With these two passages we must make one further comparison, that is

Revelation 20:11:

'And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose

face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place

for them'.

Before the Millennium 'every island fled away, and the mountains were

not found', after the Millennium it is 'the earth and the heavens' that flee,

and for which no place is found.

'In Revelation 6:14 the mountains and islands were moved.  Here, they

flee.  By and by the whole earth and heavens will flee away, and no

place be found for them.  There is no article before "mountains" so we

have supplied its absence by the word "certain"' (The Apocalypse*, Dr.

E. W. Bullinger).

*

More recently published by Kregel with the title:

A Commentary on Revelation.

The Revelation therefore gives us a series of movements:

Rev. 6:14

moved out of their places.

Rev. 16:20  certain mountains were not found.

Rev. 20:11  the earth and heaven flee.

Rev. 21:1

a new heaven and earth, the former having

passed away.

These lead straight on to the climax passage of 2 Peter 3, but it will

be wise to retrace our steps and include one or two references in the Old

Testament before we consider Peter's testimony.

Isaiah 13:10.  Here the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof

give no light, the sun is darkened, the moon ceases to shine.  Here once

again we are in the day of the Lord (Isa. 13:9) and at the overthrow of

Babylon (Isa. 13:19).  This prophecy is twofold, (1) the overthrow of Babylon

by the Medes (Isa. 13:17) which is referred to in Daniel 5:31, and (2) the

overthrow of Babylon at the coming of the Lord (Rev. 19:1 -6.  See Babylon8).

Again in Isaiah 34 we are in the day of the Lord's vengeance, and in the year

of recompense for the controversy of Zion:

'And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall

be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as

the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig

tree' (Isa. 34:4,8).

Here we have two important verbal connections.  There is a link with

Genesis 1:2, for the words translated 'without form and void' (Heb. tohu and

bohu) are here rendered in Isaiah 34:11, 'confusion' and 'emptiness', which

together with the use of the same words in Jeremiah 4:23,24 show that 'that

which has been is that which shall be' as the great cycle of the ages draws

to a completion.  The present heavens and earth finds its place between two

'overthrows' (Gen. 1:2 and Isa. 34:11), the one in Isaiah 34:11 foreshadowing

the actual and final dissolution of 2 Peter 3.  Joel 2:10,30,31 and 3:15

associates these phenomena with the great and terrible day of the Lord (Joel

2:11,31), and similar words are used of the extinguishing of Pharaoh by

Ezekiel (Ezek. 32:7,8).  To these references might be added those which