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2 Peter 1:12-21
The Origin of the Word
/So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.
I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
/
/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 he received honour 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.
/
/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 rises in your hearts.
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy 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/.
| T |
he story of how we received our Bible is a long and glorious tale.
Properly told, that story begins in the Garden of Eden and continues to this present day.
Attacked by kings and prelates, assaulted by scholars and critics, ignored by nobility and sages, this singular book yet stands as the perfect revelation of the mind of God to those willing to receive it as such.
That this is the Word of God should not be doubted, since of all the writing of mankind this book stands alone in changing lives.
Within the Book the weak find strength, the discouraged are encouraged, the weary are refreshed, and the timid draw renewed courage.
Wicked men are made good through accepting the teachings of this Word, and destructive ideas crumble before its sound teaching.
No other book has so influenced mankind for good, as has the Bible, despite the attacks and the assaults of the wise of this world.
How did we receive this Word?
Though a study of the means by which it survived would no doubt prove instructive and exciting, more foundational still is how we received the Book.
If it is the Word of God, can we demonstrate it to be of divine origin?
If it is of divine origin, what is our responsibility to the One who gave the Book?
These are not inconsequential questions; they merit our most careful consideration.
Peter, writing the saints of those formative days of the churches of our Lord, addressed these very questions.
A study of His words will encourage us who have received the Book as God’s Word, and such a study will challenge those among us who have yet to acknowledge the truths which the Word presents.
Join me in study of this subject, then.
*/The Word is More Certain Than Experience/*– Peter refers to his personal knowledge of Christ’s glory.
The particular incident to which he refers must be the transfiguration.
Go back in your mind to the incident recorded in *Matthew 17:1-13*.
The incident is also recorded in both Mark’s Gospel and in Luke’s Gospel, but Matthew presents a complete account of what occurred when Peter, James and John went up the mountain with Jesus.
These disciples appear to have been unaware of what was to transpire on that mountain before they ascended with Jesus.
We cannot fully understand what happened, despite having the accounts provided by the three writers.
The Word of God simply says that Jesus was /transfigured before them/ [*Matthew 17:2*].
The explanation provided is that His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
Mark says that Jesus’ /clothing became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them/ [*Mark 9:3*].
Luke states that His /clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning/ [*Luke 9:29*].
Additionally, we are informed that /the appearance of His face changed/ [*Luke 9:29*], shining like /the sun/ [*Matthew 17:2*]; but the three accounts are united in focusing on Jesus’ clothing.
Matthew and Mark unite in speaking of this as a /metamorphosis/ [metemorfwvqh] though Luke simply speaks of a /change/, or more literally that He became other [e{teron].
It is mere speculation to try to determine what it was about His face which was changed.
Something outward was so different that, though the disciples knew Him, they didn’t understand what was occurring.
They were astonished by the transformation of His clothing, however, since all three writers focus on that detail.
Luke alone informs us that this change took place /as He was praying/ [*Luke 9:29*].
In many respects, the appearance of the Risen Christ to His exiled Apostle, John, is like this transfiguration.
Perhaps because he had witnessed this metamorphosis, John was able to provide a more detailed description of the Lord when He revealed Himself on the Isle of Patmos.
/I saw … someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.
His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.
In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.
His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance/ [*Revelation 1:12-16*].
That appearance of the Son of Man to John is not unlike the appearance of the Ancient of Days whom Daniel saw over four hundred years earlier.
/As I looked,/
/“thrones were set in place,/
/and the Ancient of Days took his seat./
/His clothing was as white as snow;/
/the hair of his head was white like wool./
/His throne was flaming with fire,/
/and its wheels were all ablaze./
/10 //A river of fire was flowing,/
/coming out from before him./
/Thousands upon thousands attended him;/
/ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him./
/The court was seated,/
/and the books were opened/
[*Daniel 7:9,10*].
This is not the “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”.
This is God revealed in awesome power.
Peter says he was an eyewitness of this revelation of Jesus.
Further, he says that he, together with other writers of Scripture, heard the voice of God the Father.
That voice stated, This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.
What Peter does not add is that the voice of the Father continued with the admonition to Listen to [the Son] [*Matthew 17:5*].
Perhaps Peter remembers this voice and the precise statement so exactly because it appears to have been in response to Peter’s impetuous suggestion when he had finally recovered his senses.
After recovering his presence of mind Peter had finally blurted out a suggestion that the disciples make three booths – one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus.
The suggestion placed Jesus on a plane with Moses and Elijah.
The voice of the Father exposed that suggestion as the foolishness that it was.
At the sound of the voice of God, the disciples fell facedown, hiding their face lest they might see the face of God [*Matthew 17:6*].
Matthew reveals their feeling at that moment by adding the detail that they were terrified.
Jesus walked over to where they were frozen in fear, touched them gently and comforted them, saying, Get up.
Don’t be afraid.
Hearing His voice and feeling His touch, they looked up from their prone positions, /and when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus/ [*Matthew 17:8*].
Peter could have said that they not only saw this transfiguration and heard the voice of the Father, but that each of those three disciples felt their emotions stirred.
Their senses and their emotions and even their intellects were stirred to the utmost.
Were this to have been your experience, would you be willing to risk your faith on what you saw, heard and felt?
Yet, Peter says he is not depending upon his experience; he laid claim to something far more certain than anything he may have seen, heard or felt.
Peter states that what is written down as Scripture is more certain than anything he ever experienced.
Which is greater in your estimate – experience or revelation?
Millions of people base their faith on an experience.
As a young Christian, I heard the testimony of multiplied numbers of people in the south-western United States who spoke of why they believed.
Some spoke of being struck by what felt like lightning.
Others spoke of something like a fireball coming down out of the heavens and smashing into them.
Yet others spoke of a warm glow, or a tingling in the spine, or a sense of dread.
Would you be surprised that many of those who thus spoke were soon inactive in pursuit of their faith?
The reason for their failure to continue in the Faith despite their professed experiences is that they had based their faith on experience.
You may multiply the failure of those good country people here in our own sophisticated environment.
Here, religious societies flourish and for a while appear to prosper as adherents demand an experience.
Whether the experience is speaking in tongues, seeing a vision, hearing a voice, obtaining a particular feeling, or as one cult expects, feeling a “burning in the breast,” such experiences will fail when faith is challenged.
Only one thing stands the test of time, and that is the revealed Word of God.
Thus, Peter says, we have the word of the prophets made more certain.
When experience sits in judgement of the Word, we are always losers.
When we submit our experiences to the Word, permitting the Word to judge what we have seen, heard or felt we will always honour God.
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