2 Peter 3:10 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

But the day of the Lord; the day of judgment is here called the day of the Lord by way of eminence, as the great day, Judges 1:6, and the great day of God Almighty, Revelation 16:14, and the day of the Lord Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1:8, 1 Corinthians 5:5 2 Corinthians 1:14 Philippians 1:6,10. Will come as a thief in the night; as a thief comes suddenly and unexpectedly, when he thinks all in the house are most secure. In the which the heavens; viz. those that are visible, in distinction from the empyreal heaven, or place of glorified spirits. Shall pass away; either wholly, so as to cease to be; or rather, as to their present being and condition, so as to cease to be what they now are, and to give place to the new heaven, Revelation 21:1. The same word is used, Matthew 24:35 Luke 16:17. With a great noise; either swiftly and violently, or with such a noise as is usually caused by such violent and speedy motions. The elements, in a natural sense, as integral parts of the universe, air, water, earth. Shall melt with fervent heat; so 2 Peter 3:12, where another word is used in the Greek, which properly signifies melting, or being on fire, or burning, shall be dissolved or destroyed. So the word signifies, 1 Thessalonians 2:19 1 John 3:8. The earth also; the habitable part of the world. Though the earth, as a part of the world, be included in the elements before mentioned, yet here it may be taken with respect to its inhabitants, and the things contained in it. And the works that are therein shall be burned up; not only artificial, men's works, but natural, all that variety of creatures, animate and inanimate, wherewith God hath stored this lower world for the present use of man; and so all those delectable things in which carnal men seek their happiness.