Malachi: End Times Destruction Of Esau-Edom And Preservation Of Jacob-Israel

In this lecture, Sheldon Emry discusses the end times destruction of Israel’s enemies as symbolized by Esau-Edom.  Of course, Edom was indeed destroyed — we see the evidence of that in the ruins on Mount Seir — and Malachi’s prophecy was fulfilled.

But down through history Edom has become a byword for the archtypal enemies of the Israelite people.  Edom rejected the God of Israel and descended into idolatry — much like the enemies of Christian Israelites today.

Part 1 of Sheldon Emry’s series on Malachi can be read here.

Audio:

 

God’s first words to the Israel people through the prophet Malachi are “I have loved you saith the Lord.”  This is the most marvelous message on earth that any people could have — and that message is to Israel and Israel alone (Amos 3:2).

There is a people upon which God has placed a very special love and purpose — and that is the Israel people.  But He adds in verse 3, “And I hated Esau.”  And that is in spite of the fact that the majority of ministers today are in favor of Esau-Edom, and preach for red Esau, and tell you that Esau really isn’t Esau — but that he’s Jacob-Israel.

Malachi 3:

1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

Part of this could fit John the Baptist.  Matthew 11:

7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The rest of Malachi 3 may refer to more than what took place at Jesus’ first advent:

2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

We think of Jesus as coming to Judea and Jerusalem, yet if we read the scripture, we find that he spent most of his ministry in Galilee.  In fact, he’s called “the Galilean,” and eleven of his disciples were from Galilee, and Judas was the only one from the area of Jerusalem.

So the city of Jerusalem — and of Judea — had very little to do with Jesus, and, of course, he came back and was put to death there, but his ministry was in Galilee.  In Judea and Jerusalem — all that really happened at the time of Jesus’ first advent was that he and his followers were persecuted, he was put to death, and after his death, all of his followers were driven from there.

And yet in Malachi here, the coming of the “messenger of the covenant,” it sounds like a worldwide calamity, “Who shall abide by his coming?”  So it must be something in the future:

4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. 5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

So at this time of the coming of the messenger of the covenant, He is going to come in judgment against evil-doers.  In Jesus’ first advent, there was very little done against evil-doers.  In fact, the evil-doers became victorious after just one generation after Jesus died on the cross, and the Christians were driven away.

Let’s see if other prophets agree with Malachi about the coming of the Lord at this end of the age.

Isaiah 2:

12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: 13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, 14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, 15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. 17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

It will be a time when God will be exalted and when high men — rulers — will be brought low.

18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

Isaiah 13

6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

A lot of people profess to be looking forward to Jesus’ return — to his second advent which they call “the Day of the Lord”:

7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

It’s a time of destruction and humiliation for the men of the earth.

9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

This did not take place when the messenger of the covenant came the first time:

11 And I will punish the world [Babylon] for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

What was he going to do according to Malachi?  He was going to refine them as gold and silver:

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

This fits what we read in Malachi.  Turn to Jeremiah 30:

4 And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Here is the woman in travail again — the Day of the Lord won’t be a good experience until it’s over, like childbirth — but the birth is a wonderful thing:

7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

Who is God speaking to in Malachi?  To Jacob-israel — telling him of a time of trouble, and Jeremiah is talking about the time of deliverance here.

8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

That is one of the marks of our economic system — strangers serving themselves of our people.  Our people work and produce, and it is robbed and taxed from them and given to strangers who live without working, without producing. And God says that is going to end.  He’s talking about a time when Israel would be robbed and plundered by strangers or non-Israelites:

16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

This is a promise that God is going to take Israel out of a bondage and captivity — and put their enemies in bondage and captivity.

17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

We have previously shown how the rest of the world is being conditioned to hate the United States of America.  Why? Because America is the Zion of Bible prophecy.  It is the great nation promised to Abraham — it is the place of regathered Israel.   And he said, “they called thee an Outcast,” and America is rapidly becoming an outcast among the nations.

Even among Christian people it seems they’ve almost discontinued seeking after Zion.

24 The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.

Ezekiel 13

5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

The ministers are accused of not preparing the people for the day of the Lord:

22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:

By preaching against God’s law, they tell the wicked they can do what they wish — in fact, they don’t even teach the wicked that they are in error:

23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

God is going to deliver the people from the ministers who strengthen the hand of the wicked.

Joel 1:15

15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joel 2, the destructive day of the Lord:

1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

Amos 5

18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. 19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Zephaniah 1:14

14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

Each one of these passages show that it’s a day of destruction not on God’s people but on.the mighty, the wicked, the evil, and upon Israel’s enemies.

15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

None of this took place when Jesus came the first time, and yet he very definitely is the “messenger of the covenant” spoken of in Malachi.

Zechariah 13

1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

And, of course, that fountain is the blood of Jesus Christ for Israel’s sin.

8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

This must be a the end of the age when Israel is turned.  By the time that this great invasion and trouble and war and battle and distress that God will bring into the Zion nation comes to pass, the Israel people may very well be only one-third of the inhabitants of these lands.

The aliens and heathens are coming in here so quickly and in such great numbers — and are multiplying after they get in here far greater than our people that it is conceivable that in the not too distant future that Israelite Whites may count for only one-third of the population.  So two-thirds of the people in this land could die under God’s judgement and leave Israel intact.

Remember, God said this is the time of Jacob’s trouble — but he will be delivered out of it.  We are a covenant people — God has sealed a covenant to us with his own blood for our deliverance:

Joel 2

1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;  2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

The next verses describes what we call red communism as it takes over nation after nation and destroys them as it marches across the earth. We would also know it from its scriptural name of Esau-Edom or red Esau.  But the deliverance of Jacob is promised at the end of chapter 2:

32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

A deliverance of the children of Israel in this place called Zion and in Jerusalem. At the very end of Joel, he speaks of red Esau in a similar way to Malachi:

Joel 3

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

And this — new wine, and milk, and waters, and fountain — are all used in the Bible for the Word — the spirit is to come from this place Zion and Jerusalem:

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

Esau-Edom is to be destroyed, according to Joel, because of what he did Jacob-israel for what he did in Israel’s land — America, Canada, Australia, and other Israel lands:

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

So, a promise of the cleansing of the Israel people as God destroys Esau-Edom, or the enemies of the Israel people.

Zephaniah 1:

14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

Each prophet has the same message — the kingdom of God upon the earth.

Zephaniah 3:

11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of [in] my holy mountain.

And then:

14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.

That’s what we read in every prophecy — God brings the judgment by allowing the enemy to come in and bring chastisement on us, then when we turn to him, God takes away the enemy:

16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. 17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

We will see the people in control of our government bringing tribulation and chastisement upon Christian people in a manner that may makes us feel that perhaps God has forsaken us.  We have to be reminded by the word that the Lord, our God, in the midst of thee is mighty, He will save.

18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.

God is looking upon those in Christendom today who are crying out against sin — they are attempting to turn people from their sin, quit their transgression of God’s law — and it’s a great burden upon them that there is such sin and iniquity in the nation.  The very fact that sin in the land is a burden and a reproach to them is honored by God.

19 Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.

Our so-called W.A.S.P. civilization is being put to shame in every nation on earth. We are being degraded and downgraded and blamed for all the ills of the earth.  In heathen countries, the communists — even American liberals are going there and telling them that all our problems are caused by our puritanism — by our Christianity or our adherence to Bible doctrines.

They claim the new wave of the future is humanism — and that man is the highest creature, and he has the authority to do whatever he wills.  And it is the terrible religion of Christianity that is destroying them.  We Christians are being put to shame in all nations.

20 At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.

There are millions of our race — and professing Christian in other countries — who do not even know we are in captivity.  Here we are speaking of a deliverance from captivity.  The prophets speak of an enemy in our land that has taken us captive — and yet all those around don’t know we are a captured people.

If an enemy had marched into this North American continent with soldiers in uniforms, taken over all of our state capitals, and our cities and our national government, and then announced, “From now on we’re going to take 40% of everything you earn as tribute because you are our captives now,” we would know we are captured.

But they didn’t come in that way. They came in clothes just like you wear, they use the political process, and propaganda to take over our cities, and our states, and our federal government, but they didn’t begin with 40% as tribute — they began with one-half of one percent then slowly increased it — with propaganda about how much “good” they were going to to for you in exchange for this “little bit” of your money.

And they did it over 75 years — if they had done it in 75 days, we’d have caught on.  They did it so slowly that our fathers and our grandfathers didn’t catch on that we are a captive people under tribute.  We pay more tribute that King George ever dreamed of taking away from our Founding Fathers.

Zechariah 12

1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

There are two gatherings against Jerusalem by all the nations of the earth.  One is the false Jerusalem over in ancient Palestine where, we are told, all the nations of the earth are gathered against it.  However, when we look out of our own borders, we find that the military of the whole communist world is aimed — not at old Palestine — but at this North American continent.  This is the biblical New Jerusalem — this is the scriptural Jerusalem — and this is the land against which all nations are gathered:

8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.

We will be feeble and helpless until God’s time for our turning — for our deliverance.

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

The majority of our church-goers are accepting the propaganda that this is referring to Old Palestine.

1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.

This is getting rid of all false religions in the land of Israel.

8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

This is what we read in Malachi.  By the time this cleansing of America takes place, God’s Israel people may constitute only one-third or less of the inhabitants of this land.  At the rate they are flooding this land with heathens and aliens, they could become a majority within a generation.

The Israel people are under a blood covenant for deliverance.  Even though we are the ones rebuked by God for sin, we are under God’s solemn promise for deliverance.  And we must keep this in mind in times that get much more terrifying and harder than they are today.  Yet out of it Israel is delivered.

Zechariah 14 talks about the same end time as the other prophets:

1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

Then:

8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

The “living water” is the Word — this is what we read in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4

9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

That can only be what we call the next age or the “Kingdom Age”.  It has to be the end of this age and the beginning of the next.

Concerning the oft-quoted Zechariah 14:4 — the only verse of Zechariah they ever read

4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

They stop there and interpret that to mean that Jesus is literally going to return physically the the Mount of Olives in Old Jerusalem.  Even though we know Jesus is going to return for his bride — which, they say, is all of the Christians.

In many of these passages we’ve read there is an historical place and a prophetic place.  There was a historical Babylon — and there is a prophetic Babylon in Jeremiah and Revelation.  There is a historical Egypt — and there is a prophetic Egypt.  Same with Assyria.  Those old cities and empires are gone, but God uses the names of these ancient captors of the Israel people in prophecy.

Why do we say the Mount of Olives — here given not in a historical setting but in a prophetic setting is not something other than the old physical mount?  We know from Jeremiah that the Israel people are called “an olive” — they are the “olive tree nation”.  So when God returns to the Mount of Olives, that phrase in prophecy simply means the nations of Israel.

All the rest of the prophecies in the New Testament tell us that Jesus’ second advent is going to be the same as his first advent — to the Israel people.  Why would we accept the fundamentalists’ explanation that this verse literally refers to a little old hill outside Jerusalem in ancient Palestine?  Jesus is returning to Israel — the people — not the physical land in Old Palestine:

20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

Every prophet has been telling us that as God turns Israel, he destroys or removes the enemies of Israel.

Why does one prophet refer to Esau-Edom as being the destroyed one, while here Zachariah refers to the Canaanite?

Genesis 26

34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: 35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

And the Hittites were Canaanites. He took Canaanite wives.

Genesis 36

1 Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. 2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;

If Esau married Canaanite wives, then Esau’s descendants would not be descendants of Abraham — they would be Canannites, and known by several names — Esau, Edom, and Canaanites:

43. he is Esau the father of the Edomites.

Esau-Edom is in perpetual war and battle against Jacob-Israel.

Let’s return to Malachi 1— this is a study of Malachi, but it behooves us to verify these things from other portions of scripture because we want the Bible to explain the Bible.

2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

We have a war between Esau-Edom and Jacob-Israel down through the mlllenniums — and God is on the side of Jacob-Israel. Yet all the power seems to be on the side of Esau-Edom — or the Reds. They are taking over the earth. And to a great extent the control America.

But were is Edom’s headquarters today?

4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

They claim they will return to the old land of Israel and take it over — which they have done.  But God will throw down.  Even for those of us who know we are descendants of Jacob-Israel because Esau’s power seems to be so great, and God is not curtailing it.  God is not bringing us victories, and them defeats.  But he didn’t say he would until a certain time — and it’s his time, not ours. We have to hold onto the promises.

Malachi 3

2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:

We do what we can — we teach, we instruct, we obey and search the scriptures, pray, and doing everything we can — but what we do is very little compared to what will happen when Jesus becomes like a refiner’s fire.  The dross is taken away, and the metal is purified.

The doctrine that the second advent — or the return of Jesus Christ — is to be an event to be dreaded by most of the inhabitants of the earth is not just an Old Testament doctrine.  The return of Jesus Christ is described in the New Testament in a different way from how you commonly hear it on radio and television:

2 Peter 3:

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…

And they stop there — and they say, “Jesus is going to come silently and secretly, and no one will know he’s here, and he’s going to snatch off all the Born Again believers and take them to heaven.” But let’s read on:

…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.

When?  When Jesus comes like a thief in the night and burn things up?  That’s what we read in Malachi — and in the Old Testament.  A “refiner’s fire.”  This phrase does not mean the the physical planet earth is going to be destroyed — but rather all of society and their methods of rule — the world, the “cosmos”, or the world system.  And then he speaks to the Christian, the believer:

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

That’s a question.  Never the less, we, according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.  The New Testament tells the same story as the Old Testament — that at the time of Jesus’ coming, there is going to be a change — and the entire old world system with all its wickedness and corruption and anti-Christ rule is going to be burned up and destroyed — and we look for a new heavens and a new earth where dwelleth righteousness.

What is that?  The Kingdom of Jesus Christ upon the earth.

No, the planet is not going to be destroyed — just the things that are out of line with God and his word and his law. Peter knew that, as he was writing to these Christian people.

At the time, a “thief in the night” wouldn’t come like a cat burglar who silently breaks in a house and steals. No, he came with a band of robbers, they took the guard posts off the gate, took over the city, and they ransacked every house in the town. They came as bands of robbers with great noise and destruction.

That’s what we’ve been reading in the Old Testament — that the Day of the Lord is a day of destruction — a day that the non-Christians should look forward to with dread.

The Christian believer, on the other hand, should look forward to “Armageddon”.  What comes out of Armageddon?   The end of the old age and the bringing in of the new — the Kingdom of Righteousness.  We desire Armageddon.