We Belong To The Day: ‘A New Heavens & A New Earth’ (2 Peter 3)

We Belong To The Day: ‘A New Heavens & A New Earth’ (2 Peter 3)

[00:00:00] Hey, I am Dave, one of the pastors here. Uh, yeah. Last week we finished our series on one. Thessalonians. Thanks Tim for your talk. It was excellent. Next week we start this new series on the Sermon on the Mount, so that’s gonna be incredible this week. I thought, just to go back and finish off, we belong to the day.

[00:00:21] It was a series we’ve done along the way, and I didn’t have time to do this talk before. So today we’re looking at a new heavens and a new Earth from the passage we just read to Peter three. And this, the artwork today is from Kurt Jackson. He’s a British British artist who’s done a lot of really cool stuff.

[00:00:43] Cool. In two Peter three, Peter describes the day of the Lord, uh, the day of judgment that will bring history as we know it to an end, and the glorious new heavens and new earth that will emerge from that day of the Lord. There’s heaps to say about this, but [00:01:00] notice the context here is that it’s answering scoffers.

[00:01:03] Verse three, people who mock the Christian hope that Jesus will one day return to judge the world. And Peter says, yes, there will be a delay. Not because God is unfaithful to his promises, but because he’s patient, he doesn’t want anyone to perish, and he wants to give time for everyone to turn back to him and be saved.

[00:01:27] In other words, uh, the delay of the end is because of God’s love. His desire to give the whole of humanity a chance to turn to him and receive forgiveness in eternal life. And, and so the coming day of the Lord is being postponed to give a period of time of missionary activity across the world. The gospel proclaimed to every nation and place, which is still in process.

[00:01:56] And when that missionary period is over, then the end will [00:02:00] come. That’s the main, uh, point of the passage. But there are four questions I want to, uh, go through this morning in order to understand the implications of this passage. Firstly, what’s the correct translation of verse 10? Uh, in what sense?

[00:02:16] Secondly, will everything be destroyed? Thirdly, what’s the basic image Peter is using here? And fourthly, what’s the relationship of the present world to the future world to come? And then what are the implications of that? This talk is a little bit more technical than we normally do. Firstly, okay, here we go.

[00:02:37] Firstly, what’s the correct translation of verse 10, which says, but the day of the Lord will come like a thi. The heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. There’s a translation issue here in verse 10. [00:03:00] Many translations have the earth and everything done in it will be burned up.

[00:03:06] This was the most common translation from the fifth century through to the 20th century, and as a result, a long and powerful tradition developed in the Western Church, which believed that the entire created world together with human works. Will come to a fiery end on the day of the Lord. They believe that God would finally do away with not only this earthly creation, but also the human works done within it.

[00:03:40] It’s difficult to overestimate the enormous impact of this vivid image on the imagination of generations of Christians. That the earth and the works in it will be burned up. And yet this is the only passage in the scriptures [00:04:00] that says anything like that. And as we’ll see, it’s the wrong reading of the passage.

[00:04:05] The good news is it’s become clear since the mid 19th century that the oldest Greek manuscripts, manuscripts before the fifth century, which have now come to light, have a different wording that reads the earth and the works in it. Will be found. In other words, not they will be burned up, but they will be found.

[00:04:29] Almost all New Testament scholars now agree that this is the original wording. In other words, what Peter actually wrote was the Earth and everything done in it will be found in the future fire of the day of the Lord, and so new translations have will be found. The NRSV. Or will be exposed. The ESV, many of you have that translation or laid bare, the NIV, which I’m using today.[00:05:00]

[00:05:00] So there was a scribal error that crept crept in, uh, after the fifth century, and now that’s been corrected, and that rarely happens in scriptures as they’re copied and transmitted. But it has happened in this case, but it’s a rare thing. The implications of this aresome, it removes from the biblical picture of the coming day of the Lord.

[00:05:27] Any suggestion that the creation and the human works within it will simply be thrown away. Instead, it suggests that in and through the fiery ordeal of God’s judgment and the intense heat and universal disillusion. The creation will in some significant sense, survive. God does not discard the earth that he has created, nor even the good deeds and the works of human beings it contains.

[00:05:55] But rather he salvage, salvages them for his [00:06:00] future purposes. Now, you might be thinking, wait a minute, Dave, doesn’t. The passage keep saying that everything will be destroyed? Verse seven, the day of judgment and destruction, verse 10. The elements will be destroyed. Verse 11, everything will be destroyed.

[00:06:15] Verse 12, the day will bring about the destruction of the heavens. So this brings us to the second question. In what sense will everything be destroyed? Well, Peter talks about three different worlds, the world before the flood. Verse six, the world we inhabit now, uh, between the flood of Noah and the day of the Lord.

[00:06:38] That’s coming. And then the future world after the day of the Lord. That’s called the New Heavens and New Earth. Verse 13. So three worlds, which are really the same world in three different periods of history, and they are marked off from each other by two worldwide judgments. The judgment by water in the [00:07:00] flood, and the judgment by fire on the day.

[00:07:04] So when Peter talks about the future world judgment, he’s drawing a parallel to the earlier world judgment at the time of Noah, just as the former world was destroyed. Verse six. So the present world is facing a day of destruction, verse seven. However, just as the destruction by water didn’t cause the world to disappear.

[00:07:27] In fact, verse seven, it continues to be preserved by the word of God. Similarly, the destruction by fire won’t cause the world to disappear either, just as the second world is the first one washed, clean by water. So the third world will be the second one, even more radically purged by fire. In other words, destruction in this context means the survival of what is cleansed.

[00:07:58] Also the Greek verb that’s [00:08:00] used here is Luo. If you’ve ever learned New Testament, Greek is, luo is the first word you learn. First word I learned, uh, which means to loose, uh, or it can mean to dissolve or it can mean to destroy. The NIV translates it destroyed in verses 10 and 11, but it must mean in the sense of dissolved, which the ESV has.

[00:08:25] Because dissolved goes better with the idea of melting and heat, which is the context, and to dissolve is to liquefy. It’s not to disappear. It means the substance that’s been dissolved continues to exist in another form. So what Peter is saying here is the created earth, including everything done in it, will be destroyed in the sense that it will undergo a radical transformation.

[00:08:54] But. A transformation that ensures the survival of this world into the new [00:09:00] world. Thirdly, okay, and I got the wrong number up there. Yeah, that’s third, not fourth. What is the basic image Peter is using? How can we put all this together? The basic image Peter is using is God as a refiner of gold and silver.

[00:09:19] God puts the precious metal. Of the earthly creation into the crucible of his judgment. And he does this not in order to discard it, to discard the creation. No. Rather, he does it in order to purge and purify this creation. This basic image explains Peter’s references to fire and heat, to melting and dissolving and to the survival of a substance in spite of its destruction.

[00:09:49] It is also a similar idea to the cleansing that happened with Noah’s flood, which Peter is comparing this to. And this image of the refiner’s [00:10:00] fire fits, um, in with the Greek words in verse 10 and 12 that suggests red hot metal and melting. So it’s clear Peter is describing the day of the Lord as a cosmic crucible or furnace or foundry.

[00:10:18] And this understanding of Peter’s imagery is clinched by a passage in the prophet Malachi that Peter no doubt has in mind. It’s a famous passage in the Old Testament describing the day of the Lord. Malachi writes, who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears for he will be like a refiners fire or a LA is soap.

[00:10:42] He will see it as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver, and then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord. Malachi [00:11:00] three, two to four. On the day of the Lord, God will appear as a refiner who puts the gold and silver into the crucible in order to melt them.

[00:11:10] And the great question is, who can stand the test of the fire of God’s judgment? Who can survive the heat and in Malachi’s vision of the day, the fire will burn until purification of his people has been completed. Until offerings in righteousness acceptable to the Lord are found at the end of the purifying process.

[00:11:33] A few verses later, the prophet expands the image. Surely the day is coming, it will burn like a furnace. Bringing a judgment, which will mean destruction for the wicked, but healing and purification for the righteous. Malachi 4 1, 2, and now in two Peter three. It’s the entire creation, not just Israel’s priesthood that’s going to be refined by fire on the great day of God’s appearance and a [00:12:00] renewed purified heaven in earth.

[00:12:02] Will emerge at the end of the refining process. And this image of the crucible helps us understand what Peter means by will be found. Verse 10. And we find the same, uh, words used in Peter’s first letter, one Peter chapter one, verse seven. Peter’s talking about the trials that we face as Christians. And he says, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes, though it’s tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[00:12:44] Both these passages use this verb, uh, to find, to describe the result of the refining process. And there’s evidence in, uh, the Greek in of those times that to be found had a metallurgical [00:13:00] use. Uh, in other words, to, to be found is to be, to emerge purified from the refining process in what we call a foundry.

[00:13:15] Foundries are where we find the the true quality. Of the raw materials. So the basic image is of God, the refiner, putting the sin contaminated world into the crucible of his judgment, not just for destruction, but for purification. Now, there’s hope. God is trying to save the creation, not ultimately destroy it.

[00:13:43] Finally, the fourth question before we look at implications is what’s the relationship of the present world? To the future world. The future world will be this world renewed, purified, refined. So Peter describes the future creation in verse 13, as a new heaven and a [00:14:00] new earth, the home of righteousness.

[00:14:02] It’s the same world as the creation now, but transformed new means, renewed, not brand new. Now of course, removing sin and death from the creation is a radical transformation. It’s very hard to even imagine what a deathless, sinless world would look like. Um, but it will be this self same creation, emerging, purified, and transformed from the fire of God’s judgment.

[00:14:31] And the creation includes everything done in it. Verse 10. This is like in one Corinthians three, where Paul talks about our works, what we do in our lives, which may or may not survive. The future, fire of the day of the Lord. So Paul, in one Corinthians three is talking about Christian ministry and he talks about leaders, Christian leaders building on the foundation of Christ.

[00:14:58] And some leaders build [00:15:00] with gold, silver, and precious stones, quality materials, and other leaders build with wood, hay, and stubble, inferior materials. And when the fire of God’s judgment sweeps through at the end. The wood, hay and stubble are burned up, but the quality work of those leaders, they’re good deeds that have, that have been done in the right way.

[00:15:23] Uh, you know, the gold, silver, and precious stones that they have laid down that will be refined to shine even more brightly. In other words, the good that we do in this world will survive into the next world. And we will see the result of what we have done now, and it really matters how we live. Now. God will use that to build his new world, all that we have done as human beings.

[00:15:52] That is good. Okay, so here are some implications. Firstly, what we do in this life matters because God will salvage [00:16:00] what we have done in this life, uh, and build it into the new creation. We’ve talked quite a lot about that in this series. Secondly, God’s patience leads to repentance. Verse nine, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness.

[00:16:16] Instead, he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God isn’t slow in keeping his promise to come again. God will do what he promised, but he’s delaying it because he’s patient and that’s about his love. Uh, God wants every person to turn to him and be saved.

[00:16:38] God’s patience. He’s mentioned twice in verse nine and again in verse 15, and his desire is for all people to come to him. He doesn’t want anyone not to be saved. That’s not his intention. That doesn’t mean everyone will be saved, but it’s God’s intention that every person gets a chance to repent, to turn back to him [00:17:00] and be forgiven.

[00:17:02] And receive eternal life. Uh, God loves his world. God loves people. He’s giving plenty of time, uh, for all nations, for all peoples around the globe to have a chance to turn to him. It’s like Paul in Romans two verse four. God’s kindness leads us towards repentance. Peter is saying the same thing when God waits patiently to act.

[00:17:27] See that for what it is, it’s his love. He’s giving an opportunity for more and more and more and more people to be saved. And the time we live in now is the era of Christian mission witnessing to the entire world of the forgiveness and new life that we find in Jesus. So it’s important that we understand our missionary task as the church in this period of history, is to bring the gospel to every people group in every place.

[00:17:58] And that’s going really [00:18:00] well. The church has done a great job of that. Thirdly, the nature of God’s judgment is that he’s a refiner because of his love. Hebrews chapter 12 says, our God is a consuming fire, and that’s meant, has an appropriate warning. Not that this is kind of an angry fire, that God has just peeved and petulant and wants to lash out at this world.

[00:18:26] But because God loves his good creation, he loves people and he wants people to put their trust in him, and he wants the very best for them. And so he must purge away ultimately and burn away. All that is dehumanizing us and corrupting the creation and distorting it. Uh, God is God of love, who refines. Hm.

[00:18:51] Jeremiah 23 says, the, the word of God is like a fire or like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. [00:19:00] This gives us a sense that God’s speaking God’s word is something like a fire rushing through a community to purge away evil. God loves to heal the world of evil, and this is what is going on in Acts chapter two, when the Spirit falls upon.

[00:19:20] The first disciples, its tongues of fire resting on each of them. And this is what John the Baptist is referring to when he talked about the one coming who will baptize people with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And when the Holy Spirit comes upon people, the wind and the fire, the wind’s gonna disturb everything in the house, so to speak.

[00:19:47] And the fire is going to burn away everything that is not worthy of God. And so it’s something that happens in our lives now by the Holy Spirit. God is constantly refining us [00:20:00] and Peter says partly that’s through our trials and the hard things we go through, but through his word, through the spirit as well.

[00:20:10] Um, so that’s something that we experience even in this life. In the present, but Al but also it’s what will ultimately happen when the whole creation will be refined on the day of the Lord. Whether that’s a literal fire or that’s metaphorical, is beside the point. The point is that God will refine and heal this creation.

[00:20:35] So when we talk about the final, uh, fire of judgment, this is about God purging from our lives. And from his good creation, everything that has corrupted and defaced it. Remember the rainbow in Genesis chapter nine. Rainbow appears in the sky after the flood with Noah. And the rainbow is a symbol that God is committed to his [00:21:00] creation.

[00:21:00] He loves his creation. He wants to heal his creation, and this means that he can’t allow things that corrupt and corrode and deface and destroy his creation, especially. Things which deface and destroy his image bearing human beings that he’s made. He can’t allow that to keep going on forever. There will be a new renewed creation, the home of righteousness, and the fire must burn through that creation to bring that future fire is God’s agent for burning away.

[00:21:36] All that is evil in the creation. And to save the creation. So when will Jesus return? Finally, some Christians may have expected Jesus to come again in the first generation of disciples because Jesus talked about things that would happen in the first generation, like in Mark chapter 13. But Jesus was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the [00:22:00] temple, which did happen in the first generation in 70 AD to be precise.

[00:22:06] Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans. That’s what Jesus is talking about. That will happen in that generation. And Jesus wasn’t talking about his second coming. It doesn’t seem, this idea that, uh, Jesus should have come back in the first generation doesn’t seem to be a problem in the second century onwards.

[00:22:29] They continue to teach that Jesus would return at any time. In other words, like a thief. Which is an image Jesus himself uses in Matthew 24. Peter uses it here in verse 10. He will come like a thief. And we saw it last week in one Ians five that Paul used it as well. Thief, uh, coming is sudden unexpected to the surprise of everyone.

[00:22:57] That’s how Jesus will come back again. [00:23:00] Everyone will be stunned and surprised and. So you better be ready. Uh, it could happen today. It could happen tomorrow. It could happen in a thousand, 2000, 3000 years. We don’t know. Peter gets it exactly right in verse eight with the Lord. A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

[00:23:20] Uh, so get used to it guys and be patient. God does it in his timing and he’s not slow. He’s just got a plan. Um, but the question of the scoffers, verse four, where is this coming? He promised, ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. That gets extra force if you believe that nothing has happened since Jesus, right?

[00:23:52] Since Jesus death and resurrection. If you believe, we’re just waiting around. Nothing’s happening. What is God doing? He is doing [00:24:00] nothing. If you think God is doing nothing in this world, well, you’ll sit around thinking, what the hell is going on? Why is God doing nothing? But of course, God has been doing all that.

[00:24:11] He promised. The fall of Jerusalem did happen in 70 a D. The gospel has gone out to the ends of the earth. This whole huge story, over 2000 years of the gospel going to all nations. Uh, just look at the translation of the Bible into 700,397 languages in the world. An average of one new translation project is beginning every single day,

[00:24:40] and it’s screaming ahead, particularly with, uh, ai. Uh, also the training of pastors across the globe is going up and up and up. Uh, specialist ministries are on the rise. Um, we’re reaching people who we traditionally were too hard to reach, and it’s [00:25:00] happening online via satellite, uh, ministry to youth, displaced people, Muslim backgrounds, Buddhist backgrounds.

[00:25:07] It’s all accelerating at pace. Just look at all the stuff Tom Holland has written about the way Christianity has informed and infiltrated the world. God is not doing nothing. Everything he said would happen is happening in lieu of the day that is coming, and we’re not simply sitting around twiddling our thumbs.

[00:25:32] We’ve got a job to do. Um, and that’s to spread the gospel to the world and to work on holy and godly lives that we ought to be living. Verse 11, since we know that the day that is coming, we’ll bring a creation filled to the brim of God’s wonderful righteousness. He is glorious setting right, of all things.

[00:25:55] So we’re not just waiting, we’re enthusiastically preparing. [00:26:00] And did you know that Cleopatra is closer to us than she was to the original pyramids? Ha. She’s closer to our time, but we think, oh, the pyramids, Cleopatra, they’re kind of the same time period. Um, no, she’s closer to us, uh, less number of years.

[00:26:18] Um. Than she’s to the original pyramids. In other words, 2000 years since Cleopatra is not that long, uh, in the scheme of the whole of history and all the history before Cleopatra there many thousands of years, 2000 years isn’t that long. And Archbishop Michael Ramsey said, who knows in the year 10,000 ad Christians may look back at our year.

[00:26:47] In our case, it’s 2026. As part of the early church, I love what he says. It’s amazing to think that 10,000 years from now, people might look back at us [00:27:00] as the early church. You know, we are part of the, the beginnings of the church. Um, maybe there are thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of years of church history to come because with the Lord a thousand years, but a day.

[00:27:18] And he’ll come when he’s ready, whenever that is. Now, of course, this doesn’t lessen our fervent prayer that Jesus would come back sooner and we do urgently pray Mar Arthur, come, Lord Jesus, come because we’re not expecting the world to just gradually, incrementally get better and better and better. We haven’t seen that it gets better in one place, but worse in another place, and overall it doesn’t seem to get much better so we.

[00:27:46] Urgently and fervently pray that Jesus will come soon. [00:28:00] Amen.