Lesson 4 – 2 Peter Chapter 1:16-21
In verses 8 to 15 we learned that once we are committed to pursuing a holy lifestyle by growing in each of the seven characteristics that Peter has listed for us, we will find that we can be considered as productive disciples in the family of God.
It’s a high honor to know Christ the way we do, and that He finds us to be useful in His kingdom. The more we grow in these virtues, the more the Holy Spirit has to work with.
Just as James declares that faith without good-works is a dead faith, we’re willing to “work out our salvation” in such a way that it shows that we are called and chosen by God.
Peter, the good pastor and teacher that he is, gives us the reminder that the life applications we have learned from God’s Word are what we should come back to again and again. By doing this we won’t drift away. John 13:35 says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We also talked about that Peter knew in his heart that his ministry was coming to a close, that he would soon be folding up his earthly tent and making way to his grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
With Peter’s time being short, he tells us he was going to be diligent in all his actions by recording everything the Holy Spirit inspired him to write down, and in doing so, we would have many reminders from Peter to act upon.
2 Peter 1:16
“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”
The word For… is a key term linking this passage to the previous verses, explaining why Peter reminded his hearers of the truth.
Peter says, we did not follow cleverly devised tales… or we could use words like, “fables” or “myths.” Fables and myths were common in the Greek and Roman culture at that time, they had all these spectacular stories of human-like gods doing all sorts of extraordinary things. Names likes Zeus, Triton, and Morpheus were well known, and the people would speculate as to their origins and what these gods controlled.
These would be part of the doctrines of false teachers, doing their best to undermine the Gospel. As we move into chapter two, we hear warnings from Peter about these false teachers.
A Christian’s faith doesn’t rely or rest on any clever devised tales, stories, myths, or fables… our faith rests in the truth and the reliability of God’s Word.
2 Tim. 3:16
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;”
From “Baptists and the Bible” by L. Russ Bush and Tom Nettles, they make this statement:
“The reformers believed Scripture to be God’s Word written. It was trusted, not doubted. It was studied, not ignored. It was taken as the final authority with regard to those matters on which it spoke or made affirmations. God has not revealed everything. The Bible did not expressly contain all the truth that could be known. But what the Bible did teach was believed to be completely trustworthy. Truth in any other area would not contradict biblical truth. Starting from Scripture, one could find the true knowledge of reality.”
Humanly speaking, the Bible was written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the course of 1500 years. Every one of them received supernatural revelation from God. They all proclaim the same one true God, and the same one way of salvation… through Jesus Christ.
When we made known to you…
Whenever Peter spoke, those who were listening to him or reading his letters could rest assured that what he taught was truth from God and not from any fictitious stories or fabrications, we could say it was the genuine article.
If the Bible is true (and it is), then it holds for us the answers to life’s biggest questions: “From where did I come?” “Why am I here?” and “What happens to me when I die?”
The term made known… is often used in the New Testament to speak of communicating new revelation to us.
Romans 16:25-26
“Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed His plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey Him.” (NLT)
The revelation Peter has taught us is the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and here, Peter is referring to the second coming of Christ with power (doo’-na-miss) and glory. This word power is where we get the word dynamite. It means inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth. There is no limit to God’s power.
Matt. 25:31
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.”
Eph. 1:19-21
“And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”
Apparently, the false teachers were not only undermining Peter’s teachings in general, but also specifically, denying what he said about the return of Jesus Christ.
Power and coming…
Peter most definitely believed Jesus was coming back. How does Jesus come back? It is through His power. How was Jesus brought back to life? Through the power of God. How will we be resurrected from the dead? It is through the power of God… there’s wonder working power in the blood!
Jesus is coming back for us!!!
Matt. 24:30
“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.”
W.E. Vine writes, “When used of the return of Chris, it signifies, not merely His momentary coming for His saints, but His presence with them from that moment until His revelation and manifestation to the world.”
Rev. 19:11-14
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.”
In Peter’s first letter he declared the truth of Jesus’ second coming. But here in verse 16 he stresses to us that he and the other disciples were actually eyewitnesses.
But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty… and this will be fully displayed at Jesus’ return.
So to paraphrase Peter, he’s saying, “We’re not following made up stories or myths, super heroes or any kind of zodiac signs, for we were actual eyewitnesses of the majesty of Jesus Christ.” Deep within Peter’s “amygdala,” that’s the part of the brain that contains major experiences or events, Peter remembers his time with Jesus, and that he saw the glory of the Lord.
Matt. 17:1-2
“Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.”
Eyewitnesses… the real context of this word means to have the highest honor.
Esther 5:1-2
“Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace in front of the king’s rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace. When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.”
Esther experienced a highly honored privilege, of coming before the king unannounced, but this pales in comparison to the experience of being an eyewitness to the transfiguration of Jesus… nothing compares to seeing the glory of God. Peter, James and John had the awesome privilege of seeing Jesus glorified in such a way. One day, all believers will have the very same privilege of seeing the glory of God, except it will go on for all eternity.
We were eyewitnesses of His majesty…
Majesty… speaks of the visible splendor of the divine majesty, as it appeared in the transfiguration of Christ.
In the song, “How great is our God,” it says, “The splendour of a King, clothed in majesty, let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice.”
Majesty can also be translated “splendour,” “grandeur,” or “magnificence,” all used to identify “the greatness of God.” When it comes to describing the very greatness of God, words are so insufficient. I’m confident that this is one of the reasons why Paul wasn’t allowed to describe heaven.
2 Peter 1:17
“For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”
This is exciting for us because Peter is getting into his experience, what he saw, and what he heard.
Christ received honor… honor means “exalted status.” And Jesus deserves all the honor and all the glory!
Glory… (doxa) means, “radiant splendor.”
The first term honor, gives Jesus the highest respect and recognition, and the second term glory bestows divine, unparalleled brightness to Him. Jesus received honor and glory from God.
The glory of God is the “shining forth” or the “public display” of God’s character and nature. It describes all the things God is full of… His wisdom, love, creativity, beauty, strength, compassion, all the things that make Him significant and wonderful, all made manifest for us to see and experience and respond to. The Bible uses God’s glory figuratively as a manifestation of Himself. The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit. It is not an artistic beauty or a material beauty, but the beauty that emanates from His character… from all that He is.
Exodus 33:18-19
“Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”
No mortal can ever view God’s excelling splendor without being utterly overwhelmed… Peter, James, and John were witnesses to this.
Isaiah 2:10
“Enter into the cave, and hide in the dust, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty.”
In the New Testament, the glory of God is revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
God will not give His glory to another, yet this is the very thing that people try to steal from Him. Scripture indicts that all idolaters are trying to do just that:
Romans 1:22-23
“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”
Only God is eternal, and His perfect and eternal attributes of holiness, majesty, goodness, love, etc., are not to be exchanged for the imperfections and corruption of anything in this world.
There will come a time when God will share part of His glory with His children:
Romans 8:17
“And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
Our “glorification” is God’s final removal of sin from the life of His saints (i.e., everyone who is saved).
2 Cor. 4:17-18
“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The time is coming when we will be perfectly conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus and be like Him, in that our humanity will be free from sin and all its consequences. We will never have the full glory of God, but He will extend to us part of His glory.
1 John 3:2
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
Peter was one of the three who got to see Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. He not only saw Jesus’ holy appearance, but he also was privileged to hear the voice of the Father.
“This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased…”
The Father also declared this when John was baptizing Jesus in the River Jordan.
It would have to be life altering if you got to hear the voice of God. The idea of divine communication with God would have to leave a lasting impression on you.
Moses and the prophets were part of the select few to hear the voice of God, and in every instance when God’s voice was heard, God would be glorified through it.
How can we hear God’s voice? Now, it would be nice if we had a “hot-line” to heaven, where we could pick up our phone and be able to ask God for advice anytime we want, but when you think about it, seeking advice from God pretty much has to do with us living within His will.
To find out the will of God, we simply need to go to His Word to find it. When we want to hear God’s voice, the Bible is where we should look. God’s will for our lives is already fully revealed in its pages, and it is a matter of our obedience to what is written. All of Scripture is the will of God, but there are a few places in Scripture that specifically use the term “will of God,” which may be especially interesting to a person who wants to hear God’s voice:
1 Thess 4:3
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;”
1 Thess. 5:18
“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Isn’t funny how when we get down to the nitty-gritty of our relationship with God, it always involves our heart and us getting into His Word. God’s will for our lives can always be found within the pages of Scripture.
The announcement from God, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased” is the Father’s affirmation that Jesus is the identical nature and essence with Him. Is Jesus Christ the Son of God? Yes, He is! How do we know it? The Father said so!
2 Peter 1:18
“And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
Some say that Peter was more profoundly impressed by what he heard rather than what he saw on the holy mountain. Peter was there as a first-hand eyewitness to what took place on the holy mountain, and we are the beneficiaries to his experience. The thing to remember is experiences may fade, but the Word of God endures forever!
2 Peter 1:19
“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”
The NLT says:
“Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place – until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts.”
So we have the prophetic word made more sure…
When we look at the prophetic words in the Bible, we see that it has come true over and over again, never once being wrong. For example, throughout the Old Testament there are significant Messianic prophecies that point to the coming of the chosen one, Jesus Christ the Messiah. These prophecies validate God’s divine plan of salvation and create in us a hope that defies description. The prophetic words provide a clear picture of Jesus’ identity, mission, and His ultimate victory on the cross.
If someone offered you the choice of either being on Mount Hermon with Jesus, seeing Moses and Elijah, hearing a voice from heaven, or having the Old Testament, most of us would choose to see the Lord glowing, to see Moses and Elijah, and to hear God’s voice from heaven, but Peter, we see, would choose otherwise. Why? Because experiences fade, but the Word of God endures forever.
Through the agency of the Holy Spirit, God administered the recording of the writer’s experiences and thoughts, meaning that “all Scripture is inspired by God.” (2 Tim. 3:16) This gives us total confidence in the Word of God. One way to look at this is as reliable and helpful as Peter’s experience was, the prophetic word of Scripture is more sure, as Peter says to us.
To which you do well to pay attention… again, the NLT says, “You must pay close attention to what they wrote.” This is important because of the high probability of being exposed to the lies that false teachers preach. This gives us all the more reason to always be studying the Scriptures, so we can deflect and counter what false teachers say.
Psalm 17:4-5
“As for the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips I have kept from the paths of the violent. My steps have held fast to Your paths. My feet have not slipped.”
Being well versed in God’s Word will keep you sure-footed.
Acts 18:28
“For Paul powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.”
When people refute what you say when you use the Scriptures, don’t take it personally, because what they’re really refuting isn’t you, but God. By paying attention to the Scriptures, Peter makes his point even more clear by using a metaphor comparing God’s Word to a lamp shining in a dark place. This brings to mind:
Psalm 119:105
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Even though we live in an immoral, corrupt, satan driven world filled with darkness, we know by reading the Scriptures that our future is bright. In fact, our future is so bright that we should all be wearing sunglasses 😊. God’s Word enlightens every believer’s future by declaring His absolute truth to us.
In a dark place…
Commentary writes, “The phrase dark place encompasses the murky blackness of the fallen world that prevents people from seeing the truth until the lamp of divine revelation shines forth.”
Our country and the world needs “the lamp of divine revelation” to shine into the deepest part of their hearts, causing a great awakening to occur. We should always be praying for a great awakening. As this world gets darker and darker, the truth of God’s Word gets even brighter!
Until the day dawns and the Morning Star arises in your hearts…
When the day finally dawns… this points to the time of Jesus’ return. When Jesus does return, He will terminate the darkness of sin and the spiritual evils that exist, then He will establish His kingdom on earth.
There is a climax to God’s salvation that is coming, it will be very bitter to those who have rejected Him, but sweet as honey to those who belong to Him. God’s judgment on the wicked is foretold, His prophetic Word has told us so.
Isaiah 2:12
“For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has a day of reckoning. He will punish the proud and mighty and bring down everything that is exalted.” (NLT)
Zephaniah 1:14
“That terrible day of the Lord is near. Swiftly it comes… a day of bitter tears, a day when even strong men will cry out.” (NLT)
Peter speaks of the Morning Star… which literally means “light bringer,” This was the name for the planet Venus, which precedes the morning sun in the sky, and is used here for Christ, whose coming inaugurates the establishment of the promised Millennial Kingdom in which Jesus will sit on the throne of David.
Rev. 22:16
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright Morning Star.”
Arises in your hearts… is an amazing phrase. The Bright Morning Star arises in the believers’ hearts.
One commentary says, “Christ will return in a blaze of being physically visible, an all-encompassing light that will affect everyone for blessing or cursing and change the millennial earth, eventually destroying the universe and replacing it with the new heavens and new earth. The reference to the hearts indicates His return will also transform believers into perfect reflections of the truth and righteousness of Christ and make them into the image of His glory.”
I told you our future is bright!
2 Peter 1:20-21
“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
As we dissect these last two verses, we first have the phrase: is a matter of… the Greek word is (id’-dee-oss) and no, it’s not where we get the word idiot from, but it means “comes into being,” “originates,” or “arises.”
The way Peter is using this phrase means that when it comes to the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, none of it came from false prophecies.
Ezek. 13:3
“Thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing.”
Jermiah 23:16, 21
‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.”
“I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied.”
False prophets speak from their own thoughts and ideas and none of it was a true message from God… nothing in the Scriptures come from human interpretation.
We see here the word interpretation, and we immediately think we understand it’s meaning, and we would be wrong. The English word indicates how a person would understand Scripture, whereas the Greek points to “its origin.” In other words, an “indicating source.” Peter isn’t referring to the explanation of the Scriptures, but to its origin.
The next part of our verse (21) supports what he’s saying, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will…
This tells us that whatever sinful mankind might want or think in his little brain, has absolutely nothing to do with divine prophecy! Anything that the prophets of old wrote never originated from themselves, but they were men moved by the Holy Spirit who spoke from God.
The word moved is pretty cool, it means to be “continually carried” …carried of the mind, it is to be moved inwardly, or prompted. With that we can say the men who gave us the prophies and Scriptures were “continually carried” inwardly by the Holy Spirit. This is important to us, because the only one who knows the mind of God is the Holy Spirit of God. This therefore gives us the confidence that all of the Bible is “inspired by God,” it is “God breathed.”
If we are ever to stand strong against heathenistic false teachers or the deceits of satan and his demons, we must seek to know, accept, and obey God’s Holy Word to us. It is truly “a lamp unto our feet.”
Tonight, we’ve received the truth from a close friend of our Lord Jesus Christ… he was with Jesus, he learned from Jesus, he loved Jesus… then he watched Him die and come to life again. Peter was also privileged to see Jesus glorified. In a court of law, you couldn’t find a more reliable witness.
We have the privilege of having and studying the inspired Word of God… we can trust it! We walk by faith, not by sight. Tonight, Peter has reminded us that the “Bright Morning Star” is coming back… be strong in your faith, Jesus is coming for you!