<p>3:10 <i>But the day of the Lord will come as a thief- </i>This is an evident reference to another part of the Olivet prophecy, which has reference to both AD70 and the second coming. The Jewish &quot;house&quot; was &quot;broken up&quot; by the thief-like coming of the Lord. 1 Thess. 5 refers to this same passage, interpreting it as a description of how the Lord will come unexpectedly to the spiritually weak within the ecclesia. It will be a time when they think they are in &quot;peace and safety&quot; spiritually, and will publicly teach this (&quot;When they shall <i>say</i> peace and safety&quot;). This is exactly the theme of 2 Peter 3- the false teachers within the ecclesia of the last days will preach that the second coming is far off; that in fact all is in peace and spiritual safety within the household. But as the thief would break the house up, so 2 Peter 3 graphically describes the total dissolution of the Jewish system (&quot;heavens and earth&quot;). Mt. 24:43 indicates that the Lord comes as a thief to those who would be watching over the house- i.e. to the leaders of the ecclesia. The false teachers will therefore be in the leadership of the body- otherwise it would be hard for their ideas to gain the following which these prophecies indicate they did and will.</p><p><i>Then the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up</i>- &quot;The heavens shall pass away with a great noise&quot; may therefore refer to the destruction of this class of leaders, the 'heavens' of the ecclesia. &ldquo;A great noise&quot; in Greek implies a whirring- perhaps referring to there being a manifestation of the cherubim at the second coming (&quot;the sign of the son of man in Heaven&quot;?). Jer. 30:23,24, in a decidedly latter day context, speaks of God's judgments coming as a mighty whirlwind, associated as it is with the cherubim (Ez. 1:4). &quot;The elements shall melt with fervent heat&quot; provides impressive evidence for the AD70 application of this chapter when it is realized that most of the occurrences of the Greek word for &quot;elements&quot; are concerning the Mosaic ordinances (Gal. 4:3; 5:21; Col. 2:8,20). &quot;Melt&quot; can mean 'to unloose', conjuring up the idea of the law as a burden which was now being unstrapped.</p><p>&quot;The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up&quot; (AV) may refer specifically to the judgments coming on the land (&quot;earth&quot;) of Israel, and the ending of the works of the Law through the destruction of the temple in AD70. As Noah's world was destroyed with literal water, so it is not unreasonable to expect a literal aspect to the &quot;fire&quot; here mentioned, although this is not to question the symbolic reference of fire to the anger of God. The temple was destroyed with fire, although interestingly Dan. 9:26 speaks of its end coming with a flood; fitting in perfectly with Peter's connection of the AD70 judgments on Israel with the flood. <br />The passing away of heaven and earth suggests another link with the Olivet prophecy: &quot;Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away&quot; (Mt. 24:34). The physical heavens and earth being permanent (Ecc. 1:4; Is. 45:18; Ps. 78:69), our Lord must have been referring to the order of things which would end in both AD70 and the last days. The faithful who came through the figurative 'fire' of those times would do so through their clinging to the Lord's words. We have earlier commented that this is a theme in 2 Peter 3- by God's word the natural and spiritual creation came about, and by it too sinners can be destroyed if they fail to let it act upon them.</p><p>The detailed description of all the elements of heaven and earth being destroyed is embedded, as we have seen, in allusions to the Olivet prophecy. It is therefore to be expected that our Lord's talking there about the sun and moon being darkened, the stars falling etc. (Mt. 24:29) should also have some connection with 2 Pet. 3. The Olivet prophecy speaks of these things being obscured and affected- but 2 Peter 3 describes their complete and fundamental destruction. Sun, moon and stars have several associations with Israel (e.g. in Joseph's dream), and 'Heavens and earth' have also been symbolic of the Jews (e.g. Dt. 32:1). Mt. 24:29,30 describe how there will be signs in these things, and then the Lord would come with the clouds of heaven. 2 Peter 3 shows how this refers to the lead up to AD70, and that then the Jewish system was totally destroyed. This means that the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven to replace the previous sun, moon etc. would have a limited reference to the system of things based around Christ and his word (Mt. 24:34) which was firmly established in AD70. But most importantly, the dissolution of these 'heavens' refers to the second coming, with the destruction it will bring upon both the Jewish and Gentile worlds, and also upon the unworthy in the ecclesia. This shows that the signs in the heavens which warn of the second coming are not just in the Jewish and Gentile world- but (even clearer) in the state of the wicked within the &quot;heavens&quot; of the ecclesia, who will meet their judgment in this horrendous destruction of all that is evil.</p><p>A number of images found in 2 Pet. 3 also occur together in Nahum 1:4-8: &quot;He (God) rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry (cp. the earth standing out of the water in 2 Pet. 3)... the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence (&quot;the elements shall melt... the earth shall be burned up&quot;, 2 Pet. 3:10), yea, the world, and all that dwell therein (&quot;the earth and the works that are therein&quot;)... His fury is poured out like fire... with an overrunning flood (cp. 2 Pet. 3:6) He will make an utter end&quot;. But all this is prefaced by Nah. 1:3: &quot;The Lord is slow to anger&quot;. As God always gave ample time for repentance in His dealings with both Israel and the nations in the Old Testament, so He would with spiritual Israel (and even more so?). All God's past dealings with men, as at the flood, with Israel at the Babylonian and Assyrian invasions, in His judgments of the nations, all these will find their summation in how God will deal with us in the last days. In this fact lies the value of following up the Old Testament allusions which Peter makes. That an appreciation of all this must have a fundamentally practical effect upon our lives is something which cannot be over-emphasized.</p>