From Good Omens to Left Behind, it’s a pop culture staple that the Bible teaches that the world will be destroyed in Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil, with the saved escaping to enjoy eternity in Heaven. Many Christians who affirm the Biblical teaching of “new heavens and new earth” see the new creation as a distinct replacement for the current world rather than a restoration of our world.

But is this belief that the world will be destroyed Biblical?

As you’ll know if you’ve read some of my previous posts on resurrection hope in the face of loss, what happens when we die, and Heaven vs Resurrection, I firmly believe that the Biblical narrative is one about how God redeems and restores creation, not throw it in the trash and replace it. But there are a small handful of Biblical passages that seem to indicate that the earth will be destroyed. What do I make of them?

I’m going to pick out a couple of these passages and quickly sketch how I read them – I don’t think they actually are saying that the Earth will be destroyed unless you import supporting assumptions from elsewhere.

1 Peter 1 talks about our inheritance being “kept in heaven for you who are waiting for the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”. But the inheritance, our salvation and the revealing of Christ (v7) are most naturally understood as being the same thing. It isn’t saying that our ultimate hope as Christians is to go to heaven to get salvation. Rather, Christ is coming back to the world to be revealed from heaven as our salvation and inheritance. 

In 2 Peter 3, this world is likened to the pre-Flood world, “the world that perished”. That wasn’t another creation or different planet, but the same world before God’s judgment. While God’s final judgment will be a radical transformation, by analogy with the Flood, it will be a purifying fire rather than an annihilating fire.

2 Peter 3:7 says that “the ungodly” will be destroyed, not the Earth itself. 2 Peter 3:10 says that the earth will be “laid bear” – the Greek can mean destroyed but can also mean released. Note also that when it talks about the “elements” being destroyed by fire here and in 3:12, it is unlikely to be talking about the physical elements: the same word that is translated “elemental spirits” in Colossians 2:8, and more likely refers to the spiritual and intellectual forces that stand against Christ – the “world” in the sense of worldliness rather than the created order as such. 2 Peter 3:12 also talks about the destruction of the heavens by fire, but notably not the Earth.

For more on whether the grand narrative of the Bible better supports the redemption of this creation, see Tom Wright’s Surprised By Hope, or Richard Middleton’s ‘A New Heaven and a New Earth (more in-depth and also less condescending to traditional evangelical views!) There was also a great talk on Theology Network by Mike Reeves on Where are we heading – Armageddon or Apocalypse? but it doesn’t seem to be available any more – I won’t post it publicly since it’s not my copyright, but have an MP3 copy that I would be happy to pass on privately if you drop me a line.