Why the “Elements” Have Already Been Destroyed And We Are Now In the New Heavens/New Earth

This is a study of the third chapter of Peter’s second letter. It takes the “preterist” viewpoint. The word “preterist” comes from the Latin for “past.” “Preterism” is the view that all New Testament prophecies have already been fulfilled in the past––generally during the tumultuous events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70.

The preterist position on 2 Peter 3 –– that we are already in “the New Heavens/New Earth,” and the “old heavens/earth” was destroyed by fire in AD70 – will not seem credible to most Christians today. It has had more credibility in past generations. This view has been held by some of the most respected Bible-believing theologians, throughout all ages of Church history.

Anyone attempting to prove “preterism” would not likely start in 2 Peter 3, which is one of the more difficult passages. Go ahead and read 2 Peter 3 now, taking note of the following issues:

· v. 3: “last days” and apostate “scoffers.”

· v. 4: “creation”

· v. 6: an earlier creation “perished” by water

· v. 7: the present creation by fire

· v. 7: a “day of judgment” (cf. v. 10)

· v. 10: coming like a thief in the night

· v. 10: “elements” burned up, and “works”

· v. 13: a “promise” of a New Heavens/Earth

To take the preterist position on 2 Peter 3 in isolation from all other New Testament verses is very unpersuasive. So let us put it in context.

There are at least 101 verses in the New Testament that claim that Christ’s Second Coming is “at hand,” “near,” or ready to happen. These verses are tied with the bold declaration that the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and consummation of the Old Covenant is imminent. This is one of the most important themes in the entire New Testament. It is part of the thinking of all New Testament authors. It must be dealt with. Here’s what happens when we don’t:

Atheist Bertrand Russell, in his book Why I Am Not A Christian, discredits the inspiration of the New Testament based on the failed prediction of Christ and the Apostles:

I am concerned with Christ as He appears in the Gospels . . . and there one does find some things that do not seem to be very wise. For one thing, He certainly thought that His second coming would occur in clouds of glory before the death of all the people who were living at the time. There are a great many texts that prove that. He says, for instance, “Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.” Then He says, “There are some standing here which shall not taste death till the Son of Man comes into His kingdom”; and there are a lot of places where it is quite clear that He believed that His second coming would happen during the lifetime of many then living. That was the belief of his earlier followers, and it was the basis of a good deal of his moral teaching.
Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian (New York: A Touchtone Book by Simon & Schuster, 1957), 16.

Russell is mistaken when he starts with the premise that Christ and the Apostles were predicting the end of the physical world. We’ll see that in a minute.

Russell is correct when he says that much of the New Testament was based on this belief: that the “coming of the Son of Man in His Kingdom” and the “end of the world” were “at hand.”

But if Christ and the Apostles were teaching the imminent destruction of planet earth and the inauguration of the “eternal state,” then they were clearly mistaken.

The “preterist” interpretation avoids this objection by agreeing that Christ “came” in some sense, and the end of the “world” was really the end of the “age” of the temple and the Old Covenant.

There are two issues in this debate: (1) the timing of the Second Coming and (2) the nature of the Second Coming. The timing verses are clear; conclusions about the nature of the Second Coming come from verses which are not as clear. Preterists interpret the nature verses in light of the timing verses, and not the other way around. The overwhelming testimony of the New Testament is that the Second Coming would occur in the first century A.D., that is, before the death of the generation in which Christ lived.

Let’s look at some of the timing verses.

Ideally, you could read the following verses in their context and see how the idea of the imminent first-century return of Christ and great Day of Judgment thoroughly dominates the pages of the New Testament. But just reading these verses and noting their presence is essential for understanding 2 Peter 3.

1. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:2)

2. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come?” (Matt. 3:7)

3. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees.” (Matt. 3:10)

4. “His winnowing fork is in His hand.” (Matt. 3:12)

5. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17)

6. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 10:7)

7. “You shall not finish going through the cities of Israel, until the Son of Man comes.” (Matt. 10:23)

8. “....the age about to come.” (Matt. 12:32)

9. “The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.” (Matt. 16:27)

10. “There are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matt. 16:28; cf. Mk. 9:1; Lk. 9:27)

11. “‘When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?’ ‘....He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.’ ‘....Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.’ ....When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.” (Matt. 21:40-41,43,45)

12. “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Matt. 24:34)

13. “Hereafter, you [Caiaphas, the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, the whole Sanhedrin] shall be seeing the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matt. 26:64; Mk. 14:62; Lk. 22:69)

14. “The kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mk. 1:15)

15. “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. ....They [the chief priests, scribes and elders] understood that He spoke the parable against them.” (Mk. 12:9,12)

16. “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Mk. 13:30)

17. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come?” (Lk. 3:7)

18. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. “ (Lk. 3:9)

19. “His winnowing fork is in His hand.” (Lk. 3:17)

20. “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Lk. 10:9)

21. “The kingdom of God has come near.” (Lk. 10:11)

22. “What, therefore, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” The scribes and the chief priests understood that He spoke this parable against them.” (Lk. 20:15-16,19)

23. “These are days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” (Lk. 21:22)

24. “This generation will not pass away until all things take place.” (Lk. 21:32)

25. “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” (Lk. 23:28-30; Compare Rev. 6:14-17)

26. “We were hoping that He was the One who is about to redeem Israel.” (Lk. 24:21)

27. “I will come to you. In that Day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.’ ‘Lord, what then has happened that You are about to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?’” (John 14:18,20,22)

28. “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” (John 21:22)

29. “This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be in the last days’” (Acts 2:16-17)

30. “He has fixed a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31)

31. “There is about to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” (Acts 24:15)

32. “As he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment about to come” (Acts 24:25)

33. “Not for [Abraham’s] sake only was it written, that [faith] was reckoned to him [as righteousness], but for our sake also, to whom it is about to be reckoned.” (Rom. 4:23-24)

34. “If you are living according to the flesh, you are about to die.” (Rom. 8:13)

35. “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us.” (Rom. 8:18)

36. “It is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand.” (Rom. 13:11-12)

37. “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Rom. 16:20)

38. “The time has been shortened.” (I Cor. 7:29)

39. “The form of this world is passing away.” (I Cor. 7:31)

40. “Now these things were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (I Cor. 10:11)

41. “We shall not all fall sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (I Cor. 15:51-52)

42. “Maranatha!” [The Lord comes!] (I Cor. 16:22)

43. “...not only in this age, but also in the one about to come.” (Eph. 1:21)

44. “The Lord is near.” (Phil. 4:5)

45. “The gospel was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.” (Col. 1:23; Compare Matt. 24:14; Rom. 10:18; 16:26; Col. 1:5-6; II Tim. 4:17; Rev. 14:6-7; cf. I Clement 5,7)

46. “things which are a shadow of what is about to come.” (Col. 2:16-17)

47. “we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds You, brethren, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief.” (I Thess. 4:15,17; 5:4)

48. “May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Thess. 5:23)

49. “It is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire.” (II Thess. 1:6-7)

50. “Godliness holds promise for the present life and that which is about to come.” (I Tim. 4:8)

51. “I charge you that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Tim. 6:14)

52. “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for that which is about to come, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” (I Tim. 6:19)

53. “In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self Avoid these men. For of these are those who enter into households and captivate weak women These also oppose the truth But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all” (II Tim. 3:1-2,5-6,8-9)

54. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is about to judge the living and the dead” (II Tim. 4:1)

55. “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.” (Heb. 1:1-2)

56. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14)

57. “He did not subject to angels the world about to come.” (Heb. 2:5)

58. “and have tasted the powers of the age about to come.” (Heb. 6:5)

59. “For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near a curse, and it’s end is for burning.” (Heb. 6:7-8)

60. “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.” (Heb. 8:13)

61. “The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way of the [heavenly] Holy Places has not yet been revealed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.” (Heb. 9:8-10; Compare Gal. 4:19; Eph. 2:21-22; 3:17; 4:13)

62. “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things about to come” (Heb. 9:11)

63. “Now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin.” (Heb. 9:26)

64. “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things about to come” (Heb. 10:1)

65. “as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:25)

66. “the fury of a fire which is about to consume the adversaries.” (Heb. 10:27)

67. “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.” (Heb. 10:37)

68. “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one that is about to come.” (Heb. 13:14)

69. “Speak and so act, as those who are about to be judged by the law of liberty.” (James 2:12)

70. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!” (James 5:1,3)

71. “Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.” (James 5:7)

72. “You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” (James 5:8)

73. “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (I Peter 1:5)

74. “He has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.” (I Peter 1:20)

75. “They shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” (I Peter 4:5)

76. “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.” (I Peter 4:7)

77. “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.” (I Peter 4:17)

78. “as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is about to be revealed.” (I Peter 5:1)

79. “We have the prophetic word which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the Day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” (II Peter 1:19)

80. “Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (II Peter 2:3)

81. “In the last days mockers will come. For this they willingly are ignorant of” (II Peter 3:3,5)

82. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” (II Peter 3:10-12)

83. “The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.” (I John 2:8)

84. “The world is passing away, and its desires.” (I John 2:17)

85. “It is the last hour.” (I John 2:18)

86. “Even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour.” (I John 2:18; Compare Matt. 24:23-34)

87. “This is that of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” (I John 4:3; Compare II Thess. 2:7)

88. “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. About these also Enoch prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly’” (Jude 1:4,14-15)

89. “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, ‘In the last time there shall be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’ These are the ones who cause divisions” (Jude 1:17-19)

90. “to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place.” (Rev. 1:1)

91. “The time is near.” (Rev. 1:3)

92. “Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.” (Rev. 2:25)

93. “I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is about to come upon the whole land.” (Rev. 3:10; cf. Matt. 2:6,20,21)

94. “I am coming quickly.” (Rev. 3:11)

95. “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is about to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.” (Rev. 12:5)

96. “And in her [the Great City Babylon] was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.” (Rev. 18:24; Compare Matt. 23:35-36; Lk. 11:50-51)

97. “to show to His bond-servants the things which must shortly take place.” (Rev. 22:6)

98. “Behold, I am coming quickly. “ (Rev. 22:7)

99. “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” (Rev. 22:10; Compare Dan. 8:26)

100. “Behold, I am coming quickly.” (Rev. 22:12)

101. “Yes, I am coming quickly.” (Rev. 22:20)

All of these verses concerned those who lived in the first century, not those who would live thousands of years later (though we can certainly learn some general principles from every verse of Scripture). The imminent destruction of the temple and judgment of those who rejected the Messiah is a dominant theme of the New Testament, and was a top priority in the minds of Christians in those days.

It is important to see the many verses above that are talking about the destruction of the temple. This was the subject of Jesus’ important “Olivet Discourse,” a major prophecy. Please read Matthew chapters 23-24 to review this subject. Note especially Matthew 23:34-36. Chapter 24 is an elaboration on this prophetic curse, which Jesus places on those anti-christs (cf. 1 John 2:22; Acts 2:36). We’ll examine Matthew 24 shortly.

Every occurrence of the phrase “end of the world” (in the King James Version) is mistranslated. The literal rendering is “end of the age” (Greek: aion). Amazing that a scholar like Bertrand Russell didn’t see this (though not amazing that an atheist would choose not to see this if it can make the Bible look bad).

1. Matthew 13:39
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the ~~world~~ age; and the reapers are the angels.

2. Matthew 13:40
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this ~~world~~ age.

3. Matthew 13:49
So shall it be at the end of the ~~world~~ age: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

4. Matthew 24:3
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the ~~world~~ age?

5. Matthew 28:20
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the ~~world~~ age. Amen.

6. 1 Corinthians 10:11
Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ~~world~~ age are come.

7. Hebrews 9:26
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world [Gk: kosmos]: but now once in the end of the ~~world~~ age hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

8. Extra credit: Ephesians 3:21 (cf. Isa. 45:17)
Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Lit., “to all the generations of the age of the ages”)

These verses signify the end of the Old Covenant, not the destruction of the planet. A proper understanding of Christ’s “Olivet Discourse” (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) will aid our understanding of the “end of the age.” Christ predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, which happened 40 years later, in A.D. 70.

Matthew 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 38 Behold! Your house is left to you desolate;

After making this prediction, His disciples asked for signs of this event, so they would know when it would happen.

24:1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?”

Jesus then proceeds to spell out the signs that would precede His coming and “the end of the world,” which, as we’ve seen, really means the end of the Old Testament age. Let’s read Luke’s account of Jesus spelling out the signs of His coming and the “end of the age,” as it brings out the immediacy of Christ’s coming in judgment against Jerusalem:

Luke 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Verse 27 takes us back to one of the critical “any moment” verses we began with:

“The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds. There are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matt. 16:27-28; cf. Mk. 9:1; Lk. 9:27)

This is clearly an event that was about to happen to that generation, and did in fact happen: Jerusalem was laid waste. It was a time of tribulation greater than any Israel had ever experienced, and greater than any that Israel would ever experience again.

Let’s connect the context of the “New Heavens/New Earth” in 2 Peter 3 with the heavenly terminology found in Matthew 24:[1]

But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and all of the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to another (Matt. 24:29-31).

The Preterist says Matthew 24 –– the entire chapter –– was fulfilled in the first century. The “Great Tribulation” was the complex of events that occurred prior to and during the siege of Jerusalem, culminating in its destruction in A.D. 70. Jesus seems to be saying that the Second Coming will occur immediately after the Tribulation. Did the Second Coming occur in A.D. 70? Have we missed it?

First, let us be clear about one thing at the outset: there is just no getting around that word immediately. It means immediately. Acknowledging that the tribulation took place during the then-living generation, we must also face the clear teaching of Scripture that whatever Jesus is talking about in these verses happened immediately afterward. In other words, these verses describe what is to take place at the end of the Tribulation—what forms its climax.

In order to understand the meaning of Jesus’ expressions in this passage, we need to understand the Old Testament much more than most people do today. Jesus was speaking to an audience that was intimately familiar with the most obscure details of Old Testament literature. They had heard the Old Testament read and expounded countless times throughout their lives, and had memorized lengthy passages. Biblical imagery and forms of expression had formed their culture, environment, and vocabulary from earliest infancy, and this had been true for generations. There was no Oprah, no Fox News, no ESPN, no Britney Spears. (Recall, for a modern parallel, the influence of the Puritan Pulpit in colonial America.[2])

The fact is that when Jesus spoke to His disciples about the fall of Jerusalem, He used prophetic (Biblical) vocabulary. There was a “language” of prophecy, instantly recognizable to those familiar with the Old Testament. As Jesus foretold the complete end of the Old Covenant system—which was, in a sense, the end of a whole world—He spoke of it as any of the prophets would have, in the stirring language of covenantal judgment. We will consider each element in the prophecy, seeing how its previous use in the Old Testament prophets determined its meaning in the context of Jesus’ discourse on the fall of Jerusalem. Remember that our ultimate standard of truth is the Bible, and the Bible alone.

The Sun, Moon, and Stars

At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus said, the universe will collapse: the light of the sun and the moon will be extinguished, the stars will fall, the powers of the heavens will be shaken. The basis for this symbolism is in Genesis 1:14-16, where the sun, moon, and stars (“the powers of the heavens”) are spoken of as “signs” which “govern” the world. Later in Scripture, these heavenly lights are used to speak of earthly authorities and governors; and when God threatens to come against them in judgment, the same collapsing-universe terminology is used to describe it. Prophesying the fall of Babylon to the Medes in 539 B.C., Isaiah wrote:

Behold, the Day of the Lord is coming,

Cruel, with fury and burning anger,

To make the land a desolation;

And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

For the stars of heaven and their constellations

Will not flash forth with their light;

The sun will be dark when it rises,

And the moon will not shed its light. (Isa. 13:9-10)

Significantly, Isaiah later prophesied the fall of Edom in terms of de-creation:

And all the host of heaven will wear away,

And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;

All their hosts will also wither away

As a leaf withers from the vine,

Or as one withers from the fig tree. (Isa. 34:4)

Isaiah’s contemporary, the prophet Amos, foretold the doom of Samaria (722 B.C.) in much the same way:

“And it will come about in that day,”

Declares the Lord God,

“That I shall make the sun go down at noon

And make the earth dark in broad daylight.” (Amos 8:9)

Another example is from the prophet Ezekiel, who predicted the destruction of Egypt. God said this through Ezekiel:

“And when I extinguish you,

I will cover the heavens, and darken their stars;

I will cover the sun with a cloud,

And the moon shall not give its light.

All the shining lights in the heavens

I will darken over you

And will set darkness on your land,”

Declares the Lord God. (Ezek. 32:7-8)

It must be stressed that none of these astronomical events literally took place. God did not intend anyone to place a literalist construction on these statements. Poetically, however, all these things did happen: as far as these wicked nations were concerned, “the lights went out.” This is simply figurative language, which would not surprise us at all if we were more familiar with the Bible and appreciative of its literary character.

What Jesus is saying in Matthew 24, therefore, in prophetic terminology immediately recognizable by his disciples, is that the light of Israel is going to be extinguished; the covenant nation will cease to exist. When the Tribulation is over, old Israel––the old heavens and earth –– will be gone.

Verse 3 –– knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last [eschatos] days, walking according to their own lusts

This verse is not a prediction. It is a statement of present fact in Peter’s day. It is not talking about what might happen in the year 2006. The previous chapter, 2 Peter 2, and the parallel book of Jude) indicate that these scoffers were already infiltrating Christian churches in Peter’s day.

According to Jesus’ words in Matthew 24, one of the increasing characteristics of the age preceding the overthrow of Israel was to be apostasy within the Christian Church.

We generally think of the apostolic period as a time of tremendously explosive evangelism and church growth, a “golden age” when astounding miracles took place every day. This common image is substantially correct, but it is flawed by one glaring omission. We tend to neglect the fact that the early Church was the scene of the most dramatic outbreak of heresy in world history.

The Great Apostasy

The Church began to be infiltrated by heresy fairly early in its development. Acts 15 records the meeting of the first Church Council, which was convened in order to render an authoritative ruling on the issue of justification by faith (some teachers had been advocating the false doctrine that one must keep the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament in order to be justified). The problem did not die down, however; years later, Paul had to deal with it again, in his letter to the churches of Galatia. As Paul told them, this doctrinal aberration was no minor matter, but affected their very salvation: it was a “different gospel,” an utter distortion of the truth, and amounted to a repudiation of Jesus Christ Himself. Using some of the most severe terminology of his career, Paul pronounced damnation upon the “false brethren” who taught the heresy (see Gal. 1:6-9; 2:5, 11-21; 3:1-3; 5:1-12).

Paul also foresaw that heresy would infect the churches of Asia Minor. Calling together the elders of Ephesus, he exhorted them to “be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock,” because “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:28-30). Just as Paul predicted, false doctrine became an issue of enormous proportions in these churches. By the time the Book of Revelation was written, some of them had become almost completely ruined through the progress of heretical teachings and the resulting apostasy (Rev. 2:2, 6, 14-16, 20-24; 3:1-4, 15-18).

But the problem of heresy was not limited to any geographical or cultural area. It was widespread, and became an increasing subject of apostolic counsel and pastoral oversight as the age progressed. Some heretics taught that the final Resurrection had already taken place (2 Tim. 2:18), while others claimed that resurrection was impossible (1 Cor. 15:12); some taught strange doctrines of asceticism and angel-worship (Col. 2:8, 18-23; 1 Tim. 4:1-3), while others advocated all kinds of immorality and rebellion in the name of “liberty” (2 Pet. 2:1-3, 10-22; Jude 4, 8, 10-13, 16). Again and again the apostles found themselves issuing stern warnings against tolerating false teachers and “false apostles” (Rom. 16:17-18; 2 Cor. 11:3-4, 12-15; Phil. 3:18-19; 1 Tim. 1:3-7; 2 Tim. 4:2-5), for these had been the cause of massive departures from the faith, and the extent of apostasy was increasing as the era progressed (1 Tim. 1:19-20; 6:20-21; 2 Tim. 2:16-18; 3:1-9, 13; 4:10, 14-16). One of the last letters of the New Testament, the Book of Hebrews, was written to an entire Christian community on the very brink of wholesale abandonment of Christianity. The Christian church of the first generation was not only characterized by faith and miracles; it was also characterized by increasing lawlessness, rebellion, and heresy from within the Christian community itself – just as Jesus had foretold in Matthew 24.

The Great Apostasy

The Christians had a specific term for this apostasy. They called it antichrist. Many popular writers have speculated about this term, usually failing to regard its usage in Scripture. In the first place, consider a fact which will undoubtedly shock some people: the word “antichrist” never occurs in the Book of Revelation. Not once. Yet the term is routinely used by Christian teachers as a synonym for “the Beast” of Revelation 13. Obviously, there is no question that the Beast is an enemy of Christ, and is thus “anti” Christ in that sense; my point, however, is that the term antichrist is used in a very specific sense, and is essentially unrelated to the figure known as “the Beast” and “666.”

A further error teaches that “the Antichrist” is a specific individual; connected to this is the notion that “he” is someone who will make his appearance toward the end of the world. Both of these ideas, like the first, are contradicted by the New Testament.

In fact, the only occurrences of the term antichrist are in the following verses from the letters of the Apostle John:

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it may be shown that they all are not of us . . . . Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. . . . These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. (1 John 2:18-19, 22-23, 26).

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:1-6).

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that we might not lose what we have accomplished, but that we may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds (2 John 7-11).

The texts quoted above comprise all the Bible passages that mention the word antichrist, and from them we can draw several important conclusions:

First, the Christians had already been warned about the coming of antichrist (1 John 2:18; 4:3).

Second, there was not just one, but “many antichrists” (1 John 2:18). The term antichrist, therefore, cannot be simply a designation of one individual.

Third, antichrist was already working as John wrote: “even now many antichrists have arisen” (1 John 2:18); “I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you” (1 John 2:26); “you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:3); “many deceivers have gone out into the world. . . . This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 7). Obviously, if the antichrist was already present in the first century, he was not some figure who would arise at the end of the world.

Fourth, antichrist was a system of unbelief, particularly the heresy of denying the person and work of Jesus Christ. Although the antichrists apparently claimed to belong to the Father, they taught that Jesus was not the Christ (1 John 2:22); in union with the false prophets (1 John 4:1), they denied the Incarnation (1 John 4:3; 2 John 7, 9); and they rejected apostolic doctrine (1 John 4:6).

Fifth, the antichrists had been members of the Christian Church, but had apostatized (1 John 2:19). Now these apostates were attempting to deceive other Christians, in order to sway the Church as a whole away from Jesus Christ (1 John 2:26; 4:1; 2 John 7, 10).

Putting all this together, we can see that antichrist is a description of both the system of apostasy and individual apostates. In other words, antichrist was the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy that a time of great apostasy would come, when “many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many” (Matt. 24:10-11). As John said, the Christians had been warned of the coming of antichrist; and, sure enough, “many antichrists” had arisen. For a time, they had believed the gospel; later they had forsaken the faith, and then went about trying to deceive others, either starting new cults or, more likely, seeking to draw Christians into Judaism – the false religion which claimed to worship the Father while denying the Son. When the doctrine of antichrist is understood, it fits in perfectly with what the rest of the New Testament tells us about the age of the “terminal generation.”

But Peter says these scoffers will appear in “the last days.” That wasn’t back then was it? Isn’t that now? Aren’t we living in “the last days?”

Verse 4 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 creation.”

The “creation” in this verse is not that of Genesis 1. The word refers to the present social order, in this case, the Mosaic covenant. We’ll see the more fully as we examine the concept of destruction and re-creation. But let’s just look at this interesting word, “creation.” The Greek is ktiðsiv (ktisis):

· 1 Peter 2:13-14 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human creation, whether to a king as the one in authority, {14} or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.

· Hebrews 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;

· 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

The meaning of the word “creation” in 1 Peter 2 clearly has nothing to do with the physical “creation,” or “planet earth.” It could even be rendered “legal institution.” Ktisis most likely does not mean “planet earth” in the other two verses. (Occasionally it does; context should determine.) As with most prophetic passages in the New Testament, we should not be surprised to find a connection to the destruction of the temple and the Old Covenant order, or Old Covenant world, or Old Covenant “creation.”

Having alluded to Noah in the previous chapter, Peter may be alluding to the Flood once again:

Verse 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

Planet earth was not destroyed in Noah’s Flood. This destruction is parallel to the destruction Peter talks about.

The Bible speaks covenantally of creation and de-creation of a covenant order. From the very beginning, God’s covenant with Israel had been expressed in terms of a new creation: Moses described Israel’s salvation in the wilderness in terms of the Spirit of God hovering over a waste, just as in the original creation of heaven and earth (Deut. 32:10-11; cf. Gen. 1:2). We don’t think in these terms because we lack the grounding in Scripture that’s needed to connect the dots. Let’s take a minute to look at the imagery behind the verses above, describing God “hovering” over Israel when Israel was constituted as a new social/legal/religious order in Exodus.

It is important to recognize that the Cloud was a theophany, a visible manifestation of the enthroned presence of God to His covenant people. Indeed, the Old Testament often uses the term Spirit as a synonym for the Cloud, ascribing the same functions to both (Neh. 9:19-20; Isa. 4:4-5; Joel 2:28-31; Hag. 2:5). The most revealing instance of this equation of God and the Cloud is where Moses describes God’s salvation of Israel in the wilderness in terms of an eagle hovering or fluttering over her young (Deut. 32:11). How did God “flutter” over Israel? Why does the Psalmist continually seek refuge in the shelter of God’s “wings” (e.g., Ps. 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 91:4)? Certainly, God Himself does not have wings. But His angels do—and the special revelation of God’s saving, judging and protecting presence was by the Glory-Cloud, which contains “many thousands of angels” (Ps. 68:17; cf. 2 Kings 6:17): “He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge…for He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways” (Ps. 91:4, 11).

Now, the fascinating thing about Moses’ statement in Deuteronomy 32:11—God’s “fluttering” over His people by means of the Cloud—is that Moses uses that Hebrew word only one other time in the entire Pentateuch, when he tells us that “the earth was without form, and void;…and the Spirit of God was moving upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2).

Nor is that the only parallel between these two passages; for in Deuteronomy 32:10 Moses describes the wilderness through which the people were traveling as a waste—the same word translated without form in Genesis 1:2 (and, again, these are the only two occurrences of the word in the Pentateuch). What Moses is saying, then—and this fact was surely understood by his Hebrew readers—is that God’s saving of His people through the Exodus was a re-enactment of the history of the Creation: In saving Israel God was constituting them a New Creation. As in the beginning, the Spirit-Cloud hovered over the creation, bringing light in the darkness (Gen. 1:3; Ex. 14:20; John 1:3-5), and leading on to the Sabbath-rest in the Promised Land, the New Eden (Gen. 2:2-3; cf. Deut. 12:9-10 and Ps. 95:11, where the land is called a rest).

Thus, God’s re-creation of His people in order to bring them into fellowship with Him in the Holy Mountain was witnessed by the same manifestation of His creative presence that was there at the original Creation in Genesis 1, when the Spirit gloriously arched His canopy over the earth. The bright radiance of the Cloud-canopy was also the basis for the sign of the rainbow that Noah saw on Mount Ararat, assuring him of the faithfulness of God’s covenant (Gen. 9:13-17). The glory of God’s Cloud-canopy, arched over a mountain, is a repeated sign in Scripture that God is with His people, creating them anew, restoring His handiwork to its original Edenic state, and bringing the creation forward to His appointed goal.

In the Exodus, as at the original creation, God divided light and darkness (Ex. 14:20), divided the waters from the waters to bring forth the dry land (Ex. 14:21-22), and planted His people in His holy mountain (Ex. 15:17). God’s miraculous formation of Israel was thus an image of Creation, a redemptive recapitulation of the making of heaven and earth. The Old Covenant order in Peter’s day, in which the entire world was organized around the central sanctuary of the Jerusalem Temple, could quite appropriately be described, before its final dissolution, as “the present heavens and earth.” We’ll see more of this below. For now, be aware of this theme of creation, de-creation, and re-creation.

7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Verses 7 and 10 mention the concept of a “Day of Judgment.” In verse 10 the concept is behind the word “works,” as Scripture frequently speaks of a “judgment of works.” In this section we will look at the nature of this judgment, and below under verse 10 we will look at the timing of that Day.

According to Peter’s second epistle, Christ and the apostles had warned that apostasy would accelerate toward the end of the “last days” (2 Pet. 3:2-4; cf. Jude 17-19)––the forty-year period between Christ’s ascension and the destruction of the Old Covenant Temple in A.D. 70.[3] He makes it clear that these latter-day “mockers” were Covenant apostates: familiar with Old Testament history and prophecy, they were Jews who had abandoned the Abrahamic Covenant by rejecting Christ. As Jesus had repeatedly warned (cf. Matt. 12:38-45; 16:1-4;23:29-39), upon this evil and perverse generation would come the great “Day of Judgment” foretold in the prophets, a “destruction of ungodly men” like that suffered by the wicked of Noah’s day (2 Pet.2:5-7).

Throughout His ministry Jesus drew this analogy between the Day of Judgment and the days of Noah (see Matthew 24:37-39 and Luke17:26-27). Just as God destroyed the “world” of the antediluvian era by the Flood, so would the “world” of first-century Israel be destroyed by fire in the fall of Jerusalem.

Peter describes this judgment as the destruction of “the present heavens and earth” (v. 7), making way for “new heavens and a new earth” (v. 10). Because of what may be called the “collapsing-universe” terminology used in this passage, many have mistakenly assumed that Peter is speaking of the final end of the physical heaven and earth, rather than the dissolution of the Old Covenant world order. The great seventeenth-century Puritan theologian John Owen[4] answered this view by referring to the Bible’s very characteristic metaphorical usage of the terms heavens and earth, as in Isaiah’s description of the Mosaic Covenant:

But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people (Isa. 51:15 -16).

John Owen writes:

The time when the work here mentioned, of planting the heavens, and laying the foundation of the earth, was performed by God, was when he “divided the sea” (Isa. 51:15), and gave the law (v. 16), and said to Zion, “Thou art my people”––that is, when he took the children of Israel out of Egypt, and formed them in the wilderness into a church and state. Then he planted the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth––made the new world; that is, brought forth order, and government, and beauty, from the confusion wherein before they were. This is the planting of the heavens, and laying the foundation of the earth in the world. And hence it is, that when mention is made of the destruction of a state and government, it is in that language that seems to set forth the end of the world. So Isaiah 34:4; which is yet but the destruction of the state of Edom. The like is also affirmed of the Roman empire, Revelation 6:14; which the Jews constantly affirmed to be intended by Edom in the prophets. And in our Saviour Christ’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, Matthew 24, he sets it out by expressions of the same importance. It is evident then, that, in the prophetical idiom and manner of speech, by “heavens” and “earth,” the civil and religious state and combination of men in the world, and the men of them, are often understood. So were the heavens and earth that world which was then destroyed by the flood.[5]

Another Old Testament text, among many that could be mentioned, is Jeremiah 4:23-31, which speaks of the imminent fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.) in similar language of de-creation:

I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light....For thus says the Lord, the whole land shall be a desolation,[6] yet I will not execute a complete destruction. For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark....

The Mosaic Economy The 19th-century expositor John Brown wrote:

A person at all familiar with the phraseology of the Old Testament scriptures knows that the dissolution of the Mosaic economy, and the establishment of the Christian, is often spoken of as the removing of the old earth and heavens, and the creation of a new earth and heavens....The period of the close of the one dispensation, and the commencement of the other, is spoken of as ‘the last days’ and ‘the end of the world’; and is described as such a shaking of the earth and heavens, as should lead to the removal of the things which were shaken (Hag. 2:6; Heb. 12:26-27).[7]

Therefore, says Owen,

On this foundation I affirm that the heavens and earth here intended in this prophecy of Peter, the coming of the Lord, the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, mentioned in the destruction of that heaven and earth, do all of them relate, not to the last and final judgment of the world, but to that utter desolation and destruction that was to be made of the Judaical church and state––i.e., the Fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.[8]

This interpretation is confirmed by Peter’s further information: In this imminent “Day of the Lord” which was about to come upon the first-century world “like a thief” (cf. Matt. 24:42-43; I Thess. 5:2; Rev.3:3), “the elements will be destroyed with intense heat” (v. 10; cf. v. 12).

10 and it will come –– the day of the Lord –– as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will pass away, and the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up.

11 All these, then, being dissolved, what kind of persons doth it behove you to be in holy behaviours and pious acts?

12 waiting for and hasting to the presence of the day of God, by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements with burning heat shall melt;

The word “elements” in this passage is remarkable. It helps us choose between the more popular understanding of the passage, and the preterist interpretation we are suggesting is more Biblical.

Elementary Principles What are these elements? So-called “literalists” lightly and carelessly assume that the apostle is speaking about physics, using the term to mean atoms (or perhaps subatomic particles), the actual physical components of the universe. What these “literalists” fail to recognize is that although the word “elements” (stoixeiÛa - stoicheia) is used several times in the New Testament, it is never used in connection with the physical universe! In this respect, the very misleading comments of the New Geneva Study Bible on this passage violate its own interpretive dictum that “Scripture interprets Scripture.” For possible meanings of this term, it cites pagan Greek philosophers and astrologers––but never the Bible’s own use of the term!

Study notes for II Peter 3:10 from the New Geneva Study Bible; and MacArthur Study Bible:

NGSB (p.1983) elements. Greek stoicheia, a term used for (a) the elements making up the world (according to the philosophers these were earth, air, fire, and water)...

MacArthur Study Bible (p.1959) the heavens will pass away with a great noise. The “heavens” refer to the physical universe. The “great noise” connotes whistling or a crackling sound as of objects being consumed by flames. God will incinerate the universe, probably in an atomic reaction that disintegrates all matter as we know it (vv.7, 11, 12, 13). the elements will melt with fervent heat. The “elements” are the atomic components into which matter is ultimately divisible, which make up the composition of all the created matter. Peter means that the atoms, neutrons, protons, and electrons are all going to disintegrate (v.11).

Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of New Testament Words (an authoritative text that John MacArthur undoubtedly uses [but not here]) observes that while in pagan literature the Greek word stoicheia is used in a number of different ways (referring to the “four elements” of the physical world, or to the “notes” on a musical scale, or to the “principles” of geometry or logic), the New Testament writers use the term “in a new way, describing the stoicheia as weak and beggarly. In a transferred sense, the stoicheia are the things on which pre-Christian existence rests, especially in pre-Christian religion. These things are impotent; they bring bondage instead of freedom.”[9]

Throughout the New Testament, the word “elements” (stoicheia) is always used in connection with the Old Covenant order. Paul used the term in his stinging rebuke to the Galatian Christians who were tempted to forsake the freedom of the New Covenant for an Old Covenant-style legalism. Describing Old Covenant rituals and ceremonies, he says “we were in bondage under the elements (stoicheia) of this world....How is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements (stoicheia), to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years...” (Gal. 4:3, 9-10). He warns the Colossians: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the basic principles (stoicheia) of the world, and not according to Christ....Therefore, if you died with Christ to the basic principles (stoicheia) of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations––‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle”’ (Col. 2:8,20-21).

The writer to the Hebrews chided them: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elements (stoicheia) of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (Heb. 5:12). In context, the writer to the Hebrews is clearly speaking of Old Covenant truths particularly since he connects it with the term oracles of God, an expression used elsewhere in the New Testament for the provisional, Old Covenant revelation (see Acts 7:38; Rom.3:2). These citations from Galatians, Colossians, and Hebrews comprise all the other occurrences in the New Testament of that word “elements” (stoicheia). Not one refers to the “elements” of the physical world or universe; all are speaking of the “elements” of the Old Covenant system, which, as the apostles wrote just before the approaching destruction of the Old Covenant Temple in A.D. 70, was “becoming obsolete and growing old” and “ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13).

Peter uses the same term in exactly the same way. Throughout the Greek New Testament, the word elements (stoicheia) always means ethics, not physics; the foundational “elements” of a religious system that was doomed to pass away in a fiery judgment.

The Time Factor In fact, Peter was quite specific about the fact that he was not referring to an event thousands of years in their future, but to something that was already taking place:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements (stoicheia) will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things are being dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements (stoicheia) are being melted with fervent heat? (2 Pet. 3:10-12)

Contrary to the misleading renderings of translators blinded by their presuppositions, Peter insists that the dissolution of “the present heaven and earth”––the Old Covenant system with its obligatory rituals and bloody sacrifices––was already beginning to occur: the “universe” of the Old Covenant was coming apart, never to be revived:

When did prophet and vision cease from Israel? Was it not when Christ came, the Holy one of holies? It is, in fact, a sign and notable proof of the coming of the Word that Jerusalem no longer stands, neither is prophet raised up, nor vision revealed among them. And it is natural that it should be so, for when He that was signified had come, what need was there any longer of any to signify Him? And when the Truth had come, what further need was there of the shadow?...And the kingdom of Jerusalem ceased at the same time, kings were to be anointed among them only until the Holy of holies had been anointed.[10]

Peter’s message, John Owen argues, is that:

...the heavens and earth that God himself planted––the sun, moon, and stars of the judaical polity and church––the whole old world of worship and worshippers, that stand out in their obstinacy against the Lord Christ––shall be sensibly dissolved and destroyed.[11]

The Judgment of Works

Verse 10 the elements with burning heat be dissolved, and earth and the works in it shall be burnt up.

The New Testament speaks of the “judgment of works” as something that was about to happen, in the lifetime of those then living, not something that would happen thousands of years in the future. The clearest verse is Matthew 16:27-28:

For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

This judgment is directly related to the “scoffers” who rejected the Gospel in Peter’s day:

2 Thessalonians 1:4-8 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is no textual reason to separate the Day of Judgment from the timing seen in the verses on the first four pages above.

1 Peter 4:5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Revelation 22:12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.

Romans 2:5-6 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
8 unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

This imminent judgment of works was to be by fire:

Luke 3:7-9 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? {8} Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. {9} And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Matthew 13: 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.

Hebrews 6:7-8 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

Hebrews 10:25-27 not forsaking the synagoguing of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which is about to consume the adversaries.

The burning of old dead works at the “end of the age” was a first-century event:

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Hebrews 9:26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

The fiery judgment is at the core of the distinction between the Old Covenant and inauguration of the New. It is the shaking of the old creation and the re-creation of a new heavens and earth:

Hebrews 12:18-24 18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

13 and for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise we do wait, in which righteousness doth dwell;

14 wherefore, beloved, these things waiting for, be diligent, spotless and unblameable, by Him to be found in peace,

Continuing his analysis, John Owen cites verse 13: “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” Owen asks: “What is that promise? Where may we find it?” Good question. Do you know the answer? Where in the Old Testament does God promise a New Heaven and Earth? Incidentally, this raises a wider, fascinating issue: When the New Testament quotes or cites an Old Testament text, it’s often a good idea to hunt down the original context, see what it meant in its original context, and then see the “spin” the New Testament writer places on it. (For example, Isaiah’s prophecy of a gigantic highway-construction project [Isa. 40:3-5] is not interpreted literally in the New Testament, but metaphorically, of the preaching ministry of John the Baptist [Luke 3:4-6]. And Isaiah’s prophecy of a “golden age” when the wolf dwells peaceably with the lamb [Isa. 11:1-10] is condensed and cited by Paul as a present fulfillment, in the New Covenant age [Rom. 15:12]!) But John Owen, this Puritan scholar, knows his Bible better than most of the rest of us, and he tells us exactly where the Old Testament foretells a “new heaven and earth”:

What is that promise? Where may we find it? Why, we have it in the very words and letter, Isaiah 65:17. Now, when shall this be that God will create these “new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”? Saith Peter, It shall be after the coming of the Lord, after that judgment and destruction of ungodly men, who obey not the gospel, that I foretell, But now it is evident, from this place of Isaiah, with chapter 66:21-22, that this is a prophecy of gospel times only; and that the planting of these new heavens is nothing but the creation of gospel ordinances, to endure forever. The same thing is so expressed in Hebrews 12:26-28.[12]

Owen is right on target, asking the question that so many expositors fail to ask: Where had God promised to bring “new heavens and a new earth”? The answer, as Owen correctly states, is only in Isaiah 65 and 66––passages which clearly prophesy the period of the Gospel, brought in by the work of Christ. According to Isaiah himself, this “New Creation” cannot possibly be the eternal state, since it contains birth and death, building and planting (65:20-23). The “new heavens and earth” promised to the Church comprise the age of the New Covenant––the Gospel’s triumph, when all mankind will come to bow down before the Lord (66: 22-23). John Bray writes: “This passage is a grand description of the gospel age after Christ came in judgment in 70 A.D. and took away the old heavens and the old earth. We now have the new heavens and the new earth of the gospel age.”[13] Peter’s encouragement to the Church of his day was to be patient, to wait for God’s judgment to destroy those who were persecuting the faith and impeding its progress. “The end of all things is at hand,” he had written earlier (I Pet. 4:7). John Brown commented:

“The end of all things” here is the entire end of the Jewish economy in the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the dispersal of the holy people. That was at hand; for this epistle seems to have been written a very short while before these events took place....It is quite plain that in our Lord’s predictions, the expressions “the end” and probably “the end of the world” are used in reference to the entire dissolution of the Jewish economy (cf. Matt.24:3, 6, 14, 34; Rom. 13:11-12; James 5:8-9).[14]

Once the Lord came to destroy the scaffolding of the Old Covenant structure, the New Covenant Temple would be left in its place, and the victorious march of the Church would be unstoppable. According to God’s predestined design, the world will be converted; the earth’s treasures will be brought into the City of God, as the Paradise Mandate (Gen. 1:27-28; Matt. 28:18-20) is consummated (Rev. 21:1-27).

This is why the apostles constantly affirmed that the age of consummation had already been implemented by the resurrection and ascension of Christ, who poured out the Holy Spirit. Paul, writing of the redeemed individual, says that “if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). John, recording his vision says the same thing: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth....The first things have passed away....Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:1-5). The writer to the Hebrews comforts his first-century readers with the assurance that they have already arrived at “the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22; cf. Gal. 26-28; Rev. 21). Even as the old “heaven and earth” were being shaken to rubble, the early Christians were “receiving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken,” the eternal Kingdom of God brought in by His Son (Heb. 12:26-28). Milton Terry wrote:

The language of 2 Pet. 3:10-12 is taken mainly from Isa. 34:4, and is limited to the parousia, like the language of Matt. 24:29. Then the Lord made “not only the land but also the heaven” to tremble (Heb. 12:26), and removed the things that were shaken in order to establish a kingdom which cannot be moved.[15]

It is crucial to note that the apostle continually points his readers’ attention, not to events that were to take place thousands of years in the future, but to events that were already beginning to take place. Otherwise, his closing words make no sense at all: “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless....You, therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness...” (2 Pet.3:14-17). If these things refer to a late-20th-century thermonuclear holocaust, why would the inspired apostle direct such a serious exhortation against “falling from steadfastness” to thousands of readers who would never live to see the things he foretold? A cardinal rule of Biblical interpretation is that Scripture must interpret Scripture; and, particularly, that the New Testament is God’s own inspired commentary on the meaning of the Old Testament.

Once the old had been swept away, Peter declared, the Age of Christ would be fully established, an era “in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). The distinguishing characteristic of the new era, in stark contrast to what preceded it, would be righteousness––increasing righteousness, as the Gospel would be set free in its mission to the nations. There have been many battles throughout Church history, of course, and many battles lie ahead. But these must not blind us to the very real progress that the Gospel has made and continues to make in the world. The New World Order of the Lord Jesus Christ has arrived; and, according to God’s own promise, the saving knowledge of Him will fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9).

So why hasn’t world peace and prosperity been handed to us on a silver platter, if this is the “New Heavens and New Earth?”

This is a good question, and it helps open up the meaning of the whole Bible, from cover to cover.

In the first creation in Genesis 1, God placed the first Adam in a Garden with the command to “exercise dominion over the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28), to turn the Garden into “the City of God.” The first Adam rebelled against God, and was sold into slavery to sin. A Redeemer was promised, and He came 4,000 years later.

Why didn’t God just send the Redeemer instantly, right there in the Garden of Eden? Why wait four millennia? Why put the human race through 4,000 years of slavery to sin, with all its terrible consequences? Here is part of the answer:

1 Corinthians 10:5-12 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”[Exodus 32:6] 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

God wanted a track record of sin, from which we could learn. Israel flunked many tests in those 4,000 years. There was a final test for Israel, and it’s found in the pages of the New Testament. Those who failed the test were destroyed in AD 70. Those who passed the test entered into the New Covenant, in which the Last Adam restores them to the fellowship and commission enjoyed by the first Adam in the Garden. We are now free to walk away from slavery to sin. Our relationship with God is restored and our “dominion mandate” is made possible. Augustine shows how Christianity was given the task of creating Christian civilization––“The City of God”––out of the darkness of pagan Rome. Several recent works have shown that Christianity created Western Civilization.[16] God did not simply hand western civilization to the world on a silver platter. Sanctification is not instantaneous. It took centuries to abolish hereditary monarchy after Israel had imported it from her pagan neighbors (1 Samuel 8). It took centuries to abolish slavery. It took centuries to reverse the curse and the effects of sin by inventing a vaccine for polio, and other medical advances. “We’ve only just begun,” or to quote Isaac Watt’s 1744 hymn:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,

How does Christ do this? As history shows (in the works in the footnote below), these advances were made primarily by Christians, exercising dominion and following Christ in works of love toward enemy and neighbor alike. Christ rules through His People.

Revelation 1:6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 5:10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

What would the results be if millions of Christians self-consciously conceived of themselves as living in the New Heavens/New Earth (Isaiah 65:17ff), obeying the command to see that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven, exercising dominion over the earth, and working to improve the world in every area of life––rather than waiting for a future “Second Coming?”

John Locke is well-known for his influence on the formation of the United States Constitution. He is less well-known for his commentaries on the books of Galatians, Ephesians, and other theological texts. He wrote the Constitution for Carolina, in which atheists were not allowed to hold any political office.

In his notes on Ephesians, he comments on this verse:

Ephesians 1:10
that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

Locke takes the position (along with others, though it is a minority view) that “heaven” signifies the Jews, and “earth” signifies the Gentiles. He says:

“That St. Paul should use ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ for Jews and Gentiles will not be thought so very strange if we consider that Daniel himself expresses the nation of the Jews by the name of ‘heaven’ (Dan. viii. 10).[17] Nor does he want an example of it in our Saviour Himself, who (Luke xxi. 26) by “powers of heaven” plainly signifies the great men of the Jewish nation.”

Luke’s passage (ch. 21) deserves greater inspection:

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. ²² For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. ²³ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. ²⁴ And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

²⁵ “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; ²⁶ men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

²⁹ Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. ³⁰ When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. ³¹ So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. ³² Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Locke concluded that this prophecy was about the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. Like Locke, Christians today should be drafting blueprints for nations, rather than waiting for an escape from their call to “exercise dominion” and “make disciples of all nations.”

Locke offers another interpretation (of which he is not as certain), with an exhortation to us (of which he is whole-heartedly assured):

Nor is this the only place in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians which will bear this interpretation of “heaven” and “earth.” He who shall read the first fifteen verses of chap. iii. and carefully weigh the expressions, and observe the drift of the apostle in them, will not find that he does manifest violence to St. Paul’s sense if he understand by “The family in heaven and earth” (ver. 15) the united body of Christians, made up of Jews and Gentiles, living still promiscuously among those two sorts of people who continued in their unbelief. However, this interpretation I am not positive in, but offer it as matter of inquiry to those who think an impartial search into the true meaning of the Sacred Scriptures the best employment of all the time they have.”

[1] Much of the following is taken from David Chilton, Paradise Restored, Tyler, Texas: Dominion Press, 1985.

[2] Harry Stout, The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England, Oxford University Press, 1986.

[3] For a defense of this position, see David Chilton’s Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion (Tyler, TX: Dominion Press, 1985), 112-22. The fact is that every time Scripture uses the term “last days” (and similar expressions) it means, not the end of the physical universe, but the period from AD 30 to AD 70––the period during which the Apostles were preaching and writing, the “last days” of Old Covenant Israel before it was forever destroyed in the destruction of the Temple (and consequently the annihilation of the Old Covenant sacrificial system). See Acts 2:16-21; I Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-9; Hebrews 1:1-2; 8:13; 9:26; James 5:7-9; I Peter 1:20;4:7; I John 2:18; Jude 17-19. See also Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: The Obsession of the Modern Church (Atlanta, GA: American Vision, 1993). Much of the following is taken from David Chilton, “Looking For New Heavens and a New Earth,” Biblical Worldview Magazine, September, 1996 (American Vision, 800-628-9460).

[4] J.I. Packer says of John Owen, “Owen was by common consent the weightiest Puritan theologian. Born in 1616, he entered Queen’s College, Oxford, at the age of twelve and secured his M.A. in 1635, when he was nineteen. In his early twenties, conviction of sin threw him into such turmoil that for three months he could scarcely utter a coherent word on anything; but slowly he learned to trust Christ, and so found peace. In 1637 he became a pastor; in the 1640s he was chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and in 1651 he was made Dean of Christ Church, Oxford’s largest college. In 1652 he was given the additional post of Vice-Chancellor of the University, which he then reorganized with conspicuous success. After 1660 he led the Independents through the bitter years of persecution till his death in 1683.”

To read John Owen is to enter a rare world. Whenever I return to one of his works I find myself asking “Why do I spend time reading lesser literature?”
—Sinclair B. Ferguson

John Owen’s treatises on Indwelling Sin in Believers and The Mortification of Sin are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written.
—Jerry Bridges

I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern; and I owe more to [The Mortification of Sin] than to anything else he wrote.
—J.I. Packer

[5] John Owen, “Providential Changes, An Argument for Universal Holiness,” in William H. Goold, ed., The Works of John Owen, 16 vols. (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1965-68),9:134.

[6] referring to the curse of Lev.26:31-33; see its fulfillment in Matt.24:15!

[7] John Brown, Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, [1852] 1990), 1:171-72.

[8] Brown, Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord ,1:171-72.

[9] Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (abridged in one volume), Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 1088.

[10] Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word of God (New York: Macmillan, 1946), [40] 61-62.8. Owen, “Providential Changes, An Argument for Universal Holiness,” 9: 135.

[11] Owen, “Providential Changes, An Argument for Universal Holiness,” 9: 135.

[12] “Providential Changes, an Argument for Universal Holiness,” 134-35.

[13] John L. Bray, Heaven and Earth Shall Pass Away (Lakeland, FL: John L. Bray Ministries,1995), 26.

[14] Quoted in Roderick Campbell, Israel and the New Covenant (Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1954), 107.

[15] Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics, 489.

[16] Thomas E. Woods Jr., How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, Regnery Publishing, Inc. 2005.

Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries, HarperCollins, 1997.

Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, Random House, 2006.

Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, … and the End of Slavery, Princeton University Press, 2004.

For useful summaries of the issues raised by Woods and Stark, though written before them, see: D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, What If the Bible had Never Been Written?, Thomas Nelson, 1998 and What If Jesus had Never Been Born?, Thomas Nelson, 1994.

[17] Daniel 8:9-11

And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.

The Sun, Moon, and Stars

Observations on the Text of 2 Peter 3

verse 3: “Scoffers”

The Great Apostasy

The Great Apostasy

verse 3: “The Last Days”

verses 4-6: Creation, De-Creation, and Re-Creation

“The Day of Judgment” of
The Old “Heavens and Earth”

The Judgment of Works

The New Heavens and the New Earth

The Sun, Moon, and Stars

Observations on the Text of 2 Peter 3

verse 3: “Scoffers”

The Great Apostasy

The Great Apostasy

verse 3: “The Last Days”

verses 4-6: Creation, De-Creation, and Re-Creation

“The Day of Judgment” of The Old “Heavens and Earth”

The Judgment of Works

The New Heavens and the New Earth

“The Day of Judgment” of
The Old “Heavens and Earth”