2 Peter 1:16-21 The Lamp in a Dark Place
Good morning! We are back in 2 Peter and we are going to focus on verses 16-21 this morning, and that’s on page 1018 in the pew Bibles.
Though we are going to focus on verses 16-21 I want to go back to verse 12 so that we can get a running start, set some context, and remember Peter’s purpose in writing this letter.
So let’s look at that together.
12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Let’s pray.
So for the last few weeks we have been talking about the qualities that we should add to our faith and what it looks like to mature as disciples of Jesus Christ. But that was not Peter’s sole purpose in writing to the church.
Peter wanted to remind the church of what was most important, and he made every effort to make sure that the church would be able to recall these things even after he had died.
But the things that he wanted the church to remember was not just how to behave, not just what kind of building materials to use, the gold, silver, and precious stones, but to also remind them of the very foundation that they were to build on.
The church needed to be reminded of these things back in the First Century because, as we will see when we get to chapter two, false teachers were trying to deceive Christians to follow after them, to abandon what they had learned and pledge allegiance to them and their falsehood.
Praise God this teaching was preserved because the same thing is happening today.
Peter gave the church two reminders of the sure foundation of the truth that they had been taught: the word of credible witnesses, and the Word of God Himself.
This text was Peter’s reaffirmation of the truth, the foundation on which we stand by faith, and the ground he stood on to defend the church from the false teachers in chapter 2.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
What is Peter talking about? The Transfiguration of Jesus.
Let’s look at Peter’s own account of this through the pen of Mark in Mark 9.
And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.
9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
In any court of law cases stand or fall on the word of eye witnesses. Peter was an eye witness of the power and coming of the Lord Jesus.
He witnessed the majesty of Jesus when His face was changed and His clothes became intensely white. He witnessed it when Jesus received honor and glory from God the Father when He spoke from the cloud and said, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.”
Peter is telling the church, “we didn’t make this up, me and James and John, we saw this with our own eyes, and we heard with our own ears God Himself declared that Jesus is His Son. This was no cleverly devised myth, this is the truth.”
Peter was an eye witness, he was there when Jesus walked on water, he was there when he fed the five thousand, he was there when Jesus gave sight to the blind and raised the dead and healed the lame, he heard Him preach good news to the poor.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
And then, as Alistair Begg put it, “Peter did what all good pastors must do: point men and women back to the Bible.”
Not only do we have the word of eyewitnesses but we also have the Word of God.
19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
John Calvin wrote, “The truth of the gospel is here simply proved by a twofold testimony, that Christ had been highly approved by the solemn declaration of God, and then, that all the prophecies of the prophets confirmed the same thing.”
The prophetic word that Peter mentions here was specifically what we call the Old Testament. Peter declares that the Word of God was more sure than even his own testimony and the truth of the promise of Messiah in the Old Testament was confirmed by its fulfillment in Jesus.
I know that I don’t do a lot of preaching out of the Old Testament, but please don’t ever take that as that it has no value or is not important anymore.
Matthew Henry wrote, “Read the Old Testament as a prophecy of Christ, and with diligence and thankfulness use the New [Testament] as the best exposition of the Old [Testament].”
We have the gospel testified to by the Apostles in the New Testament and the gospel confirmed by the prophets in the Old Testament.
Jesus is on every page of Scripture, both New and Old Testaments and we need to pay attention to it as a lamp in a dark place.
The word Peter used for a dark place means: squalid, miserable, filthy darkness.
This is not only the world that we live in but it is the condition of our hearts apart from Christ, there is no one who is good in and of themselves but we have the Word of God that shows us the light, it shows us who Jesus is and what He did for us and what He is continuing to do for those that trust in Him.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
And we will have that light as a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path as it says in Psalm 119:105, we will have that light until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts.
This phrase is a subject of lots of debate. But as we have seen, Peter is writing to believers, to people that already have faith in Jesus Christ, so that day dawning and the morning star rising can’t mean when people come to faith in Jesus.
So if that isn’t it, what could it be?
We have the light of the Word of God, both Old and New Testaments, given by God Himself as Peter says there in verses 20-21, as a lamp to navigate this filthy darkness and squalid misery of this life now, and when Jesus returns the day will dawn and the Morning Star will rise in our hearts.
Jesus said in Revelation 22:16, “I am the Root and Descendant of David, the Bright Morning Star.”
When the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts is the dawning of eternity at Christ’s return, when we shall see Him face to face, not in a glass darkly, on that day we will know Him fully even as we are fully known.
How do we know that all this is true? Because the Bible says so and the Bible is from God Himself and God the Holy Spirit is the best interpreter of His own words.
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
I want to close with Peter’s short sermon to Cornelius and his household from Acts chapter 10 where he covers all that I have said so far just much more briefly…
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
This is the simple gospel, predicted by the prophets, witnessed by the Apostles, preserved in God’s Word, the Bible, and proclaimed to you today.
Amen.
