#15 - Sermon
The Testimony of Scripture
2nd Peter 1:19-21
September 23, 2007
Sun Oak Baptist Church
Introduction
A. Please turn with me in your Bibles to 2nd Peter 1:19-21. I also encourage you to take the sermon notes out of your bulletins.
B. This morning we arrive at a difficult passage to understand. If there was such a thing, we could put these verses, especially verse 20, on the “Top Ten List” of the most difficult passages to understand in the NT. Read 19-21.
These verses are a continuation of Peter’s defense of the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ that he began in verse 16. In verses 16-18 we saw that we can, indeed, trust the eyewitness testimony of the apostles. If you have your notes out you’ll notice I’ve titled this morning’s message “The Testimony of Scripture,” and we are going to see the same truth. In the same way that we can trust the testimony of the apostles we also can absolutely trust the testimony of God’s Word.
Remember that verses 16-21 are transitional – they take us from Peter’s burden and reason for writing that we find in verses 1-15 and they take us into what he will be saying about false teachers in chapter two (2). They are a bridge between why Peter wrote this letter and the nuts and bolts of the “why” that he enumerates in chapters two (2) and three (3).
C. Remember the question I asked last week: why do we believe what we believe? Why do we believe what we believe? The truth is that many people that attend church (churches in general) believe what they believe about God and the Christian life simply because it’s what they believe. For example, there’s no particular reason that they believe or don’t believe in the doctrine of hell – their decision to believe is not based on the objective truth of God’s Word – it’s based on subjective opinion. People like this make the decision to believe what they want to believe or not believe them selves – it’s a matter of their personal choice – they decide. In fact, a recent survey revealed that only 18% of Protestants read their Bible everyday, and 41% don’t open their Bible even once a month.
And here’s the incredibly serious problem with this approach to the Christian life: at its core this approach rejects God – it rejects the total and unilateral authority that God intends His Word to have in a Christian’s life. A true child of God is not in the position to choose what they believe or don’t believe. God has spoken; God has spoken – thus saith the Lord.
And what Peter tells us in verses 19-21 is that one of the things on which we ultimately stand, one (1) of two (2) reasons why we should believe what we believe is the trustworthiness of the testimony of Scripture. Cutting right through verses 16-21 is the theme of trustworthiness – the bridge that connects Peter’s reason for writing and the rest of the letter is a bridge called “trust.” God said; I believe it – that settles it.
D. Now follow along as I put verses 16-21 into their context and pay particular attention to verses 19-21 when get to them and try to see how this all fits together. Read 1:10-2:2 and pray.
Peter is defending the Second Coming of Christ and the contrast he makes is clear: trust God’s Word – don’t trust false teachers. Trust the teaching of the doctrine of God’s Word that was proclaimed openly and publicly by the apostles – don’t trust the doctrine of false teachers that will come at us secretly.
We can trust the testimony of God’s Word – in verses 19-21 Peter’s defense of the doctrine of the Second Coming is based on the testimony of prophecy. Look at verse 19: we have the “prophetic word confirmed.” Prophecy foretold Jesus’ first coming and He came. His first coming was confirmed by thousands of eyewitness accounts (including the apostles), and prophecy also foretells His Second Coming – it’s not “if” – it’s only “when.”
Verses 19-21 are critical to Peter’s defense of the doctrine of the Second Coming; they are critical to understanding the doctrine of inspiration; and they are critical to understanding how to defend ourselves against false teachers. We can be absolutely positively certain of one (1) thing this morning: we can trust God’s Word. Mark it down: we can trust the testimony of Scripture and we can break down how Peter establishes this truth into three (3) statements. Think of these three (3) statements as three (3) columns holding up this bridge called trust that will take us into the body of Peter’s letter. I’m going to give them to us first so we can see the picture of this bridge, and then we’ll zero in on each of them and unpack what Peter has to say about each of these pillars. Look at verse 19.
1. Verse 19 gives us the trustworthiness of prophecy confirmed; in verse 20 we will see the interpretation of prophecy clarified; and in verse 21 we’ll see Peter’s explanation of the inspiration of prophecy.
2. One last thing before we get going: notice I use the word “prophecy” and then put the word “Scripture” next to that. We’ll see a little clearer in a minute but make a mental note that the word “prophecy” here specifically refers to foretelling future events, but to the Jewish people of Peter’s day, the word also referred to all of the OT. “Prophecy” could refer to either those portions of the OT foretelling future events, or all of the OT.
I. So first of all, let’s look at what Peter has to say about the trustworthiness of prophecy (of Scripture) confirmed. See 1:19.
Column #1: the trustworthiness of prophecy confirmed. Read 1:19.
There are a number of nuances in the original Greek here that suggest this verse can cut two (2) ways. On one hand Peter could be saying that the prophetic word (specifically the prophecy of the Second Coming but by extension all of Scripture), the prophetic word is more and better confirmed as the result of what happened to Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration – that’s one way of looking at the first part of verse 19.
On the other hand, and this is the position I take, Peter is saying that prophecy itself is even a more “surer” confirmation of God’s truth, it testifies to the trustworthiness of God’s Word even more, to a greater degree, than even what Peter saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. This position elevates God’s Word above the Transfiguration. The Greek construction here suggests that Peter is saying that the Old Testament testimony itself, the trustworthiness of God’s Word in and of itself, is actually more of a defense for the doctrine of the Second Coming than even what Peter, James, and John were eyewitnesses of on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Now, regardless of which interpretation we prefer, Peter establishes two (2) things in verse 19 regarding the trustworthiness of God’s Word.
A. First, of all, Peter establishes that the trustworthiness of prophecy confirms the testimony of all of Scripture. Let me say that again: the first part of verse 19 establishes that the trustworthiness of prophecy, the OT’s foretelling of future events, confirms the testimony of all of Scripture. Read 1:19a.
1. The term “prophetic word” refers to messages communicated by OT prophets pertaining to future events. There are well over twenty (20) prophets specifically identified in the OT including the four (4) so-called “major” prophets and the twelve (12) “minor” prophets. And make note of this: there are literally hundreds of OT prophecies regarding the future that had been fulfilled by the time Peter wrote this letter.
Gen. 3:15 is the first of over 350 prophecies regarding the Messiah. Some 4,000 years before Christ ever came to this earth Gen. 3:15 predicts the “enmity” that will crush Satan’s head and yet Satan will bruise His heel – and this prophecy was fulfilled when Satan bruised Christ’s heel at the cross and Christ crushed Satan’s head in the Resurrection; Noah was told that God would wipe out mankind with a flood and it happened; Abraham was told that he would have a son by Sarah and it happened; Elijah told Ahab that it wouldn’t rain for three-and-a-half years and it didn’t; Isaiah told Ahaz that a virgin would bring forth a child and Mary did just that; the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel all prophesied that Israel would be invaded and conquered by the Babylonians and they were – and we could go on and on with literally hundreds of specific Biblical prophecies that all were fulfilled by the time Peter sat down to write this letter.
2. Look again at verse 19: the word “confirm” here means “stable” or “surer.” So in other words Peter is saying that “We have more sure the prophetic word;” “we can be more certain of the prophetic word,” “we have confirmation of the prophetic word;” or “we can be even more confident of the prophetic word.”
3. So in the first part of verse 19 Peter establishes the trustworthiness of prophecy, the fact that history verifies the fulfillment of hundreds of OT prophecies makes certain the testimony of all of Scripture. If we can trust prophecy – we can trust all of God’s Word. So when it comes to the Second Coming – we can be absolutely and unquestionably certain of this: God is not going to hit hundreds of prophecies, spread out over thousands of years of human history, recorded by over twenty (20) prophets, dead bulls-eye center and then all of a sudden be wrong about the Second Coming of Christ. “We have the prophetic word even more confirmed.”
B. Secondly, once he establishes the trustworthiness of prophecy, Peter tells us what a Christian’s attitude toward Scripture should be as a result of that trustworthiness. Read 1:19b-c.
1. The expression “which you do well” basically means “please” and “to heed” means “to pay attention to, or to follow, or to take seriously.”
a. What should be a Christian’s attitude be towards the Word of God? Since it’s absolutely trustworthy Peter is encouraging his readers about the importance of paying attention to the Word; he’s both inviting and urging us to give greater attention to the Word; “You do well to heed” communicates the priority that God’s Word should have in a Christian’s life; we will be doing a good thing if we pay attention to God’s Word; it will be good if we take our hearts (the seat of trust) and place that trust in the Word of God.
b. It’s kind of like getting married: in marriage, we give our hearts to our mates totally trusting them for better or worse, in sickness and in health – and that’s a good thing. God’s Word has been confirmed, we can trust it, so Peter’s encouragement is to take heed to it; to pay attention to it, to take it seriously; to follow and obey it – and doing that is a good thing.
2. And why? Why do this? Why have this kind of attitude towards the Word of God? Look at verse 19 again: because God’s Word can be compared to “a light that shines in a dark place.”
Ever been in a pitch dark room that you weren’t familiar with? What do we need?
a. The word “light” here refers to a torch or a lamp – to something that gives off light. Over and over the Bible refers to the Word of God as “light.”
Psalm 43:3: “O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill.”
Prov. 6:23: “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light…”
b. And over and over the Bible also refers to Jesus as a “light.” Turn with me to Eph. 5:5. Over and over the NT also refers to Jesus as a “light.”
Matt. 4:16: “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.”
John 1:4-5: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Notice how the apostle Paul uses the word “light.” Read Eph. 5:5-14.
c. And Peter contrasts the “light” as something that shines in a “dark place.” When we say it is “dark” at night, or that a room is “dark” we mean there is an absence of light. But the word “dark” Peter uses doesn’t just refer to the absence of light – it also refers to a condition of being “squalid or dirty; filthy; nasty; fetid; or foul.” Read 5:8 & 11. Before Christ we were in a “dark place.”
In the NT a “dark place” refers to the world system that we live in. Read Eph. 6:12. Turn back with me to 2nd Peter 1:19.
d. So what’s Peter mean here? When we are in that pitch black room – we have a light switch. A hopelessly lost sinner has a light they can turn on – the Gospel; the Christian living in the squalid filth of this evil world has a light they can trust to show them where to step – Psalm 119:105: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path;” the prophetic word gives light and perhaps even more importantly it awakens hope. 1st John 2:8: “…the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.” In the same way do we walk into unfamiliar dark rooms without turning on a light? Then how can we expect to walk this pilgrim’s path in a dark and evil world controlled by Satan apart from the light of God’s Word?
3. Finally we come to the words “day” and “morning star” which go together. Read 1:19c. The Christian’s attitude towards the Word of God should first of all one of paying attention to, following, or taking it seriously; secondly, it should be as important to them as having a light in a pitch black room; and thirdly, Christians should look on God’s Word as a light lighting their pilgrim’s path until the day dawns.
The word “day” is a technical term that refers to Christ’s Second Coming and the term “morning star” refers to Jesus Christ. These two (2) terms go together and there are two (2) reasons why this is so. Take a look at verse 19c.
a. For one: notice the article “the” in front of “morning star.” The translators should have italicized this “the” because it’s not there in the original Greek. This really should read just “morning star” – not “the morning star,” but just “morning star.”
b And secondly, the Greek word translated “moring star” here is the word “fwsforov” – “fwsforov” which is the word from which we get “phosphorous, phosphorescent” and words like that. The word literally means “to carry or bring forth light.” Because of its brightness the Greeks referred to the planet Venus as “fwsforov” and they used this same word to describe the morning dawn.
c. So between the absence of the article in the original Greek and Peter’s use of the word “fwsforov” we know he’s referring to the Second Coming of Christ here – when Jesus comes again and the morning star will finally rise in our hearts. The only other time we find the term “morning star” in the NT is in the Book of Revelation. For example in 22:16: “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
C. So first of all what we have in verse 19 is the trustworthiness of prophecy confirmed. Everything Peter says in verse 19 is meant to drive home the point that we can trust prophecy, and by extension, we can trust all of God’s Word. If God was wrong about prophecy – why trust anything else in His Word? The testimony of over twenty (20) OT prophets has been confirmed. By the time Peter sat down to read this letter history had proven that hundreds of OT prophecies had been fulfilled and Peter’s Jewish audience was well aware of this fact. To the Jewish people of Peter’s day the evidence of the prophets of the Old Testament was of supreme importance – they knew they could trust prophecy. That’s the genius of Peter’s defense of the doctrine of the Second Coming. The apostles weren’t following cunningly devised fables when they preached Christ’s Second Coming – they based the doctrine on their eyewitness testimony and the testimony of prophecy – of Scripture.
Conclusion
A. Someone once said: “The Scriptures are accurate in their description, unfailing in their prophecies, dependable in their promises, reliable in their claims, united in their testimony, self-evidencing in their miracles, honest in their records, suggestive in their silence, final in their teaching, divine in their origin, unique in their structure, living in their nature, heavenly in their morality, perennial in their freshness and inexhaustible in their depth.”
B. What is the theme that slices right through verses 19-21 – the bridge that takes us from the reason for Peter’s writing this letter to the nuts and bolts of what he’s burdened to say? The trustworthiness of God’s Word – the certainty of prophecy – we can absolutely trust God’s Word.
C. There is something that we can be absolutely certain of this morning: we can trust absolutely in the truth of God’s Word. Why did Peter, a short time after he finished this letter, submit himself to the Roman authorities for crucifixion? Why did he believe what he believed? Because of he knew what he saw when he was an eyewitness of Jesus Christ and because he knew he could trust prophecy – he knew he could trust God’s Word. That was his hope; that was the light shining in a dark place.
