With this verse Peter links the flood to future judgment by fire. The destruction of the flood is thus a type of the greater destruction to come when God judges the ungodly.1 Since God promised that there would never again be a deluge of water to destroy all of life (Genesis 9:11–16), fire will serve instead.2 Judgment of the world by fire is an archetypal theme in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 32:22; Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:27, Isaiah 30:30, Isaiah 30:33; Isaiah 33:14; Isaiah 66:15–16, Isaiah 66:24; Joel 2:30; Nahum 1:6; Zephaniah 1:18; Zephaniah 3:8; Malachi 4:1) as well as the New Testament (Acts 2:19; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Revelation 9:17–18; Revelation 16:8; Revelation 20:9). This is the destiny of the world in which we live. Human history is not at the mercy of chance and meaningless catastrophe. God who created the world is in control of this world and he is sustaining it until the day when Christ returns in glory.3
7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.