Salvation Tense: Glorification (Future Tense)
2 Peter 3:10 — “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
═══ OPORD ═══
WHO: The Lord — and every person alive when that day arrives. No one is exempt. No one escapes notice.
WHAT: “The day of the Lord” is the decisive intervention of God in human history. It will be sudden (“as a thief” — unexpected, without warning), catastrophic to the present order (heavens passing away, elements dissolving, earth and all its works burned up), and final. This is not renovation — it is dissolution. The Greek word for “dissolved” (luo) means to loose, untie, or destroy. Everything the world builds, values, and worships will be consumed by fervent heat (kausoomai — to be set ablaze). Glorification for the believer includes the destruction of the old order and the creation of the new.
WHERE: Everywhere. The entire cosmos is affected — heavens, elements, earth, and all works.
WHEN: Unknown — that is the entire point of the “thief” metaphor. It is certain but unscheduled. Readiness, not prediction, is the appropriate response.
WHY: Because this truth is meant to produce urgency. If everything you see will burn, what are you living for? Every earthly pursuit is temporary. Only what is done for Christ — and through the Spirit — will survive the fire. This is the ultimate motivation for sanctification.
═══ PRAYER ═══
Lord, the day is coming. Everything I see will pass away. The heavens, the earth, and all the works of man will be consumed. Help me to live today in light of that reality. Let me invest in what lasts — Your kingdom, Your Word, people’s souls. Strip away my attachment to what will burn and anchor my heart in what is eternal. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
═══ DAILY CHALLENGES ═══
Challenge 1: Look around your environment today. Ask: “What here will survive the day of the Lord?” Invest your time and energy in those things.
Challenge 2: Give something away today — time, money, or a possession — as an act of declaring: “My treasure is not in this world.”