2nd Peter 3:10, “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.”
The “DAY OF THE LORD” refers to the time period between the Abomination of
Desolation (Matthew 24:15) until the end of the 1,000 year Millennium (2nd
Peter 3:10). There are many Old Testament references to the “day of the
Lord,” as a time of God's anger and wrath being poured out upon the earth.
Zephaniah 2:3, “Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have
wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall
be hid in the day of the LORD's anger.” So the “day of the Lord”
encompasses 1,003.5 years (1,000 year Millennium + last 3 1/2 years of the
Tribulation period, called “The Great Tribulation”). I wouldn't argue the
point, but this is the only logical conclusion if you
compare Scripture with Scripture. I'll discuss this doctrine more in a
moment, but first, the main point of my article.
Only What We Do for Christ Will Endure in
Eternity
All of the music recorded in the world, secular and Christian alike, will be BURNED UP someday. All of the beautiful music, art, sculptures, architectural wonders, exquisite furniture, and masterpieces of mankind, will all be destroyed by God one day. IT WILL ALL BURN!!! So what does that mean to us? The Bible tells us...
2nd Peter 3:10-13, “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? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
God has already given us the answer. Knowing that everything in this world will one day be BURNED UP, we ought to live like it! Such a sobering thought ought to compel us as born-again believers, to maintain a holy manner of life, looking for and desiring the speedy return of our Lord. There is nothing wrong with wanting Christ to return sooner than later. We know from 2nd Peter 3:9 that the only reason God is delaying His return is so that more men will repent toward God and believe the Gospel.
NOTE: By the way, repentance is always “toward God,” never from sin, to be saved. That is exactly what Acts 20:21 teaches. Acts 20:21, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Anyone who teaches that you must repent by turning away from your sins to be saved is a false prophet. You get saved by turning toward Jesus Christ in faith to be saved. Obviously you need to turn “FROM” something in order to turn “TO” the Gospel. But that something you turn FROM is not what saves you, nor is it a requirement to be saved, as many false prophets claim these days. If you place your faith in Christ's sacrifice on the cross, as payment for your sins, believing that Jesus was buried and bodily raised up three days later, you are immediately, permanently and forever saved!!! The man who believes has also repented! This is why we find the words “believe” and “believed” mentioned 85 times in the Gospel of John (which was written to convince men to be saved - Acts 20:31), but the word “repent” is never mentioned even once! John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
Biblically, as we just learned from 2nd Peter 3:11, we should be “LOOKING FOR” and “HASTING UNTO” the coming of the day of God. The word “hasting” means “speed, i.e., to urge on (diligently or earnestly); by implication to await eagerly.” Remember, this passage does not concern the Rapture or the Second Coming. This passage in 2nd Peter 3:9-13 speaks of the event, at the end of the Millennium, when the earth is renovated over with fire. The oceans will be burned up. Everything on this earth will dissolve in the intense heat. This is a remarkable passage of Scripture. It will be a whole new world and heavens, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Amen for that! We are supposed to look forward with eagerness to this time of cleansing and newness, wherein dwelleth righteousness. I can't wait! It sounds beautiful to me, and that is what God wants us to think.
As God's child, I am so sick and tired of this sin-cursed world full of wickedness. I am sick and tired of Satan being in charge of this evil world. I'm sick of seeing Illuminati symbols everywhere I turn; namely, the All Seeing Eye (which is seen extensively in Hollywood and the music industry), The Great Pyramid (look on the reverse of any U.S. one-dollar bill) and the Obelisk (e.g., The Washington Monument, which was also Nebuchadnezzar's golden 90' x 9' image). I hate all the corruption, filth and evil that permeates every nook and cranny of American society today. The world has become such a horrible place because of Satan and mankind's sin-nature. And it's not just America, the Bible says in 1st John 5:19b that “the whole world lieth in wickedness.” What a glorious day it will be when the whole world is “BURNED UP” and “THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP” (2nd Peter 3:10). God is going to purge the planet of man's filth, starting all over in RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! Amen, hallelujah, what a awesome time that will be!!!
The Holy Scriptures teach that as believers we
ought to LOOK forward to this time, and even eagerly await for it with great
HASTE.
Lot Hated the Wickedness He Beheld in Sodom
Abraham's nephew, Lot, in the Old Testament pitched (pointed) the door (opening) of his tent toward Sodom. Genesis 13:12, “Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.” Just one chapter later, in Genesis 14:12 we read “And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.” There is an important truth to be learned here, which is, long before we move into sin in our lives, our heart gets there first! Lot pitched the opening of his tent toward Sodom, because that's where his heart yearned to be. The next thing you know, Lot lived in Sodom, a city full of wickedness and perverted filth, and it destroyed his entire family.
NOTE: And also, as a side note, I'd like to go back and make a comment about living in big cities. Check and you will see, that the bigger the city, the more you'll find crime, evil, homelessness, gangs, drugs, indifference and all manner of wickedness. As a general rule, I think it is far better for parents to raise their children in a smaller city or town, or out in the country. I guarantee you that you'll find far more atheists and liberals in big cities, than you will living out in farmlands and rural areas. There's just something about the big city that elevates the spirit of man, and not God. Granted, there are many benefits to living in a bigger city (e.g., convenience, more restaurants, public services, businesses, entertainment, et cetera), which is why Lot moved there no doubt.
So often the decisions that we make adversely affect the lives of everyone around us, especially our own family and loved ones. Life in it's simplest form is nothing more than a series of decisions! That's why we need to saturate our daily life with the King James Bible and lots of Bible-preaching, to help us make the RIGHT decisions. That is exactly what Proverbs 3:5-7 teach us...
Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”
Just as Lot hated what he saw around him in Sodom, we feel the same today in the United States. Filth, homosexuality, perversion, dishonestly greed, substance abuse and immorality are everywhere!
2nd Peter 2:6-8, “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.”
That's exactly how we should ALL feel as
Christians about wickedness!!! And to make matters much worse, false
prophets exist everywhere, peddling corrupt Bible versions, teaching things
they ought not for filthy lucre's sake, who have crept false doctrines into
the churches, and religious people love to have it so! More than half of the
6,000 independent Baptist churches in America now embrace the satanic lie
that a person must “turn away from sins” to be saved. They've got it
backwards! You don't turn away from anything to be saved, you place your
faith in the Good News (Gospel) of Christ crucified, buried and risen
to be saved (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Obviously, in order to turn “TO”
Jesus, you must also turn “FROM” something. But turning from something is
not a requirement to be saved, it is an integral part of TRUSTING the
Savior. Ephesians 1:12-13, “That we should be to the praise of his glory,
who first trusted in Christ. In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of
promise.” There you have it, we are saved simply by TRUSTING upon the
Lord (the Gospel), which is what is
means to BELIEVE.
Everything in This Life Will be Burned Up Someday
The Holy Bible teaches that at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, He will establish His millennial kingdom. We learn about this in Daniel chapter 2, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of an image. Christ's return and Millennial kingdom is represented in the image by a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, which smashes all the kingdoms of mankind. ...
Daniel 2:44-45, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”
After the 1,000 year Millennial reign of Christ, the Word of God teaches that the earth and all contained therein will be BURNED. I agree with Dr. Oliver B. Greene (1915-1976), who taught that BURNED doesn't mean the earth will disintegrate; but rather, it will be renovated with fire...
The last part of verse 1 tells us, “ . . . the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;
and there was no more sea.”This statement refers to Revelation 20:11: “ . . . from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away.” This dissolution (not complete annihilation) will take place through the melting process
of fire (II Peter 3:10). The world and the works will be burned up, the elements will be on fire,
the air will explode. When the new Heaven and earth come into being there will be no more sea,
no more great oceans - restless, destructive, never calm or still. The great separating medium of
the continents is essential to both animal and vegetable life now; but the sea will not be needed in
God’s great new economy.During the Millennium the sea will still be here . . . we read of nations, rivers, seas; but in the
eternal ages there will be no need for a sea. The removal of the sea will give immense land
surface exceeding greatly the surface of earth’s land today. There will be countless hosts of
Gentiles and the entire nation of Israel who will dwell on the new earth.Verse 2: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Again John says, “I saw,” assuring us
that he was there and he knows for sure what he is writing about.The new Heaven and the new earth that John saw are not described; however, the Pearly White
City is described in minute detail.There is no doubt in my mind that the earth will be a magnificent place - one giant garden of
flowers, shrubs and everything that an eternal God can and will provide to make life complete
and abundant. The new earth will be one giant paradise (the word means “Garden of
Pleasures”). God has no joy in the death of the wicked; it is not His will that men suffer. He has
great joy in blessing His people, and no good thing will He withhold from them who love Him,
serve Him and walk with Him.SOURCE: Dr. Oliver B. Greene, The Revelation Of Jesus Christ, 1963.
With this great truth in mind, knowing that the world and all that exists therein will be BURNED UP someday, we ought to spend the bulk of our time, resources and efforts laying up treasures in eternity...
Matthew 6:19-20, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
This life will be over before we know it. How
sad and tragic that the average pastor today is more concerned about his
next paycheck than he is about loving people and contending for the faith.
The average pastor doesn't care about THE TRUTH, for if he did he would
never allow two or more Bible versions to exists in his church congregation.
You show me a man who uses both the Textus Receptus (King James Bible) and
the Alexandrian manuscripts (all modern Bible versions) and I'll show you a
man who is sinfully compromised, unreliable in his teachings and ought not
be allowed behind any pulpit. God wrote one Bible, not two! The Alexandrian
texts are corrupt as can be! Only the Textus Receptus (or majority Text) is
trustworthy, upon which our beloved King James Bible is based.
Beware of Phony Pastors Lurking in Many Baptist Churches Today
The average pastor today is a sinful respecter of persons, shunning away those who make him feel uncomfortable. Romans 14:10, “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” I know a group of local Baptist pastors on Guam who won't even let me visit their church, because they are compromised, cowards and Christless. Christ didn't turn people away, he received everybody who asked for help. The Lord esteemed others BETTER than Himself, considering OTHERS before Himself, and He commanded us to do LIKEWISE (Philippians 2:3-5).
No genuine man of God would ever turn anyone away who asked for help. We are living in ungodly “perilous times” of fake pastors “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2nd Timothy 3:5). We are living in woeful times of apostasy, when pastors are no longer shepherds, but wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15), fleecing the flock with counterfeit Bible versions (which ALL promote another gospel, another spirit and another Jesus). That “power” spoken of in 2nd Timothy 3:5 is the Gospel, which is NOT taught in the Alexandrian Bible version (all modern Bibles). Instead, Lordship Salvation is taught, and manmade repentance.
