Today’s message is from 2 Peter 1:15-2:1. It’s about something I tell you every Sunday. It’s about the importance of knowing and remembering the word of God—the Bible. It’s about the importance of knowing the truthfulness and reliability of the word of God. “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” (Rom. 10:17) “The word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart. No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.” (Heb. 4:12, 13) Do you think the word of God is important? It’s very important. It’s a matter of life and death—a matter of eternal life and rejoicing or eternal death and destruction. So remember as we read the passage that we are reading the word of God.

¹⁸And we heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with Him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. ²⁰First of all, you should know this: no prophecy of Scripture comes from one's own interpretation, ²¹because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, moved by the Holy Spirit, men spoke from God.

I included verse 15, the last verse of last week’s passage, as part of this week’s passage so that there would be some overlap and continuity. (When I first started reading the Bible, I had heard preachers take short passages or even single verses and preach on them. I had learned to view the Bible as a collection of disconnected proverbs. Because of that, I missed a lot of understanding because I was not paying any attention to the context of the verse or passage. When I started to realize this, I was amazed at how much I had missed.) Anyway, verse 15 says, “And I will also make every effort that after my departure you may be able to recall these things at any time.”

The ‘departure’ that Peter is talking about is his death. He is not expecting to live much longer. Do you ever think about what you would like to leave behind for people that will still be here after you die? Some people, if they are rich, may want to leave an inheritance for their family (for their family to fight over, in some cases)—or maybe a business that they have worked hard to establish and would like to think that it will be carried on after they are dead. Or maybe they would leave some money to some charitable organization.

Or maybe, like the majority of people, you aren’t so rich. Some people would like to be sure that they pass on what they have learned during their lives, maybe some skills that would help their children make a living, or maybe just general knowledge about the best way to live your life and to get along in the world. What would you like to pass on when you die? What would you like to be sure isn’t lost when you are gone?

Verse 15 says, “And I will also make every effort that after my departure you may be able to recall these things at any time.” Peter is talking about some specific things that he wrote about in verses 1-14. In verse 3 he says, “For His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” Peter wants his readers (and that includes us) to know God the Father and to know Jesus. Through knowing Jesus and through knowing God the Father we have life—we have eternal life—and we have the ability to live lives of godliness. We also have great and precious promises. Through them we escape the corruption of the world and become like Jesus.

The world is corrupt. It’s rotten. Jesus is pure and holy. Peter wants us to become like Jesus. In verse 5, 6 and 7 he says, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness (he is assuming that we already have faith—that we are believers)...” “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” It starts with faith and ends with love. Love is God’s essential nature. The goal is for us to become like him.

There are lots of cleverly contrived myths today just as there were in Peter’s time. One that comes to mind is Scientology. Probably most of you have heard of it. It was invented by a science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard, who has been quoted as saying, “If you want to get rich, invent a religion.” It goes back to around 1950. L. Ron Hubbard has subsequently disappeared off the face of the earth (no one knows what happened to him), but Scientology has spread all over the world. If you read about Scientology, there are some very weird ideas. I won’t go into them, but they don’t look much like Christianity. In addition to weird religions, there are also many demonic-sounding religions like Voodoo, for example. And there are many pagan religions where false God’s are worshipped.

The Lord told the prophet Ezekiel that he had made him a watchman over Israel. The Lord told him that if he failed to warn a person who was sinning and that person died, he would hold him responsible for that person’s blood. It would be as though Ezekiel had killed him. (Eze. 34) I believe that we are also responsible for warning people who are lost and without Christ. But we also have the word of God that commands us to be humble, and we have the word of God that says that we must “speak the truth in love”. (If you are afraid you can’t warn someone properly, send someone to whom God has given a gift of evangelism to warn him.)

Peter goes on: “For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, a voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him.’” This is what we call the transfiguration. Peter, James and John were there with Jesus. Jesus was changed in appearance in front of them. He was transformed. His face shown like the sun. His clothes became dazzling, white as light. Moses and Elijah were on either side of Jesus and talking with him about his coming death. All three of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, tell us that God the Father, besides saying, “This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him,” also told the disciples, “Listen to Him.” (“This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him. Listen to Him.”) We have to listen to Jesus. (And “listen” means “listen and do.”) (And in case you want to know how Peter reacted to all of this at the time it happened, here’s what Mark says: “Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—because he did not know what he should say, since they were terrified.” (Mark~9:5, 6) Have you ever been in a situation where you were in such a state of shock that you thought you had to say something and then nonsense came out of your mouth? That was Peter. Peter James and John knew they were in the presence of God. Remember what Peter said to Jesus when they were in the boat with the miraculous catch of fish? “Go away from me Lord because I am a sinful man.” It happened again!

“We have the prophetic word strongly confirmed.” What is the prophetic word? Peter is talking about the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the word of God. The prophets in the Old Testament talked about Jesus. When the Jewish leaders were criticizing and persecuting Jesus he told them, “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me.” (John~5:39)

And then there was the time when Jesus was talking to the two disciples on the Emmaus road, the two disciples who didn’t recognize him after he was raised from the dead. He asked them what they were talking about. They told him that they were talking about Jesus of Nazareth—that he had been a prophet and how powerful he had been in word and deed, and how they had hoped that he would be the one who would redeem Israel, but now he was dead. Do you know what Jesus said to them? Here’s what he said (remember, they didn’t recognize him), “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! Didn't the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” “Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” (Luke~24:25-27) And that was some Bible lesson (Mooma’s comment).

You know, it goes clear back to Genesis chapter 3—the prophecy about Jesus. After Eve had listened to the serpents lies and Adam and Eve had disobeyed the Lord, the Lord cursed the serpent (the serpent’s the devil, by the way) and told him, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.” The woman’s seed (seed is descendent) that would strike the serpents head is Jesus. Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil, the work of the serpent. (The prophecy also says that the serpent would strike Jesus’s heel. The serpent struck Jesus’s heel when he went to the cross. But, by going to the cross, Jesus completely defeated the serpent.)

There are so many places that the Old Testament prophets talk about Jesus that I can’t begin to talk about them. But I’ll mention a few. There’s Isaiah 52 and 53 where the prophet Isaiah talks about how much Jesus would suffer for our sin and that he would be raised from the dead. Isaiah says in Isaiah 52:13-15, “See, My servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were appalled at You—His appearance was so disfigured that He did not look like a man, and His form did not resemble a human being—so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him, For they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.” It says that he will sprinkle many nations. Jesus sprinkled many nations with his blood. It’s his blood, his death on the cross, that brings about the forgiveness of our sin. Isaiah is talking about Jesus. He was the perfect innocent lamb that was sacrificed, whose blood was shed, for our sin.

Why do the nations rebel and the peoples plot in vain? If you think they don’t, consider how Christians are treated even in this country where we are supposed to have freedom of religion. It’s supposedly forbidden to insult anyone’s religion. Political correctness says that we can’t offend them (even those who practice voodoo). There are even “hate crime” laws to enforce this. But Christians can be insulted in every imaginable way and that is acceptable. And Christians are even arrested under the “hate crime” laws when we practice our religion because when we practice our religion, we may be offending someone who has a different view.

But the Lord has consecrated his king on Zion. It’s Jesus! The Lord says, “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance and the ends of the earth Your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; You will shatter them like pottery.” Jesus will rule. Those who oppose him he will break with a rod of iron and shatter them like pottery. There’s a warning and there’s an admonition: “So now, kings, be wise; receive instruction, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with reverential awe, and rejoice with trembling.” Do you think it’s possible to rejoice in the situation described here? ...rejoice or else, by force? The world doesn’t think so—not a chance. But that’s what we do as Christians through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Actually, most of us are still working on it. But if you really believe that you are saved from the most horrible fate imaginable—that you are saved because God loves you and that Jesus suffered all that he suffered so that you could avoid that fate—so that you could be saved... If you believe that God had every right to destroy you in your rebellion, but saved you instead, you will rejoice with trembling.

Verse 12 in Psalm 2 says, “Pay homage to the Son, or He will be angry, and you will perish in your rebellion, for His anger may ignite at any moment. All those who take refuge in Him are happy (‘blessed’ in most translations).” You see what it is? We have the choice of being blessed or of perishing in our rebellion. Most people would like a third choice, but there isn’t one. It’s be blessed and happy or perish.

There are countless other references to Jesus in the Old Testament. And Jesus, in all his teaching and ministry treated the Old Testament as the word of God. He was there at the time it was written. He was there before it was written. In fact, he was there before the creation of the universe. He took part in it. All things were made through him. Life was made through him.

Peter says in 19 in today’s passage, “So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” The Old Testament prophets foretold the coming of Jesus. Jesus was able to explain the prophecies to the two disciples on the Emmaus road after his resurrection. After Jesus left them, they exclaimed, “Weren't our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?” (Luke~24:32) It’s the Holy Spirit that set their hearts ablaze. It’s the Holy Spirit that causes the morning star to rise in our hearts also. The Morning Star that rises in our hearts couldn’t be anything but Jesus. In Revelation 22:16 Jesus says, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright Morning Star.” We need to pay attention to the prophetic word until the Bright Morning Star rises in our hearts.

I have talked about how many places the prophets foretold the coming of Jesus. But prophecy is not just foretelling the future. It’s teaching and preaching. The Old Testament prophets spoke the very words of God in everything they said. Peter says, “First of all, you should know this: no prophecy of Scripture comes from one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, moved by the Holy Spirit, men spoke from God.”

The Ten Commandments are the word of God. All the examples of what to do and what not to do that we have in the Old Testament are the word of God. “Pay homage to the Son, or He will be angry, and you will perish in your rebellion, for His anger may ignite at any moment,” is the word of God. (A lot of the translation say, “Kiss the Son...”) (And, by the way, I need to point out (as Tom did when we were studying Job) that not everything that people said that is quoted in the Old Testament is the word of God. The writers quoted what people actually did say, but we need to discern whether or not God was speaking through the people who were quoted or whether they were speaking for themselves. People sometimes quote what Job’s friends told him as though it were the word of God. But the Lord rebuked Job’s friends and told them that they didn’t know what they were talking about. Also, we have to recognize that there is the New Covenant that is made through Jesus’s blood and that there is the Old Covenant, the covenant of the law that had to do not only with keeping from sin but with performing all of the rituals that the Lord had prescribed. We are not living under the Old Covenant. We are living under the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the covenant of grace. Praise the Lord for the New Covenant. The old Covenant brought death. The New Covenant brings life.)

Chapter 2, verse 1 says, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves.” I included chapter 2, verse 1 in today’s passage because Peter’s purpose is for us to hold on to God’s truth. There are lies being taught all of the time. This has been going on from the beginning. (We’ll talk more about it next week, the Lord willing.) If we know the truth, it will be much easier to recognize the lies. So read your Bibles every day. Have the word of God written on your heart.