NT Text: 2 Peter 3:13
OT Source(s):
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment + Longitudinal Theme
Anchor Text: Isa 65:17 — New Heavens and a New Earth
Significance: Peter's hope — "we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells" — directly takes up Isaiah's promise, "I will create new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered" (Isa 65:17). The connection is Promise-Fulfillment carried along a Longitudinal Theme (Land and Inheritance / Creation and New Creation): Isaiah announces the divine pledge; Peter announces that the church now awaits its consummation "in keeping with God's promise." Peter's distinctive contribution is the phrase "where righteousness dwells," which interprets Isaiah's new creation morally and personally — the renewed cosmos is not merely a refurbished habitat but a realm cleansed of the ungodliness that 2 Peter has been combating, the home of the justified. The "former things" Isaiah says will not be remembered are, in Peter's framing, the present heavens and earth "reserved for fire" (3:7) — judgment again clears the way for new creation, as the flood once did (3:5–7). This hope is already-and-not-yet: secured by Christ's resurrection and promise, awaited at his return. The telos is desire, not mere prediction: the believer is summoned to holiness (3:11) precisely because the inheritance is a place where righteousness is at home, and the Christ who will dwell there with his people is himself the joy that makes the new earth worth waiting for.