WONDERFUL THING IN THIS PASSAGE – Again this afternoon, I read a statement by someone who considered himself intellectually superior describing the Bible as a myth. He took offense at some of its moral teachings which didn’t line up with his life or preferences.
Those of us who have bowed our knees to the Lord Jesus have a different view. We find God’s Word challenging to our sinful hearts and painful to our inflated egos, but we are convicted by it, not offended.
Religions are based on moral principles and theological systems. Christianity is not. It is based on a person, Jesus Christ, and on what he said and did. Christians believe that “all things have been created through him and for him” (Col 1:16). Therefore, they believe that everything he believes is correct. Since he believes every detail of the Bible and states that “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail” (Luke 16:17), those who follow him agree.
Peter was one of those, and he wanted to be sure everyone who read his works knew it: “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” (2 Pet 1:16).
He’d grown up believing the Old Testament prophets who predicted the coming of the Messiah. However, when he found himself standing with Jesus when Moses and Elijah appeared and the voice of the Father thundered, “This is my beloved Son” – well, at that point, he had “the prophetic word strongly confirmed” (2 Pet 1:17-19). He saw with his own eyes the factuality of all that the biblical prophets had written.
He explains why we should have complete confidence in and only in the written Word of God:
“Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).
Now this applies only to “prophecy of Scripture,” not to prophecy in general. False prophets will always have to be reckoned with. “There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you … Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them.” (2 Pet 2:1-2).
WONDERFUL THING IN OUR LIVES – You can believe the Bible not because it makes sense (though it usually does) but because God wrote it. And he bypassed the natural misunderstandings, biases, and agendas of its human authors because they didn’t write it of their own accord or by their own ability: “Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
There are many other helpful Christian writings, but only “the words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6). That’s why I spend most of my reading time in the Word of God, and that’s why I will always encourage you to do the same. God wrote it, and he wrote it for you. That’s why Peter said, “you will do well to pay attention to it” (2 Peter 1:19).
May the Lord bless you in your reading of his Word this week.
