Ian & Jocelyn Barker

I am in the Prayer Room this afternoon glued to 2 Peter 1. The whole chapter is about the hope we have in the resurrection and kingdom of Messiah at His coming, and the qualities we are to produce in preparation for that kingdom. Right when you think it cannot get any better, Peter throws out this little nugget:

“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…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.” (2 Peter 1:16, 19)

What is he referring to? The transfiguration. Peter is giving his firsthand understanding of Jesus’ transfiguration (Matt. 16:28-17:8). When Jesus said that some of His disciples would see “the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:28), He was not referring to the establishment of His kingdom. He was showing these three disciples that He was the promised Messiah who would one day come to establish the long promised kingdom.

As they were coming down from the mountain, He tells them how He would suffer. Yet they should not lose heart or faith in Him because He had shown them His ultimate and final calling. He was the promised Messiah, the seed who would crush the head of the serpant.

The coming of Messiah is no “cleverly devised tale.” It is the lamp we are to set our eyes on in the midst of a dark world. Our hope is to be set fully on the power of His coming because it is sure. When Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah on that mountain, He was giving reason for the disciples to believe the prophetic word. So Peter says, “We have the prophetic word made more sure.”

No voice of doubt should dissuade us from this hope. No good idea or method should sway our focus off His coming. We are to live in preparation for His coming kingdom (1:11). We should not give up hope for “He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature” (1:4), that is, the resurrection.

Praise God! For real.