What, then, does one do with texts regarding a coming worldly destruction? For example, 2 Peter 3 says the “present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Pet. 3:7). This does not necessarily mean that the world must be destroyed for God’s kingdom to fully come. Evangelical biblical scholar Douglas Moo points out that the thrust of 2 Peter 3, among other texts, describes a world being renewed rather than destroyed. Moo points out that throughout Scripture, fire is an image of purification, not of destruction. Fire retains
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