2 Peter 3:13

‘But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.'

They are to look for the new heavens and the new earth. For that is God's promise, the formation of a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness, that is the righteousness that is the result of fulfilling all God's requirements in the Scriptures. All that is false or unrighteous will be done away. For the concept of a new heaven and a new earth compare Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:6; Revelation 21-22. These are symbolic pictures of a far greater glory.

In this new heavens and new earth will be fulfilled all God's promises to Abraham, (it was this that Abraham and his seed were looking for - Hebrews 11:10), all the promises of the prophets, and all the final promises of the New Testament, all summed up in the word ‘promise'. Both the heavens and the earth will have been totally renewed. It is vain to speculate on the question of how the new relates to the old. It is, however, interesting to recapitulate Peter's references to heaven and earth.

· ‘There were heavens from of old, and an earth having been brought together out of water and amidst water, by the word of God (2 Peter 3:5) - CREATION.

· ‘By which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished' (2 Peter 3:6) - THE FLOOD.

· ‘But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men --- but the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in the 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 (or ‘will be laid bare') --- looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the Day of God' (2 Peter 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10) - THE COMING CONFLAGRATION.

· ‘But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness' (2 Peter 3:13) - THE NEW CREATION.

The is Peter's reply to the suggestion that ‘all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation' (2 Peter 3:4). But it is noteworthy that that the emphasis is on God acting in judgment and renewal. He himself makes no reference to Christ's second coming. His emphasis is on ‘the Day of the Lord' and the ‘coming (parousia) of the Day of God'. But that it inclused His coming we can have no doubt in view of the question in 2 Peter 3:4.

The Parousia of the Lord.

This brings us face to face with the question at to what the question ‘where is now the promise of His coming (parousia)?' (2 Peter 3:3) was asking. And especially so as the only other mention of His parousia has been in 2 Peter 1:16, where it undoubtedly indicated the revealing of His glory at His first coming (parousia). There Peter was saying, ‘We know He has come because we have seen His power and His parousia (presence)'.

It would appear from this that the doubts expressed by the false teachers were doubts not so much about the second coming, but as to whether the Christ had actually come in the flesh at all, and indeed as to whether God did ever interfere in His creation sufficiently to bring judgment upon it. And Peter's assurance to the believers is therefore that THE CHRIST HAS come and has been seen by eyewitnesses of His glory (2 Peter 1:16), and that the manifestation of that coming will be made known in the events he has described (2 Peter 3:3), events which, having already once been demonstrated in the Flood, will be demonstrated further, indicating that God does ‘interfere' with His creation and is active with regard to it.

We are not of course suggesting for one moment that Peter did not believe in the second coming (for which see 1 Peter), only that it is not on its own his prime emphasis here. His prime emphasis here is on the total fact that the Christ (as ‘the Lord Jesus Christ') has come in the flesh in the last days, and that that coming in its entirety, as seen in both the first and second coming, will finally issue in the God's final judgment and the new creation.

Note on ‘Where Is The Promise Of His Coming?

It is always difficult to work out the details of false teaching when all we have are the defences against that false teaching put, not to the false teachers, but to the people who were in danger of being deceived.

The main doctrinal clues are that they ‘denied the Master Who bought them' (2 Peter 2:1) and that they asked,' Where is the promise of His coming'? (2 Peter 3:4), not in the light of His first coming but in the light of creation (2 Peter 3:4). The main ethical clues are that they engaged in lascivious living.

The whole basis of their teaching appears thus to have been that God does not interfere in this material world, and never has done, with the consequence that we can behave as we like without any fear of repercussions. But in view of the fact that they clearly made some profession to be teaching ‘Christ' we must assume that it was as a heavenly figure Who did not interfere in this world, the benefits from Whom were obtained by ecstatic rites, bringing ‘releases of their spirits' while they themselves were indulging in their revelry (compare Revelation 2:20). It would appear that they saw Him as in conflict with other heavenly figures, whom they themselves felt safe to abuse (2 Peter 2:10). Such a mixing of Christian teaching with hellenistic ideas was inevitable once the Gospel became of interest to people steeped in hellenistic ideas. The recognition that God had truly become man was not easy for them to grasp, and was contrary to their ideas.

Peter's reply is that the Christ has come in the flesh as ‘our Lord Jesus Christ', as is evidenced by the fact that he with others had seen His power and His glory manifested on earth and testified to by God (2 Peter 1:16) as was promised by the prophets (2 Peter 1:19). And that God does step in to ‘interfere with' and judge His creation as is evidenced by the fact that He did once judge the world at the Flood.

And in both cases what God has done will unravel into what He will do when the coming (parousia) of Christ is manifested in the parousia of the Day of God, in the Day when His final judgment on the world will come about. These will issue in the new heavens and the new earth, when all that opposes God both in heaven and on earth will have been done away.

End of Note.

Note the threefold reference to ‘promise' in 2 Peter 3:4; 2 Peter 3:9 and now here. ‘Where is the promise of His Presence?' (2 Peter 3:4). ‘The Lord is not slack concerning His promise' (2 Peter 3:9). ‘According to that promise we look for new heavens and a new earth'. This is the ultimate fulfilment of what Christ has and will come to do.

And it is because we have been brought to God through the Righteous One (1 Peter 3:18), and have been sanctified by the Spirit into the obedience of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2), so that we have become the righteous (2 Peter 2:21; 2 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter 4:18), that we will be fitted for the righteous new heavens and new earth.

So ‘in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth' (2 Peter 3:4; Genesis 1:1), after the Flood God brought forth ‘the heavens that now are, and the earth' (2 Peter 3:7), and after the destruction by fire He will bring forth ‘the new heavens and the new earth' (2 Peter 3:13). So will His work be brought to completion.