Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Thursday July 30 2026
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2 Peter 3:5-13-For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 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. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Some disciples believe that the Second Coming, the end of the world, the resurrection of the dead, and the Day of Judgment, have already occurred. It is their contention that these all took place in the year 70 A.D., when the nation of Rome destroyed the city of Jerusalem. They further maintain that these passages which discuss these events must be interpreted in a way that somehow corresponds to the destruction of Jerusalem. As such, they argue that Peter’s words in the aforementioned text must teach that the present heavens and Earth have reference to the land of Israel and the temple (which were destroyed in A.D. 70), and that the “new heavens and new Earth” have reference to the growth of the church after that event.
What shall we make of this?
Let’s study.
First, please notice that Peter declares that the coming destruction of the heavens and the Earth which now exist have been foreshadowed by the event of the Flood in Noah’s day.
Now, was that terrible Deluge confined to only a certain area of the world (as advocated of the 70 A.D. maintain that the judgment under view was limited to the city of Jerusalem)?
Or was the Flood global in nature?
Genesis 7:17-20-Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
The entire globe was flooded and destroyed in Noah’s time: and in the same way, the entire globe will be destroyed by fire when Christ returns.
Second, please notice that the events of 2 Peter 3:5-13 are said to be as “a thief in the night.” In other words, the exact timing of the destruction will be unknown, and there will be no signs given of that event. Yet, in Matthew 24:4-34, Christ gave over a dozen signs which would herald the destruction of Jerusalem! Therefore, the destruction of Jerusalem was NOT like a thief in the night, like this event is said to be. Obviously then, the events of 2 Peter 3:5-13 cannot refer to the destruction of Jerusalem.
Third, it is noteworthy that there is no record of any Christian who believed that the events of 2 Peter 3:5-13 referred to the destruction of Jersualem before the last hundred years. Indeed, nearly all referenced them to the end of the world. Such argues strongly against the notion that the
Fourth, it is argued that some of the words that Peter uses to describe the present and Earth (stoicheia) are references to the Jewish temple, and so that means that the events of this passage are referring to the destruction of that building and the Old Testament.
However, that argument falls apart upon investigation.
An additional argument in favor of Full-Preterism comes from Peter’s statement, when describing the destruction of the heavens and the earth, that “the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Pet.3:10, 12). This argument focuses on the meaning of the word “elements,” which, in Greek, is the stoicheia (plural of stoicheion). The word is sometimes translated “rudiments,” sometimes “elements,” or “first principles.” Thayer defines this word (in harmony with all lexical authorities) to mean, “any first thing, from which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise; an element, first principle.”236 In Greek, this word refers to the first or fundamental units of the cosmos, or of a series, like the letters of the alphabet. Among the Greeks, the basic elements [stoicheia] from which the natural world was made were regarded as earth, air, fire and water. It is in this sense that biblical commentators have generally understood its use in Peter’s comments about the cosmic destruction. Apart from its appearing twice in this passage in 2 Peter, the word is found twice in Galatians, twice in Colossians and once in Hebrews. Based upon their interpretation of the Pauline and Hebrews passages, full-preterists suggest that the New Testament uses these terms to mean the old covenantal system of Judaism. If this definition is to be accepted, there will have to be strong justification from context, as the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) says: “Outside the NT the term [stoicheia] would denote the four elements or the basic materials of the world of which the whole cosmos, and humanity within it, is composed. Only the context can yield any other sense.”237 In 2 Peter it is said that the heavens “will pass away with a great noise” and “the earth…will be burned up” (3:10). That is where we are also told that the stoicheia will “melt with fervent heat.” Such language gives the impression of the end of the cosmos and the dissolution of the physical elements. TDNT continues: “In 2 Peter 3:10, 12 the reference has to be to the elements (or just possibly the stars). The use of terms and the idea of a final conflagration strongly support ‘elements’ as the true rendering. As V.12 points out, both the higher and lower elements will be destroyed, including the earth and all its works.”238…The claim that 2 Peter 3: 10-13 refers to the removal of the Old Covenant—because this is the alleged meaning of stoicheia—is a failed argument. Whatever other strengths the full-preterists may bring to the passage, this one is of no value. (Steve Gregg, Why Not Full-Preterism?: A Partial-Preterist Response to a Novel Theological Innovation, 292-293, 300 (Kindle Edition): Maitland, FL: Xulon Press)
What’s more, the word stoicheia had reference among the early Greek, many of the Jews, and the early Christians, to the spiritual beings which were believed to inhabit the physical elements of the universe.
5a. Spirits (Those Governing the Physical Elements or Stars). Finally, a substantial group of scholars contends that the term refers to spirits or angelic powers. Wedderburn has noted that certain selected physical elements or “constituent parts” of the world may have been coupled with a Jewish linking of these elements with angelic powers. 44 Moo takes a similar view, arguing that στοιχεῖα most commonly refers to physical elements but that it also includes reference to “those deities or spirits who were so closely related to those elements.” 45 Because of the association of these spirits with the elements or stars, some scholars see them as spirit beings that are very powerful, as reported in BDAG: “transcendent powers that are in control over events in this world, elements, elemental spirits.” 46. (Clinton E. Arnold, Colossians, Volume 44A: Second Edition (Word Biblical Commentary), 476-477 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic)
Peter therefore is likely reassuring us that in the destruction of the events recorded in this passage, the evil powers of darkness will also be finally and ultimately defeated.
2 Peter 3:5-13 is not about the destruction of Jerusalem, but about the events that will take place at the Second Coming of Christ.
Lord, thank You for the promise of Your return. Help us to be ready for that great Day! Amen.