And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?.... That is, of the coming of the Lord and Saviour, 2Pe 3:2; the object of their scorn and derision, and whom they name not, through contempt; and the meaning is, what is become of the promise of his coming?
where the accomplishment of it? The prophets foretold he would come; he himself said he would come again, Joh 14:3; the angels, at his ascension, declared he would come from heaven in like manner as he went up, Ac 1:11; and all his apostles gave out that he would appear a second time to judge both quick and dead, Ac 10:42 1Pe 4:5, and that his coming was at hand, Php 4:5; but where is the fulfilment of all this?
he is not come, nor is there any sign or likelihood of it:for since the fathers fell asleep; or "died": which is the language of the Scriptures, and here sneered at by these men, who believe them so fast asleep as never to be awaked or raised more; and by "the fathers" they mean the first inhabitants of the world, as Adam, Abel, Seth, &c.