(From “The Final Judgment”)
After the sentence is pronounced, and the saints have ascended with Christ into glory, this world will be dissolved by fire. The conflagration will immediately follow the judgment. When an end shall have been put to the present state of mankind, this world, which was the place of their habitation will be destroyed, there being no further use for it.
This earth, which had been the stage upon which so many scenes had been acted, upon which there had been so many great and famous kingdoms and large cities, where there had been so many wars, trade and business carried on for so many ages, shall then be destroyed.
These continents, these islands, these seas and rivers, mountains and valleys, shall be seen no more at all. All shall be destroyed by devouring flames.
We read in 2 Peter 3:7, 10-12, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?”