The Heavens Will Pass Away

Peter is not usually considered a writer of prophecy, not like Paul and the apostle John. But he definitely wrote about future events in II Peter 3:10-13. This prophetic passage has long perplexed me. Maybe you, too.

The key concept is in verse 10: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. 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” (NIV).

While it might seem that this prophecy is predicting the end of the world, it is actually predicting events at the end of the age we live in, transitioning into the Millennial age. This fact is evidenced by Peter’s opening statement, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”

The outpouring of the wrath and the judgment of God will accompany the second coming of Christ. God’s judgment is portrayed in many other prophetic passages. Revelation mentions “the winepress of God’s wrath” (Rev 14:19; 19:15). The seventh trumpet and bowl both describe the judgment of God as hailstones, lightning, and earthquakes (Rev 16:17-21). The army of the man of lawlessness will be annihilated (2 Thes 2:8; Rev 17:12-14), at Armageddon. The nations will be judged (Joel 3, et al).

Peter adds a somewhat unique perspective of this time of judgment: “the heavens will disappear… the elements will be destroyed… the earth and everything done on it will be laid bare.” Those descriptions seem pretty universal and quite final – an absolute, ultimate inferno. It seems to be in line with what most of us have heard taught our entire life, starting with children’s Sunday School. God destroyed the world once by flood, the next time will be by fire. Is that what Peter is describing? Maybe, But I don’t think so. 

What Peter is actually prophesying is a crucible, not an inferno. Rather than utter destruction, Peter is predicting that the old world, with all of mankind’s inventions, will be judged by fire, melted and poured into a new mold for the Millennial Kingdom.  “We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (verse 13). That kingdom follows the return of Jesus, when He will rule on earth for 1000 years. The government will be upon His head. His kingdom will be marked by two key ingredients – righteousness and peace. And to set the stage for that kind of a kingdom the works of mankind must be exposed and “laid bare” before the righteous judgment of God. 

Peter had to use terms he was familiar with to describe concepts of our modern technological world. (The same is true in the prophecies recorded by John in Revelation.) When Peter wrote of the heavens and celestial bodies (elements), I don’t think he had in mind the sun, moon, and the stars of this galaxy and the whole universe. If those were to disappear by fire, I would imagine that planet Earth, too, would be pulverized. No, Peter was predicting something in the last days that was in the sky, in the heavens. Celestial objects of some kind. The last line of verse ten seems to confirm that the heavenly objects may be related to mankind’s inventions, “the earth and all its works will be laid bare.” 

This prophecy is speaking of man-made celestial objects. Satellites, for the most part. Thousands of them. Possibly also planes, rockets, missiles, and space exploration. Satellites enable the cyber, digital world we live in – the internet, cloud storage, artificial intelligence, spying, scamming, spoofing, hacking, social media, cyber-security, identity theft, fake news, fraud, malware, pornography, et al. Do you think that King Jesus, for one minute, would allow any of that technology to carry over from this evil age into His kingdom age? It won’t happen. Technology -- the world adores it, God abhors it. Peter’s prophecy aligns with Revelation 13 – the false prophet (which is a prophetic description of the electronic age) will be thrown into the lake of fire along with the beast, before the Millenium (Rev 19:20).

This may come as a shock and a disappointment to many Christians. But all those celestial bodies, and all the technology that goes with it, will be dissolved, burned up, melt away. Perhaps by a mega-sunburst creating a magnetic field that fries all the electronics in the heavens and on earth. Somehow, by the almighty hand of God. 

We need to envision a righteous kingdom that is devoid of electronics. The new earth, the world of the millennial kingdom, will be cast in a totally different mold than what we live in today. It will not just be a continuation or carryover of the Industrial era and the age of Electronics. I imagine it will be much more agrarian, and much more relational. Evil will not have rampant access to the minds and hearts of mankind living in that age. Perhaps the Amish have a head start on the rest of us here in America. But if there will not be computers, planes, and automobiles, I at least would like to have a tractor.