The New Heavens and Earth—Part 4

In three previous posts (here, here, and here), I showed that Peter did not predict the end of the physical creation in 2 Peter 3:10–13. My Supplement to these posts provides clues that he was describing God’s final judgment upon the Jewish nation.

Peter’s prophecies included things after the judgment, showing that the physical earth would continue after God judged Jerusalem. These things include the full and formal institution of the New Covenant with Christ’s new Bride, the Church. Peter called this new state the new heavens and earth.

Remember that the new heavens and earth are “according to promise”:

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. (2 Pet 3:13¹)

The new heavens and earth according to promise are found in Isaiah 65.² Isaiah began his prophecy by referring to the heavens and earth and Israel’s disobedience (Isa 1:2–4). Undoubtedly this fact influenced Peter’s understanding. Isaiah made it clear in later chapters that he was using figurative language. His new heavens and earth represented the new order of things on the earth that has always been (Isa 65–66). Paul alludes to this new order by referring to two Jerusalems: a Jerusalem below which was in slavery and a Jerusalem above which is free (Gal 4:25–26).

In Peter’s day, God was about to destroy the old Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem would come down from heaven. This figurative language describes spiritual realities. Isaiah 65 and 66 indicate that life in the new heavens and earth would not be an ethereal or heavenly existence as many people assume. For instance, Isaiah says people would live and die in the new heavens and earth:

No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days,
Or an old man who does not live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of one hundred
And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred
Will be thought accursed. (Isa 65:20)

The only view that makes sense of this fact is that it describes life in the new world of Christianity—the new heavens and new earth brought about by the successful work of Jesus and revealed by the gospel. This is the glorious kingdom of heaven that Daniel said God would give to the Son of Man upon his ascension (Dan 7:13–14). He would reign from His glorious throne as in Psalm 2, ruling the nations with a rod of iron. The first judgmental act of his rule would be to destroy his Jewish enemies and give their kingdom to the saints (Dan 7:26–27; cp. Matt 21:40–46). Peter said scoffers would mock this promise (2 Pet 3:3–4), but we know full and final judgment came upon them shortly after Peter wrote these words. God brought them to a complete end, as the prophets (and Peter) predicted.

Consistent exegesis of both testaments can lead to only one conclusion: the destroying fire is a figurative expression of the destruction of the things of the old covenant. The new heavens and earth is a figurative expression of the full and formal institution of the new covenant. The full expression of the kingdom of heaven came after God did away with the old covenant in a formal way. Isaiah foresaw this development:

See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
    will be heard in it no more. (Isa 65:17–19 NIV)

Isaiah’s last chapters show this language is figurative. They speak of a new nation to be “born in a day” (Isa 66:8) and the creation of a new Jerusalem (Isa 65:18). God would punish a rebellious nation and create a new one. This language corresponds to Jesus’ words—God would take the kingdom from the Jews and give it to a people producing the fruit of it (Matt 21:43). It also agrees with Paul’s teaching regarding the new humanity Jesus created (Eph 2:11–22). When we read Isaiah’s prophecies in their context and consider how the New Testament apostles explained them, this figurative interpretation is our best option.

The judgment by fire in 2 Peter 3:7, 10 also corresponds to Isaiah’s prophecy:

See, the Lord is coming with fire,
    and his chariots are like a whirlwind;
he will bring down his anger with fury,
    and his rebuke with flames of fire.
For with fire and with his sword
    the Lord will execute judgment on all people,
    and many will be those slain by the Lord.

“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the Lord.

“And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.

“I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians, to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord.

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” (Isa 66:15–23 NIV)

So, does the above interpretation satisfy the ten requirements of 2 Peter 3 that I listed in my first post (here)? I believe it checks all ten of them:

1. These things would fulfill old prophecies given by the “holy prophets” in the Mosaic age (2 Pet 3:1–2). This view of final judgment on Israel in AD 70 is the only one that satisfies the requirement of “old prophecies.”
2. Jesus and the other apostles also mentioned them (2 Pet 3:1–2). The final judgment on Israel dealt with (in a very timely way) the scoffers Peter mentioned. It would not be a meaningful prophecy if God would deal with the scoffers of Peter’s day thousands of years later, at the time He judges everyone else. Jesus and the other apostles also mentioned this judgment (e.g., Matt 23:34–39; 1 Thess 2:14–16).
3. These things would occur in the “last days,” and scoffers would mock Jesus’ coming in this period (2 Pet 3:3). The near-future (for Peter) final judgment on Israel, with its destruction of Jerusalem, fits this criterion.
4. These things would change the world in which the patriarchs (i.e., “the fathers”) had lived (2 Pet 3:4). The Jewish nation ceased to exist after this judgment. The sacrificial system (and the presence of God) that defined their identity ended in AD 70. The presence of God was with his church. God tore the veil of the temple from top to bottom and then poured out the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to show this fact.
5. The effects of this change would resemble those of the Great Flood (2 Pet 3:4–7). The earth remained after the final judgment on Israel just as it survived the judgment of the Flood.
6. God had promised this change long ago (2 Pet 3:9). The final judgment on Israel fulfilled God’s ancient promise. The Bible does not mention the destruction of the physical heavens and earth.
7. The day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night (2 Pet 3:10). Jesus used this phrase in the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:43). He said it would happen within the generation then alive (Matt 24:34).
8. It would bring fiery judgment directed at ungodly people (2 Pet 3:7). The final judgment on Israel purged the ungodly from the land. The view that says Peter meant the destruction and remaking of the physical heavens and earth is too broad. The judgment of which Peter spoke would deal with the “ungodly” like the other judgments he mentioned.
9. Dissolution of the heavens and earth would occur (2 Pet 3:10–12). The final judgment on Israel satisfies this when we understand the Bible’s “heavens and earth” symbolism.
10. According to a previous promise, a new heaven and earth in which righteousness dwells would replace them (2 Pet 3:13). The final judgment on Israel satisfies this requirement. Again, God never promised the destruction of the physical heavens and earth.

Therefore, I conclude that Peter did not mean God would destroy the physical heavens and earth. He used the symbolic terms the prophets had used throughout the Old Testament.

If you think I am wrong, please do me the kindness of showing me the error. Please explain how an alternative view would better fit the ten concepts I described above and the context of 2 Peter 3.

Yours in the service of Christ the King,

John Formsma

1. Quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.
2. The image in this post is The Deluge by Francis Danby (1793–1862). This file (here) is in the public domain (PD-US).