The Coming Conflagration and the Conduct it Demands
Introduction: Two Ditches and a Highway
When it comes to the end of the world, modern Christians tend to drive into one of two ditches. The first ditch is the ditch of secular despair. This is the materialist view that says this world is all there is, a cosmic accident winding down to heat death. There is no ultimate purpose, no final judgment, no new creation. The logical end of this is to either "eat and drink, for tomorrow we die," a frantic hedonism, or to fall into a bleak and meaningless nihilism. Why build anything if it all just turns to dust?
The second ditch is the one many well-meaning evangelicals have swerved into. It is the ditch of escapist pietism. This view sees the world as a sinking Titanic, and our job is not to patch the holes but to get as many people into the lifeboats as possible before the whole thing goes under. The world is wicked, it is disposable, and it is destined for God's cosmic garbage heap. Our hope is not in the redemption of this world, but in our evacuation from it. This sounds spiritual, but it is a profound abdication of our creational responsibilities. It breeds a Gnostic contempt for the material world God made and called "good," and it leaves the public square, the arts, and the sciences to the devil and his minions.
But the Word of God does not teach us to abandon the ship, nor does it tell us the ship is going nowhere. It tells us the ship is being brought into port for a glorious and fiery renovation. The apostle Peter here lays out the highway of biblical eschatology. The world is not being annihilated; it is being purified. And this coming purification is not a warrant for us to check out, but the ultimate motivation for how we are to live right now. Your eschatology is not a trivial matter of charts and timelines; it determines your ethics. What you believe about the last day determines what you do on this day.
The Text
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens burning will be destroyed, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
(2 Peter 3:11-13 LSB)
The Logical Implication (v. 11)
Peter begins with a logical connector, "Since..." He has just described the coming day of the Lord, when the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed by fire. Based on that coming reality, he asks the central ethical question of the passage.
"Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness," (2 Peter 3:11)
First, we must understand what "destroyed" means here. The Greek word is luo, which means to loose, to dissolve, to untie. This is not annihilation. Think of metallurgy. When a goldsmith wants to purify gold, he does not annihilate the ore. He puts it in the crucible and melts it down with intense heat. The fire does not destroy the gold; it separates the gold from the dross. This is what God is going to do to the whole cosmos. The coming judgment is a baptism by fire. The first great judgment was a baptism by water in the days of Noah, which washed the world clean of its rampant corruption but did not uncreate it. This final judgment will purge the creation of every last vestige of sin, rebellion, and the curse. The heavens and the earth are not being thrown away; they are being set free.
Because this great and terrible refining is coming, Peter asks, "what sort of people ought you to be?" This is not a rhetorical question. It demands an answer that is lived out. Your doctrine must grow feet and walk. And he gives us the two categories for this life: "holy conduct and godliness."
"Holy conduct" refers to our outward behavior, our actions in the world. To be holy is to be set apart. We are to be a peculiar people, distinct from the world in the way we do business, the way we raise our families, the way we engage in politics, the way we create art. It is a comprehensive, worldview-level separation, not just a private list of things we do not do. We are set apart from the world's corruption in order to be set apart for God's purposes in the world.
"Godliness," or eusebeia, is the internal engine that drives the holy conduct. It is a right reverence for God. It is a practical piety that acknowledges God's authority and goodness in every sphere of life. This is the direct opposite of the scoffers Peter mentioned earlier, who walk according to their own lusts. The godly man walks according to God's Word. Godliness is the root; holy conduct is the fruit.
The Christian's Posture: Eager and Active (v. 12)
Peter then describes the forward-looking posture of the godly man. We are not to be dragged into the future backward, kicking and screaming. We are to be leaning into it.
"looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens burning will be destroyed, and the elements will melt with intense heat!" (2 Peter 3:12 LSB)
We are to be "looking for" this day. This is an eager, earnest expectation. We are like children on Christmas Eve, anticipating the morning. We are like a bride waiting for the bridegroom. This is not a fearful dread, because for us, the day of God is the day of our final vindication and the consummation of our salvation. It is the day when the renovation project is finally complete.
But it is the next word that ought to grab us by the lapels. We are to be "hastening" the coming of that day. How in the world can we, mere creatures, hasten God's appointed day? This is a staggering thought, and it demolishes every form of passive, escapist piety. We hasten the day of the Lord through our Spirit-empowered obedience to the Great Commission. When Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything He commanded, He gave us our marching orders. As the gospel advances, as the kingdom of God grows like a mustard seed, as Christ's enemies are made a footstool for His feet through the preaching of the Word and the obedience of the saints, we are actively participating in bringing history to its appointed climax. Our work matters. Our holy conduct and godliness are not just about polishing our own souls for heaven; they are about preparing the world for its King. We hasten the day through mission, through discipleship, through building righteous families and just societies. We are not just waiting for the kingdom; we are building for it.
The Unshakable Promise (v. 13)
Our hope is not in our ability to hasten, but in the certainty of God's promise. We look forward because He has given us His Word on what is coming.
"But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells." (2 Peter 3:13 LSB)
This is not a new plan. This is the promise God made through the prophet Isaiah centuries before (Is. 65:17). God's intention has always been to redeem and restore His creation, not to abandon it. The word for "new" here is kainos, which means new in quality, not neos, which means new in time. This is not a replacement planet. It is this very earth, this very cosmos, renewed, regenerated, and glorified. It is a renovated earth, an earth that has graduated.
And what is the defining characteristic of this new creation? It is the place "in which righteousness dwells." Righteousness will not be a visitor or a pilgrim there. It will be a permanent resident. It will have moved in and unpacked its bags for good. In our current world, righteousness and sin coexist. The wheat and the tares grow together. But in the new heavens and new earth, all sin, all rebellion, all curse, and all sorrow will have been burned away in the great conflagration. Righteousness will be the very atmosphere of that world.
This is the goal toward which all of history is moving. And this is the goal that should inform all of our "holy conduct and godliness" now. We are to live now as citizens of that coming country. Every act of obedience, every pursuit of justice, every work of mercy, every moment of faithful worship is a planting of the flag of that new creation in the soil of the old. We are practicing for our eternal home.
Conclusion: Live There Now
The logic of Peter is inescapable. Because the world is headed for a glorious, fiery renovation, we must live as renovation workers, not as squatters in a condemned building. Our lives are to be a preview of that coming attraction.
This entire process is a reflection of the gospel in your own heart. By nature, you were part of the old world, full of the dross of sin and destined for judgment. But God, according to His promise, made you a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). The Spirit of God began a refining fire in you, a process of sanctification, burning away the sin and making you fit for that world where righteousness dwells. Your personal salvation is the microcosm of God's plan for the entire cosmos.
Therefore, do not lose heart. Do not fall into the ditch of despair or the ditch of escapism. Stand on the highway of God's promises. Live in holiness and godliness. Eagerly look for that final day, and hasten its coming by your faithful, culture-building, gospel-advancing work. For we have a promise from the God who cannot lie, a promise of a renewed world where righteousness is as natural as breathing. Our job, until that day dawns, is to learn how to breathe that air.