Lesson 16 The New Heavens and New Earth

                        The New Heavens and New Earth

                                    Revelation 21:1;  2 Peter 3

Revelation chapter 21 begins with John saying, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea” (Rev.21:1).

The Holy Spirit began the Scriptures in Genesis, the book of beginnings, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen.1:1). It is therefore fitting that He would choose to close the book of Revelation of Jesus Christ, the book of the consummation of all things having begun, with visions of the new regenerated heavens and earth.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is divided into three parts. John was to write of the things which he “had seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev.1:19). The visions of John concerning the things which shall be hereafter took us to the time of the Great Tribulation, which ended with the War of the Great Day of God Almighty with the kingdom of this world becoming of our God and His Christ, His Anointed Son (Rev.11:15; 16:13-16).

Beginning in chapter 6 of the Revelation, John saw visions of all enemies having been destroyed and the cleansing of the heavens and the earth for the regeneration (Rev.6:12-17; 16:17-21; 19:17-21). The visions of Revelation 20 showed John God’s purposes and final dealing with His old adversary, the serpent, called the Devil and Satan, who became a great fiery Dragon (see Rev.12:3, 9). Then to the end of the 1,000 year Kingdom reign to the one final judgment of retributive justice of each man receiving the end of his own works and the sentencing of the dead to the Lake of Fire.

Not willing to leave the Revelation of Jesus Christ on such a dark note, the visions returned to the new heavens and the new earth of the regeneration. In the beginning in Genesis, all began in darkness and chaos. God brought light into darkness and He separated the light from the darkness. God then brought order out of chaos, and He saw all was very good (Gen.1:2-31).

In the regeneration of the new heavens and new earth God again will bring light into the darkness of this world and He will bring order out of chaos. The world system of the evil one will have been destroyed and all nations will be under the one jurisdiction of the Shepherd King, with His son David as His representative sitting on the throne in Jerusalem on earth (see Ezek.37:24-28).

Many of the Old Testament prophecies foretell of this yet future time. They cover both the judgment and the destruction of the Great Tribulation and follow with the glory of the Kingdom Age. We will look at just a few.

In Psalm 102 the psalmist tells us: “Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They shall perish, but You shall endure. Yea, all of them shall become old like a garment. Like a vesture You shall change them, and they shall be changed, but You are the same, and Your years have no end” (vv25-27).

The prophecy of Isaiah 13 takes us far beyond the destruction of Babylon by the Medes in Daniel’s day to the destruction of the future Babylon described in the Revelation of Jesus Christ (see also Dan.5:17-31). Speaking of this future time Isaiah says, “Behold, the Day of the Lord comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and He shall destroy the sinners out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. And I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible” ... “Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of its place, in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger” (Is.13:9-11, 13).  Isaiah 14 follows with Israel restored to her land and the total defeat and destruction of both Lucifer [Satan] and the enemy nations of God’s people Israel.

Isaiah 24 has been called “The Little Apocalypse” as it is a picture of the future distress of the Great Tribulation, and not just on the inhabitants, but on the earth itself because of the defilement of the earth-dwellers, “because they have transgressed God’s laws, changed His ordinance and broken the Everlasting Covenant” (v5).  Isaiah prophesied, In that day when the Lord punishes the kings of the earth, the windows from on high shall be opened and the foundations of the earth shaken. “The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is thoroughly dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a booth, and the transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fail, and not rise again” ... “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously” (vv18-20, 23).) This is followed in chapter 25 by the triumph of the Kingdom Age.

Another prophecy from Isaiah 26: “For, behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain” (Is.26:21; see Rev.6:9-11; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2). Here also is the prophecy of the destruction, which is followed by a prophecy of a restored Israel (Is.27).

In chapter 34 Isaiah declares,  “For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and fury upon all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stench shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll. And all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and like a falling fig from the fig tree” (Is.34:2-4; see rest of chapter; Rev.19:17-19). Isaiah 35 follows with the prophecy of the Kingdom blessing.

In chapter 51 Isaiah begins with exhorting the future remnant of the Great Tribulation. “Hearken unto Me, My people, and give ear unto Me, O My nation. For a Law shall proceed from Me, and I will make My justice to rest for a light of the peoples. My righteousness is near. My salvation is gone forth, and My arms shall judge the peoples. The isles shall wait upon Me, and on My arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner, but My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished” (Is.51:4-6). In chapter 52 is the vision of the glorious Kingdom Age which follows the great time of trouble (see Jer.30:2-9).

And Joel’s prophecy of the future Day of the Lord is very clear. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible [awesome] Day of the Lord comes” (Joel 2:30-31). The day of the display of His power - when Jesus comes in power and great glory, when there will be great deliverance for His nation and the remnant brought back to Jerusalem for the 1,000 year reign of the Kingdom Age, with Israel as the head nation (Joel 2:32-3:1; see Deut.7:6; 26:18-19; 28:1, 13; Zeph.3:15-20).

Joel then goes on to prophesy of the War of the Great day of God Almighty with the armies gathered in the Valley of Jehoshaphat [“Jehovah judges”] (Joel 3:2-17). “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the sons of Israel. So shall you know that I am the Lord, your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there no strangers shall pass through her anymore” (vv14-17). Joel also ends with the full Kingdom blessing of Messiah’s reign.

Even the Gentile Job, who is thought to be a contemporary of Abraham, spoke of the heavens being no more and of that taking place at the time of the resurrection of the righteous when the bodies of the righteous awake from their sleep of death to be raised up (Job 14:12; see Job 19:25-26).

The shaking of the heavens are a constant accompaniment of the Lord’s awakening His people to the judgment and its purpose. The terrible agitation of the heavens and the earth in the Day of the Lord [Jehovah] are to be identified with the invisible winds - the powers of heaven directing the judgment. Out of the burning cleansing fire comes a new heaven and a new earth with all things made new. The former heavens and earth are passed away. The cleansing fire is what causes the former things to pass away.

In the New Testament the apostle Peter wrote of the new heavens and the new earth in his second epistle. Peter’s first epistle was written to the sojourners who were scattered throughout Gentile nations in the dispersion of the early church through persecution. In Acts 8 we read of the first scattering abroad of the church in Jerusalem through the regions of Judea and Samaria (Ac.8:1).

Peter addresses his second epistle to those who have attained like precious faith with the apostles through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ (2 Pet.1:1). The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom.1:16-17).

In chapter 3 of this second letter  Peter gives the purpose of his writing to those having attained like precious faith. Having obtained the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, each one is looking forward to the coming of Jesus to take them home. This world is not their home. They are simply passing the time of their sojourn here, occupying for Christ until He comes.

“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken by the holy prophets, and the command of the Lord and Savior by us apostles” (2 Pet.3:1-2).

Peter is writing to stir them up, to cause them to remember to keep in mind the words that were before spoken by the holy prophets, the holy men of old, men of God who spoke as they were moved [inspired] by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet.1:19-21). As the prophets of old spoke for Jehovah, the apostles spoke for Jesus. The Holy Spirit would also use Peter’s epistle to stir up all who have obtained like precious faith down through the Church Age to remember to keep in mind the words spoken by the holy prophets.

The holy men of old were searching diligently what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, who was in them was signifying, and they were enquiring into the grace that would come to those living and having believed into Christ, the Anointed Son of God, after Jesus had been birthed and suffered and been glorified in being raised out from the dead. The holy men understood that the happenings of the things being revealed to them through the Holy Spirit would be significant to those living in the last days (see 1 Pet.1:10-12).

The holy men of old were men of God who were serving God, not for themselves. They served God, that we might have the fruit of their labor and understand beforehand how the Eternal Covenant of God would be consummated. They themselves would be dead and buried and in Sheol [Hades] awaiting the resurrection, when they would be raised out from the dead to inherit the earthly Kingdom of Messiah (see Rev.20:4-6; Gen.15:8-18; Job 19:25-26; Dan.12:13; Heb.11:39-40).

Those in the last days would have the sure Word of God, the Son Himself, of whom the prophets were foretelling (Heb.1:1). We, living in the end times, must keep fully awake to the prophecies of the holy men of old, that we have a pure mind, that we have understanding to see things intelligibly and clearly, that we not mistake what God is doing. Through the Spirit of God in us, we too have the discernment of clear judgment with the facts of the prophecies foretold for us (see Jn.14:16-26; 15:26-27; 16:7-15; Rom.8:9-11; 1 Cor.2:9-13). Peter would wake us up and cause us to keep in mind and not forget the Old Testament prophecies concerning God’s Anointed Son Jesus, and of the command the Lord and Savior shared with us by the apostles.

The ones who share the faith of the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ heard of Jesus’ command from the apostles. We have Jesus’ command in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, the parallel Gospels. Matthew wrote, “You shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Mt.24:6).

“There shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” ... “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then  shall appear the Son of Man in heaven” (Mt.24:21, 29-30a; see Mk.13:24-26; Lk.21:25-28).

“Watch, therefore” - stay awake - “for you do not know what hour your Lord comes. But know this, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes” (Mt.24:42-44; see also Mk.13:32-37;  Lk.21:34-36).  Jesus was referring to His coming out of heaven as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Peter exhorts his readers to stay awake to the clear understanding of these facts discerned for them by the holy prophets and by Jesus Himself, as witnessed through His apostles. Peter introduced his subject of the Second Coming of the Lord and the new heavens and the new earth with exhorting his readers to remember the prophesies spoken by the holy prophets and by the Lord Jesus Himself and as witnessed then by His apostles and the Gospel records.

Then, before he goes into his subject, Peter wrote, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,” that is, after the way they desire things to be, and asking, “‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’ For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Pet.3:3-6).

As Peter also is writing for those living in that future day as well as his own time, he warns of the scoffers walking after their own lusts [strong desires]. We live in the last days and we see the scoffers walking, conducting themselves according to what they desire life on earth to be, and doing what they think to be right in their own eyes. They have no desire for Christ Jesus to return to earth and interfere in the affairs of men.

Since the prophets have all died and their prophecies have not come to pass, the scoffers mock the fulfillment of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The scoffers are blinded by their own lusts of the flesh and of the mind. Therefore the truth is hidden from them. In the Greek verse 5 of 2 Peter 3 reads, “For this is hidden from them by their willing it so.”

It is hidden from the scoffers that the heavens were of old and the earth, by water and through water, were being held together by the word of God, through which the world which then was being flooded by water perished.

The truth as prophesied by holy men of old is hidden from the scoffers. They willfully choose to not believe the word of God to see in their understanding what God is making known through His prophets. All things have not continued as they were. Moses, the prophet that there was none like in all Israel, wrote of the great Flood which was foretold and which did come to pass (see Gen.6:1-9:11; Deut.34:10). The earth which was of old, the earth which in the beginning was standing in the waters, and without form and uninhabited, was brought out of the waters and formed and brought forth vegetation for food, became inhabited by mankind (Gen.1:9-13).

When mankind had corrupted his way upon earth and filled the earth with violence, the Lord God interfered in the affairs of man and opened the windows of heaven and the fountains of the deep waters below the earth, and again overflowed the earth with water and washed the corruption off the face of His earth, and that world perished (Gen.7:11-24). The scoffers are ignorant of this because they willfully choose to not believe Moses’ record.

The heavens and earth which are now are the same heavens and earth after the waters had receded from off the face of the earth after the Flood for a new beginning. “The heavens and the earth which are now,” which we inhabit are, “by the same word,” the word of God which pronounced the judgment of the Flood, “are storing up the judgment” of the wrath of God “and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Pet.3:7). The earth is again being corrupted and violence is again filling the earth.

The heavens and the earth which are now, are reserved for the judgment of fire. The holy prophets and Jesus Himself have made this clear and His apostles are witnesses of the words of Jesus. The Day of judgment by fire and the destruction of ungodly men has been foretold. It will come to pass.

“But let not this one thing be hidden from you, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet.3:8; see Ps.90:4). Beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing. Do not let it be hidden from you because you willfully desire it to not be so. God’s Day is coming. God’s Kingdom will come. His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

To the Hebrew mind, Jehovah God ordered His creation in six days and rested on the seventh day. He would also accomplish His work of redemption in six days and the seventh day would be the Kingdom Rest. The days of the redemption work would be days of 1,000 years and the last 1,000 years the Day of righteousness and peace under the rule of the King of kings and Lord of lords, so the rabbis teach. They understand this from the Law as given by Moses concerning the sabbath rest (see Ex.16:23-26; 20:8-11; 31:12-17; see also Ezek.43:25-27).

We can see the picture of the Jews’ teaching of the six days of man’s redemption. The six days of 1,000 years each are linked in pairs:

2,000 years from Adam to Abraham

2,000 years from Abraham to Christ Jesus

2,000 years of Christ’s Day

1,000 years, God’s Day, Kingdom Rest

From Adam to Abraham, the Lord God made Himself known to individuals of mankind, born of the seed of man, of the flesh, earthy, bearing the image of the earthy.

The old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, has been permitted to enter into contest with the Covenant Son to have the kingdom of this world for himself. To do this he created his own world system of politics, economics and religion. The Devil’s world system is a deception, built on lies. But the world system of politics, economics and religion furnishes man an alternative choice to the truth. Through the truth the living and true God makes Himself known in His Covenant plan of hope of life everlasting (see 2 Tim.1:9-10; Tit.1:2).

Satan is allowed his will to think that he can be like the Most High God (see Is.14:12-17). Man has freedom of choice to believe the lies of this world, and think that he too can be like God and rule over his own life and know good and evil for himself and chart his own destiny.

The issue is obedience to the truth to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, and be raised up out from the dead to live forever in the Kingdom of God as a son of God. It is a matter of life everlasting or death, which will leave one without a body and unclothed forever. Each man in any age makes his own choice. He buys the truth of the righteousness of God through faith in God’s Anointed Son Jesus, born of a virgin, or the lie, you can be like God.

The battle is for the mind (see Prov.4:23). Whatsoever a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Prov.23:7). No one is coerced. Each one makes his own choice. And the old serpent was forewarned of the final destiny of the Lake of Fire. This issue will continue on down through the six days of redemption and into the Kingdom Rest.

In the next pair of days, from Abraham to Christ, on the third day, God began a new thing. He called out one man, Abram, and began to build a nation as a people for His Covenant Son. The Lord began the work of His nation through one man and his family. He began by giving Abram a son through his barren wife, Sarah. The son was promised a long time before he was given through a supernatural conception (see Gen.12:4; 17:15-18:14; 21:1-7; Rom.4:13-24; Heb.11:8-12). God Himself named him Isaac, “he shall laugh” (Gen.17:19).

Before the birth of Isaac, God came to Abram in a vision as El Shaddai, the Almighty God, and assured Abram that between Himself and Abram, He would bring forth His Covenant as declared in the heavens. He changed Abram’s name from Abram, “father is exalted,” to Abraham, “father of a multitude” (see Gen.17:1-22).

Through the next 2,000 years the Lord continued to multiply the natural seed of Abraham and build His nation of a Covenant people for His anointed Son, who would be coming through the line of King David, a man after God’s own heart (see 2 Sam.7:12-16; Lk.1:26-33; Ac.13:22-23).

During that 2,000 years Satan continued to build Gentile kingdoms and world empires to take over the world before the coming Son could be born of the nation of Israel. Satan had his world rulers of darkness through whom he worked.

Mankind continued making a choice individually between the darkness of this world and the light of the truth of the knowledge of the glory of God as declared by the heavens and by the prophets, the holy men of old, and by the Law of the Offerings, all of which are figures of the true Anointed Son of God, who is God become flesh (see Jn.1:1-14; 5:39; Heb.8:1-10:1). God’s nation Israel was shut up under the Law to preserve the truth (Rom.9:4-5; Gal.3:23-24).

In the fullness of time God did send His Son, become of a woman (Gal.4:4). Jesus came into being of His own nation (Jn.1:11; Mt.1:18-23). He was born of a virgin of the seed of Abraham and the seed of David (Lk.1:26-35). The world rulers of darkness delivered Him up to be crucified, not realizing that Jesus’ death would be the victory over the sin and death of man. On the third day, as prophesied, God raised Jesus up out from the dead (see Lk.24:13-21; Ac.2:22-36; Rom.1:2-4; 1 Cor.15:3-4).

Here was another new beginning of a Body with many members, a Body of sons of God, born of God, born from above through having become the righteousness of God through faith in God’s Anointed Son, Jesus. The members of the Body of Christ began to be called Christians, “Christ-ones,” “little anointed ones” first in Antioch (Ac.11:26).

Satan was  allowed to continue building his world city into a global community. Mankind  would , each one, continue to choose the way he would go. For her great sin of rejecting her Savior and King, the Covenant people of Israel must be set aside (Rom.11:25). Her capital city, Jerusalem, must be looted and burned and destroyed (see Mt.23:37-24:2). Her people must be scattered until the Times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled (see Lk.21:20-24). At the end of the two days she would be forgiven and regathered to her land.

Hosea prophesied, “Come, and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn, and He will heal us. He has smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us [bring us back to life]. In the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight” (Hos.6:1-2; see Ezek.34:11-13, 23-31; Jn.10:11-18).

The last two days of 1,000 years each is Christ’s Day. He is building a Kingdom of priests to be seated with Him in the heavenlies. Each one has been loosed from sin in the blood of Christ and is born from above with hope of life everlasting (Rev.1:5-6). The gospel of the finished work of Christ has gone out to the ends of the earth. Jew and Gentile are invited to believe into Jesus and unite themselves together with Him, that they might share His life of resurrection (see Rom.6:3-10; Eph.2:4-22). We live at the end of these days.

Satan is still permitted to build his global empire through world rulers of darkness. Man is yet permitted to go the way he so chooses.

Christ’s Day will end in the victory of the fiery cleansing of the heavens and the earth, a regeneration of the heavens and earth initiated and created by the One who made them. All will be made ready for the inheritance of the Anointed Son. All clean and new for another new beginning of the last 1,000 year Kingdom Rest of righteousness and peace. Peter wants us to keep these things in mind, that they not be hidden for us. They were written for admonition - for our learning. Through God showing us His ways, we know Him as He is.

The timing is set. Peter says, “The Lord is not slack as some count slackness, but He is long-suffering toward us [His creation], not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet.3:9; see also Ezek.18:23; 33:11; Ac.10:34-43).

Though the scoffers do not desire it to be so, “the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and its works burned up. Seeing then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God, in which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness” (2 Pet.3:10-13).

The apostle Peter, who was personally taught by his Master, the Lord Jesus, connects the new heavens and the new earth with the passing away of the former to the “Day of the Lord [Jehovah],” and to Jesus as coming as “a thief in the night.” This Peter learned from Jesus the evening they were on the Mount of Olives and the disciples asked Jesus when would be the end of the age and what would be the sign of His return (see Mt.24:1-42).

The apostle Paul, who was also personally taught by the glorified Lord Jesus for three years in Arabia, wrote to the assembly in Thessalonica, “But of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of the light, and sons of the day. We are not of the night, nor darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others, but let us watch and be sober-minded. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that are drunk are drunk in the night. But let us who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him” (1 Thess.5:1-10).

In our study in Revelation, we have seen Jesus as coming as a thief in the night is connected with the War of the Great Day of God Almighty and the battle of Armageddon (Rev.16:15-16). Also, when John recorded the opening of the sixth seal of the scroll, he prophesied of the heavens departing as a scroll when it is rolled together (Rev.6:12-14).

God created the elements of the heavens. He stretched them around the earth and He fastened them together as a firmament to divide the waters above from the waters below (Gen.1:6-8; Jer.10:12-13; 51:15-16). All cohere and are held together by the Creator (see Col.1:15-17; Heb.1:1-3). In the cleansing fire they will be loosed, but not forever. Just through the cleansing.

The Greek word for “dissolved” in 2 Peter 3:11 has the meaning “to loose something fastened.” The “elements,” the basic parts or components of the heavens, verse 10, is in the plural. Having been put on fire, they will melt, but all is under the control of the Almighty God who created them and who will oversee the baptism of fire for the cleansing of the heavens from the works of man and for the regeneration of the heavens for a new beginning in the Kingdom of the Anointed Son and Heir to all things, which He will have subdued unto Himself (see 1 Cor.15:28; Phil.3:21).

Peter spoke also of the burning of the earth. The earth too will burn and the works in it - man’s works. We read of this in Revelation 18 with the destruction of the great city of Babylon. Babylon the Great, the virtual world city of politics, economic and religion will all burn up, destroyed from off God’s earth in preparation for the new regenerate earth for the Kingdom Age. Having been cleansed and made new, the earth will have been prepared, that the Lord might multiply His sons of men and fill His earth with sons of God to inherit and reign with their King-Priest.

In speaking of the time of His return, Jesus said, “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven” (Mt.24:29-30a).

The heavens rolled up like a scroll, the shaking of the heavens, causing showers of falling stars, and the great cloud caused by nuclear power will obscure the sun to the earth-dwellers. This will also have its effect on the moon. Jesus did not say the sun would pass away. He spoke of the sun being darkened and the moon not giving light. As we have already seen, in speaking of the Day of the Lord, both Isaiah and Joel had prophesied of the sun being darkened and the moon not causing its light to shine (Is.13:10; Joel 2:10; 3:15).

We live in a day of nuclear power. We can easily see in these prophecies a description of nuclear warfare. The great noise as a mighty rushing wind of bombs and missiles in the storm of the War of the Great Day of God Almighty as seen in the metaphor described in Revelation 16 as the seventh bowl of the anger of God is poured out (see Rev.16:17-21).

In His great indignation with the wicked, Almighty God will permit man to have the consequences of his own doing. Man has built his nuclear weapons as a way of holding power. Man, with his nuclear weapons, will set the heavens on fire and will burn up all the junk he has put in God’s heavens since he invaded God’s space. Also, man will be the cause of the burning of the earth and of his works which are in it. The burning and destruction of all man’s works will be man’s own doing. Burning is the most purifying cleansing. The judgment will be a retributive justice of a holy righteous God, who gives to man the fruit of his own doing (see Is.59:18; Mic.7:13; Gal.6:7-8; Rev.18:5-6).

Jeremiah writes, “Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea when its waves roar; The Lord of Hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever” (Jer.31:35-36). Then Jeremiah goes on to speak of rebuilding Jerusalem (see vv37-40).

At Mount Sinai with the giving of the Law, “Mount Sinai was altogether in a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Ex.19:18).

“The earth shook, the heaven also dropped at the presence of God, even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel” (Ps.68:8).

The One whose voice shook the earth has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb.12:26-29).

The one last shaking is so that all that is not of God will be done away. All that is of God will remain forever. This shaking and the setting on fire will end the Great Tribulation and then shall appear the Son of Man riding down out of the opened heaven on His angelic chariot, coming in power and great glory. His coming is the sign of the end of the age of Gentile dominion (see Mt.24:29-31; Mk.13:24-27; Lk.21:25-27). In the Revelation the apostle John saw the Mighty Conqueror with His angelic host riding out of the opened heaven and coming to rule over the earth (Rev.19:11-16).

Peter tells us that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Keeping these things in remembrance generation after generation will produce a steadfast faith. Knowing the truth will help one to detect the lies of the evil one and his false prophets (2 Pet.1:18-2:22).

Peter puts a question to those who understand these things will be. “What manner of persons ought you to be in all holy living and godliness?” (2 Pet.3:11). Are we set apart to God in our living - holy? Are we godly? Do we have rightly directed reverence for our God? Do we look for God to have His day of cleansing of the heavens and earth for the Kingdom reign? Are we hastening the Day of God in our holy living and godliness?

Peter ends his brief epistle with this comprehensive doxology. “Grow in grace, and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Pet.3:18).

This is our holy living and our godliness. Grace is the great favor God has done us in Jesus, His Anointed Son and second man, who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor.5:21; 1 Cor.15:45-58). Sent from heaven, He brought us eternal life for our dead body, that we might be raised up out from the dead in an immortal, imperishable body to live with Him forever in eternity future. He brought us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God for understanding the deep things of God, shared with us by the Holy Spirit.

We stand in that grace, rooted and grounded in the word of God, the very soil for growth, continual growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we might abide steadfast in the faith. Glory to our Lord and Savior in the present heavens and to His God and our God and Father. Glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to our God and Father in the future heavens and earth, which He will claim, and throughout all eternity - glory.

This ends our lesson.