The Glory Of The Lord

God’s Word Is Completely Reliable

2.19.23 [2 Peter 1:16-21] River of Life (Transfiguration Sunday)

How can you be so sure? How can you be certain when you weren’t there? …When you’re relying on what other people have told you? It’s a question I get a lot. How can I be so sure that the Bible is true? That it really happened. That it’s all really God’s Word.

I get the skepticism. There have been plenty of once-trusted institutions, organizations, and authorities who have led us on, let us down, and left us high and dry. Many groups and industries we once trusted implicitly—because why would they lie to us?— have proven to be untrustworthy. To never be skeptical now feels naive.

So many are frustrated, exhausted and done with experts that claim to know anything with absolute certainty. We are suspicious when people speak with unflinching certainty about the weather, the economy, history, science, politics, culture, and, yes, about religion & spiritual matters. Soaking in a culture of mistrust & misinformation impacts every single one of us. None of us is immune. No area of life is spared.

Maybe that’s taken its toll on your own confidence in God’s Word. Maybe you wonder how you can really be sure that what you’ve read and what you know from the Bible is really true. Maybe you worry that there’s something missing or something off. Perhaps you waffle and waver when you hear or read things that are miraculous or mysterious, like the Transfiguration, or something confusing or challenging.

Even if you don’t face that struggle, there are people around you that do. You have loved ones, friends and family, that do not view the Bible with the same confidence you do. And they have come to you with questions. Sometimes, difficult questions. Questions that feel more like accusations, at times. What do you say? How should you respond?

It’s for these reasons—and a host more—that I’m grateful for this Word of God. These words from 2 Peter 1 are from God for situations such as the ones we face today. Peter tells us (2 Pt. 1:16) We did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the power and coming our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Then he goes on to say: (2 Pt. 1:19) We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable. (2 Pt. 1:20-21) No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Peter is telling us that we can be completely confident that the Old and New Testaments are the word of God. But how can we be sure? How can we trust Peter?

After all, Peter had been over-confident more than a time or two. In fact, most of the time when Peter was very confident about something in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Peter was wrong.

It was that way almost from the get-go. Jesus was teaching the crowds from Peter’s boat. He told Peter to head for deep water and let down his fishing nets. Peter had been fishing all night and had not caught anything. He was certain this wouldn’t work. But because Jesus said it, he did it anyways. Suddenly their nets were so full that their boat began to sink. They called in backup and that boat grew so full it began to sink. Do you know what Peter did next? He told Jesus: (Lk. 5:8) Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man! Peter was certain it would be bad for him to be around the holy, powerful Lord. Again, he was very wrong.

And it wasn’t the last time. There was another time when Peter saw Jesus walking on water. He was terrified and thought it was a ghost. When Jesus told him (Mt .14:27) Take courage! I AM. Don’t be afraid. Peter responded by saying Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water. Jesus said (Mt .14:29) Come! so Peter did. And Peter’s first steps were certain and sure. But then he saw the wind and the waves and got scared and began to doubt and sink. Jesus saved him and then chided him, (Mt. 14:31) You of little faith. Why did you doubt?

Even as Peter spent more time with Jesus and saw him work miracles and teach with authority, he struggled with faulty certainty. Right after correctly confessing that Jesus was (Mt. 16:16) the Christ, the Son of the living God, Peter thought it was his place to rebuke Jesus for saying that he would suffer, be killed, and then raised back to life. Again, Peter was certain when he said (Mt. 16:22) Never Lord, this shall never happen to you! Again Peter was wrong. Peter was certain when he promised Jesus: (Mt. 26:33) Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. Later that night, he denied knowing Jesus three times.

I’d love to be able to tell you that Peter did better after Jesus rose from the dead. But that’s not true either. One time Peter was deep in prayer and became hungry. God gave him a vision of a large sheet with all kinds of un-kosher, unclean animals. (Acts 10:13-15) A voice told him: Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. Peter balked. Surely not Lord! Then God said, Don’t call anything impure that God has made clean. The Lord wanted Peter to see and learn that (Acts 10:34-35) God does not show favoritism, but calls people from all nations to (1 Pt. 2:9) receive mercy and be his very own holy, people.

There are even more times Peter was certain he should be doing something & turned out to be wrong. Why should we trust him now?

Well, why do we know about those moments? None of us would want so many of our worst moments to be preserved for posterity’s sake the way Peter’s were. But they're in the Word of God.

And do you see what they all have in common? Peter is self-assured. Certain in his own ideas, interpretations, and conclusions. At times, Peter is so arrogantly sure of himself that it doesn’t matter what Jesus is saying or has said to him. That’s what really happened.

And it’s not just a Peter problem. We do the same thing when we treat the Old Testament as something so archaic that it can’t be of any use for modern people. We make the same mistake when we live as if the Law of God can’t apply to this present age. We repeat Peter’s errors when we doubt that God’s Word is trustworthy and faithful. We repeat Peter’s mistakes when we think we are too smart or too strong to succumb to temptation. We repeat Peter’s foolishness when think, talk, and live as if our suffering, struggles, and sadness cannot be a part of a loving God’s perfect plan of salvation. We have learned nothing from Peter if we let the culture around us frame our minds and mold our hearts rather than the Word of God. We have learned nothing from Peter if we let what we want God’s Word to say or not say add or subtract from the Holy Scriptures. We cannot go with our gut, when we have something far more reliable, something divinely true and faithful—the Word of God.

The fact that all these moments are recorded for us is because God’s Word is true. It has accurately recorded historical events. But while the Word of God contains historical events, it has a greater purpose.

At the end of the Gospel of John, we are told the guiding purpose and goal of what the Holy Spirit inspired him to record. Jesus said and did things that were not recorded by anyone. But the ones that are written down (Jn. 20:31) are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Jesus is the light shining in this sin-darkened world. Jesus is the Morning Star who has risen in our hearts. The Son of God, (2 Pt. 1:17) whom the Father loves & is well-pleased with, was pleased to become like us. Jesus willingly and joyfully chose to set aside the glory we caught a glimpse of in his Transfiguration so that he could be (Gal. 4:4-5) born of a woman and born under law, so that he might redeem those under law, that you and I might receive adoption to sonship.

Jesus came to (Mt. 5:17) fulfill the Law and the Prophets, all the things that Moses and Elijah and so many other who were carried along by the Holy Spirit foretold. He did this because the prophetic message of the Old Testament is completely reliable. It came from God. Yes, there are events that are troubling, confusing, & challenging. But throughout the O.T. we see two things clearly: this world is a mess and we need God to come and save us because even the best people fall short.

This is why Jesus came. To give his life as a ransom for sinners. To live the life that not even the best of us could sniff. To die a death worse than any of us could ever conceive we deserve. Jesus tasted death in our place. He drank the cup of our holy God’s hatred of sin. He was punished in our place, wounded for our wickedness, and died for our arrogant self-deceit. He did all this so we could have life in his name. He stood in our place so that we might stand secure when he returns with power. He rose from the dead to prove that he keeps even the most incredible of his promises and has defeated our great enemies of sin, death, and the devil.

And in our text today, Peter reflects on all that God has done for him. He tells us this same Jesus will come again. And he’s certain. But this time it is different. Because he’s not giving you his own interpretation or idea. He’s telling you what God told him. Because God’s Word is completely reliable. The same Son of God who rose triumphantly from the grave will return triumphantly to judge the living and the dead. That was the message that Peter wanted to pass on to his readers.

As he looked back on his own life—his word and his actions—Peter was more keenly aware of how wrong he had been. Time and again. He knew more of his failures than what we read of in the Bible. But do you know what else he knew? God’s mercy. God’s undeserved & unconditional love. When Peter told Jesus to leave him because he was a sinful man, Jesus stayed right by his side and then called him to be a fisher of men. When Peter was drowning physically and spiritually, Jesus extended his hands and saved him. When Peter denied even knowing him, Jesus knew that Peter needed to be assured of God’s sacrificial love for sinners like him.

And he does the same for each one of us. How do I know? Because the Bible tells me so. In the Bible we are given the precious promises of God’s love. In the Bible we learn that the greatest power of God is found in his Word. The same Word that brought his world into existence creates faith, simple trust in God’s Word, in our hearts. He embeds this power in his Sacraments. That’s why we are certain. Not because we were there. Not because we are taking someone’s word for it. But because the same God who has always kept his Word, has given me his Word. And that’s something completely reliable. Amen.