Confidence in the Word

So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Peter 1-19-21 (NRSV)

            Confidence. The first definition in the dictionary for the word ‘confidence ‘ reads “the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.” With this definition in mind I pose to you the question: “Do you have confidence in the Word?” This is important because as Christians we build our entire faith and life on the trustworthiness of God’s Word. We hedge all our bets on it; yet how to we know that the Word is true? There are many different interpretations of the Word. How do we know which one is the correct one? How do we know anything written is truthful at all and not some myth invented by first century traveling gypsies?

            Peter here is trying to convey to his audience that the best confidence is in the revealed Word of God. Just prior to this set of three verses Peter reminisces about the Transfiguration:

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 have been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. 2 Peter 1:16-18 (NRSV)

            Peter declares to all that through this very event he and the rest of the apostles are not myth-makers or liars, but are eyewitnesses to the glory of Christ who is the Word of God revealed to man. He backs up his eyewitness testimony with the written Word of God, the Scriptures, beginning in verse 19 where our passage begins.

          "So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed." Some translations of the Bible translate this sentence to "And we have something more sure, the prophetic word." Here Peter is stating that the eyewitness testimony of himself and the rest of the apostles (and now by extension the Church) is not the only source of confirmation concerning Jesus Christ, but rather the Scriptures (at that time the writings of the Old Testament) which speak of the coming Messiah are clarified at the Transfiguration of Christ and now can be used alongside eyewitness testimony.

            In other words, the prophets of the Old Testament gave people the Word from God but that it was not able to be understood fully until Jesus. Even then Jesus had to explain to His disciples the meanings of the Scriptures in Luke 24 ‘to suffer these things and enter into His glory.’

            There are many other Old Testament prophetic passages that are confirmed and clarified with other eyewitness accounts throughout Scripture, not just Peter’s. There are the prophecies concerning Jesus coming as a baby to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) "But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days."; that he would be born of a virgin (Is. 7:14) "Therefore, the LORD himself will give you a sign. Look the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel."; that his ministry would be heralded in by a man like Elijah who is later confirmed to be John the Baptist (Mal. 3:1) “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lordof hosts.” Malachi 4:5 “ Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”; and Is. 40:3-5 “A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”); and much more concerning his ministry (Isaiah 61:1-2 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of theLord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;), the miracles he would perform (Is. 35:5-6 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped,  then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;), and his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.).

            Even the writers of the Old Testament had confidence in these words, the words they were given, and encouraged others to also have confidence. According to the MacArthur Study Bible, the Old Testament writers refer to their own writings as “the word of God” over 3,800 times!

            Now that Peter has gotten his listeners and us to have confidence in the Word based on eyewitness testimony clarifying and confirming the prophetic word, his exhorts us by saying “You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

            Why must we be attentive to all this? Because, Peter continues, “. . . no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

            In other words, the Word does not come from the imaginations and ramblings of madmen, but from God Himself, and because of the Word coming from God we are subject to the divine meaning behind the Word, not anything else. Any other interpretation that did not point to Jesus Christ or did not point to the glory of Christ is of man’s making not God’s.

            This is a clear warning against false teachers who would come in and try to destroy our confidence in the Word by interpreting the Word to fit their own agendas and needs, in other words, in a subjective manner. You see this in many ways whether it’s through academics who twist the Scriptures to fit a particularly school of philosophy; pastors interpreting the scriptures in a particular way to be “more relevent” as if Scripture is no longer so; or pastors who hang scripture over people’s heads a if it were a boulder that may or may not drop to crush them.We are not free to interpret because this is the Word of God. Verse 21 affirms that the Scripture was inspired by God! We can have confidence in the Word of God because it comes from him directly, even though he uses people to write down his words. Therefore, any interpretation we do of His word in order to better understand it must be done objectively according to the meaning of the written text and/or in light of other scripture. This means that not one person can interpret Scripture on his or her own self like some churches preach whether it’s a modern church which declares that “there is no one meaning to Scripture” and “everyone can interpret” or an ancient church where only one person has the authority to interpret and however he interprets that is how it shall be with no oversight into whether his interpretation is biblical and true.

            The Word carries God’s authority and advice and wisdom on how you and I are meant to live our lives to the fullest in the most holy way possible. It is the Word given to us by the Creator of the universe, the High and Lofty One who dwells in eternity; the same one who sent His Son Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin, to suffer under Pontius Pilate, to be crucified and buried. The same God who raised Christ from the dead and now, through Christ, can have communion with His beloved creation once again.

            Have confidence in that. Have confidence in the Word.