“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” (2 Peter 3:10-12 KJV)
Bible prophecy is clear that this Earth and the Heavens will one day pass away. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35 KJV) and here in 2 Peter 3, we see that Apostle Peter states the same event and he gives us more details about this event.
Most of the unsaved world of people have heard about ‘Armageddon’ but they do not understand nor have read the Biblical text about the events of the End Times that the Bible actually shows us. They watch movies and television showing how this Earth is going to be destroyed one day and that no one will survive on Earth. They think that every living thing on Earth will be destroyed completely and that God is going to wipe out humankind. They believe in prophecies written by humans like, Nostradamus and not the Bible. Nostradamus, by the way, does not have a good track record for 100% fulfillment! The Bible has fulfilled it’s prophecies with 100% accuracy and in great detail, with many prophecies coming to pass before our eyes today and more to come. I have even seen some religious people teaching that Jesus is going to come back and kill us all by burning the Earth like He did when He flooded the Earth in Noah’s day.
There are some half truths in all this wrong information being sent to the people of the world and you know who is very good at deceiving people against the Biblical truth by using half truths? Sound like anyone we believers know? Oh yes, that has the key markers of the father of lies (John 8:44); Satan. The ruler of this current world system (Ephesians 6:12) on the planet who seeks to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8). Who blinds the truth from peoples eyes so that they do not come to salvation in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4, Revelation 12:9).
Many are using this one verse, while ignoring all the other verses of Scripture that describe the Second Coming of Christ and the 1000 year Kingdom Age to come, and the ruling and reigning of Christ ON EARTH after He returns. They see this phrase “as a thief in the night” and they apply it to mean that Peter is stating that one day, at a time no one knows, God is going to sweep in and destroy the Earth and everyone on it, without any warnings. And that, is what we call a bold face lie. They make God out to be a hateful God who never gives warnings and that is NOT the God of the Bible.
Peter is talking about ‘The Day Of The Lord’. Some people take this to mean a literal specific day, a specific date. But that is not correct. The Day Of The Lord is a span of time to unfold in the Last Days of this dispensation of God’s Grace. It begins after the Rapture of The Bride Of Christ, when a 7 year period of time known as the Tribulation Period, or Daniel’s 70th week prophecy begins and ends when the Earth is destroyed by fire. This is at least a time span of 1007 years, not a specific date. When Peter wrote this, he fully understood that to God, 1 day to Him is like 1000 years to us on Earth.
“For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4 KJV)
Peter even tells us specifically about the time spans from God’s perspective and by the calendar of Biblical Prophecy, in this very same writing describing this event a few verses previously. This was very clear to the Jewish peoples. Unfortunately, verse 8 seem to be ignored by false teachers and they only show verses 10 onward. That makes what they teach about this being a specific date, a bold face lie.
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as A THOUSAND YEARS, and a THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY.” (2 Peter 3:8 KJV)
Peter is writing that it is not going to happen with God destroying all human life on Earth. No. It is going to start out without much warning. Apostle Paul writes that to those who are not saved believers on Christ, that the Harpazo Rapture of Church Age believers (our current dispensation of grace) will comes as a thief in the night to whom? To all people? No. Only to those who have not accepted the free gift of salvation through Christ crucified!
“But of the times and the seasons, BRETHREN, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a THIEF IN THE NIGHT. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon –THEM–, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
BUT YE, BRETHREN, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. YE ARE ALL the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 2-5 KJV)
In 1 Thessalonians 4, the previous chapter, Apostle Paul is describing the event of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of believers in Christ. Apparently some false teachers were telling these group of believers that they had missed the Rapture event ! And believers were getting very worried because they knew what was coming next, The Day Of The Lord, and the prophecies about that time period are horrible! Apostle Paul is very clear here to reassure them that no believer in Christ will ever miss the Rapture, the bodily resurrection of all believers. He goes on in 1 Thessalonians 5 and explains by comparison, the truth, in order to end their confusion by the false teachers. He compares the BRETHREN (save believers) To ‘THEM’ (unsaved people).
To the unsaved, to them, the Harpazo Rapture will come as a thief in the night and without warning. Why Because they know nothing about this event as unbelievers. This is the same as Peter is stating in 2 Peter 3; The beginning of The Day Of The Lord time period will come as a thief in the night, to the unsaved. Once the Rapture happens, those left will be in major trouble on Earth. Chaos will begin pretty much immediately until the Antichrist takes over rule of the world trough some great deception which the Bible does not give us details about.
Paul then goes on to give great comfort and assurance to the believers that they will never miss the Harpazo Rapture event. Everyone who believes on Christ will be there! In comparison to what he just described about how unbelievers will be reacting, he then turns to the believers and states, “BUT YE, BRETHREN, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”
Believers should not be worrying about missing the Rapture event, we know it is going to happen. And when it does, this pause in the 70 week prophecy God gave to Daniel that we live in, this time period known as the Dispensation Of Grace / Church Age, will end. Daniel’s 70th week prophecy given by God for the Last Days, a 7 year span of time, will begin called Jacobs Trouble. Most refer to as The Tribulation Period in human history. This 7 year period is just the beginning of The Day Of The Lord, which continues from then until the end of the 1000 year Kingdom Age with Christ ruling on the Earth.
After the final rebellion on Earth, there will be a New Heavens and a New Earth. There are different types of ‘Heavens’ in the Bible. The Third Heaven is where God and the beloved City Of New Jerusalem is located right now. The Second Heaven is space with all the planets and stars etc. The Heaven, by context, that Peter is speaking of is the Earth’s atmosphere and some if not all of space. Humans have landed on the moon. Our technology with messages are out there.. way out there now with rovers and space craft! This all needs to be destroyed. Every tra eof sin must be eliminated.
All those on Earth that rebelled against God along with the devil and his angles were all killed by fire from Heaven as they attack the camp of Christ on Earth in Jerusalem (Revelation 20:9). All that are left are believers. The Earth and the Atmosphere will be destroyed by fire. A cleansing of all that is sinful is all burnt up completely and utterly and all things are made new.
This may be just a destruction of Earth and it’s atmosphere, or it may be destruction of the entire universe. Humans have reached outward into space now with technology. The devil and his angels were also out there in space until kicked out of the heavens to Earth. They are all about SIN. So it may very well be the entire universe will be destroyed and a new one crated. Or it is in another dimension. The Bible is not clear about that specifically. Regardless of which, we will all be safe inside the New Jerusalem. It may be that we are all transported to the Third Heaven where the New Jerusalem is now located and ten the whole universe is detsroyed and a new one created. That also makes pefrect sense when we read Revelation 21:2.
At the end of the 1000 year Kingdom Age we see that the Earth is destroyed and then the New Jerusalem, that ‘heavenly city’, the eternal home for the Bride of Christ, and all believers in Christ, is seen coming down OUT of the third Heaven and to the Earth.
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”(Revelation 21:2 KJV)
It is described by John as ‘a bride adorned for her husband’. We may all be in that city before the New Heavens and Earth are created and then the whole city, with us in it, will land on the New Earth. The City of all believers will come down out of the Third Heaven, where it is currently located. All believers are evacuated from Earth and the Earth is destroyed by fire. We are all safe and sound in the New Jerusalem. A huge structure of 1500 x 1500 miles cubed! Enough room for every believer from all of human history to have a huge property of space. This is the place Jesus said he went to prepare for us in John 14. The sheer size of this also is leading me to believe in speculation that the New Earth will be much larger than our current one. Place a cubed size object on our current Earth with this size of 1500 miles cubed. It would be too big to land on the Earth. So it may very well be a NEW EARTH in a NEW UNIVERSE where all sin is irradiated and does not exist. Hard for us sinful humans to grasp isn’t it?
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9 KJV)”
Nothing on Earth will compare to our eternal home with Christ. And once the Earth and Heavens are destroyed an dcleansed and all sin and effects of sin purged by fire, The New Jerusalem will land on the New Earth with the New Heavens (atmosphere and possibly the universe in space too). The Scripture does not tells us how long it will be before the New Earth and New Heavens is ready but whenever it is, the New Jerusalem will land on the New Earth and that is where we will live in eternity with God.
