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This is the first appendix to Robert Duncan Culver's masterful work defending premillennialism from the book of Daniel called, Daniel and the Latter-Days. An online version of the book can be located HERE, though I would encourage serious students to secure the book which can still be found used. It is in desparate need of being reprinted. The book is in two sections, the first being an outline and defense of biblical premillennialism, whereas the second section is a study on the major visions of the prophet Daniel and how they support a premillennial perspective. This appendix is a separate study of 2 Peter 3:10 that also lays out a case for premillennialism.

The Time and Extent of the Coming World Dissolution

It is commonly taught by orthodox Protestant theologians of about every variety of millennial persuasion, that before the final age begins there shall be drastic changes in the present natural order. Several texts are thought to relate to such a change, but, without controversy, the most graphic is II Peter 3:10. In order to clarify some of the Biblical material relating to the consummation of the ages and to round out some details of my own premillennial views, this discussion of the subject matter of II Peter 3:10 is added. As originally prepared in a monograph, these lines extended to over one hundred pages. I have tried to compress and condense the material as much as possible here.

The passage follows as it appears in the American Standard Version: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which 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.

It should be observed that the A.S.V. margin renders the last part of the verse "shall be discovered (eurethesetai) instead of "shall be burned up" (katakaesatai). The oldest manuscript evidence is for the marginal reading, though the exact text is not fully certain.

A bit later Peter writes: "According to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth" (II Peter 3:13). The promise to which he refers can hardly be any other than that of Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22, wherein a new heavens and a new earth are twice predicted.

THE PROBLEMS INVOLVED

Two main problems are involved in interpreting II Peter 3:10 and these related texts: (1) When does this event (or when do these events) occur--at the beginning of the Millennium or at the close of it? and (2) What are the extent and nature of the changes involved--are they an annihilation or a renovation, and if renovation, how drastic are the changes involved?

Most readers will be acquainted with the fact that the majority of modern Premillennialists have identified (or at least synchronized) this conflagration with the judgment of the great white throne described in Revelation 20. Amillennialists and Postmillennialists, generally, merely associate the event with the second advent of Christ and with the so-called "general judgment." The view advocated herein is that as to time the new heavens and new earth anticipated by Peter and the other prophets are to appear at the beginning of the Millennium, and that in nature and extent the conflagration which introduces the new heavens and new earth shall consist of a strictly limited renovation rather than annihilation of the existing natural order. The recent Premillennialists who advocate this view are not numerous. However, George N. H. Peters, whose exhaustive work (entitled The Theocratic Kingdom etc.) sets forth his views, is a notable advocate of it. To him the present writer owes a debt of thanks for suggesting many of the arguments now to follow.

THE TIME OF THE CONFLAGRATION

To conserve space and words, the views of the writer with the evidence for them will be briefly stated. The reader will kindly attribute what may seem to be excessively terse or dogmatic forms of statement to the present desire to conserve space, words, and the reader's time. The time of the great conflagration is to be at the beginning of the Millennium, during the period immediately adjacent to that aspect of the second coming of Christ known as the revelation.

Evidence for this statement follows:

1. The Old Testament prophets uniformly declare that a judgment of fire, similar to the one Peter describes, shall immediately precede the establishment of the future Messianic Kingdom. One is faced with a problem in selecting only the plainest passages, they are so very numerous. Joel 2:30,31 is an example: And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke...before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh. Another of this type is Malachi 3:1-3: ...and the Lord, whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple....But who can abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. A third is Malachi 4:1: For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up.

This scriptural evidence renders it certain that when Peter wrote of the coming Day of the Lord with its attendant fiery judgments, he was broaching no new subject--as is indicated by his words: "seeing that ye look for these things." The Jews had been looking for such consuming fire to presage the coming kingdom of Messiah since the days of the Old Testament prophets.

2. The Old Testament repeatedly states that disturbances in the material heavens, of a type identical with those described by Peter, shall transpire immediately before the establishment of the kingdom. What has just been shown to be true of the "fire" of Peter's prophecy is now shown to be true also of the heavenly disturbances--"the heavens shall pass away with a great noise."

A good representative of passages on this subject is Isaiah 34:4 in a context clearly associated with the beginning of the coming Messianic Kingdom: All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, etc. Such words as these are frequent in the Old Testament. The astonishing thing is that Premillennialists generally unite in applying them to events at the beginning of the Millennium without seeing any connection with II Peter 3:10 or considering their possible relation to the new heavens and new earth of Revelation 21 and 22. Other passages are Haggai 2:6,7; Joel 3:16; Isaiah 13:13; Isaiah 51:6.

If anyone should argue that some of the passages speak of disturbances at the beginning of the Millennium and others of disturbances at its close, he should read Hebrews 12:26 (quoting Hag. 2:6), in which the Lord distinctly promises, Yet once more [not twice] will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven. Thus the Old Testament (dispensational and prophetic charts and teachers notwithstanding) places the coming cosmic disturbances at the beginning of the coming kingdom, not at some point one thousand years along the course of it.

3. New Testament writers are just as definite in placing a judgment of fire at the inception of the kingdom as are the Old Testament writers. Most convincing is Paul's testimony: And to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus (II Thes. 1:7,8). Another is Revelation 16:8,9, which portrays a fiery judgment under the fourth vial. Most Premillennialists of today feel that this event transpires in a period shortly before the inception of the Millennium. No one can read these plain words with an unprejudiced mind, it seems to me, and not feel that the New Testament predicts a judgment of fire at the commencement of the coming Kingdom.

4. The Bible declares that the coming kingdom shall occupy a regenerated earth from its beginning; therefore the purifying effects of this prophetic dissolution must be at the beginning, rather than at the close of the Millennium. The two most important passages are Isaiah 65:17-25 and 66:22-24. The first begins with a presentation of the new heavens and earth: For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. Then follows a description which Premillennialists almost unanimously unite in saying to be Millennial. The second is similar. It begins, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I make, shall remain before me, saith Jehovah. Then, again, follows a Millennial scene, viz.: so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me, etc. Hold in mind that this is all related to the new heavens and new earth. It was this same which Peter expected according to his promise (II Peter 3:13).

I do not see how the conclusion can be avoided that the Spirit of prophecy in Isaiah intended that the impression be conveyed that the coming Messianic Kingdom shall occupy from the first "new heavens and [a] new earth."

5. The immediate context of II Peter 3:10 indicates that Peter had in mind something which would occur at Christ's second coming, and not in a period still remotely future at the revelation of Christ. A hasty reading of the third chapter of II Peter brings to one's attention several significant expressions demonstrating this proposition. They follow: Where is the promise of his coming? (v. 9); ...comes as a thief (v. 10); ...ye look for these Things (v. 14).

These brief notices indicate that Peter did not question the possibility that people whom he then addressed might live to see the inauguration of the very things he describes in verse 10. How inconsistent such statements are with the view that verse 10 describes events known to be at least a thousand years away needs only to be noted to be appreciated.

6. A perpetual and continuous kingdom such as is repeatedly promised demands that no such destruction as is often urged be placed at the end of the Millennium to interrupt the continuity of that kingdom. It should be remembered that even though a change in the mediation of rulership of that kingdom is predicted (I Cor. 15:23-28), an abolition of the earthly realm is nowhere promised--unless II Peter 3:10 be the exception. Contrariwise, the perpetuity of the kingdom is repeatedly asserted in the most positive terms, as follows:

(1) The angelic announcement to Mary, the human mother of the Messianic King, carefully specifies that "of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32,33).

(2) The saints of the Lord are commonly associated with Christ in an eternally enduring kingdom, as, for example, in Daniel 7:18, The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.

(3) The scriptures further specify the perpetual continuity of the kingdom itself per se. Daniel 2:44 states: And in the days of those kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people...but it shall stand Forever (cf. also Dan. 7:14).

(4) The limit of a thousand years, which is by premillennial interpreters of Revelation 20 frequently attached to the "kingdom" as such, is not a limit on the reign of Christ or of His saints, but rather the limit of the imprisonment of Satan and of the period between the resurrections.

7. Christians are exhorted on the basis of this predicted dissolution, as if it were something they should expect to see if they should live to the end of the present age rather than as if it were something at least a millennium away. The entire third chapter should be read to appreciate this fact. The most significant portions are the phrases in verses 11-14: looking for and earnestly desiring the coming...beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, etc. Is this not the same hope of the second coming of Christ with the same attendant moral lessons as those set forth in Mark 13:32-37, Matthew 24:42-51, and Luke 21:25-36? The inquiring reader will be rewarded by comparing these chapters with the third chapter of II Peter.

For these reasons I am convinced that the great prophecy of II Peter 3:10, and many other predictions of the coming dissolution with the resultant new heavens and new earth refer to events at the inauguration of Messiah's kingdom. That there may be further changes at the conclusion of the thousand years, perhaps in connection with the judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20:7-15) is entirely possible. However, if so, the Bible seems to be silent about it. This view is not without its difficulties, but I believe that many of them are dissipated as proper consideration is given the question of the extent of the predicted dissolution and the nature of the new heavens and new earth.

THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE COSMIC CHANGES

If the coming conflagration is to be at the time of a "general judgment," certain possibilities exist--possibilities which no one will expect to find explained and defended in this premillennial treatment of eschatology. If it is to come at the end of the Millennium, certain others exist. And if it is to come (as I have sought to show) at or near the beginning of the millennial period, then still other possibilities appear.

Briefly, as I have considered the possibilities, it seems that--the cosmic disturbances described in II Peter 3:10 shall consist of a limited renovation involving the death of all living wicked men at the revelation of Christ and such changes in the realms of inanimate material, of vegetable, animal, and human life as are necessary to produce conditions which the prophets declare shall prevail during the coming kingdom age. All this is best described, to use Jesus' own word for it, as a "regeneration."

This statement may be reduced to five propositions.

1. The prophetic dissolution shall consist of a renovation, rather than an annihilation.

(1) In proof is the fact that nowhere in the Bible, unless II Peter 3:10 be treated as an exception, is the annihilation of the cosmos taught.

(2) Further, the words of II Peter 3:10 do not in any sense require annihilation. "Shall pass away" translates pareleusontai, the root of which is parerchomai. The Authorized Version translates this come, come forth, go, pass, pass over, transgress, and past. The standard lexicons offer about the same shades of meaning. Never does it mean annihilate, so far as I have been able to determine. The meaning is rather to pass from one position in time or space to another. And, even granting the most destructive ideas as the meanings of luthesetai (be dissolved) and katakaesetai (be burned up, if we adopt the Textus Receptus), the words certainly do not describe annihilation.

2. The prophetic dissolution is by Scripture confined to a strictly limited renovation, affecting certain aspects of the cosmos only.

(1) In the first place, to insist that the materials of earth must be cremated to remove sin is to insist on an erroneous doctrine of sin--that the seat of sin is in matter rather than in the spirits of free agents.

(2) Further, the Bible declares categorically that so long as the earth remains, the order of nature will stay constant and without interruption. I cite Genesis 8:22: While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease, (cf. also v. 21).

(3) The several passages in the Bible which seem to require or imply absolute dissolution of the earth or destruction of the order of nature are in every case limited by the context to less drastic changes. An example is Genesis 6:17 (see also 6:7,13), And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh...everything that is in the earth shall Die. Yet the context shows that eight human beings and a ship loaded with animals and provender, and of course, specimens of all water life, escaped. (Similar phenomena occur in Deut. 32:22; Nah. 1:5; Micah 1:4; Isa. 13:9-14; Isa. 24:19,20; Amos 9:9, and others.)

3. The future conflagration at the coming of Christ shall involve the destruction of Antichrist and his forces.

II Thessalonians 1:7-10 predicts a fiery destruction of wicked men at the revelation of Christ. Fire is mentioned in connection with the destruction of Antichrist at our Lord's return (Rev. 19:20). There is no good reason for separating these things. Is it possible that the Lord may destroy all wicked men at His appearing? It is asserted by Paul (II Thes. 1:7-10) that at the revelation of the Lord Jesus...in flaming fire He shall render vengeance to them that know not God...who shall suffer...eternal destruction. These words promise a truly dreadful judgment. But if they are applied to the destruction of all men at our Lord's second coming, they prove too much. Amillennialists will be quick to ask, Who will populate the earth during the Millennium if at its inauguration the righteous are all glorified and the wicked are killed? If one adopts the pretribulational view of the Rapture, he can suppose the formation of a new group of saved men during the tribulation to enter the Millennium in natural bodies and to propagate the race during the 1,000 years. Many pretribulationists, however, postulate another "rapture" and resurrection for tribulation saints only at the end of the tribulation. This would still leave no people to live as natural men on earth during the Millennium. If one adopts the posttribulational view of the Rapture, then there certainly would be no people to live as natural men on earth during the Millennium. The saved would all be in glorified bodies, in which condition Jesus said there would be no function of propagation. If the judgment on the wicked of II Thessalonians 1:7-10 is to be regarded as universal, then the wicked would all be dead.

Two live possibilities appear as solutions.

One is to interpret this statement in II Thessalonians 1:7-10 in a limited sense, applying it only to Antichrist, his armies, and possibly other incorrigible rebels against the Lord. A number of passages (Zech. 12-14 especially, Matt. 25, etc.) appear to fall in line in support of this view. Another possibility suggested by a recent writer is that the eye of Paul, here functioning as a "seer," is including a whole series of events in his line of prophetic vision and has included elements of the final judgment after the 1,000 years. This has strong appeal, though proof is lacking.

Whichever of these possibilities is adopted (and the present writer prefers the former), the possibility of a Millennium remains. The proposition affirming the destruction of Antichrist and his forces at Christ's coming is true in either case. Perhaps the advance of Biblical studies in the hands of reverent scholars will give us more certain light at this point. Problems like this one should give all prophetical interpreters "humble pause" as they seek to teach the Bible.

4. The renovation of the cosmos at the coming of Christ will involve such changes in the realms of inanimate material, of vegetable, human, and animal life as are necessary to produce conditions which the prophets declare shall prevail during the coming kingdom age.

The Old Testament prophets (especially Isaiah) are replete with predictions of the beauty and perfection of that coming age. The whole of nature and of society is to be restored as it was (or would have become) before the fall. There is not space here to treat those prophecies, save to say that society will be full of joy and gladness. Sin and rebellion are said to be repressed till the close of the thousand years, when (according to Rev. 20) it will be interrupted for a short time, after which earth, entirely cleansed of every vestige of sin, shall continue in uninterrupted peace forever. However, it is also predicted that the introduction of these improvements will be attended by numerous unusual supernaturally superintended physical wonders in the earth (earthquakes, etc.) and in the heavens (stars falling, etc.)--all directed toward moral ends. That is, these natural wonders (described, I think, in much detail in Revelation 6 to 19) shall be judgments on men living at that time, and constitute what is called the Indignation.

Now, if Peter's great prophecy is to be fulfilled at the beginning of the Millennium, then it must have reference to these phenomena. The heavens shall pass away with a great noise must refer to the same event as Isaiah 34:4, a clear millennial passage, And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their hosts shall fade away.

The elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat is more difficult to understand because of questions about the meaning of "elements" (stoicheia). If, as the A.S.V. margin suggests and a host of commentators likewise, it refers to heavenly bodies, then it may have reference to the same heavenly changes set forth in the preceding clause. However, this word is used five times in the New Testament outside of II Peter 3. In every one of these it has clear and unquestionable reference to false moral and spiritual principles, and hence is also translated by our word "rudiments." If this is the meaning in II Peter 3:10 and 12, then it would seem to refer to the coming judgments on false religion, false philosophy, etc., as set forth in Revelation 17, 18, and 19. If the word has reference to the actual elements of the matter of terrestrial earth, it could be applied to the widespread physical changes which shall precede the establishment of the kingdom. Which of these three meanings (all of which have precedents in classical Greek literature) is the correct one does not seem possible to determine finally. It is not necessary to determine. All that is incumbent on us is to show that it is nothing more than the prophets frequently affirm will take place at the inception of Messiah's coming kingdom. This, I think, has been done.

The "works" which shall be "discovered" are undoubtedly the works of man: literature, art, architecture, etc., all of which will be subject to the searching discrimination and judgment of the Son of God when He shall come. It is quite remarkable that the same Peter who made this prophecy spoke definitely of this subject on another occasion, and in a fashion which fully harmonizes with the interpretation just now placed on his words in the epistle. I refer to his words to the Jews at the temple, as recorded in Acts 3. After calling for repentance and referring to the second coming of Christ, Peter says: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old. Christ will remain in heaven until He comes again, when He will restore all things which the Old Testament prophets predicted. I think there can be small doubt, indeed, that Peter (in Acts 3:21 above) had reference to the very changes which the prophets indicate shall introduce the coming kingdom, and that he was referring to the same in II Peter 3:10 and 12.

5. Finally, this whole affair is best described and integrated by the name "regeneration," the word which our Lord Himself used of it.

Jesus used this word of His coming kingdom when He told the apostles: Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed me, in the regeneration [Gr. palingenesia] when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28). The word means new birth. A standard lexicon says it is "that signal and glorious change of all things (in heaven and earth) for the better, that restoration of the primal and perfect condition of things which existed before the fall of our first parents, which the Jews looked for in connection with the advent of the Messiah, and which the primitive Christians expected in connection with the visible return of Jesus from heaven" (Thayer, Greek English Lexicon of the N.T.).

Observe that Paul uses the same word of the believer's new birth (Titus 3:5), that in reference to the same fact he also speaks of it as a "new creation" (II Cor. 5:17), and further specifies that old things have passed away, and that all things have become new. Everyone knows, though, that even after new birth the believer still has sin in him. This will be removed completely at death or at the rapture of the saints (I The. 3:13). This comparison is at once an answer to those who object that if the new heavens and new earth begin at the inauguration of the kingdom, then there can be no sin at all in it, as is described in Revelation 20. These things are well summed up by Paul, when he writes: For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:19-21).

Will the reader permit a restatement of the main propositions as a summary? The time of the great coming conflagration is to be at the beginning of the Millennium, during the period immediately adjacent to that aspect of the second coming of Christ known as the revelation. The great cosmic disturbances described shall consist of a limited renovation involving the death of all living wicked men at the revelation of Christ and such changes in the realms of inanimate material, of vegetable, animal, and human life as are necessary to produce conditions which the prophets declare shall prevail during the coming kingdom age. All this is best described, to use Jesus' own word for it, as a "regeneration."

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