THE
ELEMENTS SHALL MELT - Viewpoint
The vivid passage in 2 Peter 3, comparing
the watery end of the world that existed at the time of the Flood with the
fiery climax to this Age which ushers in the Millennium, has often led to the
assertion that since it was literal water which ended that world it must be
equally literal fire which ends this. The apparent logic of this argument has
given rise to an insistence by some that the Second Advent of our Lord at the
end of this Age is to be accompanied by the total destruction of this planet
and everything on it in a holocaust of fire. The fact that nuclear warfare
could very easily produce just that effect has given a kind of boost to this
belief in modem times and forms the subject of many a sermon and tract in the
endeavor to persuade the unregenerate to flee from the wrath to come. It is
usually pointed out that Christians will escape all this, having been taken to
Heaven before it happens, which is comforting to the Christians but not to
anybody else.
Nevertheless, the passage in Peter stands,
and what he really does say needs to be
critically examined. It must be remembered that this is the same Peter, who
thirty years or so previously, had spoken of the Age ending by the coming of
Christ to inaugurate the Times of Restoration of all things, those times spoken
of by all the holy prophets of the past; those times which are generally known
as the Millennium, during which Christ will reign over the nations upon earth
for the elimination of sin and their eternal blessing. From the practical point
of view, if the earth is going to be reduced to a radioactive cinder, destitute
of all life, it is going to be many thousands of years before the Lord can
commence His Millennial reign. The glowing prophecies of
Let us look at what Peter says in 2 Peter 3:5-13. First, notice
that in vs. 5-6 when talking about the first world and its ending at the Flood,
Peter is quoting history. In vs. 7-13
when talking about the end of the second world and the coming in of the third, he is quoting prophecy. These are two
different things. The second thing to do is try to look at the matter through
Peter’s eyes while he was writing the words. He did not have the benefit of our
modern knowledge of the earth and the universe;
his theological knowledge was
inspired and
guided by the Holy Spirit but his
scientific knowledge was necessarily limited to that of his own day, as indeed
is ours at this present time. In our own time, many older astronomical beliefs
have been overturned. Therefore, Peter’s background is that of the best
scientists of his own day. It was believed then, as it had been for centuries
that the earth was a land mass surrounded by ocean, the whole forming a sphere
floating in water completely enclosed by a solid transparent shell, the
heavens. On the surface was the abode of the gods, or of God, according to
pagan or Jewish theology respectively. In the centre of the earth, below Hades
- the grave, there existed a region of fire, which the Greeks called Tartarus.
Here were imprisoned the sinners who had rebelled against God in former times.
This became the source of the fiery Hell of early Christian theology. Peter,
like others of his generation, must have accepted this as the general thought
of his day and in fact in this same epistle, (2:4) he tells us that the
rebellious angels of Noah’s day are confined in Tartarus (Hell in the A.V. or
KJV) to await judgment. His reference to the earth standing out of the water
and in the water is therefore an allusion to this belief. In fact, Psalm 24:2
and 136:6 both allude to the same idea.
However, Peter does not say that the earth was destroyed. What he
does say is that the order of things upon
it, the kosmos, the world that
then existed, was overflowed with water and perished. What we would call
the world of man was swept away by the Flood. All the works of man, all they
had done and built up during the antediluvian era, all their attainments and
achievements, their entire system and social order, founded as it was upon evil
and lawlessness, was blotted out by the Flood. That world came to an end and
after it was all over God made a fresh start with what was then a “new
heavens and a new earth” and is at present “the heavens and earth which
now are” (v.7) doomed to a similar destruction and for the same reason. However, the planet itself was not destroyed
nor even unduly damaged. When Noah and his sons came out of the
Now
Peter turns his attention to prophecy. Just as truly as the old world order was
brought to an end by the Flood in history, he says, so will the present world
order be brought to an end by the fires of the Day of the Lord and so make way
for the new world order of the Millennium. Peter does not say that the earth itself is going to be destroyed by
fire; what he does say is that the
heavens and the earth, which are now, the existing social order elsewhere
called “this present evil world” have been kept in store, reserved for the
fires of the Day of the Lord. The new heavens and earth, “wherein dwells
righteousness” constitutes the new social order of the next Age, but still on this literal planet earth. To
claim that this destroying fire is literal involves an equivalent claim that
the Devil and all not found written in the Book of Life are cast into literal
fire (Rev. 20:10, 15).
This leads to the implication of vs. 10
and 12. The “elements shall melt with
fervent heat” and “the earth and the works that are therein
shall be burned up” The word “elements”
(stoicheia) signifies the elements
of knowledge, first beginnings, principles, rudiments. In the science of
physics, it meant to the Greeks the primary constituents of matter and they
claimed that the whole of creation was built up from four primary elements,
i.e., earth, air, fire and water. Of these everything consisted. Now if Peter intended this very literal
meaning to his words, he would have been saying that not only the earth, but
the sun and moon, planets and stars and heaven itself, the abode of God and the
angels, would be dissolved also. In Peter’s day it was believed that heaven
was a solid shell enclosing the earth with the heavenly bodies including the
stars circling between the two. Peter obviously did not mean this; clearly, his
use of “heavens” and “earth”
in this verse corresponds with that in vs. 7, 10 and 13, in which the
heavens denote the higher celestial
ruling powers and the earth the terrestrial order of things. In the case of
“this present evil world” those higher powers, the heavens, are
Satan and his hosts, the “god of this world” of 2 Corinthians 4:4,
and this gives a clue to Peter’s use of the fiery metaphor.
Tartarus, the fiery region below the
earth, was the place where all evil and evildoers were finally to be destroyed.
The fires would burn until there was nothing left to burn. So it is with the
end of this world-age. The world of man enters into judgment with God, not for
their irrevocable doom without opportunity to repent, but for the destruction of the evil of this world so that they do have an
opportunity to repent. So Peter pictures the swallowing up of every element
of evil in this present world in “Tartarus”, the coming
of a new heavens and earth, the celestial sovereignty of Christ, with His Church and a terrestrial kingdom of righteousness. The
earth itself will become fertile like Eden and mankind, learning of the ways of
God, with no longer the Devil to deceive and ensnare.
An allusion to this ancient belief in Tartarus is
found in Deuteronomy. 32:22 where the Lord says, in connection with His coming
judgments upon
The final clause in v.10 “the earth and the works therein shall be
burned up” is the subject of a textual corruption which was unknown to
the translators of the AV. Earlier manuscripts, not available to them, show
that the word they rendered “burned up” is one meaning “to lay bare, to discover or uncover, to
reveal”. Hence, most modem translators have one of these words in their
renderings. The meaning is clearly that the fires of the end of the Age will reveal
the evils of this world and all the works of man. The “hidden works of
darkness” will
be open for all men to see. The Devil will be bound, that he may deceive the
nations no more (Rev. 20:3) and the wreckage of this “present evil world”
exposed and cleared away ready for the rebuilding and renovating processes
which are to follow.
Thus the inspired Apostle, clothed his
description of the coming end of this Age in the imagery of the Old Testament,
picturing the fires of God’s judgments bringing to an end the edifice that evil
men have erected during the thousands of years past, and clearing the ground
for commencement of Messiah’s reign, the Millennial administration of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. The fires of 2
Peter 3 are metaphorical not literal, and when they have done their work and
are over, the earth will still be here with multitudes waiting to welcome their
King.
“It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for him, and He will save us.” A.O. Hudson
The Kingdom Nears
Men may sorrow in distress,
Sin-cursed, blind and weary,
Death may rule supreme today…
All things may look dreary;
Make haste, O time; speed on, O
years!
As moments pass, the Kingdom nears!
Men for earth and saints for heaven;
God’s decree will surely stand.
Shout for joy! Give God the Glory!
Safe deliverance is at hand.
Ah, no more doubting, no more fears,
As moments pass, the Kingdom nears!
J. G.
Kuehn