The Trustworthy Prophetic Word.

Opening:

It is a beautiful thing to open the Word of God on the Lord’s Day.

Introduction of the Passage:

This morning we will be in 2 Peter 1:16-21. Peter has explained to the early church in this letter that salvation is by grace through faith, but that faith must not remain as just faith. We are to grow in our faith. We must add to that faith all of the Christian virtues and fruit.

Peter then explained that even though the church was established in this truth, he would not stop reminding them of it. It is in fact, so important that he is even writing this letter in order to leave them a reminder of this truth after his death. And it is this letter we are currently studying. What an incredible reality it is, that we, 2000 years later, are still being reminded of the truth from Saint Peter.

Peter is now explaining where this truth comes from. How is it that he knows the gospel? How is it that he knows the truth?

As we read this, I would ask you to stand with me out of reverence for God’s Holy Word.

Reading of the Passage:

2 Peter 1:16–21“16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Behold, the Word of God. Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Our Gracious Heavenly Father, we commit this time in Your Word to you today. We ask that through this time, you would give us a deeper love for You and for Your Word. We ask this, in Jesus name, amen.

Introduction:

This is perhaps one of my favorite passages in all of the New Testament. It gives us an inside look into the formation of Scripture. And that is a subject I find fascinating. I love the study of Scripture. And that’s probably a good thing, considering my job is to study Scripture.

But one of the specific subjects in this genre that really does fascinate me is the very process of writing the Bible. The Bible is not really a book. It’s more a library than it is a book. The Bible is not a single book, but actually contains 66 books in one volume. And it was written by upwards of 40 different authors over the period of about a couple thousand years depending on how you date some things.

And with this comes a question. How did this get written? If you study any ancient writing, you realize how incredible the Bible is. First, there are few people in the ancient world who even know how to read, let alone write. Next, people did not easily communicate. We can get on our phones and easily read the opinions of someone around the world. We can even have a conversation in real time. This is novel in history. People used to be more disconnected. If you were lucky to be rich enough to afford animal skins or a rudimentary paper of some kind, you could write a letter to someone, but that was about it.

And yet, these roughly 40 authors wrote one consistent story, with one consistent message, building on each other’s writings without contradiction. And many of the authors would not have had access to each other’s works. The formation of the Bible is perhaps one of the greatest visible miracles in history. The book we all have in our hands statistically should not be possible. And yet it is. So the question remains. How? How did this miracle of a book that has shaped all of humanity in some way or another come to be? How has it been preserved? How did it maintain consistency?

And once we get the answer to the how, we see an even more important question. What does this book mean for us? What are the implications of this book?

Text Idea:

Peter says a lot in this passage, and we really don’t want to skip any of it. But in a short one sentence explanation, what Peter is answering here is the question, “what is the Bible?”.

Sermon Idea:

Our focus this morning will be to examine Peter’s answer to this and hopefully see what impact this should have on us.

Transition:

So let’s begin. The first thing Peter says is:

The Gospel Is Not a Fable.

2 Peter 1:16 “16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

Explanation:

What Peter is saying here is that when he and the other Apostles delivered the message of Christ, they were not delivering myth. This is a fancy way of saying that they were telling the truth. They were not making up the account. It was not fake.

When Peter went to these people, he did not invent this story of Jesus, His death, or His resurrection. And this is important to note. One of the most prevalent lies that has been told is that the Apostles just made up this story.

Argumentation:

Even still to this day, this lie gets propagated. You’ll hear atheists say with confidence that the disciples just made up the story of Christ. They go around and make baseless claims that no one really knows if Jesus even existed.

I remember seeing a video recently of Richard Dawkins, perhaps the most famous atheist of our age making this claim. He claimed that historians are divided on even if Jesus existed. Thankfully, in the video I saw, a Christian scholar really took him to the mat over that claim.

Any credible historian must admit that Jesus truly did exist. The life of Jesus is one of, if not THE most documented event in human history. There if more historical evidence of the life and crucifixion of Jesus that there is even for the existence of the Roman emperors.

But even still, it is a common objection in our day that while Jesus did exist, He wasn’t actually God. He was maybe just a good teacher. He wasn’t really who He said He was.

And apparently the early church was not immune to these objections either. As we will see as we continue in Peter’s second letter, there were false teachers who were plaguing the church. And specifically, they were attacking the reliability of the Apostles. “Can you really trust Peter or John or James? Are you really sure Jesus was who they say He was?”

So Peter is opening here by saying that the message of Christ he and other apostles delivered to these Christians is not made up. It is true in every way. The Apostles did not sit down and cleverly develop this mythology. But these false teachers apparently claimed that they did make it up.

So Peter is addressing this. And He gives two evidences of this.

Transition:

How can the readers of this letter know that the message of the power and coming of Christ is true? Well, first, Peter begins by giving eye witness testimony.

Eye-Witness Testimony.

2 Peter 1:16–18“16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”

Explanation:

Peter is beginning here by saying, this is not a myth. Jesus is who He says He is. The Message the Apostles brought to you is true. How do we know? We saw Him? Peter was there. He knew Christ. He was there at the miracles. He was there at all of Christ’s teaching. Peter was there when Jesus was taken to be crucified. Peter was there when Jesus was raised to life. He was with Jesus for forty days after the Resurrection. He was there when Christ ascended to heaven. Peter was an eye witness to all of this.

But specifically, Peter brings up one of the most interesting examples. As evidence for the claims of the truth of Christ, Peter brings up the transfiguration. Peter was an eye witness to the transfiguration.

Peter Was an Eye Witness of the Transfiguration.

We read about this in Matthew 17:1–6 “1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.”

This is a very interesting account. And for us, in many ways it can be a confusing account. What exactly does it mean Jesus was transfigured? Well this begins to make sense when we understand who Jesus is.

Jesus is the God-Man. He is truly God and truly man. He is the eternal God of the universe who humbled Himself and took on flesh. At the transfiguration, the veil was pulled back. Peter, James, and John were privileged to see the truth of who Jesus is. His humanity in many ways masked His deity. But in that moment, the curtain was pulled back. They saw God the Son. They saw the deity of Christ revealed before them.

We cannot even imagine the glory of this. But Peter does his best to describe it to us. On the mountain he says that Jesus received honor and glory from God the Father. And it is interesting to note the language Peter uses. He describes the Father as “the Excellent Glory.” Peter is using as descriptive of language as He can. The Father is an Excellent Glory. He is the pinnacle of Majesty. He is the most Holy, most Glorious One.

And how did the Father give the Son glory and honor? It was in the Words the Father spoke. And Peter here quotes the gospel account. The Father said “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And Peter says that they heard these words. Peter heard God the Father say these words with his own ears.

Illustration:

Occasionally you hear someone ask the question “if you could go back and witness any event from history, what would you want to see?” I think there are likely many good answers to this question. I would love to see many things even just from Biblical history. How amazing would it be to see the parting of the Red Sea? Or to see the walls of Jericho fall down? How about the ascension of Jesus? Or the feeding of the five thousand?

But really thinking about it, I struggle to think of any event in history save the resurrection that would be more incredible than this one event. On this mountain, Jesus was physically revealed as God. God the Father spoke audibly from heaven confirming this. And then Moses and Elijah sit down and talk with Jesus.

Argumentation:

And Peter is really confirming this. He was an eye witness of this event. He saw it. He heard it. And that would be something you would not forget. There are some events that I will never forget. Some events are etched into my mind and will be until I die. I will never forget holding my boys right after they were born. I will never forget sitting in the chair in the nic-U with Caspian. I will never forget going in for the transplant surgery. Even some from child-hood. I will never forget my grandfather getting me a teddy bear at an auction when I was 5-6 I later named Tanny Bear. He bid $1 and won. Best bear ever.

We likely all have these. Moments etched into our minds. Sometimes they are tragedies. I remember vividly watching the tv on the morning of 9/11. Sometimes it’s a beautiful memory. Like watching Katharine round the corner of the door to walk down the isle for our wedding, her dad helping her get her train lined out right.

But for Peter, this was one of them. And honestly, seeing Jesus revealed is far more memorable than anything we have etched into our minds. And it is important to note something about this. Peter’s argument here is completely sound. Here is a true principle.

Eye Witness Testimony from Multiple, Reliable Sources Is Trustworthy.

Notice the pronoun Peter uses. He says “we.” The pronoun being used here is the plural. We did not invent the account we told you. We saw Jesus’ majesty. We heard the Father speak. Peter is backing up this account. He wasn’t alone. And this is important to note.

Peter, James, and John all saw this. Three sources of confirmation. If I say I saw something, you might trust me. I hope I am trustworthy. You could believe me based off my character. You could say, “Jonathan is not a liar. So I believe him.” This is valid. But now say I claim to have seen something and Jim also says he saw the same thing. Now it is even more reliable. Now there are two witnesses accounting for it. And now you have the reliability of both on account. Now you can say, “Well I know Jim and I know Jonathan. Neither of them are liars, AND both of them are saying the same thing.” Now it’s even more believable. Now add on a third witness. Jim, Lee, and I all saw the exact same thing. How believable is that?

And this fits perfectly with God’s Law. In the law of God, in order for an account to be admitted in court, it required two or three witnesses to whatever happened. And the stories had to align. And we see that this account fits with this command.

This is a reliable account. And these Christians knew the Apostles. They knew Peter, James, and John. We don’t know exactly which churches this letter went to, but Peter is clearly very familiar with them. His language is that of someone who actually knows them. These Christians knew these men. So Peter is saying, “remember what we told you. We were there when Jesus was transfigured.”

Peter’s account is trustworthy. It is sure. He is a reliable witness. He has two other reliable witnesses to corroborate this. It is certain. This account serves as accurate witness to proving the truth of the message of Christ delivered to these churches.

Transition:

But Peter does not end here. He continues. His first authority was eye witness testimony. Now he gives the second authority. How do we know the account of Christ is true?

The Authority of Scripture.

2 Peter 1:19–21“19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Explanation:

While eye witness testimony is an authority; while it is trustworthy, Peter gives another authority. He says that the prophetic word is sure. It is trustworthy. What is he saying here? as we read these verses we see. He is speaking of Scripture. He is saying the Bible is sure. And really he is not just saying it is sure. He is saying something even stronger.

I’m preaching out of the NKJV. I find it to be the most reliable and readable translation. It is incredibly good. But it missed something here in this verse. That word Peter uses for confirmed or sure really means something stronger. The original KJV renders verse 19 much closer to the Greek and captures the meaning of Peter’s words. It says “19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed...”

Peter says Scripture is a MORE SURE WORD. More sure. Other translations render it as “more fully confirmed.” What does this mean?

Scripture Is the More Sure Word.

Peter has just labored to demonstrate the certainty of his eye witness account. But now he says that the Bible is more sure that even this. Peter says that Having Scripture is more certain than even his own testimony. Think of the impact of this. Having the Bible gives us more certainty than if we were present at the transfiguration.

How often do we think of God’s Word this way? That Bible you hold in your hands gives us more certainty than if we witnessed the glory of Christ on the mountain with our very own eyes.

And Peter demonstrates this. Jump down to verse 20-21. 2 Peter 1:20–21“20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

I opened by hopefully demonstrating how incredible it is we have the Bible. 66 Books, roughly 40 authors, almost 2000 years of writing. And then I posed the question of how. And here we see Peter answer it. How did we get Scripture? I want to give two summary points and then we can examine it a bit more fully.

1. Not of Human Origin.

This is a denial. He says Scripture is not of private interpretation. This does not mean we are not allowed to read the Bible. Indeed the confessions are right that all men are required to read the Bible. What it means is that neither the authors nor the readers give Scripture it’s authority or power. He confirms this when he says that no prophesy comes by the will of man. The human authors do not give Scripture it’s power.

The book of Isaiah Isaiah is not powerful because of Isaiah. The Psalms are not given their authority and power because of David. In the same way, the Psalms are not authoritative or powerful because of our voices when we read or sing them.

And this teaches us something. The Bible was written by human authors. But they were not speaking only on their own behalf. And this is practically important too. Because it also means that the pastor or the priest also does not give Scripture it’s authority. I as the pastor do not give Scripture its authority. It is not true because I say it is. In fact, my words are judged by Scripture. I am not the authority over Scripture. It is not merely the words of men.

So if it is not merely the words of men, what is it? What is Scripture? Second summary point.

2. Scripture is the Word of God.

Peter says that Scripture is not of the will of man, but holy men spoke as God moved them. The origin of Scripture is not man. The origin of Scripture is God.

So if we combine this we see the point Peter is making. Scripture is not human in origin but divine. Scripture is not the opinion of man but the Word of God.

That was the summary of what Peter is saying. But it is not all we learn from this. So let’s expand on that now. And Peter reveals something fascinating about Scripture here.

Scripture is Prophesy.

Peter says it is prophesy written by the prophets as the Holy spirit carried them along. This tells us something about the very nature of Scripture. This means it is a direct word from God. In Scripture we see some key people referred to as prophets. This means they spoke on behalf of God. We have Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, etc. These were people who God empowered to directly speak His Word. A lot of times we can think of prophesy as foretelling. And it can mean that. But really it means a direct word from God.

So think about what this means. Scripture is called here prophesy. This means it is a direct word from God.

Argumentation:

There is an old saying, I don’t know who first said it, but it goes like this. “Do you want to hear God speak? Read the Bible. Do you want to hear God speak audibly? Read the Bible out loud.”

That phrase comes from passages like this. Here is the lesson:

Reading Scripture Is Hearing God’s Voice.

The Bible is not just words on a page. It is not just the words of men. There is a reason we call the Bible the “Word of God.” It is the very Word of God given to us. It is direct revelation from God.

And we see this elsewhere in Scripture. In 2 Timothy 3:16–17 we read this: “16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

That phrase “given by inspiration of God” is a very specific phrase. The Greek word there is Theopneustos. It literally means breathed out by God. And this word is interesting. It holds the idea of how words are carried along by the breath. If you were to hold your hand over your mouth while you spoke you could feel the air exiting your mouth carrying your words. This is what this word is communicating. Scripture is breathed out by God. This is a very intimate thing.

Scripture is directly from God. It is not a mere human product. It is spoken out, breathed out, by God. It is direct and personal revelation from God. And because of this:

Scripture Is Ultimately Trustworthy.

This is the point Peter is making. He is here in essence giving reasons to trust the message of Christ. Christ came in power. He was a real historical figure. He truly was born to the Virgin Mary. He truly lived a sinless life. He actually died by Roman Crucifixion. He was physically raised from the dead. His teachings are true. Christ is in reality the Second Person of the Trinity, eternal God. He is the Son of God who came to die for our sins. We can have salvation through Him.

All of these things are true. Peter is trying to reassure the early of this by saying that He knows it to be true because he and the other apostles personally witnessed it. Specifically, Peter, James, and John saw with their own eyes the majesty and true divine nature of Christ revealed in the transfiguration. But even more sure than this is the testimony of Scripture. Christ is who He says He is because the Bible is true.

Conclusion:

And we must here this message. It must be personal to us.

Visualization:

You have to see this. It is not enough to just sit in the pew and nod along. You must personally, in your own life realize this fact. Jesus is who He says He is. He is the All Powerful God of the Universe.

Reiteration:

Christ came in power. He lived. He died. He rose again. He is Lord of all. And He demands your obedience.

Application:

You have to be willing to see this as personal to you. You must see:

You Must See That Christ is Not a Fable.

There is a trend in our culture to view Christ as a moral example. It doesn’t really matter if He was a real person. He serves as an example of what living a moral life looks like. And there are some incredibly popular proponents of this. Men like Jordan Peterson espouse this idea. Jesus is the moral example. He is the example that shows us how to live a moral life and even endure tragedy. Jesus teaches us that sometimes we must sacrifice for the greater good.

He will go on with eloquent words about this and never actually address the real Jesus. Jesus is just a comforting fairy tale to help us live a better life. But this is not true. You have to recognize this is not true. Jesus is not just some moral teacher. The gospel accounts do not leave us with that option.

C.S. Lewis puts it so well in his book, “Mere Christianity.” Let me just read this.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Jesus was not just a moral teacher. He was not just some good man who maybe lived a long time ago and taught us a better way. Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh. He claimed to be here to die for our sin. He claimed that salvation was only found in Him.

That is the claim of Scripture. The Question now is this:

What Will You Do?

You cannot ignore this. Scripture is reliable. It is the authoritative Word from God. Jesus is who He says He is. This is not true because I say it. This is not true because we believe it as a church. This is the objective reality witnessed to us by the very Word’s of God. God Himself has revealed this.

So what are you going to do? Will you bow to Christ? Or will you rebel against Him? Those are your only options. You don’t have another choice. You can either acknowledge that He is Lord, just as the Scriptures say and worship Him. Or you can rebel against Him. You must choose.

Appeal:

This is really what Peter is getting at. He opened this letter by explaining the gospel. Salvation is purely a gift from God. He then called us to obey Christ. Place your faith in Him. And then obey Him. And now Peter is telling us that God has spoken and revealed the truth of Christ. And the looming question is what you will do.

Christ is Lord. God has spoken. Obey or Rebel.

Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer:

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

Benediction:

2 Peter 3:18 “18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”