THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 191
be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat" (v. 11, 12)
.
Manifestly, Peter could not have written this admonition
if, instead of predicting the day of judgment
at the second coming of Christ, he had foretold a millennium
of earthly delights; for clearly it is not possible
for God's people of this present era to be impressed
by the approaching dissolution of the existing
heavens and earth and to be "looking for," much less
"hasting unto," the day of God, if in fact, and if the
word of God elsewhere makes known, that a thousand
years are to intervene, during which the earth that
now is will exist in a glorified state.
Then Peter says: "Nevertheless we, according to
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness." But manifestly, the
new heavens and new earth could not be in the foreground
of his expectation, or of ours, if there were to
come first a millennium of the Lord's own presence,
during which we are to share the glory of His throne.
In that case "the coming of the day of God" would be
but faintly in view, if at all.
In this connection we should recall the Lord's promise
to His disciples that in the regeneration, they
should sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes
of Israel. That prospect must have been always before
Peter's eyes ;
and since he here tells us that he according
to the Lord's promise, was looking for new heavens
and a new earth, it is certain that Christ's promise to
His disciples will be fulfilled not in an earthly millennium,
but in the new creation.