THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

The Hope of Israel: What Is It? 51
of the Lord" (v. 10), "the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat" (v. 12).
Manifestly, if this present day of salvation were to
be followed by a day of glory, peace and prosperity
for the earth, a day in which the entire Jewish nation
and other nations as well, are to be saved, there would
be no long suffering and mercy in prolonging the Saviour's
absence ;
but just the reverse. The apostle's reason
for the delay is valid only if the return of the
Lord is to usher in the day of judgment, and if it coincides
with "the coming of the day of God." The
apostle reminds us that the world that existed in the
time of Noah, "being overflowed with water, perished" ;
and goes on to say that, "the heavens and earth which
are now . . . are kept in store" not for a thousand
years of peace and plenty, but "reserved unto fire"
(v.7).
In verse 10 he warns us, as do other Scriptures (Mat.
24:42; 1 Thess. 5:2; Rev. 16:15), that our Lord's coming
will take the world by surprise ; and he couples the
warning with information which shuts out all possibility
of a millennial dispensation to follow His coming
;
for the apostle says
:
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up."
And then he admonishes us as to what our "conversation"
(manner of life) ought to be in view of the immanency
of these exterminating judgments; and that
we should be "looking for and hasting unto the coming
of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire,