Preached Sunday, September 26, 2010
from
2 Peter 1:19-21
Theme: We ‘do well to heed’ the Bible because it is God’s sure word, through men, to mankind.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
I’m always excited about having representatives from The Gideons International with us. It not only gives us an opportunity to highlight their vital ministry and lend our support to it; but it also gives us a chance to reaffirm our own commitment as a church to the power of God’s word to transform lives.
We don’t do as some people accuse us of doing; that is, superimpose our own beliefs about the Bible upon the Bible. Rather, we simply believe and affirm the claims that the Bible makes for itself; and read it and proclaim it as what it affirms itself to be. And what’s more, in doing so, we consistently find that the Bible proves itself to indeed be just as it says—"the word of God", which also "effectively works" in those who believe (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
This morning, I ask that we look together at a passage from the Bible that helps us appreciate its own life-transforming power. There are many passages in which the Bible teaches us something about itself; but one of the most important ones is found in 2 Peter 1:19-21. There, the apostle Peter writes these words;
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; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21).
What an amazing affirmation this passage makes! Pick up your Bible! Hold it in your hand! Do you realize what it is that the apostle Peter is saying you are holding? You hold the most precious thing in this world! In fact, you hold something that’s source is distinct from and far above this fallen world! You hold the very thing that the broken and needy people of this world most need, and yet so often insist does not and cannot possibly exist. You hold in your hand a confirmed proclamation of absolute, propositional truth! You hold in your hand the only light that shines today in this world’s darkness!
You hold in your hand a reliable message to mankind from God!
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When the apostle Peter wrote the words of this morning’s passage, the threat of darkness was very great. In chapter two of this little letter, Peter tells his readers;
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed (2:1-2).
Peter was very concerned that his precious brothers and sisters didn’t get caught-up in the errors of those false teachers. He wanted them to build faithfully on a sincere faith in Jesus and receive a full reward. So, in 1:12-15, he told them;
For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease (1:12-15).
That’s why he wrote this second letter that we’re reading from this morning. He knew that he would soon be called upon to lay down his life for the Lord Jesus—just as the Lord Himself had told him. And knowing that he would soon be taken from them, he didn’t want them to forget anything he had taught them, or to lose their footing with respect to the truth of the gospel. And so, he wrote these things down—so that he could “stir up” their “pure minds by way of reminder”; so “that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandments of us, the apostles of our Lord and Savior” (2 Peter 3:1-2).
What’s more, he wanted to make sure they understood that the things he and the other apostles taught them were not made-up stories and religious myths. He said;
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. 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.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain (1:16-18).
By the way; aren’t you grateful for those words? So many people today say that our faith in Jesus Christ is based on fables and legends and myths—things that were created by religiously sensitive people but that, in the end, were not at all based in factual history. But Peter states it plainly: "We did NOT follow cunningly devised fables! We saw the glory of Jesus with our own eyes! We heard the testimony of Him with our own ears!"
Peter points back to that amazing experience he and James and John had with the Lord Jesus when they walked up with Him upon the Mount of Transfiguration—where, before their very eyes, Jesus’ face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light, and Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Him; and the Father declared, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" (Matthew 17:1-9; see also Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:27-36).
And it’s in that context that Peter boldly wrote those words: "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed . . ." The Bible isn’t a collection of fairy-tales and myths. Rather, Peter is affirming for us that it is nothing less than the revelation of truth from God to mankind!—a precious treasure!—a light in the darkness!—something sure, and certain, and reliable; to which we do well for our souls to pay careful heed!
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Now; as important as that experience up on the mountain may have been, Peter doesn’t make it the all-important thing. That’s what a lot of people tend to do today, isn’t it?—make their own spiritual experience the final authority? But Peter doesn’t say, "Now, you should all pay careful heed to what I say, and believe the gospel I preach to you, because I had this marvelous and exalted experience on the mountain top."
Look down at verse 20. Peter says we can be confident in what he has to say to us, "knowing this first . . ." And that’s where we need to begin this morning—at what is "first", or "above all". We must make sure we have fixed securely in our minds that which is a matter of first order and first priority; "knowing" something that is even more important than the great ‘experience’ the apostles had on the mountain; ". . . knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
This teaches us that, if we want to be well-grounded in our faith in what the Bible proclaims to us, then . . .
1. WE SHOULD MAKE SURE WE FIRST KNOW
THE NATURE OF THE BIBLE ITSELF (vv. 20-21; 19a).
Look at how Peter begins by telling us what the Bible is not. "[K]nowing this first," he says, "that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation".
Now; this has often been misinterpreted. Many, for example, have understood this to mean that average Christians should never try to interpret the Bible for themselves as ‘private interpreters’—that they should leave the important work of handling the Bible to the priests and scholars and the religious experts. Others have understood it to mean that no word of prophecy should ever be taken to stand on its own—that it needs to be interpreted by other prophecies, or by the actual fulfillment of the events themselves.
But the meaning of Peter’s words in verse 20 become absolutely clear when we read them in the light of the first few words of verse 21—"for prophecy never came by the will of man". "Prophecy" is the forth-speaking of a message from God; and the assertion that Peter is making is that there is not one authentic ‘forth-spoken’ message from God in the Scriptures that has its origin in the ingenuity or will of man.
Take a look at that word "interpretation" for a moment. It comes from the joining together of two words in the Greek—the word epi, which means upon; and lusis, which means "a release". Thus, epilusis means to loose something or liberate it. Metaphorically, it means to interpret something that is obscure or mysterious—to, as it were, ‘liberate’ it fro its obscurity.
There have been many books written in which the authors claimed to have great insight and the ability to "loosen" for the rest of us that which is mysterious and obscure. And indeed, they may even have a profound ability to look over the times, examine the trends, and make predictions about what might happen next. But Peter is making it clear to us that no prophecy of Scripture is of that sort. No prophecy ever had its source in the ingenuity or creative insight of man. It does not even have its source in the will of man. In fact, the Bible clearly distinguishes itself from such things. In Jeremiah 23:26, the Lord spoke through His genuine prophet Jeremiah about the false prophets of that day and said, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophecy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the LORD." Likewise, in Ezekiel 13:3, God speaks through His genuine prophet Ezekiel and says, "Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!"
The Scriptures, then, are not the ‘prophetic writings’ of men who declare their own insights in accordance with their own will. There’s no hope for the needy people of this world in anything that has its source in man! It would be nothing more than a matter of one fallen human being telling his or her fallen thoughts to another fallen human being. To seek truth from the wisdom of fallen man would be, as someone once put it, as fruitless as ‘a blind man searching in a darkened room for a black cat that isn’t there’. Peter tells us clearly that "no prophecy of Scripture [that is, the ‘forth-telling’ of a true message from God that is written down for us and preserved in the pages of the Bible] is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man".
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But notice that Peter goes on in verse 21 to tell us what the Bible is. He says, "but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit"; or, as it’s more accurately translated in the New American Standard version, "but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God". That’s what the Bible is—a word from God through men that were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Look at that word "moved"; or "carried along" as it’s translated in the New International Version. It’s the same word that is used in Acts 27:15 and 17 to describe the actions of a ship that the apostle Paul was traveling in. It had been caught in the terrible winds of the Euroclydon and blown far off course. So the sailors struck sail and let her be "driven" by the wind. Peter is saying that, in a sense, that’s how God gave us the Scriptures. No word of prophecy was a matter of any man’s private interpretation or will. No man sat down at a desk and said, "Today, I shall write a portion of Scripture." Instead, men—"holy men" as some texts have it—were "carried along" or "moved" or "born along" by the Holy Spirit; so that what they wrote was "of God".
And let’s understand this carefully! It wasn’t that God put any of His servants into a ‘trance’, and wrote what He wished to write through them, as if they were mere puppets. Nor were they like ‘sacred secretaries’, simply taking "word-for-word-dictation" from God. If you’ve read the Bible at all, you already know this just by reading the way different writers in the Scriptures communicated themselves. We’re reading this morning from a letter by Peter; but Peter’s letters have a clearly different style and personality than the letters of the apostle Paul. The apostle John wrote a gospel account; but it is clearly different in style and personality than the gospel of Luke’s gospel. And yet, as different as these different human writers were, they were remarkably united in the singular message they communicated.
So; what Peter is telling us is that the human writers of Scripture were guided and ‘born along’ by the Holy Spirit; so that through their unique personality, and through their own style, and through their own word choices, they truly wrote what they themselves intended to write; but they did so in such a way as to be protected by God from error, and to communicate—even down to the very words—exactly what God Himself wanted them to say.
This is what Paul referred to as ‘inspiration’—that is, that the whole of Scripture is "God-breathed" and has its ultimate source in Him. Paul wrote, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). He wrote, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:12-13).
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So then; in the later half of this morning’s passage, Peter is making two bold assertions about Scripture. First, he asserts that no prophecy of Scripture ever came about by the will and creativity of man. And second, he asserts instead that Scriptures are the product holy men being borne along by the Holy Spirit, so that they spoke from God. These things are of first importance; and they must be sure and certain in our minds. If we’re to be solid in our faith in the things that the Bible teaches us, we must be "knowing this first".
But as sure as the prophetic ‘forth-telling’ of God is in and of itself, we should also know that it has been made more sure. When we go back to the beginning of our passage this morning, we find that Peter—after describing his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration—says, "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed . . ."
What was it that the prophetic word declared? It taught us about Jesus, the promised Messiah. It promised that He would be born of the lineage of King David (2 Samuel 7:12-13); and He was. It told us that He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14); and He was. It told us He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2-3); and He was. It told us He would heal the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the mute (Isaiah 35:5-6); and He did. It told us that He would be crucified (Psalm 22); and He was. And it told us that He would be raised from the dead (Psalm 16:9-10); and He was. Just as ‘fulfillment’ confirms ‘promise’, the word of Scriptural prophecy was made sure to us by every promise about the life of our Lord being kept. The already-sure word became more sure!
And think of Peter’s own experience up on the mountain. As he, along with James and John, stood with the Lord Jesus; and as they had already seen so many of the promise in the Scriptures about Him become fulfilled before their very eyes; and as they now saw the veil of His humanity ‘pulled-back’ as it were, and the glory of His resurrection-majesty displayed in ‘preview’; and as they beheld the great prophets of old—Moses and Elijah—talking with Him; and as they heard the voice of God the Father Himself speaking to them and saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"; then there was even greater certainty that all the promises about the Lord Jesus will most certainly be fulfilled! The word of prophecy was confirmed beyond all doubt! The sure word was made even surer than ever!
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; these things are things that we must "know". First, we must know that the Bible is not a product of man’s creativity and will. Second, we must know that through it holy men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And third, we must know that the word of prophecy that had been given through them has been confirmed!
And that leads us to its life-changing impact on you and me today; that . . .
2. KNOWING THE NATURE OF THE BIBLE,
WE DO WELL TO HEED IT (v. 19b).
Peter says, in verse 19 that it is a confirmed word from God "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 . . ." We must read it, study it. We must look to it and learn from it and be led by it. We must , obey it and proclaim it. We must "heed" it for what it is!
First, note that Peter tells us that we must "heed" it as a light that shines for us in a dark world. What a great way of describing the Bible; as if, in the midst of a dark, murky, gloomy world in which lost and fallen people grope along—unable to find their way—it shines as a candle to light the way to salvation! It points us to Jesus who is . . .
the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:9-13).
When you realize how deep and deadly the darkness around us is, you appreciate all the more what a wonderful thing it is to have the light of God’s word—pointing us to the Savior! And you also appreciate how very much we need to pay careful heed it!
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What’s more, Peter tells us how long we must "heed" it; that is, until the fulfillment of all its promises. He says, "until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts". The ‘morning star’ is that first glorious indication in the eastern horizon of the arrival of dawn.
In the midst of the darkness of this world, we need to be reminded that the darkness will one day break and the Lord Jesus will return. The world insists it will never happen. "Where is the promise of His coming?" they say. "For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation" (2 Peter 3:4). "You might as well live as you please; because there’s nothing beyond what you see."
But look at what Peter says at the end of this letter:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:10-14).
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Dear brothers and sisters; we’re not in the dark. We have a light in this world that illuminates the way for us. Pick up your Bible again! Hold it once more in your hand! This the sure and certain light! And until the day finally comes when we behold the Lord Jesus with our eyes, and hear Him say, "Well done!", and when all His promises to us are fulfilled, let’s cling to it faithfully. Let’s proclaim it boldly and confidently!
Let’s remember what the apostle Peter strove so diligently to remind us; that . . .
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; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.