So what is the ACTUAL meaning of this verse?
2 Peter 3:10 (NKJV)
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 melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
It’s NOT what you may think. You have to look closely at the both the context and the original language.
First note that the greek word for “elements” here is “stoicheia.”
Second, note that Peter is touching on the wisdom of Paul:
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2 Peter 3:16
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him
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Meaning, he’s in agreement with Paul and saying the same thing Paul was saying, in a slightly different way.
Peter himself warns:
“There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”
And how does Paul use the same Greek word, “stoicheia?”
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Galatians 4:3
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements (stoicheia) of the world.
Colossians 2:8
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles (stoicheia) of the world, and not according to Christ.
Colossians 2:20
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles (stoicheia) of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—
Galatians 4:9
But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements (stoicheia), to which you desire again to be in bondage?
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This is EXACTLY what Peter is talking to his audience about. In this case, the basic elements, the elementary first principles … of the MOSAIC LAW. He rebukes his audience for getting caught up in it, because it’s about to pass away … he’s in perfect harmony with Paul, James, Jesus, and the writer of Hebrews. What is Jesus’ “heaven and earth” in the Olivet Discourse? It is the same “heaven and earth” as below:
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Isaiah 51:16
And I have put My words in your mouth;
I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
That I may plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
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This is the same “heaven and earth” that JESUS said would perish in the 1ST CENTURY, before all the disciples died:
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Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
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What was Jesus saying? He was saying that the physical temple and the Mosaic law would be destroyed in THAT generation, but HIS words (the New Covenant / new heavens and earth / spiritual temple) would NOT pass away.
This is the SAME thing that Peter is getting at, as is the writer of Hebrews. The physical temple would be fully replaced by SPIRITUAL one:
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1 Peter 2:4
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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Peter is talking to JEWISH CHRISTIANS (see chapter 1, as he address the elect exiles) and said this:
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I Peter 2:10
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
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This, my friend, is point-blank “replacement theology,” as some try to demonize it. Let’s just call it BIBLICAL theology … because it’s wha the Bible says .. over and over and over again.
Need even more proof that he’s talking to JEWISH christians beyond the opening verses of the book? Here:
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1 Peter 2:12:
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable.
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The END OF THE TEMPLE and THE MOSAIC LAW was about to happen: That’s why Peter said:
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1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is at hand;
2 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God;
Remember this, Peter warns:
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2 Peter 1:20
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
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YOU .. Nor ME, don’t get to decide what Scripture means. We must study the BIBLE to discover true meanings.
Now … Peter knew he was about to die because Jesus TOLD him that He would perish BEFORE Jesus came in judgment on Jerusalem, but John would NOT. Remember how Peter was frustrated by this conversation?
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2 Peter 1:14
since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
Remember this?
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John 21:20
Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?
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It WAS the last days ( remember it was Peter who verified this at Pentecost in the book of Acts, when he confirmed the fulfillment of Joel), and Peter said:
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2 Peter 2-3
there will be false teachers among YOU, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction …. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with YOU … that YOU should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the LAST DAYS.
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Now back to the original verse. We’ve seen the “like a thief” language before:
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Matthew 24:43
But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
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And Jesus CONFIRMED that this would happen (heaven and earth would pass away) BEFORE John died, but after Peter died.
It was Paul, who is in agreement with Jesus, and Peter, who wrote:
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1 Thessalonians 5:2
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
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Furthermore, remember that the Thessalonians had BEEN TRICKED into thinking the Day of the Lord already happend. Think about that! They KNEW it wasn’t the end of space/time/matter … but rather the end of the covenant and temple / law back in Jerusalem.
This “thief in the night” prophecy was FULFILLED when the 4 legions that crossed the Euphrates in the Roman-Judean war DESOLATED Jerusalem in the fall of AD 70 (correspending with the Feast of Trumpets and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) timing:
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Revelation 16:
12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings [g]of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”
Do you see why the writer of Hebrews opens up with:
Hebrews 1:
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in THESE LAST DAYS spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things
Hebrew 8
Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the [a]sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man … 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
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This is big. The write of Hebrews says that our way into the Holiest of all was NOT made manifest while Herod’s temple was standing!
Peter, like Jesus, like Paul, like James, like the writer of Hebrews, and so many others … was speaking to Jewish christians of the destruction of the old covenant and physical temple … to be replaced forever by the words of Jesus, the New Covenant in His blood.
It’s no wonder the Bible uses the “Day of Judgment” and “Day of Salvation” as the same day! When the physical temple would be destroyed, the Ark would be taken heaven, the souls of the dead would be raised and hades would be destroyed. The souls would proceed to their eternal destinations. The living would be changed, clothed in immortality. Death for the believer would lose its sting. A great spiritual wedding of the bride of Christ with the bridegroom would be celebrated the same time the spiritual whore: Old Covenant Judea and Jerusalem … would be desolated … and literally stoned for her spiritual prostitution. In a Jewish court, 2 witness were necessary … and Revelation describes how Moses (the law) and Elijah (the prophets) not only provided ample opportunity for repentance to righteousness … but ample testimony to pronounce guilty. God was more than justified.
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Malachi 3: 1-2
“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
2 “But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire