Demolition Day

                He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5)

 

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (II Peter 3:10-13)

 

I used to watch home renovation and redecorating shows, and one of the things homeowners seemed to say frequently was how much fun it was to destroy their room. What I never heard any of them say is, “Hey, I’ve got a great idea. This is just so cool. Let’s leave it this way.” No, they complete their destruction and get to work on making their room into what they want it to be.

Sometimes, we see God as delighting in judgment and destruction, almost for the sake of destruction. This is at least partly understandable. If your whole existence was in the kitchen that the homeowners gutted, you might be upset, because you can only see things from within the kitchen. If you don’t know the plans the homeowners have, it would seem wasteful or even wrong to destroy it.

God sometimes destroys what He made, and since He made it and it belongs to Him, He has a right. But in Genesis 6 and in the prophecies about the end times, God doesn’t destroy the world and “that’s that.” He preserves the lives of some on the ark, and He promises something new at the end of Revelation.

I’ve written before that I believe that when God destroyed the world with the flood, and when He will destroy the world with fire, that the world was and will be unlivable – because of what man does to it. The ceiling has leaks, the plaster is falling off the walls, there are places where you can see the basement through the floor. The refrigerator and the stove only work part of the time. God guts it and starts over because it needs to be gutted.

And there are times when He puts a new coat of paint in our lives, and times when He seems to rip out our hearts – because the one we have, which is all we know and which we believe is necessary to our lives – is doing damage.