So you see that the Lord God knows how to save those who are devoted to him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people to punish them on the day of judgment.
It is the same way with what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently endured those he was angry with—people who were ready to be destroyed.
For them he is also “a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes people fall.” Isaiah 8:14 People stumble because they don’t obey what God says. This is what God planned to happen to those people.
These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.
God gave us the ability to think about his world, but we can never completely understand everything he does. And yet, he does everything at just the right time.