2 Peter 3:13 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, &c. That is, “Though the present frame of things shall be dissolved by fire, yet we look for another, a more durable and perfect state; new heavens and a new earth New and everlasting abodes, which the divine mercy will then open to our enraptured view, into which it will conduct us, and in which perfect righteousness, holiness, and felicity, shall dwell for ever;” Revelation 21:1-7; Revelation 22:1-5. Some expositors suppose that these lower heavens and this earth, having been melted down by a general conflagration, shall thereby be refined, and that God will form them into new heavens and a new earth for the habitation of the righteous; a supposition which seems to be favoured by St. Peter, Acts 3:21, where he speaks of the restitution of all things, which God hath promised by the mouth of all his holy prophets; by St. Paul, Romans 8:21, where he says, The creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of destruction; and also by the Lord Jesus himself, whose words (Rev 21:5) are, Behold, I make all things new. As St. Peter had a revelation from Christ that he would create new heavens and a new earth, he might justly call that his promise; but the patriarchs and believing ancients were not without the expectation of such an inheritance. See Genesis 17:7; Daniel 12:2; Hebrews 11:10-16.