8-9 recall to them the nature of God as different from men. Time and Eternity are two quite different entities, and since God is eternal and man finite, they look at time in different ways. In eternity there is no time, i.e. past or future, but only the present. This should help us greatly in facing the centuries that have passed since New Testament times. Peter's opponents explained the seeming delay in the parousia as proof that God is untrustworthy in fulfilling his promises.
Many today take the same position.
His mercy moves Him to prolong the day of salvation. Behind His apparent delay is a heart that is not willing that any should perish. He has made provision for all to come to repentance, but if they exercise their God-given free will to refuse He cannot prevent it, for it is that free will which marks us out as men and not animals or robots. Here Peter telescopes together events that other scriptures indicate cover perhaps as long as 1000 years, as he does also in Acts. As a thief removes treasure from a house without the knowledge of its inhabitants, so the Lord will remove his church from the world.