How many of us, if we’re honest, get a bit embarrassed when some supernatural aspect of the Bible gets brought up at work or school or when we’re with friends? Maybe it’s the flood, or Jesus walking on water—the kind of things our secular world pokes fun at. Well, Peter is not embarrassed by any of it. He was present with Jesus when he performed his miracles. He witnessed the transfiguration, walked on water to meet Jesus, and talked with Jesus after his resurrection. The supernatural was real for Peter.

Throughout his letter, Peter goes straight to parts of the Bible we might tend to avoid. He brings up accounts we find tricky to explain, or which are even embarrassing, in many cultures today. Creation in six days by the word of God? That’s not what science says. A worldwide flood of judgment? It must be an embellished tale about a local event—the fable about the boat won’t float. Fire and sulfur on a whole city that was perverting God’s design for sex and marriage? That might sound hateful. A talking donkey? Ridiculous.

So we decide, let’s not open those cans of worms. Let’s not give the skeptics and mockers more fuel. Let’s not add to the doubts of doubting Christians. Let’s stay on topic. Just stay on Jesus!

But what kind of Jesus do we have if he is not the world’s Creator and the worldwide Judge? If Christ is not the God who first created all things with just a word, we can hardly expect he will return to recreate the cursed world we live in now. Or if Christ did not form the first man out of dust, we can hardly expect he will raise our bodies from the dead after they have turned to dust. And if Christ did not flood the whole world in judgment, covering the mountaintops, we can hardly expect he will return to rid us of every shred of evil in the coming life. You see, we keep looking at the beginning because it assures us of the ending. And the ending determines how we live today.

So when Peter is confronted with skepticism about Jesus’s return and coming judgment, he goes to creation and the flood. The skeptics wonder where Jesus is if he hasn’t shown up yet. Their underlying premise is that God does not, nor cannot, intervene in the world because nothing has changed since the beginning. But their premise deliberately “forgets” how the beginning itself contains the historical facts they claim to be seeking.

First, there’s creation. By God’s word, he spoke and the waters separated. Then by his word again, he spoke and the waters gathered (Genesis 1:6–10).

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