Mockers in the Last Days
Mockers in the Last Days
Written on 25 August 2026.
The King James Bible teaches plainly that mockery and scoffing will be characteristic of the last days. This is not merely a general observation that people sometimes ridicule one another. Scripture specifically associates the last days and the last time with the appearance of scoffers and mockers who reject the things of God and walk according to their own desires.
At the same time, mockery of God's messengers is not new. Throughout Scripture, prophets and other servants of God were mocked, despised, rejected, and treated as fools. The last-days warnings concerning mockers therefore continue a pattern already visible throughout biblical history.
Scoffers Shall Come in the Last Days
Peter gives one of the clearest warnings concerning the last days:
2 Peter 3:3-4
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
The scoffing described here is directed specifically against the promise of the Lord's coming. The scoffers do not merely disagree. They turn unbelief into ridicule: "Where is the promise of his coming?"
Peter therefore identifies scoffing as one of the characteristics that believers should expect in the last days.
Mockers in the Last Time
Jude gives a remarkably similar warning:
Jude 17-19
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
The wording is direct:
there should be mockers in the last time
Thus both Peter and Jude independently connect mockery with the latter time. Both passages also connect the mockers with walking after their own lusts.
This suggests that biblical mockery is not presented merely as intellectual disagreement. There is a moral and spiritual dimension to it. The mocker rejects God's truth while following his own desires.
God's Messengers Have Always Been Mocked
The last-days appearance of mockers fits a much older biblical pattern. When God sent prophets and messengers to His people, those messengers were frequently rejected.
One of the strongest examples appears near the end of the kingdom of Judah:
2 Chronicles 36:15-16
And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
Notice the progression:
- God sends His messengers.
- The people mock the messengers.
- They despise God's words.
- They misuse His prophets.
The mockery of the messenger is therefore closely connected with rejection of the message.
The passage also shows that God's sending of messengers was an act of compassion. Yet instead of receiving the warning, the people mocked those whom God sent.
Jeremiah: "Every One Mocketh Me"
Jeremiah personally experienced this treatment.
Jeremiah 20:7-8
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jeremiah describes two things becoming objects of derision:
- Jeremiah himself: "every one mocketh me."
- The word he proclaimed: "the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily."
The distinction almost disappears because the messenger is being mocked precisely because of the message he carries.
Jeremiah did not experience occasional criticism. He says that he was "in derision daily."
The Prophets Were Persecuted
Jesus Christ explicitly reminded His disciples that persecution of God's servants was an established pattern.
Matthew 5:10-12
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Here Christ connects the experience of His followers with that of the prophets who came before them.
The words are significant:
revile you
persecute you
say all manner of evil against you falsely
so persecuted they the prophets which were before you
Mockery, false accusation, reproach, and persecution therefore belong to a pattern already experienced by God's prophets.
Jerusalem and the Rejection of the Prophets
Christ later spoke directly about Jerusalem's history of rejecting God's messengers:
Matthew 23:37-39
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
The rejection could progress far beyond words. The prophets who were first despised could ultimately be persecuted and killed.
The underlying conflict was not simply between unpopular personalities and the surrounding society. It concerned the reception or rejection of what God had sent.
Christ Himself Was Mocked
The greatest example is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Before His crucifixion He was deliberately mocked:
Luke 22:63-65
And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.
And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?
And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.
The mockery specifically attacked His prophetic identity:
Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?
At the cross the mockery continued:
Matthew 27:39-43
And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
The Son of God was surrounded by people using ridicule as an argument against Him. His apparent weakness was treated as evidence that His claims were false.
Yet their mockery did not change who He was.
The Scorner in Proverbs
The Bible also describes the scorner as a recognizable type of person.
Proverbs 21:24
Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.
The scorner is connected with pride and haughtiness.
He is also resistant to correction:
Proverbs 9:7-8
He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
And:
Proverbs 13:1
A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
The scorner therefore does not merely laugh. His scorning is connected with an inability or unwillingness to receive correction.
Mockery Produces Contention
Proverbs also shows the social effect produced by a scorner:
Proverbs 22:10
Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
This is an important observation. Scripture connects the presence of the scorner with:
- contention,
- strife,
- reproach.
When the scorner is removed, these things cease.
Thus biblical scorning can become an entire pattern of interaction in which ridicule, accusation, contention, and reproach reinforce one another.
"Fools Make a Mock at Sin"
Mockery can ultimately extend even to sin itself:
Proverbs 14:9
Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.
What God calls sin can become something to joke about, trivialize, celebrate, or treat with contempt.
This provides another connection with the last-days passages. Peter and Jude say that the mockers walk after their own lusts. Proverbs says that fools make a mock at sin.
The combination is significant: that which restrains lust is mocked, while the lust itself is followed.
Noah and the Days Before Judgment
Christ compared the time preceding His coming with the days of Noah:
Matthew 24:37-39
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
The emphasis here is not explicitly mockery but normalcy and lack of recognition immediately before judgment. This fits naturally beside Peter's description of people asking:
Where is the promise of his coming?
The apparent continuation of ordinary life becomes an argument for unbelief. But according to Christ, the days of Noah demonstrate precisely why such reasoning fails: ordinary life continued until judgment suddenly arrived.
A Last-Days Pattern
Taken together, these scriptures reveal a coherent biblical pattern.
Peter says:
there shall come in the last days scoffers
Jude says:
there should be mockers in the last time
Chronicles says:
they mocked the messengers of God
Jeremiah says:
every one mocketh me
Christ says:
so persecuted they the prophets which were before you
And Christ Himself was mocked, reviled, falsely accused, and ultimately crucified.
There is therefore substantial biblical basis for expecting mockery to be prominent in the last days, while recognizing that mockery of God's truth and God's messengers is an ancient pattern.
Mockery Does Not Overturn the Word of God
The central lesson is that widespread ridicule does not determine whether something is true.
The prophets were mocked, but God's words were fulfilled.
Jeremiah was made a derision, but the destruction he warned about came.
Jesus Christ was mocked while hanging upon the cross, yet He rose from the dead.
And Peter warns that the last-days scoffers will mock the promise of Christ's coming precisely before the judgment they deny.
2 Peter 3:9-10
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
The biblical response to last-days mockery is therefore not to assume that ridicule has disproved God's word. Scripture presents the opposite pattern: the mockery itself was foretold.
The scoffer says:
Where is the promise of his coming?
The Scripture answers:
But the day of the Lord will come.
Mockers may multiply. God's messengers may be despised. His words may be treated as foolishness and His promises as impossible.
But according to the King James Bible, none of this makes the word of God void.
The existence of mockers in the last time is itself part of what the word of God said would come.
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