II Peter 3:1-18
There are a couple of oft-quoted verses in today’s reading: … with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day… (v. 8) and The Lord is … not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (v. 9)
…the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire… (v. 7b); …the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved… (v. 10); and the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn… (v. 12). Three times in a few verses Peter tells us about the end times, with three mentions of cataclysmic fire. There are many scholars who maintain that we are living in our future heaven, that the Earth as we know it will be the “new heaven”. I wonder how this belief squares with Peter’s picture of “…the day of the Lord” (v. 10) and the fiery ordeal facing the Earth. Scary!!
See also: November 5 / II Peter 3:1-9; November 6 / II Peter 3:10-18