Devotional 1 October 2025

October 01, 2025 • Steve Torres

2 Peter 2:9.jpg

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked… then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.” (2 Peter 2:4–9, ESV)

Peter piles up examples to show that God’s justice is never idle. Angels who rebelled were cast into chains (Jude 6; Revelation 20:10). The ancient world perished in the flood, while Noah was preserved as a herald of righteousness (Genesis 6–9; Hebrews 11:7). Sodom and Gomorrah were reduced to ashes as an example for the ungodly (Genesis 19; Jude 7). Yet Lot, tormented in his righteous soul by their lawlessness, was rescued by God’s hand.

The lesson is clear: God punishes the wicked and rescues the godly. No one escapes His judgment. As Paul reminds us, God even raised up Pharaoh “that I might show my power in you” (Romans 9:17). Evil may appear to succeed for a time, but the Lord is preserving it for judgment. At the same time, His people are never forgotten. He knows how to preserve the righteous in the midst of trials (1 Corinthians 10:13).

This is wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). Our lives must be grounded in Him, through Him, and for Him, “that in everything he might be preeminent” (Colossians 1:18). Peter’s message is both sobering and comforting—judgment is real, but so is deliverance. And at the center stands Jesus, “the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42), and the faithful Deliverer of all who trust in Him (2 Thessalonians 1:7–10).