In this present series of studies, I am considering Jesus’ challenge in John 10:37-38, namely, “if I don’t do the works the Father had sent me to do, don’t believe me” – i.e. don’t believe my words, unless I do the things I say I’ll do! In this context, how should we understand Peter’s words: “the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2Peter 3:7). Peter, is clearly expressing in his own words what Jesus told him and other disciple in the Olivet Discourse: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away!” (Matthew 24:35), and don’t forget, Jesus also claimed: “This generation will not pass until all these things are fulfilled” (Matthew 24:34), i.e. the generation which rejected Christ and crucified him. So, did heaven and earth pass away, and if so, how, since the earth and the stars etc. still exist.
First of all, we need to keep in mind that Peter not only wrote to the same folks in both his epistles (1Peter 1:1; 2Peter 3:1), but he is also saying the same things, namely, Jesus was coming soon (1Peter 1:7, 13), and he was ready to judge those with whom he had a covenant relationship (1Peter 4:5, 17). He made a new covenant with those who believed him, but he also had a covenant relationship with those who rejected him (cp. John 1:11). The problem for believers today, however, is we’ve inherited our manner of thinking from the Greeks, but the Jews often used non-literal picturesque language. Peter simply stated the facts about the coming of Jesus in his first epistle, but in 2Peter 3 he used apocalyptic language, that is, he used figurative or picturesque, non-literal, language. Folks have no problem understanding Peter’s first epistle in terms of Jesus coming was expected in the first century AD. Most Christians don’t believe it, but they have no trouble understanding Peter’s clear speech as recorded in his epistle. His second epistle is another story entirely. Most Christians take Peter’s words literally, and believe him in a literal context that the universe and the space / time continuum would end.
So, rather than using the clear language of Peter’s first epistle to put the picturesque language in his second in its proper context, most Christians do the opposite. They literalize Peter’s picturesque language of chapter three of his first epistle and force the otherwise clear language of his first epistle to agree with their conception of a coming end of the space / time continuum. If it is wrong to do this, how, then, should Peter’s words be understood?
“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men… But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:7, 10).
In a previous study I showed that the scoffers described the Mosaic Covenant as a creation of God in the same manner in which Paul describes the New Covenant as a new creation. We have the physical creation in Adam and the covenantal creation whereby the Lord created a people for himself under the Mosaic Covenant (Romans 5:14), and in addition to these we have the new creation in Christ (2Corinthians 5:17). In Adam we have a Garden where uninterrupted fellowship with the Lord existed. After the rebellion, however, Adam was cast out of the Garden and dwelt in Eden. When Cain murdered his brother he left Eden to go elsewhere. In Moses we have the replica of the first creation. Moses made a Tabernacle, which had a Most Holy Place, where God dwelt, but there was a veil that prevented man from entering (cp. Genesis 22-24). Instead, he dwelt in the Holy Place and outside in the outer precincts of the Tabernacle / Temple. Beyond this was the world of the nations. Under the New Covenant we dwell in Christ, who continually sits in heavenly places at the right hand of God (cp. Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1-3), namely, in heaven, in the Most Holy Place.
Heaven is the place where the Lord dwells, and earth is where man lives. In the Temple / Tabernacle we have a covenantal place where heaven and earth come together. In this context, if the Temple were to be destroyed, one would destroy “heaven and earth” (cp. Matthew 24:35; 2Peter 3:7, 10). Did Jesus come in 70 AD and destroy Jerusalem and the Temple? If he did, Jesus came and destroyed heaven and earth. Thus, according to his own challenge in John 10:37-38, we can believe his words (Matthew 24:35), because he did what he said he would do, and he did it before that first century generation passed away (Matthew 16:27-28; 24:34).
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