I have been commenting on the meaning of Peter’s words in 2Peter 3:7 for the past several studies, and I intend to continue to do so in this one. Peter uses two words in order to support the idea that ‘heaven and earth’ refer to the Jewish or the Old Covenant age. Notice that he says “…the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (emphasis mine). I want to consider the words stored up and reserved in order to understand more accurately what Peter is telling us.
The first word Peter uses is stored up (G2343—thesaurizo), from which we get our word treasure. It means, according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon: “to gather and lay up, to heap up, store up; to store up riches…” Peter’s second word under consideration is reserved (G5083—tereo), and it means: “to attend to carefully, take care of… guard… reserve.” In other words, in the context of 2Peter chapter three, Peter is expressing the idea that God had “stored up” judgment against “the heavens that now are and the earth” of Peter’s generation, and, not only had God “stored up” his judgment, but he had been particularly careful about it. In other words, God had been very mindful of what was in his storehouse, guarding its contents for justice sake until the last days. But, from where did Peter get his information?
He gets it from Deuteronomy 32, which is the Song of Moses. It is a song about Israel’s last days. The context is that Moses was about to die (Deuteronomy 31:14), and in an earlier study I had shown that Moses was the beginning of creation (the nation of Israel; cf. 2Peter 3:4). So, as Moses is fading away he speaks of the fading away of Israel in the last days. He gathered the people together to say that after his death they would become utterly corrupt in the latter days of the nation (Deuteronomy 31:29; 32:29). Notice how Moses describes that time:
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah: Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of asps. Is not this laid up in store with me, Sealed up among my treasures (Peter’s two words: stored up and reserved are taken from here)? Vengeance is mine, and recompense, At the time when their foot shall slide: For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste. For Jehovah will judge his people, And repent himself for his servants; When he seeth that their power is gone, And there is none remaining, shut up or left at large. [Deuteronomy 32:32-36 – parenthesis and emphasis mine]
From this citation we find out to whom Peter was referring (the Jewish nation) and why they would be judged, and that this would occur in their last days. Both John the Baptist and Jesus also referred to the leaders of the Jews as poisonous serpents / vipers (Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33), and Moses interprets why they were so described. It was because Israel was supposed to be God’s vine, but that vine had become so utterly corrupt that its wine (teaching) was poisonous. Notice that Jesus claimed that the Jewish leaders were to fill up the cup of their fathers who killed the prophets (Matthew 23:31-32), and to that generation of Jews he would also send wise men and scribes, whom they would crucify, beat in their synagogues and persecute from city to city. Thus, their very deed would prove they were nothing more than a generation of vipers, and upon them (i.e. that generation) would fall the judgment of all the blood of all the righteous in history (Matthew 23:33-36).
So according to the Song of Moses, from which both John and Jesus had been quoting, the day of their (Israel’s) calamity would befall them in their last days, and at that time their judgment would be at hand or near (Deuteronomy 32:35). John claimed that the ax was already at the root of the tree (Matthew 3:10), and Jesus said it would befall that generation who rejected him (Matthew 23:36). Therefore, Peter’s mention that “the heavens and earth” of his day being stored up and reserved for fire… is nothing more that the prophesied judgment upon the Jews in their latter days. It is not a reference to the destruction of the universe, nor can it be, according to God’s word.
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