3 Above all you should know that derisive people will come in the last days, full of mockery and following their own evil desires.*3:3. See Jude 1:18. 4 "So what happened to this coming he promised?" they ask. "Right from the time our ancestors died, everything’s continued as it always has, ever since creation began." 5 But they deliberately ignore the fact that by God’s command the heavens were created long ago. The earth came into existence from the water, and was surrounded by water. 6 It was through water that the world that then existed was destroyed—through being flooded by water. 7 But by means of that same divine command the heavens and the earth that now exist are reserved for destruction by fire*3:7. "Destruction by fire": Literally, "in fire". at the day of judgment when the wicked will be destroyed.