| From
the Church on the Hill
by D. Eric Williams Pastor, Cottonwood Community Church pastor@CottonwoodCommunityChurch.org 2 Peter 3:7-12 provides the most extended use of cosmic metaphor in the new testament outside of Revelation. And, as with any epistle, it is clear the apostle wrote of things relevant to his contemporaries (epistles were “occasional letters,” letters “arising out of and intended for a specific occasion” and were not written with the intention of addressing situations with no immediate relevance to the original readers, [see Fee and Stuart, 48]). Peter said that during the last days - the days in which they were then living (1 Peter 1:20, 4:7), judgment would fall on those who scoffed at the claims of Jesus (2 Peter 3:3). He drives his point home by drawing upon the language of the prophets (whom he refers to in verse 2), language first century Christians would have been familiar with and recognized as metaphorical. Peter said, “the heavens and the earth which are now ...are being reserved for fire.” He also said, “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (vss. 7 and 10). To begin with, Peter refers to the “heavens and earth” of the existing covenant order. Although the old covenant order was passing away (Hebrews 8:13), it remained until the last of elect old Israel had been brought into new Israel (Romans 11:1-7, 25). When that number was complete, the old order - the old heaven and earth - would pass away. In this epistle, Peter is drawing from the language of the older testament. For instance, Isaiah 51:15-16 says, “...I am the Lord Your God, who divided the sea whose waves roared - the Lord of hosts is his name. And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” In other words, God comforted the remnant in Israel by reminding them he had previously brought the children of Israel across the Red Sea. He said he gave them the law and took care of them. Why? So he could establish them as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a special treasure to himself above all people (Exodus 19:5-6). In short, God created a new people, a new order and he used the spectacular language of creation to say he formed them as a nation. He “made the new world, that is brought forth order, and government, and beauty, from the confusion wherein they were. This is the planting of the heavens, and the laying of the foundations of the earth” (John Owen, Works, 9.134). This same device is used in reverse in Isaiah chapter 13. God said he was going to bring judgment upon Babylon through the armies of the Medes and Persians (Isaiah 13:1, 17). In describing the overthrow of the Babylonian “order” (socio-political and religious system), God said he “will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place” (vs. 13). This language of decreation meant God was about to strip the king of Babylon of authority and destroy the system of government - a destruction of the existing order. The “heavens and earth which are now preserved” (2 Peter 3:7), indicates the old covenant order awaiting closure. The old system was brought to an end as those who refused to let it go and accept the Messiah fell under the fire of God’s judgment. Peter described this judgment as the prophets of the old testament described the judgment of God. The only difference is that Peter gains his effect by repeating similar words or ideas several times (fire, fervent heat, burn up, melt, dissolve) rather than utilize a broad range of cosmic metaphor (scrolls rolling up, mountains shaking, bloody moon, darkened sun or heaving ground). Thus, when Peter says in verse 7 that the existing heaven and earth were reserved for fire, he meant the old order was coming to an end and those who refused to accept the new order would be judged. The old system was about to be swept away in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and those who clung to that system would be swept away with it. Excerpted and edited from, Apocalypse: An Explanatory Rendering Of The Revelation That Will Forever Alter Your Understanding Of The Tribulation, The Beast, And The End Times, available at Amazon.com. |
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