3:10
This world is temporary. Even purely scientific outlook sees the earth as temporary, though on a somewhat longer timescale than most eschatological types foresee. There are two key features of the day of the Lord. The first is that it will come like a thief in the night (Matt 24:43; 1 Thess 5:2; Rev 3:3).The world will not be expecting it, just as they did not expect the flood in Noah’s day. It is unwise to try and over-interpret every descriptive term used to describe the day of the Lord, but it will be dramatic and climactic. The second key feature is judgement, from which there will be no escape. Having a theistic worldview is vital to how we live. Knowing that one day one will have to give an account can be a great restraint on behaviour.
3:11,12
Peter now poses the question explicitly. Knowing you will have to give an account for something changes the way we do things. It means we will be less likely to to be blatantly bad, less likely to be careless, and more likely to seek to do things well. When a society abandons all theistic notions, as our Western societies are doing, it invites disintegration upon itself. Instead, we ought to live holy and godly lives, lives that follow Biblical principles and seek to do good to others. And we look forward to the return of the Lord.
3:13
It is not the destruction of the world for its own sake that we are looking forward to, but the new heaven and the new earth. Now we can have silly and pointless debates about the nature of the new heaven and the new earth, but this will achieve little and is based largely on ignorance. We are given the key ingredient here, “where righteousness dwells”. It is a world where things are as they should be, perfectly in line with God’s will. Most importantly we will be like Christ.
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