What does the Bible say about the end of the world?

Yet the judgment blow will be struck when the time arrives. The Lord will come when men do not expect Him, as a thief in the night, and thus usher in His day. That "day" will comprise a thousand years as other Scriptures show. It will commence with His coming and not close until the passing away of the earth and its surrounding heavens, dissolved by fire. This will not take place until the end of His thousand years' reign is reached, as stated in Revelation 20:7-11. That same destruction of the heavens and the earth will usher in the "day of God" of which Revelation 21:1-8 speaks, — the eternal state. The "day of the Lord" and the "day of God" are like two circles touching each other and just overlapping at the point where the heavens and earth are destroyed, so that their destruction may be said to be in both of them.

The Apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 3, in one brief verse leads our thoughts to the eternal state, when he writes, "We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth." The context clearly shows that these words have no reference to the millennium. In this passage the Apostle speaks of three worlds: Firstly, in verse 6, looking back to the days before the flood, he speaks of "the world that then was," and reminds us that, "being overflowed with water," it perished. Secondly, in verse 7, he speaks of "the heavens and the earth, which are now." Of this present earth he says it is "reserved to fire against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." And he tells us, in that day, "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." Thirdly, he reminds us, in verse 13, that "we" — believers — on the assurance of God's promise, "look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness." During millennial days, we read that "A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment" (Isa. 32:1). In the eternal state, righteousness will dwell. Ruling supposes there is evil to be repressed. In the eternal state there will be no sin to mar the new heavens and the new earth. There everyone will be in right relations with God and with one another, so that it can be truly said righteousness will dwell.

AFTER the solemn scene of eternal judgment, unfolded at the close of the preceding chapter, a vision of the unclouded beauty of the eternal state of blessedness is displayed before our eyes. The contrast is as abrupt as magnificent. No sooner had John recorded the doom of those who appeared before the great white throne than he proceeds: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." (v. 1) Isaiah is the first to make mention both of new heavens and a new earth. He says, speaking in the name of Jehovah, "Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." (Isa. 65:17.) And again, "As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain." (Isa. 66:22.) While, however, the words, new heavens and new earth, appear in the prophecy, it is yet evident, from the context of the passages cited, that they do not contain the same significance as in our chapter. In Isaiah, indeed, scarcely more is meant than that the heavens and the earth shall be morally new during the millennium, that, as the heavens will be cleared from Satan and Satan's power (see Eph. 6:12; Rev. 12:10, etc.), and the earth will be freed in large measure from the effects of the curse (see Psalm 67 and 72), they will be in this sense new. The apostle Peter supplies the link between Isaiah and Revelation. Taking up, as led of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah's prophecy, and giving to it a deeper meaning, he says, after describing the dissolution of all things, "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2 Peter 3:13.) This, as will be at once perceived, goes much further than the kingdom during the thousand years, the characteristic of which is that righteousness will reign (see Psalms 96 - 99; Isaiah 32, etc.); inasmuch as Peter speaks of a scene wherein righteousness shall dwell. This could be no other than the eternal state, telling of a scene without and a scene within which answer to all that God is, a scene which is in fact the consummation of the new creation.

The first heaven and the first earth are thus for ever displaced;* and it is specially noted that there was no more sea. This fact may have a twofold significance. The first and most prominent thought is, since the sea interposes a barrier to intercourse, that there will be then no more separation. Then, as we remember the symbolic meaning of earth and sea in this book, that the earth speaks of ordered government, and the sea of insubject and unorganized masses of people or nations, it teaches, that every part of the new earth will be in ordered subjection to, and under the governmental control of, God. All will be the perfect expression of His own will; and then will be fulfilled that far-reaching petition in the prayer the Lord taught His disciples, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." It was so done by our Lord Himself; but in these "new and blessed scenes," it will be also so done by every one among all the countless throng of the redeemed.

The end of the world is now come. Before the face of Him that sits upon the great white throne, the earth and the heaven fled away. Nature is dissolved, the present order of creation disappears, to make way for that new creation which God will bring in upon the ruins of the old. The time has come when "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." (2 Peter 3:10.) This is the last act in "the day of the Lord," and at this supreme moment we have now arrived. All that man has been living for, the world and his own works in it, his riches, his greatness, the mighty monuments of his skill, the cities he has built, the empires he has founded, all on which his pride and his affections were fixed, vanish as a waking dream — "there was found no place for them."

So with this world. God is going to end it. There will yet be a new heaven and a new earth. The present earth and the present heaven will yet flee from the face of Him who sits upon the throne. The Apostle Peter, in startling and graphic language, describes how “the heavens shalt 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.” He then asks with vehemence, “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 to the day of God” (2 Peter 3:10-12).

The Lord is not willing that you should perish, but remember this, "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night" (2 Peter 3:10), and I never heard of a thief blowing a trumpet when he was going to break into your house. Thus will the Son of Man come to deal with this godless scene. When men "shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape" (1 Thess. 5:3). And what then? Then, when the Lord's mediatorial or millennial reign is over, you will have the burning up of all things, the great conflagration of which Peter speaks: "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." Why? Because we know that what man thinks so much of is merely "reserved to fire," it is all evanescent, it is all passing away, a fleeting shadow; but what God gives us in the gospel is abiding, eternal, and immutable.

But, let us see, what takes place at that moment. You may get fuller light by listening to what Peter has to say. "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" (2 Peter 3:10). God has but one way of purifying this sin-stained earth, and it is by fire. It will be a terrible day, indeed, when "the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up." How it will be caused, it is not for me to say, but you all know that we live on the crust of a ball, whose interior consists of molten material, and flame. Whether God will let these mighty forces of nature then come into play, is for Him to decide, but all that Scripture says is this, "the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up." So that, on the mightiest monuments of man's skill, and ingenuity, faith sees written in indelible characters, the words, "Reserved to fire" (2 Peter 3:7). It will be an awful day for the man who is not saved. This thought, therefore, leads the apostle to add: "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 the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." This last clause, you observe, is repeated, that there might be no mistake whatever, as to the way in which God will cleanse the earth, and the heavens too. "Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness" (2 Peter 3:12-13). What Peter says he looks for, John writes that he saw. "We look for new heavens and a new earth," says Peter; but says John, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth," and you will find all about them in Revelation 21. Peter reveals them disappearing, in flame, and smoke, and John shows them reappearing, in all the beauty of the new creation, for eternity.

Jesus sits, then, on that great white throne, the earth and the heaven flee from His face, and now there comes a moment, unparalleled in its solemnity, in the history of men. "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." It is the closing moment of the second hour of the 5th of John. Is there any resurrection of the blessed here? Clearly not; they have been already raised more than a thousand years, and taken part in the millennial reign. The two resurrections are separated, as to time, by at least one thousand years, but they are separated more than that, by their utterly different character. They that have done good "have already come forth to the resurrection of life." If the Lord came this evening, every sleeping believer would be so raised. But what about the unbelievers? They are left for this day — left for the "resurrection to judgment" here, before the great white throne. It is a judgment of persons, not deeds, though they be judged according to their deeds — a judgment only of unbelievers — and though standing before the throne, they are all spoken of as "dead." They have been delivered from the grip of the first death, only to taste the second death, hence, they are still called dead.

Again 1 Peter 1:7, 13, as well as 1 Peter 5:4, falls under the usual rule: the manifestation of Christ connects itself with the exhibition of fidelity in trial, and service general or special. And 2 Peter 3 seems to my mind as exquisitely exact as any other, though to a superficial glance the terms might seem there interchangeable. But it is not so. The scoffers of the last days say, Where is the promise of His coming? Unbelief is as sure of a stable unchanged world as of man's progress. What is the answer of faith? Not the presence of the Lord but His day will come as a thief in the night. If they taunt as to the Lord's coming with its bright hope, the Holy Spirit threatens them with the solemn affirmation that His day will come with a power which will dissolve, not merely the works of busy man, but the heavens and earth before it closes.

And if we look for a moment at 2 Peter 3 we shall find, I think, a link between Isaiah and Revelation. It is written in 2 Peter 3:10, "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 heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." Now it appears to me plain that this is what takes place at the epoch of the great white throne. For the moment the Lord is on that throne, the earth and heaven flee from before His face, and there is found no place for them. It is a part of "the day of the Lord." which day comprehends the whole time from the Lord's interference to judge the world, taking His great power and reigning, until He delivers up the kingdom, after the millennium and the subsequent judgments are over.* "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."

Here in Revelation not merely the present dispensation but the present heaven and earth have passed away, and give place to "all things made new." Doubtless the new heaven and earth will be made out of the old. Just as the resurrection-body will be formed out of the present body of humiliation by the power of God, so are the present earth and heavens destined to a kindred transformation. After the dissolution they will reappear in the form of the new heavens and earth. "No more sea" would be impossible without a miracle, as long as life in its present condition has to be maintained. The sea, as my reader knows, is absolutely necessary to animated nature as it is. Man could not exist without it; and so with regard to every animal and even vegetable upon the face of the earth, not to speak of the vast world of waters. But when time is done — when there is no longer the natural life that is sustained by God — when the millennium shall have yielded the brightest witness to this as well as to every other fruit of His wisdom and goodness and power — a new state of things altogether will ensue, and this perfect and everlasting. There will be new heavens and a new earth; for the first heavens and first earth are passed away; and there is no more sea. Perfection is come for the universe.