Transcript & Slides: Our Lamp in Dark Places (2 Peter 1:12-21)

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Our Lamp in Dark Places (2 Peter 1:12-21)
By David Feddes

We're going to continue studying the book of Second Peter, looking at 2 Peter 1:12–21, in which the apostle urges us to pay attention to something “as to a light shining in a dark place.” For some of you who don’t know the Bible very well but are familiar with movies, that might be a line that rings a bell. In The Lord of the Rings, Galadriel gives something to Frodo and says, “This is the light of our most beloved star. May it be a light to you in dark places when all other lights go out.” Peter is telling us the same thing, and Tolkien was likely echoing that line because he knew the Bible very well. God gives us something to be a light in dark places when all other lights go out.

And all other lights do go out. If your light is, “I’m going to be in health and good vigor perpetually,” that light goes out. If things are always going to go the way you want in your family life, that light goes out. If you’re going to count on the environment around you to always be supporting Christian values, that light goes out. There are many other lights that people may count on, but at some point, they all go out—except one. We need a light in dark places when all other lights go out, and Peter talks to us about that.

When Peter has finished telling us the great things of the gospel—that we are partakers of the divine nature, that we have righteousness through faith in God our Savior Jesus Christ, and that with God’s help we can keep growing in the qualities of Christian character—Peter then says:

¹² Therefore I intend always to remind you of these things, 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. (2 Peter 1:12-15)

 

Peter says, “I am giving you a reminder.” We need reminders to stir us up, even when we already know the truth. Much of Scripture is reminding. The Bible doesn’t say something once, leave it at that, and move on to the next thing. In the letters of the Bible, we find that many times the apostles are reminding us of the same things over and over again.

As a pastor, I know that one of my main callings is simply to say the same things again and again. You may be tempted to say, “That preacher repeats himself a lot.” Well, that can be a hazard—or you may wonder, “Why doesn’t he say something new once in a while?” That can be a danger too. Every once in a while, I hope something comes out a little fresh or from an angle you haven’t heard before. But if you’re a seasoned Christian, you’re not looking for something brand new—never-heard-it-before—who’d have ever thought it? You’re humble enough to say, “Even though I already know some things and I am established in them, I need to hear them again and again.” We need to be reminded and keep reminding ourselves.

We need these things to stir us up because truth is a living thing that you live by, not just an item you stick on the shelf of your mind and say, “Now I’ve got that belief.” The point is not to have that belief rattling around somewhere in your head, but to have that truth directing your life, helping you in times of trouble, guiding you in times of decision, and leading you again and again into fellowship with the Lord. We need these reminders to stir us up, even though we already know much of what we’re being told.

Peter gives these reminders with a sense of urgency because he knows that his life is soon going to end. He writes these ongoing reminders for his original readers but also for people who would come in later ages. He wants to keep bringing to our attention these great truths of the faith. It’s interesting and valuable to see how Peter speaks of his coming death. He talks about the “putting off of his body.” In the original, it’s the “putting off of this tent.” He’s getting rid of a tent and moving on to something else. In 2 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul uses similar language: “Now if the tent of this body is destroyed, we have an eternal house in the heavens, not built by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

So Peter thinks of his passing as taking down the tent and then having a house instead. Another word he uses, which is maybe a little overtranslated, is “departure.” “After my departure you will be able at any time to recall these things.” The original word is exodus: “After my exodus you will be able at any time to recall these things.” For Peter, death is not just this devastating, horrible thing staring him in the face—it’s his exodus. He’s leaving a land of oppression, pain, and attacks, and he’s making an exodus to the promised land.

When you think of the enemy death, it’s sometimes helpful to think of it the way Peter did—as a tent that’s taken down and replaced with something better and more permanent, as an exodus from a very hostile world into a perfect world. He knows that’s going to happen soon. How does he know that? Years earlier, Jesus had said to him, “When you are old, they will stretch out your hands and take you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). Peter now realizes—perhaps because he’s already old, perhaps because he’s been arrested or imprisoned, or at least because he knows what Nero, the emperor, is up to hunting down Christians—that his time is near. Maybe the Holy Spirit has revealed it to him. He’s writing with a sense of urgency that his exodus is coming, that his tent is being taken down.

He wants people in future generations, after he’s gone, to hold on to the same truth he’s been teaching all along—to hold on to the same Christ who loves him and gives him righteousness. So when Peter speaks this way, it’s a reminder not just in his second letter but in all of Scripture. It helps us in every era and in every challenge. It helps us to keep being reminded and to recall God’s truth. He says, “I want you to be able at any time to recall these things.”

There are a couple of sides to that. One is that we’ve got his letter—so all you have to do is open your Bible and read it. At any time, you can do that. In a time of need, you can open your Bible. But I also want you to remember: at any time, if you’re facing heretics and false teachers, as Peter’s original readers were, recall these things. If you’re facing persecution, suffering, and the threat of death, recall these things. If you’re facing trials or your family life is under attack from the evil one, recall these things that God reveals to us in his Word.

Whatever your circumstance, whatever your era, Peter says, “I want you to be able at any time to recall these things.” That is also one of the great purposes of regular Bible reading—to keep being reminded and stirred up. It’s one of the purposes of Scripture memory, so that when you’re going through life and something nasty hits you, you can recall these things. If it’s never in there in the first place, it’s hard to recall. You can’t memorize the entirety of Scripture, but you can memorize and store in your heart things that will help you when you face temptation to avoid sin, or when you go through a devastating time to maintain your composure and your peace and to draw strength from God.

In times like our own, when messages fly around through the media and education systems that are hostile to God, how do you keep your head and avoid being blown here and there by every wind of doctrine? Recall these things. Recall these things. That’s why this Scripture is written—so that we keep being reminded of what we need to know.

The apostle goes on later in chapter 3 to say, “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Peter 3:1–2). He’s saying again, “I’m reminding you,” and he points out two great sources of truth: the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through the apostles. Or, if you want it simpler, the Old and New Testaments pretty well cover those bases. You have the holy prophets and the things they pointed forward to, and you have Jesus’ own commandment through the apostles whom he called and appointed.

I sometimes run into people who say, “Well, I believe in God, and I have a personal relationship with Jesus, but I’ve got my hang-ups with Paul. I draw the line there. I don’t listen to him much. There are other writers in the Bible I don’t think very highly of, but I really like Jesus.” My question is, how do you know anything about Jesus that you didn’t get through the Bible? What other sources are you drawing upon? You’re in danger of having a little “teddy bear Jesus” of your own imagination, who is nothing like the actual Jesus—the one Peter knew personally, who revealed himself in blazing visions of light to the apostle Paul and personally communicated the truth of the gospel.

We need to know the predictions of the holy prophets—the Old Testament—and we need to know what the Lord and Savior has said through his apostles, because he chose them for a reason. He gave them his truth and showed them who he is. So if you want to know Jesus, don’t say, “I’ve got my own personal Jesus.” Sure, we can all make up our own personal whatever, but that doesn’t mean it’s the real Jesus.

Peter says, “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. 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,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16–18).

Peter says, “We were there.” When we made known to you the power and coming of Jesus Christ, we know what we’re talking about.

Now, what is Peter referring to when he speaks about “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”? The fact that he was an eyewitness might lead you to say he’s talking about the first coming of Christ—his birth in Bethlehem, his life, miracles, death, and resurrection. That certainly was the coming of Jesus, and his power was displayed in that, but that is not what Peter is talking about here. He’s talking about the powerful second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That is the great issue here in the letter of Second Peter. You’ll see it explained in great detail in chapter three, where there are scoffers who say, “Where is this coming he promised?” The word for that coming is parousia—a technical term in early Christian writings and in the New Testament for the second coming of Jesus Christ. So Peter says, “We weren’t following cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and parousia—the second coming, the promised return—of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

He says, “We weren’t making up myths. We saw and heard the glory of Jesus Christ.” That is the glory of his second coming. The event that makes Peter an eyewitness of that glory is the transfiguration of Jesus—the time when Peter, James, and John went up with Jesus on a mountain, and Jesus was transfigured before them. Light shone from him, and they were terrified and dazzled by it. Peter says, “We were eyewitnesses of that glory.”

That’s the glory we saw—just a few of us—but that’s the same glory everyone will see when he comes again. So we’re not making up a myth when we talk about the glory and majesty of Christ. We’ve seen it. We’ve seen the preview. The transfiguration was a preview of the parousia, the return of Jesus Christ in majesty.

Why do I say the transfiguration is a preview? Because that’s the teaching of the Bible itself. Not just here in Peter, where he talks about the power and coming and then describes seeing that vision and hearing the voice from heaven, but also in the Gospel accounts.

Jesus says something that might make you scratch your head: “There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28). You might ask, how can he say that? It’s been two thousand years! But what’s the very next sentence after that? “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. A bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him’” (Matthew 17:1–5).

Notice that the passage about the transfiguration comes immediately after the statement that some standing there would see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. The transfiguration is that preview—they see the glory that everybody will see when Christ comes again in power and glory. He gave them the sneak preview on the mountain when the light shone and when Moses and Elijah appeared talking with him.

How did the disciples respond? They fell on their faces, terrified. That happens every time—even to the people of God, not just the enemies of God. The friends of Jesus, when they see his glory, fall on their faces. Ezekiel saw “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord,” and he fell facedown and was incapacitated for a while (Ezekiel 1:28). Isaiah saw the Lord high and exalted and said, “Woe is me! I am ruined!” (Isaiah 6:5). That’s what the disciples felt when they saw Jesus transfigured in divine splendor and glory.

Jesus says that’s a preview of his coming again, and Peter says, “Now you want to tell me he’s not coming again in power and glory? I’ve seen that glory, and it flattened me—and I was his friend! What’s going to happen when he comes in power and glory and you’re not his friend or his disciple?”

The Bible tells us what will happen: people will call for the mountains to fall on them and will run to caves to hide “from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16).

You might think the story of Jesus’ transfiguration sounds kind of strange—Jesus lights up like a light bulb for a few minutes, and then it’s over, and he’s back to looking like himself again. But it’s a lot more than that, and Peter makes a very big deal of what he saw when he was there with Jesus on that holy mountain where Jesus was transfigured. They were there—the apostles were dazzled and overwhelmed and never, ever forgot the splendor, glory, beauty, and majesty that they saw unveiled in that moment. They knew that moment was going to be multiplied a gazillion times when Christ comes in his full glory for all the world to see.

That’s what Peter is talking about. He’s saying this is going to happen—Christ is going to come again. As Jesus himself puts it, it will be like lightning that shines from one end of the heavens to the other, and everybody is going to behold him. Those who love him are going to rejoice to see him come, and those who do not look forward to his coming, who do not know the Lord Christ, will flee from the terror of his majesty. Peter is saying that those who question this and accuse them of making up myths are wrong. “I was there,” he says. “I know at least something of the glory to come, and I know the one whose glory is coming. I know Jesus Christ.”

It’s always important when we’re reading the Bible to know that we’re listening to eyewitnesses. A little later, we hear that people were carried along and inspired by the Spirit of God in their scriptural writings—and that’s very important, and we’ll emphasize that too—but this is also extremely important: Jesus handpicked eyewitnesses to reliably transmit his truth. And not just the factoids of his truth, but something of the splendor, the glory, the beauty. I want you to get that out of this too because it’s “a light shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19)—not just a computer code, not just a few propositions.

It’s a light shining in a dark place. The prophets, the holy prophets, said that “the people walking in darkness will see a great light; for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:2, 6). That’s the light shining in the darkness. The prophets are speaking of Christ coming. And later it says, “Arise, shine, your light has come. You will no longer need the sun or the moon. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end” (Isaiah 60:1, 19–20). Those are the words of the prophet Isaiah.

The apostle Peter says we’ve got these prophecies of God’s light shining on us, and we’ve seen with our own eyes the reality of Jesus’ light shining. So we look forward to his coming again, and “we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed” (2 Peter 1:19)—the word of prophets like Isaiah, or Malachi, who said, “The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings” (Malachi 4:2). All those wonderful prophecies were the light shining through dark centuries, promising a Savior, promising the light of God.

Peter says we have that prophetic word more fully confirmed, “to which you would 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. Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 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” (2 Peter 1:19–21).

Those are tremendous words. A few things come through here: the shining glory of Jesus—his coming to earth, whether it’s in the transfiguration or in the splendor and beauty of his life—is God’s light shining into our world. He’s the promised child, the promised light. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). He gathered into himself all those Old Testament sayings about God’s light coming to be among us.

His glory confirms the prophecies. As Peter puts it, “We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed.” The prophetic word was always true because it came from God—it had to come true. But now that we’ve seen how it came true in Jesus, we know better than ever that you can take God’s Word to the bank. Christ has already fulfilled so many Old Testament prophecies.

One of the prophecies yet to come is the great final “day of the Lord” when he comes again in power and majesty to make all things new. That’s in the prophets too. If all the other prophecies came true, why not that one? The prophets have an excellent track record of saying what’s coming. If they say that final day of the Lord is coming, you can count on it. The first coming of Jesus already fulfilled an unbelievable number of prophecies—about his life, the place of his birth, how he would die with his hands and feet pierced. All those predictions, made hundreds and even thousands of years before he came, came true. And now we have this prophecy of his coming again—and that’s going to come true as well.

So Scripture is confirmed by how much of Old Testament prophecy has already come true in our Lord Jesus Christ. Another reason you can count on the Bible and trust it so much is that the same Spirit who inspired the Old Testament prophets also inspired the New Testament writers. The apostle Peter says no prophecy of Scripture is “someone’s own interpretation.” Nobody ever just produced prophecy on their own. Isaiah didn’t get up one morning and say, “I think I’ll write down a few prophecies today.” Amos didn’t wake up and say, “It feels like a prophetic day; I’ll come up with something.”

The Bible says no—“they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. The people who wrote these things didn’t say, “This is what I believe; this is what I want to get out there.” They were carried along by God. They were speaking words given them by God, speaking in their own language—but inspired by the Holy Spirit.

This passage is vital to understanding how the Bible came to be. It is a human document—humans wrote it—but it’s not just human. They were carried by the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul says the same thing in different words: “The Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15–17).

I’ve emphasized in 2 Peter: Know and Grow. You’ve got these Scriptures, and if you want to grow, this is what will help you do it. Scripture rebukes, corrects, trains, and makes you mature and completely equipped. You know the Scriptures, and you grow in the way of the Lord. You become wise for salvation, and you become strong in the Lord.

Why is that? Because all Scripture is God-breathed. We don’t know the mystery of it—it’s impossible to fully understand the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ being fully human and fully divine and without sin. It’s almost as hard to understand the nature of Scripture being, in one sense, fully human—it’s written in human words we can understand, written by totally human people who often write in their own style and thought patterns so you can say, “That sounds more like Paul, and that one sounds more like Peter”—and yet they all sound like God.

The Scriptures are human, and yet there’s this mystery of the Holy Spirit carrying someone along and expressing God’s mind in human language. Theologians struggle with that—the incomprehensibility and unknowability of God—and yet somehow God makes himself known in human actions and words on the pages of Scripture. What a blessing it is to have that divine revelation.

The fact that prophecy is not just a matter of someone’s own interpretation also means you don’t read the Old Testament and say, “Well, this hit me this way, and that hit you that way, and it’s all true.” If you really want to interpret and understand the Old Testament, look at how it’s fulfilled and how the apostles of Jesus Christ interpret it and apply it in the New Testament. The New Testament apostles show the true meaning of the Old Testament, and they reveal the true Jesus. That’s what Peter is telling us here. He’s referring again and again to the prophets, to the apostles, and to the shining glory of Jesus Christ—and it’s all one.

The prophets are pointing to that glory, the apostles are eyewitnesses of that glory, and then there is the glory itself—the beauty and majesty of Jesus, to be adored and worshiped. Don’t forget, in all your theories about Bible inspiration and the importance of reading the Bible, that the main point is still worship, adoration, delight, rejoicing in who Jesus Christ is. The apostles reveal the true Jesus.

Another point Peter makes, even more strongly later in his letter, is that Scripture remains trustworthy even when it is twisted by ignorant and unstable people. The Bible has suffered much at the hands of its so-called friends—those claiming to be its defenders—who take the Bible, twist it, and try to tell you something untrue. Peter speaks of one such instance: “Our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him. There are some things in his writings that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15–16).

The Bible can be twisted. The Bible is a very dangerous book in the hands of the twisters. Jude writes about people who “change the grace of our God into a license for immorality” (Jude 4). They say, “Grace! It’s all grace. God forgives everything, so do what you want, live however you feel like living—it’s all going to come out fine in the end.” That’s twisting the grace of God, because the grace of God forgives—but it also transforms.

There are other ways of twisting Scripture, too many to mention now, but be aware that this light shining in a dark place—the Word of God, the Word that points us to Jesus Christ—can be twisted in the wrong hands. So you have to be alert to that, aware of misinterpretations of the Bible. Again, realize that the New Testament apostles reveal the true meaning of the Old Testament. You need to study both main sections of the Bible—the Old and New Testaments—because to understand the New, you need to be well versed in the Old.

Take the book of Revelation. You might say, “That’s a really tough book. I’ll read it and then look at the headlines to see how they match up.” Wrong. The book of Revelation refers over 270 times to the Old Testament. If you want to understand Revelation, don’t start with the latest prophecy guru and what they have to say about it. First, get yourself grounded in the same language and thought patterns that shaped all the biblical writers. Then you’ll have a better chance of understanding without twisting.

The New Testament apostles show the true meaning of the Old, and it’s all Christ-centered. You’re not understanding the Old Testament if you don’t yet see how it relates to Jesus—to his coming and to God’s work in the world. You’re not understanding the New Testament if you’re not centered on Jesus Christ—on his glory, his beauty, and his majesty.

May it be a light to you in dark places when all other lights go out. When you’re in the deepest caverns with the most vicious enemies about to attack, you need light. “Pay attention to it,” says Peter, “as to a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19).

What is the darkness? The darkness can be lies, error, and confusion. When all other sources claiming to be light turn out to be darkness, there is one source of truth: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). Your Word is the light shining in dark places.

We need to hear that. Proverbs says, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day, but the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Proverbs 4:18–19).

Truth in a world of lies—if you live on news, if you live on the secular education of our time, you’re going to have a darker and darker understanding of things. That’s just the way it is. We need to understand that God gave a light to shine in our dark places.

Peter says, pay attention to it. When you’re living amid confusion and a flood of conflicting messages, pay attention to this. Peter says, “I always want to remind you of these things,” that by faith in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, we have “these very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), and that you need to grow in these Christian characteristics. Then you’ll be confirming your calling and election. This is the Christian life to which you are called. Keep paying attention to it.

There will be those who twist the Scriptures and say there is no hell, no consequence for unbelief and disobedience. There are those who twist the Scriptures and say there was no great creation at the beginning by God. Others twist them and say, “Jesus’ talk about coming again is just a metaphor—that gradually God’s kingdom will advance on earth through our latest progressive program or new idea about what will fix everything.” They say that’s what Jesus was really talking about—not a great, cataclysmic change in the whole world when he appears in brightness and glory and makes all things new.

The truth is that this is exactly what’s going to happen. And the truth is that the commandment of our Lord and Savior is: “Be ready. I am coming again.” You do not want to be caught unawares. Be ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Pay attention to the Scriptures “as to a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19).

In an evil world, what does goodness look like? You need this light to show you. And don’t just listen to the preacher and say, “Amen, preacher! I believe the Bible is an excellent book.” It’s so excellent that it continues to gather dust on your shelf—it doesn’t shine anywhere with a pile of dust on it. So pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place. It is the light of good in an evil world.

In a world where death claims all of us, this is the light: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25–26). There is no other light in a world where everyone dies but that one. What light do you have if you have no light of resurrection—if you don’t have the risen Lord saying, “I am the resurrection and the life”? It’s only death.

Bertrand Russell, the great atheist mathematician and philosopher, denied that there was any creation, any Creator, or any coming again of Christ. He said, “Henceforth the world, the soul, must be built on the foundation of unyielding despair.” He was a very logical man—one of the great experts in logic of the twentieth century—and that’s the logic of it. If you don’t have resurrection, welcome to the firm foundation of unyielding despair. Sound good?

There is a lamp shining in a dark place. There is a different foundation than despair: “No foundation can anyone lay other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

In a world where there is so much that is shameful, and so many things that threaten to shame us or make us embarrassed about the faith, this is the light of glory amid shame. It’s the glory of being human—you are not just randomly evolved slime headed to become dust again. You are sons and daughters of God, destined for glory. This is the light of glory amid shame, and we must embrace the glory God gives us, as well as the glory of Jesus himself coming again.

Pay attention. You’re in a dark place. Whatever your dark place might be today, this is the lamp. God’s Word contains all things we need for life and godliness. There are many dark places, and we can’t always know what that darkness will look like in advance. But we can know the one light that shines when all other lights go out.

And that light, as wonderful as it is, is in some ways still a temporary light. As fabulous as the Bible is, it’s the light to get us through this present darkness. Then comes the day—the Day of the Lord. The prophets speak of it again and again: not just a day, but the Day of the Lord.

When that day dawns, the light shines. Something happens outwardly, and something also happens inwardly. Outwardly, the blazing light of Christ shines from one end of the heavens to the other, and everybody knows who’s really in charge. Inwardly, those of us who had a little glint of light—a bit of knowledge of Scripture—suddenly experience the morning star rising in our hearts as we behold the face of Christ. Our hearts will leap and say, “This is the one I’ve trusted. This is the one I’ve loved.”

Scripture is Jesus’ light in our night—but the Day of the Lord ends the night. Then we will know him face to face.

Now we know only partially. Even as wonderful as the Bible is, as perfectly true as it is, it’s only partial light that God has given to get us through this darkness. We see only a poor reflection; then we’ll see face to face and know fully, even as we are fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).

When Jesus appears, his full light will shine around us, and his full light will shine within us. The Bible says, “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). He has already shone some of that wonderful light into our hearts by his Word and by his Spirit, and he keeps giving us that amazing Word of God as a lamp to our feet, a light for our path, a light in dark places when all other lights go out (Psalm 119:105).

But that day—that day promised in that Word—is coming. Peter reminds us of the things he had been teaching so that we’ll all be ready for that day. When you trust in what Jesus did in his first coming, you are getting ready for his second coming. “The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2). “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2), and we are going to see greater and greater light.

Peter wrote this letter because there were those denying the second coming of Christ—the glory and power of his appearing. It’s a very dangerous thing to live your life as though there is no destination to it, as though your personal life is just meandering. That’s part of the darkness—that you can’t see where your life is headed. It’s a very dangerous thing to think the world is just evolving and drifting along, headed nowhere in particular, and that whatever happens just happens. But that’s not true.

Your life is headed somewhere—either to glory in heaven or to damnation in hell. Your life is headed somewhere. The world is headed somewhere. It’s headed toward the Day of the Lord, the day of judgment, when all that is unworthy will be burned up and all that is faithful to God will be purified and made brand new. You would do well to pay attention to the prophetic word that speaks of those things. You would do well to pay attention to it “as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).

Prayer

O Lord, we thank you for your Word—this Word that gives us light in a dark, despairing, and menacing world. A light that gives us your hope, a light that gives us your truth, a light that shines with the very light of Jesus Christ himself. A light that comes from the mouth and from the pen of eyewitnesses inspired and carried along by the Holy Spirit.

O Lord, make us always appreciative, grateful, and trusting of this mighty Word that you have given to us. Help us, Lord, in our homes to treasure and cherish it, as families to read it, as individuals to meditate on it—to learn more and more and to have more and more of your light shining in our lives.

And Lord, give us a sense of direction—a sense that we are already partakers of the divine nature through faith in you, and that our lives are headed for a great and wondrous destination if we are yours. Help us every day to seek your second coming, to pray, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” Help us, in the time that we have, to be servants who are wise, who are doing the will of the Master until you return—servants who will be rewarded for obedience and held to account for failings. Lord, help us to look forward to that great and mighty Day of the Lord.

And in the meantime, Father, help us to walk with this light, to call others to know you. We pray for those who are still lost in darkness, who don’t know your truth, whose hearts have never had the shining of Jesus Christ and the new birth that comes through faith in him. Have mercy, Lord. If there’s anybody here, have mercy on them. Let them see that light and treasure Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, and treasure the written Word—a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

 

Our Lamp in Dark Places (2 Peter 1:12-21)

By David Feddes
Slide Contents

May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out. (Galadriel to Frodo) 

¹² Therefore I intend always to remind you of these things, 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.

 
Reminder

• We need reminders to stir us up, even if we already know the truth.
• Peter knew his life would soon end, so he wrote ongoing reminders for us.
• Scripture helps us in every era, facing any challenge, to recall God’s truth.

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. (3:1-2)

 
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.

 
Eyewitnesses

• Apostles made known Jesus’ coming again in power and majesty.
• Apostles were not mythmakers but eyewitnesses who saw and heard.
• Transfiguration previewed Parousia: Jesus’ majesty when he returns.

 
Promise of seeing

“There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. (Matthew 16:28-17:1)

 
Shining Son

And he was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus… a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him!” (Matt 17:2-5)

 
Eyewitnesses

• Apostles made known Jesus’ coming again in power and majesty.
• Apostles were not mythmakers but eyewitnesses who saw and heard.
• Transfiguration previewed Parousia: Jesus’ majesty when he returns.

 
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.

 
Scripture confirmed

• Jesus’ glory confirms OT prophecies.
• The same Spirit who inspired OT prophets also inspired NT writers
• NT apostles show true meaning of OT and reveal the real Jesus.
• Scriptures remain trustworthy even if twisted by ignorant, unstable people.

 
Scripture twisters

Our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (3:15-16)

Light amid darkness
Pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.

• Truth amid lies.
• Good amid evil.
• Life amid death.
• Glory amid shame.

Sunrise

… until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

• Scripture is Jesus’ light in our night.
• The Day of the Lord ends the night.
• When Jesus appears, his full light will shine around us and within us.