"...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 melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." (2 Peter 3:10-13)
In the contemporary love affair with a man-centered rather than Christ-centered gospel, many Christians and Christian organizations are anti-christian (1 Timothy 4:1) in their proclamations of their role or desire or passion to 'change the world'. The 'world-changer' messaging is anathema to God's clear teaching. One might well think it to be the "spirit of anti-Christ" (1 John 4:3, 1 John 2:18-27). Nothing is required of God's people except to follow God's call and do their duty (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The simplicity of God's command exposes the complexity of human resistance.
The world we know will end. God's people are to be looking for the new heavens and new earth, because Christ has already overcome this world (John 16:33). Our interactions in the world should lead sinners to Christ. Instead, as if we are "of the world" (John 17:14), we lead more toward local, national, or global utopias; social programs; environmental initiatives; and habits and practices. "And this gospel of the kingdom (of Jesus Christ) will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). That is the ideal and the coming reality.
It is certain that each of us will leave the world in the same condition as we found it: fallen. The important question is whether we will go out the way we came in.
