Yet another report has highlighted the fact that the earth is getting warmer as a result of human activity. The only hope, says the report, is for us all to change the way we live.

We might reflect on the significance of this verse in the Bible:

‘The Day of the Lord will come… and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be burned up’

(2 Peter 3:10).

Should we take this literally? ‘The heavens and the earth’ is a way of describing rulers and people. For example Moses addresses the leaders and the people of Israel, saying, ‘Give ear, O heavens and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth’ (Deuteronomy 32:1).

The verse in 2 Peter 3:10 is an echo of Isaiah: ‘I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered’ (Isaiah 65:17). The prophet is not telling us that the whole universe will be replaced - but that the world will be governed by new leadership.

This then is assuring for us - if we believe the Bible is the word of God. For it tells us that the policies and the behaviours that are destroying planet earth will be replaced by what is called ‘the kingdom of God’.

For it is God’s purpose that ‘all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord’

(Numbers 14:20, cf Habakkuk 2:14).

Peter goes on to write: ‘Since all these things (that is, present human activity) are to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness’.

We need to change the way we live – and it seems that everyone agrees this is necessary.

But only the Bible tells us what fundamental changes are needed. By reading it, believing it and changing our lives, we can look forward with hope. The future can be secure and safe – for us and for planet earth.

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‘Hope for a Hopeless World’