Q. 2 Pet 3.1o says that the day of the Lord will come like a thief with the heavens disappearing with a roar and the elements of the earth being -

-destroyed. Then in the next verse it says since the everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought we to be. What is going on?
A. These verses are giving a basic description of the Birth-pains of the Messiah, also known as the Tribulation and the events at the end of the Messianic Kingdom, or the last 1000 years spoken about all through Scripture. So, let me explain a couple of things first. Biblical time should be thought about in cyclical terms, not linear. We are going forward to the past. God is “returning us back to the Garden”. There are 2 rivers that still remain from the Garden of Eden today and that is why immersion is so important once a person believes. It’s a desire to get back to the garden, but that is another concept for another time. There is a biblical concept of the 7000 years of man and then the Olam Haba, or the world to come or “eighth day” if you will, a new beginning. The seventh millennium is called the Day of the Lord, or Lord’s Day, the Sabbath of God (Heb 4) and has many other names. Peter is describing changes in the world that are coming (v12) called a new heavens and a new earth. We are currently living in the third of an eventual five new heavens and a new earth. We have the original Creation, man fell causing another change up to the flood of Noah and another change after the flood that we are currently living in. The heavens and earth will change again in the Millennium, which Peter refers to and then the final change will come when everything will be restored (1Cor 15; Rev 22). So, in short, the creation was perfect, was diminished and will be restored back to perfection again. With that as a back-round, let’s look at the verses in context. 2 Pet 3.10 gives us a time frame for this and it’s the Day of the Lord, or seventh day or the last seven thousand years, or Messianic Kingdom. It will come like a thief, meaning many will not expect it, but there are those who will (1 Thes 5.2). That is who Peter is talking to. So, this tells us what new heavens and new earth he is talking about, and that has to do with the Birth-pains or Tribulation period. Peter goes on in v10 to describe changes in the heavens and earth (the fourth one in human history) and uses figurative language to describe it. Examples of this figurative language in use are Exodus 15.15 where it says the inhabitants of Canaan have ”melted away”, similar to Zech 14.12, Psalm 75.3. I Jn 2.17 says that earth is “passing away” and is describing the same thing Peter does. Isaiah 24.1-23 also uses figurative language to describe these changes. Now, in 2 Peter 3.10 he says the earth will be destroyed but that is understood as being “dissolved” as we know it. It obviously does not literally mean destroyed because Yeshua will reign here and the Bible has never taught that the heavens and earth are to be destroyed, only changed. Later in the verse it says that “the works” will be burned up and that is talking about the vain, useless works of man like cities, governments, traditions, customs and “earthly, elemental things” (Gal 4.3). In 2 Pet 3.11 he says that since we know that all things are to be changed or dissolved, why put your affections on the things of this world. We need to concentrate on the things that are eternal and not lay up treasures on earth. Basically he is exhorting believers to continue walking in the Torah. This book combats the heresy that the Torah commandments are no longer valid. He warns us that men will promise “liberty” saying that they are free from the Law and “turn from the Holy Commandment” ( read 2 Pet 2.18-22). He goes on in Chapter 3 and warns us of false prophets and mockers who will disregard the Torah, prophecy and the coming of the Lord and tells us that the Lord is not slack in His coming. He is saying that these things will surely come to pass so we need to have faith and keep the commandments found in the Torah and not to listen to the false prophets who deny the Lord and His Torah, but to wait patiently, serving Him with all our hearts. He also says Paul taught the same things he did, but there some things Paul writes about that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort , as they do the rest of Scripture, to their own destruction. This sounds just like today. False prophets are on every street corner, on the television and radio distorting Paul’s writings saying that he taught that the Law was “done away with” and we are “free from the Law” and so on. This book expressly warns us not to believe these people and to be obedient to His word because the Day of the Lord is coming with some big changes and surprises. Read the whole book to get the context and you will see words, phrases and concepts used in all the other books to bring home the idea that God is restoring His creation.