Judgment and the World that then existed

One quick survey of pop culture, TV shows, and the film world will produce a number of observations: the increase in graphic violence and sex, coupled with the political agendas of directors, actors, and artists clearly display a moral, ethical downgrade in society today. But this is not the worst of it, I believe: the pagan world denies any concept of a holy God, a cosmic judgment on sin, and the desperate need of a Savior. Ads, television, and movies all tell us to live in the here and now, be true to yourself, tolerate everything, and just live life to the fullest. Further, it seems the predominant worldview when it comes to any apocalyptic judgment is that with a couple bumps and bruises, humanity will ultimately endure. See movies like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, I Am Legend, Armageddon, Resident Evil, or The Terminator - despite some world-ending threat, man seems to continue to thrive. Consequently, this elevates the manner in which man perceives himself and downplays the implications, severity, and longevity of the cosmic judgment brought by the LORD of heaven's armies.

Geerhardus Vos, in his The Eschatology of the Old Testament, says:

When we go back and compare the pagan analogies of "things heading for an end," with the biblical teaching, we soon perceive the fundamental idea in which they differ from the scriptural teaching on the subject. They are no real eschatology at all, simply because the end toward which they represent things as heading is not an absolute end, but the concluding segment in an unrolling sheet of world history which, when once read, gives place to another sheet. It is world after world, cycle after cycle, with no perceptible termination.

Whether it be an alien invasion, a huge, earth-shattering meteor, some natural disaster or storm, or even an epidemic, zombie-creating disease, apparently humanity is here and not going anywhere. Maybe things might look a little different, but we think that we will ultimately live on.

And this is exactly what Peter says in his second letter that we as Christians should be on edge about. Here is what he says concerning the false teachers of his day that seems to reverberate 2000 years into the present:

They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. - 2 Peter 3:4-7

Peter did not shy away from the judgment of God, but confronted it face on, proclaiming it with gruesome clarity as a warning, admonishing his fellow brethren to live lives holy unto the Lord. Hear what Meredith Kline has to say about Peter's words concerning the "world that then existed" before the flood and the implications for this world in which we now live:

The picture conveyed by Peter is that of a world that had a total history, that had its beginning, developed its culture and witnessed the course of the great conflict of heaven and hell to a final climax, had its eschaton, and made way for a new world. What makes all of this of special significance to Peter's Christian readers is that he also presents that overall, complete world-history from the creation to the Flood as a paradigm that is being followed again in the history of the present world. Peter appeals to this ancient pattern as instructive for our understanding of the eschatological course of our present world, in particular, as affording warning of cosmic divine judgment to come (v. 7). This insight into the nature of the prediluvian world was acquired by Peter from his Lord (cf. Matthew 24:37-39, Luke 17:26,27). "As the days of Noah were," Jesus had said, "so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:37).

And Kline makes clear that the days of Noah were only a pattern - merely a paradigm of the judgment to come, lesser in degrees of intensity, scope, and duration than the Great Reality.  The point is clear - when the Son of Man comes, as Peter says, the heavens and earth that now exist will experience the stored up wrathful fire of the living God. Humanity will not endure. The world will not endure. The entire cosmos will not endure. There will be a judgment on sin, the vindication of the righteous, and the restoration of all things. It will be a new world-temple, occupied by the saints of glory around the Glory-Presence of the Lord and his Son.

SDG