2 Peter 3 is often taken to mean that God’s plan for the future is one that involves the dissolution of the physical universe and, for us, an eternal disembodied spiritual state. This vastly depreciates God’s purpose in creating the world in the first place. The origin of this idea is to be found in Greek philosophy, namely, in Plato, rather than in the Bible. Plato saw all matter as inherently imperfect and therefore he believed we must be delivered from the physical world, and our physical bodies, in order to achieve the heavenly state. Peter, however, is a Jewish and biblical thinker and he is not teaching this Platonic view. When Peter speaks of the earth being ‘burned up,’ it means that it will be purged of evil, not annihilated altogether. The biblical vision of the future is one in which we will live in a restored ‘heavenly earth’ with restored physical bodies. God did not make this world to be a temporary stopover. We were made to live in physical bodies on this physical earth forever. What will be annihilated, according to Peter, is the present world system. Humanity has got itself into such a bind that it cannot save itself. Political solutions will only ever act as band-aids over an infected wound. The problem is deep and systemic. Forces of evil are at war in the world and the corruption affects every level of society. Here is the point: Jesus is the only hope for this world. And he is coming to restore all things. Stay connected with him and invest yourself in what he is doing because everything else is temporary.
Ask God to draw your attention more and more to things of eternal significance.
Read 2 Peter 3:10-18.
