2 Peter 1:16–21 (ESV)
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Dear fellow redeemed: The significance of the transfiguration of our Lord is one thing, in itself – that the man who went to the cross is God in the flesh, acceptable to the Father as the sacrifice for our sin. But Peter also points out that the transfiguration is a confirmation of the reality of the incarnation and the truthfulness of God’s promises. Just as in the transfiguration Christ showed His gory in this dark world, so God’s word brings the light of Christ to us until we are with Him in person.
That is important to Peter’s immediate audience and to us as well. He was writing to believers who were already being confronted with challenges to their faith and would be even more attacked by false doctrine, false teaching as time went by. They were buffeted by all sorts of religious opinions and ideas which could so easily undermine their certainty. So it is with us in our day. He characterizes our situation as a “dark place,” better translated, a dingy or dismal place where it is difficult to make things out, and where it is easy to fall.
And I don’t mean fall on your nose. I mean fall from faith, fall from salvation. See how Peter encourages us in vv 10-11 2 Peter 1:10-11 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So how do we find the light so that we do not fall from faith and lose our salvation? What light is there for the spiritual darkness we face daily?
GOD’S WORD GIVES LIGHT AND JOY IN A DISMAL PLACE
I. Light and Assurance from Prophesies Fulfilled
II. Light and Joy from Promises Inspired
III. Joy Rises with the Morning Star
I. Light and Assurance from Prophesies Fulfilled
The light of God’s word, actually.
Peter writes to people bombarded by all sorts of religious doctrines: Man-made religions like Islam and Mormonism. Christian heresies of salvation-by-works, or liberalism/rationalism casting doubt on Christ and His divine saving work. We are bombarded by secularism and naturalism – the anti-theistic idea that there is nothing but nature and what we see, touch, feel, and measure.
In reply to them, He speaks of this holy word of God. He says, “you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place…” And Peter was serious enough to die, to give up this life, in order to proclaim this word, the truth He knew from personal experience. I guess he was serious about it!
You see, this word makes sense out of life. It makes sense out of the human condition. It is true in its record of the history of what God did to save man.
This record begins with Genesis. [It just so happens that] Deborah and I went to see the movie, “Is Genesis History.” Now I don’t go gaga over movies, and I’m not going to over-hype this one, but it does an unusually good job of emphasizing that the Biblical record is the foundation and basis of truth. Those who oppose truth, the servants of darkness, must oppose the Bible, and they have undermined the faith of many in undermining Genesis. Evolutionary propaganda survives, not because it is compellingly true, but because of the authoritarian way it dominates education, government, and establishment media. Critics are fired and blackballed. It isn’t “neutral” because the evolutionary lie is a servant of the darkness of this world.
If you have children, you should see it. It shows this Thursday again. If you have children older than twelve, take them. They have to understand that the overwhelming attitude against God and his word is deceitful, evil, and deadly. But the Bible is true in its account of the origin of the world, in what is says of nature of mankind, even down to the love of husband and wife and children, and in its history of God’s relationship to man.
And it is true in its message of salvation. More than that, this word is a means by which God’s love and forgiveness is brought to us and given to us. God’s word not only tells us what we need, but it gives us what we need.
What do you need for time and for eternity?
We tend to focus only on the mundane, the worldly: What will happen to us tomorrow, the next day? Will we have enough to get by? Will we keep our health? What about our job? Our business? Our Retirement? Will the wrong things I have done catch up with me? Will those I love always love me? Fine! Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us day by day our daily bread.” But what Jesus gave you on the cross is more important than the bread he gave the 5000.
Our creator has given us enough of all those things. We have been paying farmers not to grow so much. There is energy in abundance. Education is there for those who will make use of it. The problem is sin.
Hatred, a vengeful spirit, greed. Those are the things that afflict us. The poorest in this country are those in broken families – or the unmarried with children. Anybody with experience can tell you that a recession will affect a family far less than a divorce – the result of unfaithfulness.
If sinful human beings had the answer to the problem of sin, we would have dealt with it long ago. This world is dark and dying, so Christ came to earth from heaven bringing “light and life,” and that is what he displays in His transfiguration.
God’s word, in telling us what we really need, relieves us of many uncertainties, and it gives us what we need for life that is rich and blessed – and everlasting. But above all, it is the means by which God give us the righteousness, the love, and even the faith that we need. It is the means by which Psalm 23:6 … goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
This is all real. What Jesus did to save us from our sins is real.
Here Peter tells us of the assurance that we have from God’s word. We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For [instance] he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
There are dozens of prophesies of the coming of Christ, from the first promise of the woman’s descendent in Genesis 3, and all through the Old Testament.
Bottom line: They were all true. What the Bible says is all real, and Peter mentions one huge example of its fulfillment. He saw it with his own eyes. He heard it confirmed by the divine voice.
It’s all real. It has been seen and experienced – and confirmed by God himself. It is found in truth, not in someone’s imaginings, their dreams, or their musings about God. It is found in real events involving real people at real places at certain times in history.
II. Light and Joy from Promises Inspired
And it is from this word that I declare unto you that Christ gave Himself into life and into death for you, and in His resurrection has given you the victory over sin and death and the evil one. It is from this word that I declare unto you the grace of God and the forgiveness of all your sins.
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy [preaching, declaration, not just telling the future] of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
This is why SOLA SCRIPTURA, Scripture Alone is a hallmark of the Christian Church, and every true reformation in the church is a return to Scripture alone.
Not Scripture + emotion, because feelings do not tell us the truth of God.
Not Scripture + reason, because reason can not rise up into heaven to know the truth of God and His redeeming love.
Not Scripture + tradition, for ones experience and tradition is different from another.
Not Scripture + church hierarchy, for churchmen are sinners too and are flawed in their mind, will, and emotions.
Only God’s word is the source of light shining in a dark place. This is the word Jesus calls his own, Matthew 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. For, as John says, John 3:13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man, meaning Jesus.
III. Joy Rises with the Morning Star
It is because of the certainty of this Word of God, that Peter writes, And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star [Light-bearer] rises in your hearts.
What a beautiful turn of phrase! But what does it mean? Into this dismal world God’s word has come, as the Psalmist says, Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
It is the light that we have until the true light of the world comes. The “light bearer” is φωσφ?ρος, phosphorus. It refers to the morning star that heralds the dawn.
So it is that we live now under the cross. In a broken world which God Himself came in human flesh and suffered in his humble life and died on the cross. But while we share with Him in his suffering, we have this light of the word. It shines as a bright light does in a dark place, and it gives us here and now life in Christ and forgiveness, it gives us true assurance of the unfailing love of God, and it gives us hope until that He comes and calls us home, and we look upon the light of lights and the endless day of heaven dawns.
AMEN.
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