2 Peter 3:11–12 (ESV): Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

Nothing that has been touched by sin and is not redeemed will survive the burning that is coming. But prior to the burning there is another biblically declared series of events. Isaiah refers to it and we should take note.

Isaiah 24:20 (ESV): The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.

Isaiah introduces to us an important concept, the things in the spiritual realm are ultimately going to breach into and cause the demise of the physical realm. The end of the world is a spiritual issue that has grabbed hold of and destroyed the physical. Think about that.

This is a reminder; because the fall of Babylon in Revelation is precisely the same.

In Isaiah is a picture of something that precedes the abrupt end of the world, there seems to be a staggering or a spinning out of control. Now, in our physical science classes we have come to understand that the earth spins on an axis and needs to do so or we would all meet our end in seconds.

If the earth left its place and spun out of control nearer to the sun or away from the sun by any distance, our atmosphere would be wiped away and we would all be jettisoned out at 1000 mph in many different directions. We all would either cook or freeze. I do not believe this is conveyed in the idea of staggering.  

What is conveyed is life on earth is spinning out of control. Little by little at first; but gaining momentum toward the end. In other words, there is a dying process that the earth is in. There is an appointed time when all of the physical things of this world will begin to lose control. I believe that everything that a person could possibly trust in for surety, is going to become untrustworthy.

Peter is alluding to the end as the world is dissolved, and he is asking what kind of people should we be as we approach this dissolution of the earth and the heavens?

“Well pastor, what heavens is Peter referring to!?” It doesn’t matter, does it? If anyone one of them dissolves, the life we have come to enjoy on this planet is over.

The Bible refers to three heavens. The atmosphere, outer space and the place where Jesus sits with the Father. We know the third heaven mentioned will exist forever. The other two are going to dissolve. Either one dissolving would mean certain dissolution to the other.

I want you to take a deep breath and look around at the world we live in…it is staggering. I would like over the course of these next few weeks to look at this concept of the earth winding down by God’s design, not climate issues, or meteor impacts or pandemics. This is God’s doing, not man’s. An appointed time for the end of what we have come to know as life here on earth. This is precisely the message that Peter is conveying to us.

He is saying, in light of the truth that this is going to happen, how should we live today?

As strange and foreign, maybe even upsetting as this may be, Peter asks us to think about what life should be like if we lived with this truth on the forefront of our minds. What would our attachments look like? What would our devotion to Jesus look like? What would our involvement in the kingdom of God look like? What would our involvement in the building of the kingdom of God look like?

It is a beautiful morning, and the sky is not falling. As it was in the day of Peter, so it is today.

Matthew 24:37–38 (NLT): “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat.”

We do not have to be caught unaware. Jesus does not want you to be unaware of what is happening around you. You can make the kind of preparation that the Bible says you should make. My goal is that you would start now and not wait.

Friends, are there things happening in our world today that are pointing to our world winding down? I do believe so. However, there are many who will deny the end and press on with their lives. Living in denial of the inevitable. They are unwilling to accept that Jesus is the Alpha…and Omega.

Oh Lord, let us not be unprepared for Your intervention and confrontation of a world that has denied and rejected You. You are going to make all things right and I praise You for finishing what You have started. Only, Lord, help us not be part of the problem with this world by denying truth. Let us be a part of Your solution in the time we have left. Bless the name of Jesus the Savior of the lost and broken. Lord Jesus, use us in these days ahead to reach out and share the good news that has changed our lives.

Blessings,

Pastor D