Some have said that he is coming to burn up the earth.

The Scriptures answer this charge: "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth hath he given to the children of men".
(Psalm 115:16) How then can we harmonize this statement of the Scriptures with St.Peter's words?
--"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....

The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat."-- 2 Peter 3:10,12.
[447]It is manifest that the Apostle is here using symbolic language.

He states that the Lord comes as a thief, illustrating how quietly and unobservedly his second coming or appearing takes place, as we have already noted.

Then we must conclude that the other main elements here mentioned are symbolic.