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. 17
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,” 18
we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19
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, 20
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21
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.
I am sure you have heard, as have I, people making claims that they had an experience with God that told them to do certain things or to take a certain path. Interestingly,
the path, or the experience seemed to lack biblical foundations and sounded a bit contrived. When questioned the retort was something like, “No one can argue with my experience.” We live in a day where everyone has his or her “own truth” and the only two transgressions
a person can commit is to say either, “You are wrong” or “The truth I believe is THE truth for mankind.”
Man demands to be left with his own ‘feelings’ and experiences as the guide to what is true. In verses 17-18 Peter is remembering the Transfiguration of Jesus. He,
James and John were taken by Jesus up on the mountain and there they saw the glory of heaven fall upon Jesus and the Savior joined by Moses and Elijah. They then heard a voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The event
is narrated in all three synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Only Peter, James, and John were eyewitnesses of that event. It was an experience that left an impression on them, one they would never forget!
Peter’s point is clear: he was there; he saw the Lord; he heard God speak. The false teachers could make no such claims. Peter likely chose to refer to the Transfiguration
because it was the most “supernatural” moment in Jesus’ public life and, being so, it was an anticipation of his glorious return to earth. If anyone wants to argue “experiences” Peter could top them all! He experienced Jesus in Second Coming glory…and with
his own eyes!!!
This is what makes Peter’s words in verses 19 and following all the more stark. In essence he says that we have something more reliable, more certain, more sure than
even his own experience of seeing Jesus on that mountain. We have the “prophetic word” of God.
As in the Old Testament the false teachers we encounter in the New were making up their message. God hadn’t given it to them, they invented it out of their own imaginations
and musings. As the prophet Jeremiah put it, “They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” (23:16) The prophets and the apostles however, relayed only messages that were from God Himself. Expressions such as “the Lord said”,
or “the word of the Lord came to so”, or, “Thus says the Lord” are found more than 3,800 times in the Old Testament alone.
Peter is telling us that God spoke through these men and he is telling us how it happened. Verse 21 says that the prophets and now the apostles did not make up anything
but that the Holy Spirit of God “carried them along” so that what they wrote was the mind of God, not the mind of man. The Bible never denies that the human author’s personalities, experiences and contexts are not evident in their writing. Rather, our
Bible is a supernatural work of God the Holy Spirit using men in all their differences, personalities and experiences to record what God wanted recorded, exactly as He wanted it written.
Scripture is truth, because it comes from God. It is sure and certain because it comes from God. We receive it as God’s word, because the men who wrote it were carried
along by the Spirit of God. Peter says, as wonderful as my experience was, as certain as it is in my mind, we commend to you something MORE certain than that…The Word of God given by the prophets and apostles.
In our day many patronize the Bible and Christians who believe all that has been written this morning. They say that Christianity
is a religion, like other religions, perhaps useful in its way, giving people a reason to live and a moral code to live by, but it is an illusion nonetheless. In our day, to claim as we do the divine authority of the Bible, will find us under sustained attack.
Critics and unbelievers say that we are just making up things, illusions of comfort.
I find that fascinating because the Bible is anything but a message of comforting illusions to the natural man. In fact, it is filled with things that no man or woman would, left to
themselves, would believe or ever want to believe. The Bible says I have to put an end to my pride, that I cannot simply live however I want to live and do whatever I want to do; A prospect that continues to find difficulty! The Bible tells me that my entire
existence isn’t to find out what pleases me, but what pleases the Lord and His Messiah. Scripture sets for me standards that I have to admit daily that I cannot meet! And it forces me to admit, not simply that I am bad, but that I am far worse than ever I
would let myself imagine. To top it all off, Scripture says that if I follow this path, the path of a Jewish carpenter, that through suffering, persecution and difficulty I will find a joy, happiness, rest and peace that is deeper and broader than humanly
imaginable! How does that sound comforting to a man or woman as we are without Jesus?
As one pastor put it: Isn’t it extraordinary how the Bible leads with its chin? It makes one historical claim after another. It situates its history in the history of this world during
a time when the history of that world was being written down and recorded in various places in various ways. Yet, still today, there is no particular historical statement of the Bible that has been proved to be false, to be untrue, to be incorrect. There are
certainly people who say that this claim or that is untrue or incorrect, but when they make that claim there will be others – both believers and unbelievers alike – who will rush to the Bible’s defense and say the evidence is otherwise. Indeed, unlike the
Koran, which forbids critical examination, the Bible invites it. Compare its historical record with the records of the same history provided in other sources and the Bible maintains its credibility in startling ways. Compare its teaching to what any person
can see is the nature of human life in the world; compare its teaching about God and Jesus Christ, carefully situated in human history as it is, with the teaching of any other religion or philosophy.
As Christians when we read the Bible we find ourselves being addressed by our Father. It is a word to us as it is a word about the world. Peter tells us to have confidence that it is
true and that it is for us and we can build our lives upon it…It is from God and the same Holy Spirit that directed every word, now illuminates our minds and hearts to know that what we are reading is the Word of God.
If you have time, you might like to read the following illustration. I have told this story in the past but I think you would enjoy it again. William Haslam was an Anglican minister
of a parish in Cornwall in the middle of the 19th century. He was a Christian minister,
but he wasn’t a true believer in Jesus, a situation quite common in the Anglican ministry in those years. He had come under the conviction of sin and had been talking with a fellow minister who was a real believer who had urged him to confess his sins and
put his faith in Jesus, but to no obvious result. Then one Sunday he was in his pulpit preaching, as all the Anglican preachers were that morning on the lectionary text that was appointed for the sermon in all the churches of England. It was from Matthew 16:
“Who do men say that I am?” He was explaining why people gave the various answers they did: some said he was John the Baptist back from the dead; others that he was Elijah back from the dead, others that he was some other prophet back from the dead. But as
he spoke he realized that, like those people long ago, he didn’t really believe himself that Jesus was the Christ. This is what happened in his own words.
“Something was telling me, all the time, ‘You are no better than the Pharisees. You do not believe He has come to save you any more than they did.’ I do not remember all I said,
but I felt a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul, and I was beginning to see what the Pharisees did not. Whether it was in my words, or my manner, or my look, I know not; but
all of a sudden, a local preacher, who happened to be in the congregation, stood up, and putting up his arms, shouted out in Cornish fashion, “The parson is converted! The parson is converted! Hallelujah!”
For the rest of his life Haslam was known as the parson who was converted by his own sermon. His conversion sparked a revival in Cornwall that led to many other conversions in the weeks
and months that followed. Now what happened? What happened is what happens thousands of times every single day in people’s lives all over the world. God spoke to the man. The Holy Spirit opened his heart, of a sudden, to believe what the Bible was telling
him. He realized that he was being addressed by God himself. He suddenly knew it was all true, wonderfully true!
Prayer: Holy Spirit of God, fall upon me with refreshing grace and open my eyes again to the beauty of my salvation and the love letters written by my God and Father. Help me not
only to understand His Word but to love it, cherish it and want with all my being to obey it and find the fruit in my life of a “Word rich” service to my Savior and King, in Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: Come, O Holy Spirit Come
Come, O Holy Spirit, come, And from your celestial home Shed a ray of light divine! Come, O Holy Spirit, come! Come, O Father of the poor! Come, O Source of all our
store! Come, within our bosoms shine! Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
You, of comforters the best, You, the soul’s most welcome guest; Sweet refreshment here below; Come, O Holy Spirit, come! In our labor, rest most sweet, Grateful coolness
in the heat; Solace in the midst of woe. Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
On the faithful who adore And confess you evermore, In your sev’nfold gifts descend! Come, O Holy Spirit, come! Give them virtue’s sure reward, Give them your salvation,
Lord; Give them joys that never end. Come, O Holy Spirit, come!