2 Peter 3:10
" . . . the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
Problem:
It is argued that since the earth is to be destroyed by fire, the
future inheritance of the righteous must be in heaven, and not on the earth.
Solution:
Peter states that "the heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved." (vs. 12). Are those who argue for the literal burning up of the
earth prepared to allow the literal dissolution of the heavens? What in the
literal heavens is burnable?
The literal earth will not be destroyed.
This is proven from Peter's quotation from Isa. 65:17 and Isa. 66:22. The "new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Pet. 3:13) is
portrayed in Isaiah as a time on the earth when Jerusalem will be a rejoicing
and the nature of the animals changed. (Isa. 65:18-25). The prophecy requires
the continued existence of the earth.
The "heavens" and "earth" (2 Pet.
3:10,12) is figurative for a constitution or order on the earth. This is also
proven by Peter's quotation from Isa. 65:17. Since the new heavens and earth is
the creation of "Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy" in which "they
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain" (Isa. 65:19-25), the heavens
and earth which are destroyed must be prior constitutions or orders on the earth
which are removed for the establishment of the new.
Peter says that the
"world"1 in the days of Noah perished. (2 Pet. 3:6). The literal earth or
"world" did not perish, only the "everything living" (R.S.V.) of Gen. 7:21
perished. Similarly, "I will destroy them with the earth" (Gen. 6:13) did not
mean the literal destruction of the planet, but only the wicked order of things
on the earth.
The burning up of the earth is an Old Testament expression
for the destruction of a wicked order, but not the literal earth. Consider the
following:
". . . my determination is to gather the nations, that I may
assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce
anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." (Zeph.
3:8). The prophet continues, however, to tell of the day when the people would
speak a pure language and "from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants,
even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering." (Zeph. 3:9,10).
"And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as
wax before the fire . . . " (Micah 1:4). The prophet continues, however, to
speak about the day when the law of the LORD would go forth from Zion and
Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1,2).
Rather than being destroyed in a great
conflagration, the earth is to become filled with the glory of the Lord. (Num.
14:21; Hab. 2:14; cf. Ecc. 1:4; Isa. 45:18).
Footnotes:
The Greek
word "kosmos" translated "world" literally means "order, I.e., regular
disposition and arrangment." Ethelbert W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and
Concordance to the English and Greek Testament, (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons
Ltd., 1957), p. 900