COV LIFE BLOG

2 Peter 1:16-21 – Trustworthy Light in a World of Darkness

Now with verse 19 he picks up a second argument regarding the reliability and truthfulness of what is being preached about Jesus Christ, and that is the prophetic Scriptures. The Old Testament Scriptures are absolutely reliable. They are the word of God, and they testify to Jesus Christ as well. See what Peter is doing? He wants these believers to have an unshakable confidence in the revelation that God has given. That revelation is all we have. God is a spirit. No man has seen God at any time, and none of us has seen Jesus Christ, who became a man. We realize that all we believe and all that we know and respond to in faith is contained in this book. If this book is unreliable, we have nothing. That is why the first move of the devil is to undermine confidence in what God said. Satan says, “You really believe that is what God said?” We start to stammer, “I, ah…” Satan jumps right in. “No, that is not true. Let me show you why it is not true.” Then he begins to dismantle the word of God, and pretty soon believers are shaky and in a position to be brought to confusion.

Peter wants his readers to be confident and unshakable even after he is gone from the earth. Look at verse 19:  “So we have the prophetic word made more sure…” That little word So that begins verse 19 is the Greek conjunction kai, which normally is translated and. So verse 19 literally would start: “And we have the prophetic word more sure…” Peter is saying, “Here is the second line of evidence to give you confidence in what I have been saying.” In verse 16, he said, “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ…” In effect, he is saying, “You can have full confidence in the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for two reasons: first, because of the experience of the apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration, and second, because we have the prophetic word made more sure.”

The prophetic word is a reference to Old Testament Scriptures, which have their fulfillment and focus in Jesus Christ. Remember after His resurrection from the dead that Jesus met with His disciples and explained how Old Testament Scriptures related to Him. Luke 24:27: “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in the Scriptures.” Verses 44-45: “Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” He took them back to the Old Testament Scriptures, to the law, to the Psalms, to the prophets, and showed how it all related to Him, His coming, His death, His glory. The Old Testament Scriptures – the prophetic word – have as their heart and center Jesus Christ.

So we have the prophetic word, the Old Testament Scriptures, “…made more sure.” Note the word made in your Bibles is in italics. When you translate from one language to another, you try to clarify things –  “…the prophetic word made more sure…” I think that might be a little bit confusing. I think Peter basically is saying, “We have as very sure the prophetic word. So, first you have the testimony of us apostles regarding what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. And secondly, we as God’s people have a very sure prophetic word, a prophetic word that is very firm and thus so totally reliable that we can have our confidence in it. We have the prophetic word as very sure, very firm, very settled.” 

 Gil Rugh

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SCRIPTURES FOR MEDITATION
Read 2 Peter 1:16-21. What assurance does Peter give the church in verses 16-18?  Besides the eyewitness testimony of the apostles concerning Christ’s deity and glory, what else does the church possess? 

SONG FOR THIS WEEK
Crown Him with Many Crowns by Shane & Shane