Human beings are made of the same clay and fight essentially the same battles. It's true of Christians, too. We often think of ourselves as alone in our struggles. And we imagine that if others knew what we struggled with, they would not like us anymore. And we fail to realize that all of us have essentially the same struggles we all do. One of the common struggles that we encounter as Christians is that of being consistent in our growth in Christ.
Many of us would tonight desire to grow in our walk with God. The fact is that all of us struggle with being consistent in that desire. There are times when it's strong and there are times when it wanes. And the result is we have an uneven growth. Growth in Christ does not come easily. It does not come naturally. That's why Peter, as he writes this epistle, stresses diligence. Notice in chapter 1 and verse 5, for this very reason also applying all diligence.
He says, if you want to grow, then you must apply diligence to it. And verse 10, therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent. And again in chapter 3, verse 14, he says, beloved, since you look for these things that he's just talked about, be diligent. All of us struggle with consistency and what we need to work on is diligence. He puts it this way, chapter 3, verse 17, be on guard. Or in chapter 1 and verse 19, he says it differently, the same idea, pay attention.
The point is that if we're going to grow in Christ, we need to apply the same kind of diligence to it that we do to some other areas of our lives. Our work, for example. We have to be diligent about getting up on Monday morning.
I don't know too many people that are really excited about it, but we have to be diligent that when the alarm clock goes off, we roll out of bed and we get ourselves moving and we get through our morning routine and we finally get to the office, we begin to wake up and we get our work accomplished. We have to be diligent about our vocation. If you happen to be in sales, you have to be diligent.
You don't feel like going out and making calls every day of the week, which may be your assignment, but you have to be diligent in that. If you want to get into college, you have to be diligent in your schoolwork. Of course there are other things that at times seem more appealing. It seems like they'd be more fun to do than to sit and to study, but if you're serious about going to college, you have to be diligent and apply yourself and study.
You see, we have to apply diligence in many areas of life. It's true in our marriages. All of us want a happy marriage. I've never seen a bride and groom get up here and give their vows to each other and under their breath say, well, I really don't care. No, they all care. At that moment, there is deep desire in their hearts to love and to cherish till death they do part. You know what? It takes diligence after that. You have to work at a marriage. The same thing is true in the Christian life.
We have to be diligent if we're going to be serious about it. A major problem, a major enemy to consistency in our growth is forgetfulness. We easily forget things, and so Peter reminds us here of some things. In verse 12, he says, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things. I will continuously ever presently be ready to remind you of things that will help you to grow, he says. In verse 13, I consider it right to stir you up by way of reminder.
He says, I want to shake you out of your drowsiness to stir you up and to remind you because you easily forget. In chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, again he says, I'm stirring you up. I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember. Easily we forget. Then again in verse 8 of chapter 3, do not let this one fact escape your notice. Implication, sometimes we do let things escape our notice. We forget.
The key to consistent growth is found in part at least in having a good memory. And so Peter tells us some things in the last part of chapter 1 that we need to remember so that we might consistently grow. Some good reminders for us. First of all, he says, remember the things you know. That's what verse 12 is saying. He says, I'm writing these things to you and I'm ready to repeat them. You and I have a need to remember the things that we've already heard before.
One of the jobs of a pastor or a teacher is to keep saying things again and again and again because as has been said, repetition is the mother of learning. All of us need to hear things over and over again, hopefully in new ways, applied perhaps differently or illustrated in a new and interesting way, but we need to hear the same things. Our minds have an amazing ability to recall. Think Magazine says that our brains can store enough data to fill several million books.
I have trouble writing a thank you note. But we should be able to fill several million books. Did you know that the conductor Arturo Toscanini memorized every note for every musical instrument in 250 symphonies and 100 operas? Can you imagine that? Every note for every musical instrument. What a tremendous capacity. He didn't just always have those, I'm sure, in immediate recall, but he had memorized those. You see, we have to work at memorizing.
We have to keep bringing things back to our minds and that's why Peter says remember the things you know. One of the things that seems pretty clear across the country is a need to go back to some of the basics that we've assumed that people know and repeat them. That's true among God's people as well as people in the world. We can't assume. We have to repeat. Then Peter says that we need to remember the limitations that we face, the limitation that we face.
In verses 13 through 15, he suggests that that limitation is our time on earth. That is, life is not unlimited. There is an end to it and he describes his own death in two pictures. He says, I'm going to lay aside my tent, my earthly dwelling, the tabernacle that I live in. The tabernacle is a common picture in the Bible of the body. It's a tent for the covering of the soul. And he says, I'm going to lay that aside soon.
He uses the word Exodus here of his soon departure in verse 15, the word Exodus in the Greek. Both of these pictures go back to ancient Israel and to the time when Israel worshiped God at the tabernacle surrounding the Exodus. I don't think it's a mistake or that it's happen chance that Peter picks those particular thoughts here as he thinks about the limitations of life. By the way, what happened to Israel back there in the wilderness? Well, the people forgot.
They had seen God do amazing things, the plagues in Egypt, the deliverance from the Red Sea, and yet they got to Kadesh Barnea and they failed to believe God. Why? Because they forgot. And so it's in the context of reminding us that Peter draws upon these kernel thoughts from the Old Testament. And he reminds us that we have a limitation in life. Life is not forever. Therefore, we need to be diligent about growing. We need to be diligent about it.
Now, as we come to verses 16 through 19, we see another reminder. He says if we want to be diligent in our growing, we should remember the future that we await. Let's pick it up in verse 15 to get the flow. I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you may be able to call these things to mind, 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.
For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the majestic glory, quote, this is my Son, my beloved. With Him I am well pleased, close quote. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. So you know what Peter has in mind there, don't you?
And so we have this 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. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will. But men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. In contrast, he goes on to say, to the false teachers which were plaguing them.
And we'll get into that chapter next month. But he tells us if we're diligent about our growing, we will remember the future that we await, a glorious future. What is the content of that future hope we have? It is what he calls here the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is the meaning of that? Well, as is true with several parts of our text tonight, there are a variety of understandings.
Some believe that he is simply remembering the earthly life and ministry of Jesus, the power and glory of Jesus that was revealed in his earthly ministry. But I rather think, as do many other commentators, that Peter has something future in mind, not the past. For very often in the New Testament, when the coming of Christ is mentioned and the power of Christ is mentioned, it's referring to his yet future return. And I believe that that is exactly what Peter has in mind here.
He says, I want to remind you of these things so that you will keep on remembering them after I have gone, because we've not believed fables. We have made known to you the power and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without question, it seems to me the emphasis here is upon the future coming of Christ. For that promise of his coming has lit the flame on the candle of hope. And we want to be alert, to be growing, to be engaged in our Lord's work when he comes.
How do we know that Jesus is coming? How do we know that there is a power and glory of Christ that is yet to be revealed in the world? What is our certainty about this hope? Well Peter says, this hope is not based upon myths. However cleverly disguised or devised they may be. Our hope does not rest upon tales that someone is passing around. When he says this, Peter may have in mind the false teaching that was so prominent as he wrote this book. It was called Gnosticism.
These people had as a part of their theology, myths, just legends, tales that had no basis to them at all, but which were interwoven into their theology that used the Christian language. When I think of the Gnostics, I think of Mormons. People who are not Christians, very fine people in many cases, moral people but not Christians. They do not believe in a Christian God, yet they talk about Jesus and they use some of the same terms that we use.
They say they believe in the Bible, but what they really believe in is the Book of Mormon, which is a book of myths and legends and tales. And that is what their faith is based upon. Peter says you have not learned what you have learned from myths, but he says rather from revelation. Now, he also may have in mind when he uses this term myths, the pagan fables that were so common in that day, a part of the pagan religions of Rome and Greece.
Fables about how the world came to be and other miraculous so-called events. And their whole pagan religion also was based upon these fables that had been passed down by storytellers from generation to generation. Now again, Peter says that is not what your faith rests on. Your faith rests upon revelation from God and that is what he goes on to talk about. And he mentions a very personal revelation from God that he had along with James and John.
It was a revelation at the Transfiguration where there was a preview of the future coming of Christ when Christ's power and glory will be revealed. There was a preview of that coming kingdom. Some people have called what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration the kingdom in miniature. Now what is meant by that is that on that occasion you recall there was the glorified Christ.
His power as the Son of God manifested, His glory made visible for His skin and His clothing shone like the brightness of the sun. But in addition, there was on the mountain Moses. Moses was there. Peter saw him. Peter heard Moses and Jesus conversing. They were discussing Jesus' coming death by the way. Moses may represent those who will have died but who will be resurrected to share in the coming kingdom. That may be us. It may be all of us. It may be some of us.
But those who have died as believers will be resurrected to share in that kingdom whether a part of this age or the previous age or the tribulation to come. All of the godly will be resurrected before the kingdom to share in that time. And so when we think of that Transfiguration experience as the kingdom in miniature, we have Jesus there. We have Moses there representing the resurrected dead who are there to share in the kingdom. And then we have Elijah on this side. Elijah who never died.
Elijah who was translated, who was taken up into heaven without passing through death. Elijah represents another group that can be pointed to in the coming kingdom and that is the raptured church. And particularly those of us who will be alive on that day when Christ returns and who will not pass through death but who will be caught up in glory to be with our Lord and then be a part of His kingdom reign. And so you have Jesus, the glorious King of the kingdom.
You have those resurrected from the dead represented by Moses. You have those who will be glorified who will never have died but just changed in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye represented by Elijah. But then you've got three other people on the mount, Peter, James, and John. And they may represent in this kingdom in miniature those who will live through the tribulation, who will be believers, and who will then enter into the kingdom in their natural bodies.
Obviously Peter, James, and John were in their natural bodies there in that mountain. And they may represent those who will be alive in the tribulation period, come to faith during that time. They will not be martyred. And when Christ comes again to establish the kingdom, they will be there ready to enter into that kingdom.
And they will be very important because it is those righteous people in their natural bodies who will enter into the kingdom who will repopulate the earth during that thousand year reign of Christ until the earth's population will be undoubtedly much greater than it is today because death will practically be non-existent during the kingdom. And the patriarchal ages of Noah and Methuselah will be repeated as people will live extended lives in that period of time.
By the way, it seems to me that that is a good argument against the idea of a post-tribulation rapture of the church, that the rapture takes place after the tribulation. Because if that's the case, then there's no one left in a natural body to enter into the kingdom to populate the earth when Christ comes back to reign.
In other words, if when Jesus comes again and calls believers to Himself and we all have supernatural glorified bodies, if that is just prior to His return to the earth to establish His kingdom, then there's nobody left on the earth in natural bodies to enter into the kingdom and to repopulate the earth as must happen as nations are reformulated and will exist and bring their offerings to Jerusalem during the tribulation time.
Well anyway, Peter was certain about the second coming of Jesus Christ because of that transfiguration experience. It had quite an impact on him. He heard the voice of God, the majestic glory spoke on that day. This is my son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased. He does not include the words that came after that, hear him, but he recalls the voice of God that was heard on that day. What he saw and what he heard was a confirmation of the future that awaits the child of God.
Folks, we have a wonderful future, a wonderful blessed hope it is called. And as you and I remember that, we need to give diligence to growing in Christ. And that's how he concludes this whole book. When we get into chapter 3, we'll see it. He says, now since you have this hope, since you're expecting these things, be diligent that when He comes that you're found of Him in peace and pure and spotless and so on. And grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Enter the future that you'll wait. And don't be satisfied for a moment just to kind of glide along in life easily. Don't just drift with the tide, but be diligent and give yourself to this matter of growing in your faith. And then he closes the book with, rather this chapter, with something else. So before I get there, I need to talk about verse 19. Verse 19 has been the source of a lot of writing. What does he mean? So we have the prophetic word made more sure.
The verse can be read to understand it this way. Even more certain than this experience on the Mount is the prophetic word. And we would certainly agree with that in the sense that our experience with God always comes after and is subservient to the prophetic word of God. However, Peter's experience is a little different than your experience in mind with God. His was a divine revelation on a mountain where God spoke and revealed His Son in His glory.
And so I think rather that perhaps Peter is saying this. Instead of saying, if you don't believe me, believe the Scriptures, which is a fine statement, I think what Peter really is saying here is this. His transfiguration experience that we had on the Mount was a confirmation of the prophetic word regarding these yet future events. We have the prophetic word made more sure in what we experienced on that Mount.
Not only do we have the word of the prophets, but we have heard the word from God Himself in heaven regarding the testimony of His Son and the power and the glory that is coming. Whichever position you may take on it, or you may take another position altogether, the point is this that we need to pay attention to the prophecies of Scripture, which he says here provide for us a certain hope for the future. The promises of Scripture are like a lamp in a dusky, dingy, darksome world.
You and I live in a world that is like the world at twilight, at dusk, when you can't really see very clearly and you strain to understand and to grasp what is happening. But he says that you and I have a lamp, and it's the prophetic word, and we do well to pay attention to the light that comes from that lamp. And then he talks about the day that's going to dawn. And he speaks about the morning star arising in your hearts. Hard to figure out what he means by that.
I've had three different opinions this week as I've looked at it, and I'm not ready tonight to say that I understand exactly what Peter is saying. The morning star is the word phosphorus, which I thought was interesting. Not important, but interesting. But the morning star refers to Venus. What does the morning star do? Well, it appears in the eastern sky just prior to the dawn of the day, and so it ties in with the day dawning that he speaks about. And he says it's in your hearts.
What he may be talking about here is what that day of Christ's return will bring to us. The illumination, the understanding, everything will then fall into place that we have so wondered about in this life. Well now let's get on to verses 20 and 21, where he tells us one more thing that we need to remember. We have a common battle, it is with being consistent, and one of the problems with consistency is the tendency to forget.
So Peter says, remember, remember, remember, finally remember the Scriptures which you believe. What we have in our laps or in our hands tonight is truly a unique book. He says know this, first of all, of first importance that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. Well now we come to another one of these phrases that people understand differently. There are some who understand this in the sense of hermeneutics. You say hermeneutics who?
Hermeneutics is the science and the art of biblical interpretation. And there are some who believe that this means that no passage of Scripture is to be interpreted by itself and that it must be taken in context. Does anybody disagree with that? No heretics here tonight. Of course that's true. We are to understand Scripture in its context. We are not to take a passage and try to interpret it apart from other texts.
And then there are those who say that none of us should seek to interpret the Bible apart from the wisdom of others in the body of Christ that we need collectively to bring the illumination of the Spirit of God to it. Does anybody disagree with that, that we ought to listen to other believers and what they understand? No, there are no heretics here tonight on that basis. That's true too. I don't think that's what Peter is talking about. What does he mean then?
No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. He seems to be, in the context here, pointing to the source of Scripture. Not to our attempts to understand it, but rather to where Scripture comes from. He seems to be saying something like this. No prophecy of Scripture came about by any prophet of old seeking to understand the circumstances and experiences of his life on his own. You understand what I'm saying?
In other words, he's saying now Jeremiah, when he wrote, was not seeking to interpret his day or to understand what was happening in his day merely on his own. And he goes on to say, no prophecy ever came by the act of human will, but by the Holy Spirit. So, it seems to me that the source of Scripture is in view here. He's talking about the fact that Scripture was never brought to pass by the initiative of man.
The writings of the Bible, whether it's Peter's writings or Paul's or any of the prophets, none of these writings came to pass because of man's attempt to interpret God, whatever that means, in his day. And therefore, God kind of evolved in human understanding, which is a typical liberal lie. No. But rather, he says, men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. So the source and the origin of Scripture is God Himself, revealing Himself to us. But how did God do that?
Well, he tells us in just a very curious phrase. He says men were moved by the Holy Spirit. That word move is drawn upon a boating analogy, where great ships of that day would put up their sail. And as their sail went up, the wind caught it, and they were borne along the surface of the water by the power of the wind. And he is saying that in the writing of Scripture, in the transmission of the Word of God, what happened was that these authors wrote out of their own personalities.
They were talking about their day and their experience, but the Holy Spirit was like the wind in their sails moving them to write so that what they wrote was God speaking. Wind spoke and God spoke simultaneously. It's not that God dictated the Scriptures, which is the position of a few people, that Jeremiah had his quill and his parchment, and he waited for God to speak and then he wrote it. It's not that.
But it is that they wrote out of their own thoughts and yet those thoughts and the words they used selected from their own vocabulary or words that God wanted them to use. And so God gave to us this book. Imperfect men were enabled to communicate inerrant truth. So Peter is saying here, recalling the wonder of this revelation and the miracle of what we call inspiration and reminding ourselves of the certain fulfillment of these things that God has said.
Let's use it to the word that is to be diligent to grow in Christ. Why is it that we tend to remember the things we ought to forget and to forget the things we ought to remember? We can remember many of us jokes that we wish we had forgotten. We remember offenses against us even years after they've passed. We remember our failures. We tend to remember negative things that happen to us. We remember rumors. Why do we then forget the things that will change our lives?
Folks, let's determine by God's grace this week to be a people who remember, who remember what we already know, who remember the destiny that we face. The limitation that life isn't forever. Let's remember though the future that we await, the coming of Christ, and the book that God has given to us. And remembering these things, let's give ourselves to be serious Christians.
Heavenly Father, apply this truth to our lives and may there be within our hearts a spirit-born desire to grow and to keep on growing and to be consistent so that on that day when that glorious future unfolds, we may be found in peace, spotless and blameless, growing in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.