A Day of Reckoning Coming

A New Heaven and Earth

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish with a [mighty and thunderous] roar, and the [material] elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and the works that are on it will be ^[a]burned up.

⁹ then [in light of the fact that all this is true, be sure that] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

² For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the [return of the] Lord is coming just as a thief [comes unexpectedly and suddenly] in the night.

⁸ And He will also confirm you to the end [keeping you strong and free of any accusation, so that you will be] blameless and beyond reproach in the day [of the return] of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵ “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.^(A)

¹⁰ and to [look forward and confidently] wait for [the coming of] His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who [personally] rescues us from the coming wrath [and draws us to Himself, granting us all the privileges and rewards of a new life with Him].

⁷ So he began saying to the crowds who were coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of ^[a]vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath [of God that is] to come?