2 Peter 3:10: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
It can be difficult to envision the earth being burned up. It can be even more difficult to remind ourselves that this may be seconds away. The earth may be gone before tomorrow.
The Holy Spirit through Peter said that some will find this so hard to believe that they will ridicule the promise of the Day of Judgment (2 Pet. 3:3-4).
If we walk by faith, we will realize that this world is temporary, and the years we spend here will seem short when we reach our eternal destination. Consider what James told the Christians he wrote to in James 4:14-15: Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”
Both physical death and the Day of Judgment can come at any time. We do not know what will happen tomorrow, and must therefore be prepared at all times to meet the Lord.
Recognition and remembrance of what comes after this life should prompt us to obey God. Notice 2 Peter 3:11-12: Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
Since the world may be gone at any moment…
- We should prepare for what comes after life on earth (Matt. 25:31-46).
- We should care about things that have eternal significance (Col. 3:2).
- We should fear God instead of man (Luke 12:4-5).
- We should lean on God’s wisdom and not our own (Prov.3:5).
May we heed the Lord’s warning and “Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (Matt. 25:13).
“For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).
May we all prepare for the Day of Judgment, knowing that it could be today.
– Michael Hickox