Peter gives examples of God's judgment: angels sinned and were held in chains, the ancient world was destroyed except for Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned. Then he says something strange: the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment.
He's not saying trials won't come. He's saying trials are the context in which rescue becomes visible. Noah didn't escape the flood. He floated through it. Lot wasn't removed from Sodom. He was brought out of it at the last moment. The rescue happens within the judgment, not separate from it.
That's encouragement for people facing pressure from false teachers and cultural hostility. You're not going to be spared from living in this world's darkness. But you will be rescued from being destroyed by it. There's a difference. Rescue is God's presence inside your suffering, not your removal from it.
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