Chapter 11

Live in Expectation of the Fulfillment of the Promise

 1, 2. (a) What will yet happen according to the changeless “word of God,” giving rise to what questions? (b) How does the apostle Peter describe what will happen to the present order?

A WHOLE world order is due to change. Every facet of human living is bound to be affected. This change is inevitable since the unfailing “word of God” has decreed the end of the present heavens and earth and their replacement by glorious new heavens and a new earth.

 4. (a) What distinction did Peter make in connection with the situation before and after the Flood? (b) What did the Flood not do?

⁴ Moreover, the apostle Peter made a distinction between (1) the “heavens from of old and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water” and (2) “the heavens and the earth that are now.” (2 Peter 3:5, 7) Yet, the earth that existed before the Flood is the same planet that still exists. True, the deluge did bring about changes in the physical features of the earth. Since water was no longer suspended high above earth’s surface, this affected the appearance of the visible universe from the standpoint of the human observer. However, these changes were merely side effects of the Flood. Its purpose was not to destroy the literal planet but to destroy the ungodly human society outside the ark. By means of the deluge, all the works and arrangements that the godless human society had built up perished.

 5. For there to be a correspondency with the global flood, what must happen at the day of reckoning?

⁵ Hence, for there to be a correspondency with the global flood, everything associated with the present wicked human society must perish, as if consumed by fire. Yes, the entire framework of human affairs that came into existence after the Flood has been reserved for destruction and a day of judgment or reckoning.