Bereansearching Bible Studies

Introduction

God’s Wrath on Judgment Day Will Be Made Manifest by the Universe Being Destroyed

The Bible repeatedly describes Judgment Day as the Day of the LORD’s wrath, when this present creation is destroyed by fire. After that destruction, God will give His elect a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Peter states this most plainly in 2 Peter 3:10-13:

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; 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. [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness, 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? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.“

That promise echoes Isaiah 65:17-19: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever [in that] which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.“

God will create new heavens and a new earth, and the former will not be remembered.

The Heavens Rolled Together as a Scroll

Judgment Day is described explicitly using consistent language throughout the Bible, but there are two verses in the Bible that specifically reference the Heavens being “rolled together as a scroll”. They are Isaiah 34:4 “…the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll:” and Revelation 6:14: “the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together;”

Both sit inside larger descriptions of Judgment Day.

Isaiah 34:4–8 calls the nations to hear because the LORD’s indignation is upon all of them. The host of heaven is to be dissolved, the heavens are rolled together as a scroll, and the stars will fall “as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree.” “For [it is] the day of the LORD’S vengeance”.

The Fearsomeness of the Coming Judgment

Revelation 6:12–17 uses the same imagery with the opening of the sixth seal: a great earthquake; the sun black as sackcloth; the moon as blood; stars falling like untimely figs; the heaven departing as a scroll; mountains and islands moved. Kings and slaves alike hide in the rocks and cry and, “said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” That cry matches:

• Isaiah 2:19-21, “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. 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; 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.”
• Hosea 10:8, “…and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.“
• and Jesus’ own words on His way to the cross in Luke 23:30, “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.”

Other passages describe the same end of the present heavens without using the scroll image:

• Psalm 102:24-26, — the heavens “shall perish… wax old like a garment.”
  • “I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years [are] throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens [are] the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:“
• Isaiah 51:6 — “the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment.”
  • “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.”

[Note that the last words regarding smoke are clear references to the burning fires of Hell.]

The Sun, Moon, and Stars Darkened

The lights of the heavens, the sun, the moon and the stars, were established by God’s as celestial timekeepers, but they will be permanently darkened, and all the elements of this creation will be dissolved by the fire of God’s Wrath on Judgment Day.

• Joel 2:31 / 3:15; Act 2:20 — sun turned to darkness, moon to blood, before the great day of the LORD.
  • Joel 2:31, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.“
  • Joel 3:15, “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.”
  • Acts 2:20, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:“
• Isaiah 13:9–13; 24:23 — sun darkened, moon ashamed, heavens shaken.
  • Isaiah 13:9-13, “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. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.And I will punish the world 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. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.”
  • Isaiah 24:23, “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.“

NOTE: All of Isaiah Chapter 24, verses 1–23 is about Judgment Day and the total destruction of creation. Please take a look.

• Ezekiel 32:7–8; Amos 5:8 / 5:20 / 8:9; — darkness at noon, no brightness in the day of the LORD.
  • Ezekiel 32:7&8, “And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.“
  • Amos 5:8&9, “[Seek him] that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth:The LORD [is] his name:“
  • Amos 5:20, “[Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?“
  • Amos 8:8&9, “Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as [by] the flood of Egypt.And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:“
• Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-26; Luke 21:25-27 — Jesus stated that after the tribulation, sun is darkened, moon without light, stars falling, powers of heaven shaken.
  • Matthew 24:29, “¶Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:“
  • Mark 13:24-26, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”
  • Luke 21:25-27, “¶And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
• Revelation 6:12, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;“
• Also Habakkuk 3:11, “The sun [and] moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, [and] at the shining of thy glittering spear.” Note that the “glittering” is the word “barak” and this is another reference Judgment Day. To learn about Barak, the man, please see: “Barak, the son of Abinoam“.

All of the above are pointing to the Final Universal Judgment Day.

The entirely of Isaiah Chapter 24 pictures Judgment Day at a time where the earth is emptied, shaken, dissolved, and burned, with few men left. The same chapter ends with the moon confounded and the sun ashamed when the LORD reigns in Zion.

As was noted above, Amos 8:8&9 prophetically speaks of the land trembling and the sun going down at noon (the sixth hour is “noon”). This language mirrors the events of Good Friday, the “first” Judgment Day, when Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of His elect, while also foreshadowing the last, and FINAL, Judgment Day to come for the unsaved. The Gospels record darkness from the sixth hour to the ninth hour and an earthquake.

• Matthew 27:45, “¶Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.”
• Mark 15:33: “¶And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” and
• Luke 23:44:”And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst“.

Also recorded in Matthew 27:51 was that the veil of the Temple being torn from top to bottom, indicating that the sacrificial ordinances have been fulfilled in Christ: “¶And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;. Moreover, the rest of the verse tells us that the land “trembled” when Jesus was on the cross, because of what we also read: “and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;“

The Elements Melting

Peter’s warning that the elements will melt with fervent heat is not isolated. The same fire language runs through the prophets:

• Isaiah 64:1&2 — mountains flowing down at God’s presence, “as when the melting fire burneth.”
  • “¶Oh that thou (God) wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, As [when] the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, [that] the nations may tremble at thy presence!
• Isaiah 66:15 — the LORD comes with fire and flames of fire.”
  • For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.“
• Micah 1:2-4 — mountains molten under Him, valleys cleft as wax before the fire.
  • “Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, [and] as the waters [that are] poured down a steep place.“
• Zephaniah 3:8 — all the earth devoured with the fire of His jealousy.
  • “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, [even] all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.“
• Psalm 46:6; 50:3 — the earth melted; a fire shall devour before Him.
  • “The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.“
  • “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.“
• Nahum 1:2-6 — hills melt, the earth is burned at His presence, fury poured out like fire.
  • “God [is] jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and [is] furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth [wrath] for his enemies.The LORD [is] slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds [are] the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and allthat dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured outlike fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.”

Yet Nahum 1:7 immediately adds this comfort to the believers: “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.”

Conclusion

God has given a clear warning. Judgment Day is coming and Coming Soon!. The heavens will be rolled back as a scroll. The sun, moon, and stars — God’s appointed celestial timekeepers (Psalm 104:19-23) — will be darkened. Time itself will end because the celestial timekeepers are removed, “that there should be time no longer:“(Revelation 10:6). The elements will dissolve in fire.

Nonetheless, there remains the hope of salvation through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God will make all things new: Revelation 21:5 we read, “And he (Jesus) that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” The former creation will not be remembered Isaiah 65:17, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” and Isaiah 66:22, “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.“

“Be Ye Holy“!

Therefore Peter asks what manner of persons we ought to be “in all holy conversation and godliness,” looking for and hasting for that Day and for the new heavens and new earth. Believers are not holy in themselves. They are only made holy in Christ, clothed in His righteousness — which is why Scripture says, “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15&16; Leviticus 19:2 / 20:7&8).

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