The Bible plainly teaches that one day the world will be destroyed and all that is here will be gone.
The apostle Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 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” (2 Peter 3:9, 10).
In this passages we are assured that the Lord’s promises are not like man’s for man has a tendency not to keep promises.
Knowing that this event will occur all should be looking for that day and living accordingly.
Peter spoke of this idea, “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?... Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3:11 – 14).
The question to be answered is: Are we looking for this day? God has given us the Bible to guide us in his way.
The word “diligent” that Peter used is a word that in Greek means to be earnest, making haste, giving care to what is being done. This is the mindset all need if they are truly looking for heaven. We must be diligent to be found in the Lord. What it takes for this is a careful, earnest study and obedience to God’s word.
Since we live in the Christian Age, we must follow the law of Christ as it is the last will and testament of Christ.
“And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth” (Heb. 15 – 17).
The first apostle whose sermon was written down for man to read was Peter on Pentecost. In this lesson, he told them that the things they had seen and heard that day were a fulfillment of the words of the prophet Joel (Acts 2:14 – 21).
He then told them “… Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it” (Acts 2:22 – 25).
When they realized what they had done, they stopped his sermon and asked, “What must we do?”
To this, Peter gave them the answer “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).
So this same apostle who told men how to be saved, later writes of God’s promises, and the kind of lives that man must live.
The Lord has been longsuffering to mankind, but one day all will be over. Are you looking for that day?