Peter urged the believers to be ready because the Day of the Lord would come like a thief. The Day of the Lord will result in the heavens will pass away. Note that the earth will not pass away, but will be "exposed". This is exactly in line with the 6th seal in Rev 6:14
"The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place."
I think what most people misunderstand about 2Pet3 is that the passing away of the heavens and earth is not the actual beginning of the DOTL. For Peter says,
2Pe 3:11 KJV Seeing then
that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner
of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness,
The passing away of the heavens and earth is "judgment and perdition of ungodly men", and not the judgment of the righteous. We see a similar sentiment in Romans 2 where it speaks of the "wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God". The "result" being (meaning afterwards) tribulation and anguish upon "every soul of man that doeth evil" and "eternal life" to to those who have patient continuance (hupomone) in the greatest trial of their life.
Rom 2:5-10 KJV 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
This is what we also find in the Olivet discourse when Jesus says,
Mat 24:33-36 KJV 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near,
even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no
man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Heaven and earth passes away before the day that comes like a thief shall arrive, along with all the other things that Jesus spoke of. The DOTL is the times of the Gentiles, Eze 30:3. It is also the time of Jacob's trouble when the elect of Israel shall be gathered together:
Jer 30:3-7 KJV 3 For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. 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? 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.
Joel 2:1b: ..for the day of the LORD cometh, for
it is nigh at hand;
note place
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 utter desolation and forsaking of the Jerusalem and fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles are what Paul has in mind in 2Thess2 when he says that a forsaking must take place, along with the revelation of the man of sin must take place before the DOTL can come. This is what Jesus said when he said that Jerusalem must be desolate in order to fulfill (plero'o) the times of the Gentiles. This comes as the blindness of Israel (in part) ends with the coming in of the fulness (pleroma) of the Gentiles. Isa 6 confirms the blindness of Israel to end when the land of Israel is forsaken and left desolate. The gathering of the elect will begin once the blindness ends. This is what we see in the Olivet discourse. That day, that Jesus said no man knows the day, is:
1. When the gathering begins,
2. The day that comes like a thief,
3. It is the day of the Lord.
When one realizes that DOTL is only beginning when gathering of the elect begins, which comes after ALL of the events of Matt 24, then one can only conclude that the coming of Jesus...
Mat 24:30 KJV And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
...IS not and CANNOT be Jesus's coming at Armageddon.
Mat 24:31 KJV And [then] he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Be Blessed
The PuP