SINCE THE WORLD IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED BY FIRE …

 

If you knew, really knew with certainty, what was going to happen to the whole world in the days ahead, would it alter your behavior now?

THE DAY OF THE LORD

The Apostle Peter, and his friend Paul, both speak of a coming, final day for this world. It will be sudden and inescapable, just as it was in the days of Noah, and will bring a complete destruction of all that we know of this present world in preparation for a “new heavens and new earth.” Peter sums it up precisely in two sentences.

But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. (2 Pe 3:7)

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.  (2 Pe 3:10)

Peter doesn’t debate this issue. As God’s spokesman, writing His word for all people for all time, Peter announces it. You can debate it if you desire, but men’s debates have never changed the settled prophecies of God found in His Word. Never.

Without spending time interpreting these passages, we should understand this: the Day of the Lord is coming. The whole earth will be judged and cleansed by fire. Just as it was destroyed and covered by water in Noah’s day, it will be destroyed and cleansed by fire on the Day of the Lord.

All the “works will be burned up.” Think of this. Everything that man has built and developed, every building and city and monument and government. Fort Knox will be burned up as will the tallest buildings, the greatest universities and hospitals and institutions and businesses. Things people spent their lives to develop and were centuries in the making. All will be completely “destroyed with intense heat.”

This is a day of “judgment and destruction of ungodly men,” and is preparing the way for the final new world to descend from heaven “like a bride adorned for her husband.” This will be a new world of complete righteousness, untouched forever by any hint of sin. Satan and all his hosts will be banished to eternal hell, and the new heavens and new earth will be where God lives with His redeemed people and angels for all eternity. (You can read about its glorious beauty and holy government in Revelation 21-22).

The only thing delaying this final act by God is His patience. For He desires "all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth," to be ready for this day. His delay could be for you.

SO WHAT?

But God, through the Apostle, does as He always does as we live our lives day by day. He takes the thought of the future and applies it to our present.

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, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.  (2 Pe 3:11–14).

If we believed that this present world was going to be completely burned up, we would not live to gain its riches. Instead, if it were possible (and it is), we would store up treasures for the new kingdom through godly living, serving the Lord and others with generosity and love.

This doesn’t mean that we sit idle. That we put on a robe and live on a mountaintop. We build things (it’s part of our preparation for heaven); we do important work; we labor diligently, but we do it all with eternity in mind. We serve and rule over the sphere of the earth that God has allotted to us individually, but as we do, we seek for God’s “kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We pay attention to the will of God and the lives of men and women, boys and girls. And, in everything we do, we live “in peace, spotless and blameless.”

Most importantly, we would seek to tell everyone we meet about the future that awaits us all and the good news that we can be forgiven and prepared for eternity. This would "hasten the coming of the Lord" as Peter says, for God is leaving the door open during this age by His kindness and patience.

And we realize that every righteous act here will have dividends there. Jesus Himself promised this!

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.” (Mt 6:19–20)

Live fully today for tomorrow. A glorious day is coming for all those who have believed in Christ and who know and love Him. Everything will be made right. Full justice will be rightly administered in every dimension, and full rewards will be given to those who have walked with Him. And the free offer is there for anyone who believes to experience the best of this.

Don’t doubt it. Don’t waste time debating it. Just live today in light of its reality.