Psalm 102:26

Hebrew Bible

24 I say, “O my God, please do not take me away in the middle of my life. You endure through all generations. 25 In earlier times you established the earth; the skies are your handiwork. 26 They will perish, but you will endure. They will wear out like a garment; like clothes you will remove them and they will disappear. 27 But you remain; your years do not come to an end. 28 The children of your servants will settle down here, and their descendants will live securely in your presence.”

2 Peter 3:10

New Testament

8 Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. 9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. 11 Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must you be, conducting your lives in holiness and godliness, 12 while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze!

 Notes and References

"... Psalm 102:26 relates that the heavens will “perish” and “wax old as a garment.” In the same vein, Isaiah 34:4 predicts that “the Host of Heaven shall fall down, as a leaf from the Vine, and a Fig from the Fig-tree.” These texts express the fact that creation is subject to annihilation with respect to its own nature. That is, creation does not have in its power the ability to perpetuate its existence forever. It is liable to annihilation in itself, but this does not prove that it will indeed be annihilated. God is able to preserve creation should he choose. In sum, these texts “do not so much conclude the creatures actual extinction or abolition, as rather their disposition, and natural tendency thereunto, considered in themselves.” This natural tendency to decay can be overcome by God’s power. Horton considers 2 Peter 3:10 as the chief weapon in the annihilationist’s arsenal yet he is not persuaded of their position. The melting of the elements does not describe a complete destruction but an alteration of form, even as the melting of metal changes the form of the metal but does not consume the substance of it. The burning of the earth is a burning that purifies, not one that destroys ..."

Duff, John H. "A Knot Worth Unloosing": The Interpretation Of The New Heavens And Earth In Seventeenth-Century England (p. 144) Calvin Theological Seminary, 2014

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