Many people read 2 Peter 3:7 and 2 Peter 3:10 to mean God will burn up the Earth with fire.

2 Peter 3:7 King James Version (KJV) ^“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.“

“Heavens and the earth” refer not to the literal planet in this verse, but to the Jewish leadership and the people. This is purely apocalyptic language that was so common in Jewish literature.

To understand what Peter is saying, one must understand the nature of apocalyptic language.

Apocalyptic language uses superlatives and metaphors to describe natural events and their supernatural causes. It uses poetic hyperbole and picturesque exaggerations.

Discussing the use of apocalyptic language, the Jewish philosopher Maimonides says:

The very same thing happens to the ordinary reader of the Prophets: some of their words he does not understand at all . . . the metaphor frequently employed by Isaiah, and less frequently by other prophets, where they describe the ruin of a kingdom or the destruction of a great nation in phrases like the following: the stars have fallen, the heavens are overthrown, the sun is darkened, the earth is waste and trembles and other similar metaphors.

Resurrecting the Past: A Case for Fulfilled Prophecy, 120 min., Zephon Ministries, 2016, DVD.

This same type of language is used in other forms of literature in the Bible, in addition to its use in prophecy. For example:  “Yet I destroyed the Amorites before them, though they were tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks (Amos 2.9).”

“The elements shall melt with fervent heat …” 2 Peter 3:10

2 Peter 3:10 “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 3:12 “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?”

2 Peter 3:10 says the elements were going to burn. THE ELEMENTS! The Greek word for elements (στοιχεία or stoicheía ) in the Bible is used 7 times. It always, ALWAYS, refers to the Temple worship and the Jewish religious practices. Those elements of temple worship were burned in 70 AD. 2 Peter 3:7 has been fulfilled.

Galatians 4:3 “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements (stoicheía) of the world.”

Galatians 4:9 “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements , (stoicheía), whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?“

Galatians 4:9 makes it very clear the elements Paul is referring to is the Old Testament Law and the Jewish Talmud.

Colossians 2:20-22 “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments, (stoicheía), whereunto of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using; after the commandments and doctrines of men?“

In the NASB, Colossians 2:20-22 says, “If you have died with Christ ^[a]to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch! which all refer to things destined to perish with use in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?“

So we see again, the “elements” referred to in the New Testament are the Jewish laws and practices.

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles, (stoicheía), of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

The elements that were going to burn in 2 Peter were the elements of Jewish worship. This happened in 70 AD when the Roman armies burned Jerusalem and the temple.

With the destruction of the temple, the Old Covenant practices were finished once and for all. Christians live under the New Covenant.

For forty years, the Old and New Covenant practices co-existed in Israel. Christians still went to the temple to worship at this time.

Paul gave many warnings for the Christians not to return to the Jewish religious practice or to place themselves back under the Mosaic Law.

Peter was warning that these elements were going to be destroyed, just as Jesus proclaimed on the Mount of Olives in 30 AD.

The Bible is clear, Earth will never be destroyed, burned in fire, or replaced.

The Bible teaches that God created the earth to be inhabited forever.

• “ The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. ”​—Psalm 37:29.
• “ Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. ”​—Psalm 104:5.
• “ One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. ”​—Ecclesiastes 1:4.
• “ For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. ”​—Isaiah 45:18.

If a nation is destroyed, the Bible often refers to that as the destruction of heaven and earth.

The Babylonians conquered Israel in the sixth century BC. Jeremiah described it like this:

Jeremiah 4:23-26 “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.“

Ezekiel 32:7-9 describes the defeat of Egypt by Babylon.

^“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. I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.”

And in Isaiah 13:9-13 concerning the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C., the Bible says, “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.”

Now, do we believe the earth actually moved “out of her place” in 539 BC? Of course not, but to the Babylonians, it certainly would have felt that way.

Describing the fall of Edom, the Bible says the heavens will be dissolved and rolled together as a scroll.

Isaiah 34:4-5 “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.“

Revelation 6:12-14 uses the same language as these Old Testament passages.

“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; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.“

Considering God’s promises that the Earth would always remain and the use of apocalyptic descriptions throughout the Bible, there is no exegetical or scriptural reason to believe that Peter is saying the literal earth and sky will be literally destroyed with fire.