In referring to the preflood world, Peter said that the heavens and the earth had been stored up with water, and that by those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water. The Christian prophet went on to say: "By the same word, the heavens and the earth that are now stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of the judgment and of the destruction of ungodly men."
In furtherance of highlighting the apostate's blasphemy that Jehovah is going to come streaking out of the clear blue sky one fine day and slaughter billions of innocents while they sleep in their beds, the apostle's brief comments on the topic of Jehovah's judgments contains some interesting insights. As regards the heavenly ocean that was suspended above the expanse of the heavens, accomplished by the word of God on the 2nd day of creation, the point is that the means for the world's imminent destruction were stored in the world itself. So the "same word" of God that has stored fire up in the present heavens and earth indicate that the world will destroy itself during God's judgment---the heavens and the earth coming to frequently symbolize the governments and the governed. In other words then, God knew from the beginning that human rule would ultimately lead to the race self-destructing, and by those means God would remove the ungodly men from this realm.
Contrary to the false sense of security that the world has foolishly embraced in the post Cold War period, the world's situation is much more dangerous now than at any time previous. Yet, true to the prophet Daniel's description, society is enjoying a relative "freedom from care" on the eve of its own destruction. What makes this period so perilous is the instability inherent in the system itself and the willingness of men in power to do anything necessary to retain power. Just as a wild beast is most ferocious when cornered and threatened, so too, beast-like men can become particularly menacing when they are faced with their own 'us-or them' extinction.
Japan's treasury minister recently stated before the Parliament that the Japanese economy was on the verge of complete collapse. Given the fact that the Anglo-American dominated global financial system is in the final stages of collapse, it being a mere matter of weeks or months until the dollar comes unwound with catastrophic results, we may expect that numerous nations and terrorist cells will exploit the Anglo-American's vulnerability, soon. As an example of such vulnerability, we frequently hear about America's so-called trade deficit. Currently running about a $ billion per day. The only reason that the U.S. has been able to continue to function is because much of the cash is repatriated through investments. But that means that foreign institutions, some hostile to the U.S., hold vast amounts of securities and equities. China for example holds billions of dollars worth of U.S. paper. At any point they could cash out and collapse the U.S. bond markets and virtually the whole system. That is just one scenario that demonstrates how the system is "stored up" with the fire of its own destruction.
Of course a financial collapse cannot occur in a vacuum. It would inevitably be accompanied by war. The nations and various terrorists groups have weaponry that is so terrible that on any given day the world as we know it can simply cease to exist. President Bush recently expressed his concern that the U.S. was vulnerable to EMP, which is the electric pulse generated by a nuclear blast that could simply knock out every electrical device in the nation with one strategically placed device.
Everyone knows that the world could destroy itself. Most prefer not to think about such things and just try to live while they can in the brief period while they are alive. The apostate ridiculers of Jehovah's word and judgments prefer to pretend that the world's perilous state has nothing to do with the word of Jehovah God. They are like the haughty generation, mentioned in the 30th Proverb, that hasn't been washed from its own excrement, but yet has the audacity to pass judgment on mankind's Savior.
Those concerned about Jehovah's will being done though, should realize that reality will eventually prevail. And the reality is that human civilization is self-doomed---BIG TIME! Jehovah's will is simply to allow human folly and wickedness to reach its ultimate conclusion---that being an unprecedented genocidal holocaust of unimaginable proportions. Then God will be vindicated and the ridiculers of his judgments will scurry like rats for their holes.
No doubt when the long-brewing tempest erupts like a ferocious firestorm, these words of God will speak directly to most of you: "I also, for my part, shall laugh at your own disaster, I shall mock when what you dread comes, when what you dread comes just like a storm, and your own disaster gets here just like a storm wind, when distress and hard times come upon you. AT THAT TIME, they will keep calling me, but I shall not answer; and they will keep looking for me, but they will not find me, for the reason that they hated knowledge and the fear of Jehovah they did not choose. They did not consent to my counsel; they disrespected my reproof." / You Know