by St. Barnabas; and to be hinted at by the Author to the Hebrews, and by St. Peter; and was certainly believed by St. Barnabas himself, by Irenæus, Hippolytus, Origen, Lactantius, Hilary, Jerom, and many others of the Primitive Christian Writers; and by Manasseh Ben Israel among the Jews: it will be here worth our while to compute the Number of Years from the Creation, and to see where the six Millenaries do end, and the seventh Millenary begin. I mean this, according to that latest and most accurate sacred Chronology, which I stated several Years ago, in my Essay towards Restoring the true Text of the Old Testament. Now it is there determined, from the most authentick Evidence now extant, that the Autumnal Equinox, next after the Creation of Adam, was 4483 Years before that Autumnal Equinox which immediately preceeded the Christian Æra. So that if we deduct that Number 4483, from 6000, the Remainder will give the Year of the Christian Æra when that Period was over. Which therefore brings us directly to the Equinox, Sept. 13. A. D. 1517, which is, without Dispute, the very Year when Luther began the Protestant Reformation. And it was no more than 48 Days after that Equinox, or 48 Days after the beginning of the seventh Millenary, October 31, 1517: that the same Luther publickly set up his famous XCV Theses against Indulgences, which occasion’d that Protestant Reformation. Nor is it unworthy our farther Observation, that if we take the Samaritan Copy, as cited by Eusebius, and as it still stands at this Day; I mean, as giving 249 Years less than Jerom’s Copy, before the Flood: which last Copy yet I follow in the foregoing Computation: these 6000 Years will not end till A. D. 1766, two Years after the future Dedication of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. Which may, perhaps, prove the more genuine Calculation. See Mede, pag. 896, 897. and Lit. Accompl. of Script. Proph. pag. 86. 101. 104. Essay on the O. T. pag. 21, 22.
A Collection of Authentick Records Belonging to the Old and New Testament · William Whiston, A Collection of Authentick Records Belonging to the Old and New Testament, Part I (London: Printed for the Author, MDCCXXVII [1727]), pp. 462–464, the N.B. from “N. B. Since we have a little above met with” to “Essay on the O. T. pag. 21, 22.” (Internet Archive bim_eighteenth-century_a-collection-of-authenti_1727_1, leaves n465–n467). Long s (ſ) rendered s; ligatures expanded; roman and italic type not distinguished; line-end hyphenation joined; spacing normalized (one space after punctuation, paragraph breaks as blank lines); running heads, catchwords, signatures and marginal notes omitted; spelling, capitalization and punctuation otherwise as printed; omissions inside the selection marked […]. Transcribed from the Internet Archive page images and checked against the item’s OCR text layer.
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2026-10-05T15:53:51+00:00
N. B. Since we have a little above met with the earliest Mention of the seven Days of Creation, as Typical; or of the seventh of Rest, the Sabbath Day, as directly a Type of the seventh Millenary, and of the Consummation of Sinners: which seems to have been delivered in the Prophecy of Haggai, as cited by St. Barnabas; and to be hinted at by the Author to the Hebrews, and by St. Peter; and was certainly believed by St. Barnabas himself, by Irenæus, Hippolytus, Origen, Lactantius, Hilary, Jerom, and many others of the Primitive Christian Writers; and by Manasseh Ben Israel among the Jews: it will be here worth our while to compute the Number of Years from the Creation, and to see where the six Millenaries do end, and the seventh Millenary begin. I mean this, according to that latest and most accurate sacred Chronology, which I stated several Years ago, in my Essay towards Restoring the true Text of the Old Testament. Now it is there determined, from the most authentick Evidence now extant, that the Autumnal Equinox, next after the Creation of Adam, was 4483 Years before that Autumnal Equinox which immediately preceeded the Christian Æra. So that if we deduct that Number 4483, from 6000, the Remainder will give the Year of the Christian Æra when that Period was over. Which therefore brings us directly to the Equinox, Sept. 13. A. D. 1517, which is, without Dispute, the very Year when Luther began the Protestant Reformation. And it was no more than 48 Days after that Equinox, or 48 Days after the beginning of the seventh Millenary, October 31, 1517: that the same Luther publickly set up his famous XCV Theses against Indulgences, which occasion’d that Protestant Reformation. Nor is it unworthy our farther Observation, that if we take the Samaritan Copy, as cited by Eusebius, and as it still stands at this Day; I mean, as giving 249 Years less than Jerom’s Copy, before the Flood: which last Copy yet I follow in the foregoing Computation: these 6000 Years will not end till A. D. 1766, two Years after the future Dedication of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. Which may, perhaps, prove the more genuine Calculation. See Mede, pag. 896, 897. and Lit. Accompl. of Script. Proph. pag. 86. 101. 104. Essay on the O. T. pag. 21, 22.