In Peter’s 1st letter, he predicted: 1 Peter 4:7 “the end (telos: End, purpose, goal, completion, fulfillment: This root (tel-) means “reaching the end (aim).” It is well-illustrated with the old pirate’s telescope, unfolding (extending out) one stage at a time to function at full-strength) of all things is at hand (eggizó: To draw near, to approach, to come near: (eggízō) occurs 14 times in the Greek perfect tense (indicative mood) in the NT which expresses “extreme closeness, immediate imminence)”. If Peter was predicting the end of the world, then he was a false prophet b/c the end of the world was not near. He must have been predicting the end of the Jewish Age, the end of the Jewish system of worship, the end of the old covenant. All those things happened in 70 AD in the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem. Peter had already said that he and his readers were living in the “last times”. 1 Peter 1:²⁰ For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.” That would be the “last times”, synonymous with the “last days” of the Jewish Age from 30 AD to 70 AD, before the “end” of all things that was near. The Hebrews writer had predicted in about 60 AD that the old covenant was “about to disappear”. Hebrews 8:¹³ When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is about to disappear.” It did disappear in 70 AD: no more temple, no more priests, no more animal sacrifices after 70 AD.It would be replaced by the new covenant. The old Jerusalem would be replaced by the new heavenly Jerusalem, i.e. the church. The Jewish Age would end in 70 AD. Jesus had predicted that the end would be within the generation of those he was speaking to (Matthew 24:14,34). Daniel had predicted that the “end time” would occur when the “abomination of desolation” occurred. Jesus said that Daniel’s abomination of desolation would occur within the generation of those he was speaking to (Matthew 24:15,34) so that must be the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. The new Messianic Age, usually called the “age to come”, began in Acts 2 at the beginning of the “last days” of the Jewish Age and would continue indefinitely after the Jewish Age ended in 70 AD. The “last days” would be the transition period from 30 AD to 70 AD. Peter’s “end of all things” must be a prediction of the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD.

In his 2nd letter he predicted the destruction of the old heavens and earth. Let’s stop here and think. If Peter predicted that the end of all things was near and would happen in 70 AD, would the destruction of the old heavens and earth not be included in the “end of all things”? The false prophets in the “last days” were mocking the prediction of the destruction of the imminent 2nd coming of Jesus.2 Peter 3:³ Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts.” That shows that this prediction is to be fulfilled in the last days, which is the period from 30 AD to 70 AD, the last days of the Jewish Age. Jude said the prediction of mockers in the “last time” was made by the apostles: Jude 1:¹⁷ But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸ that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” The mockers mocked Jesus’ prediction that He was going to come back within that generation (Matthew 10:23; 16:27-28; 24:30-34; 26:64). 2 Peter 2:⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.” Jesus made those predictions in 30 AD and Peter wrote 2 Peter about 62 AD, so it had been over 30 years since Jesus made that prediction of his imminent 2nd coming. But Jesus had not returned in those 30 years and you can see how the mockers used that. The word for “generation” is genea and always refers to a 40 year period in the New Testament, so Jesus’ prediction still has 10 years to be fulfilled and still be “within that generation”, which would still be “imminent”. His prediction of his 2nd coming within that generation can only refer to His coming in judgment on the Jews in 70 AD (using the Romans). He made no other predictions of a “coming” that would happen after that generation.

Peter said that he was reminding his readers of the words spoken by the “holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and Savior spoken by the apostles”. 2 Peter 3:1 Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder, ² to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.” I just showed the words of Jesus and the apostles that involved this prediction in 2 Peter 3, but where did the words of the “holy prophets” that involved this prediction appear? The answer to that is found in 2 Peter 3:¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! ¹³ But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” The “day of God” is an unusual way of referring to the “day of the Lord”: 2 Peter 3:¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. That day of the Lord or day of God is used many times in the Old Testament and means a day of judgment, usually judgment on a nation. In 2 Peter 3:10,12 it refers to 70 AD and a day of judgment on the Jews. Maybe in 2 Peter 3:12 he calls it a “day of God” b/c he then says that “according to His (i.e. God’s) promise we are looking fo a new heavens and earth. So where did God promise a new heavens and earth? There is only one place where a new heavens and earth is promised and that is in Isaiah 65-66 in predictions made by the prophet Isaiah. That would fit Peter’s reference in 2 Peter 3:2 the “words spoken by the holy prophets”. A little lengthy but I need to include all of Isaiah’s prediction.

Isaiah 65:¹⁷ “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
¹⁹ I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.
²⁰ No longer will there be in it an infant who lives only a few days,
Or an old person who does not live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of a hundred,
And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred
Will be thought accursed.
²¹ They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.
²³ They will not labor in vain,
Or give birth to children for disaster;
For they are the descendants of those blessed by the Lord,
And their descendants with them.

²⁴ It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will listen. ²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm on all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.”

Is Isaiah predicting the end of the earth here? I think not b/c he says there will still be “death” in the new heavens and earth. He says ²⁰ No longer will there be in it an infant who lives only a few days,
or an old person who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of a hundred, and the one who does not reach the age of a hundred will be thought accursed.” There will still be death in this new heavens and earth so this can’t be predicting eternal life in heaven or life on earth in the millennium if you are of the premillennialist belief. But there will be no physical death in those 2 scenarios, so Isaiah 65 can’t be predicting the end of the world. So what is Isaiah predicting? He is predicting the new heavens and earth of 2 Peter 3 that will take the place of the old heavens and earth once it is destroyed. He will create a “new Jerusalem” for rejoicing and gladness (65:18-19) which would be the new Jerusalem, i.e. the church. A lot of figurative language in this prediction in Isaiah 65. A child living to the age of 100 is obviously figurative. The “wolf and the lamb grazing together” (65:25) is figurative of peace within the new Messianic Age church and new Jerusalem. It is not predicting a re-creation of the earth to its Garden of Eden state where the animals are all at. peace with one another. Of course, that is assuming that this new heavens and earth of Isaiah 65 is predicting the Messianic Age and the church and not some future destruction of the physical earth.

Isaiah 66 is the 2nd prediction of Isaiah of a “new heavens and earth”. That chapter contains a repeat of the new Jerusalem rejoicing (66:10-13). But it also predicts a judgment of the wicked in 66:14 “But He will be indignant toward His enemies. ¹⁵ For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. ¹⁶ For the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on humanity, and those put to death by the Lord will be many.” If this new heavens and earth is the new Messianic Age and church, then that fits with the judgment in 70 AD on the wicked Jews.

Isaiah 66:¹⁸ “For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all the nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. ¹⁹ And I will put a sign among them and send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal, and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard of My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations. ²⁰ Then they shall bring all your countrymen from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. ²¹ I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the Lord.” When would the nations be gathered to see God’s glory? That can’t be the end of the world b/c God would send survivors to the nations to declare His glory and bring their fellow countrymen to Jerusalem to make some of them as priests and Levites. This is a prediction of the Jewish Christian “survivors” of the judgment of 70 AD going into the world converting Gentiles and making them priests (all Christians are spiritual priests in the church).

²² “For just as the new heavens and the new earth,
Which I make, will endure before Me,” declares the Lord,
“So will your descendants and your name endure.
²³ And it shall be from new moon to new moon
And from Sabbath to Sabbath,
All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord.
²⁴ “Then they will go out and look
At the corpses of the people
Who have rebelled against Me.
For their worm will not die
And their fire will not be extinguished;
And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

Again, Isaiah is predicting a new heavens and earth after the judgment of 70 AD. He uses figurative language. Converts in the new heavens and earth will worship from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath. We know this is figurative b/c Paul said that we don’t have to observe new moons or Sabbaths: Colossians 2:¹⁶ Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day.” Isaiah is writing to Jews in the language of the old covenant that they were familiar witht. Surely converts are not literally looking at corpses in the new heavens and earth.

Point being, the only place where the prophets “promised a new heavens and earth” is Isaiah 65-66 and that must be where Peter gets that promise from God (2 Peter 3:13). So what is this “new heavens and earth”? Is it a literal re-created earth to its Garden of Eden state, which is what many teach? I think not. We have already seen that everything in 2 Peter 3 points to a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD as part of the “end of all things” that is “near” (1 Peter 4:7). My belief is that the new heavens and earth is the new Messianic system that began in Acts 2 in 30 AD and continued indefinitely after the old heavens and earth were destroyed in 70 AD. But doesn’t it say that the “elements will be destroyed” (2 Peter 3:10) and “melt with intense heat” (2 Peter 3:12)? Isn’t that the physical elements that the earth is made of, like oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, etc.? I think not. Let’s look at the Greek for “elements”. The Greek word is stoicheion: Element, principle, rudiment. stoixeíon– properly, fundamentals, like with the basic components of a philosophy, structure, etc.; (figuratively) “first principles,” like the basic fundamentals of Christianity. The elements of religious training or the ceremonial precepts common alike to the worship of Jews and of Gentiles” (J. Thayer).(biblehub.com) The word is only used 7 times: Galatians 4:3,9; Colossians 2:8,20; Hebrews 5:12; 2 Peter 3:10,12. In the first 5 uses, it refers to. the fundamental teachings of of the worship of Jews and Gentiles. It never refers to the physical elements of the world like hydrogen, etc. So it is plausible that in 2 Peter 3:10,12 it refers to the fundamental teachings of the Jewish system, the old covenant. Thus the use in 2 Peter 3:10,12 would be figurative of burning up and destroying those elements or fundamental teachings of the Jewish system. The burning of the old heavens and earth would be figurative of the removal of the old covenant. The new heavens and earth, i.e. the new covenant would replace the old covenant after it disappeared in 70 AD (Hebrews 8:13). That new heavens and earth of 2 Peter 3 would be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prediction in Isaiah 65-66.

There is no direct evidence that any of the early church fathers taught that 2 Peter 3 was fulfilled in 70 AD but they did expect the 2nd coming to be soon in their lifetimes. That was based on predictions of Jesus and the apostles of an imminent 2nd coming. The full preterist position is that the 2nd coming did occur within that generation at 70 AD just as Jesus predicted. Those who don’t understand the nature of the 2nd coming in 70 AD usually say that, “yes Jesus did predict an imminent 2nd coming but he delayed it.” Many of the early church fathers in the 2nd century said that the 2nd coming was “delayed” but still expected it to be soon in their lifetimes, hanging on to Jesus’ and the apostles’ prediction of an imminent 2nd coming. As the time from when Jesus made his predictions got longer and longer into the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the “delay” theory got harder to defend. Jesus’ prediction of a 2nd coming within that first generation can only be delayed for a short time before the prophecy simply fails to come to pass and that would make Jesus a false prophet. I am amazed at the number of Christians who teach that we are still living in the “delayed” time before Jesus’ eventual 2nd coming in our future. That would be a 2,000 year delay and counting and Jesus would be a false prophet. The Hebrews writer destroys the idea of a delayed 2nd coming. Hebrews 10:³⁷ For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.” The reason early church fathers and later scholars, even today, teach or taught that the 2nd coming was “delayed” is b/c they didn’t understand the nature of the 2nd coming. They expected a 2nd coming that would end the world. They also did not understand the nature of the kingdom that Jesus set up. He established a spiritual kingdom, the church, and not a physical kingdom. He said that “the kingdom is at hand” (Mark 1:15). He said that some of those listening to him would still be alive to see Him coming in His kingdom (Matthew 16:28). He said that his kingdom was “not of this world” (John 18:36). So if someone false expects Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom at his 2nd coming, they will most likely say that he delayed his 2nd coming. Jesus will never return to set up an earthly kingdom. If full preterism is true, then there will be no future (i.e. in our future) 2nd coming to establish anything.

I know this is a lot to think about and study, but I hope that you will do so. The expectation of an imminent 2nd coming within their lifetime kept the first Christians “on their toes” trying to live godly. 2 Peter 3:¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found spotless and blameless by Him (at his 2nd coming), at peace.We don’t have that same motivation for living godly, but our death will be the event that keeps us “on our toes”. So we need to live godly also.