But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

2 Peter 1  from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: ² Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; ³ seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. ⁴ For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. ⁵ Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, ⁶ and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.⁹ For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; ¹¹ for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

¹² Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. ¹³ I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, ¹⁴ knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ¹⁵ And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— ¹⁸ and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, ²¹ for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

There are many today who believe that the Bible needs to be updated. Many think we must seek to interpret it in a new and different way to make it more relevant to our culture and society. It is one thing to translate scripture into a more modern language; it is another thing all together to alter what is said in scripture to appeal to the modern culture. There are many today who focus mainly on the way Jesus lived; on His life of peace, compassion, mercy and grace. They focus on the truth that He associated with sinners and outcasts. Yet they forget that He Himself was without sin; that even while He was fully human, He was also one with God. Jesus was Holy and Righteous, just as God the Father is Holy and Righteous. For myself, I don’t believe we need to seek revelation through new interpretations of scripture to understand who Jesus was and what He wanted us to do. I will default to those who knew Him; to those who walked with Him, prayed with Him, shared meals and ministry with Him, to those who Jesus took aside from the masses and spoke to personally.       

In today’s text Peter, who validates what he says by saying: 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, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain;  also says:  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.     Grace and peace, two of the characteristics of Jesus that we are to model to the world, are multiplied to us and through us in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. If we want to be like Jesus, we must first know Him. Look again at what Peter says:  His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.   We become partakers of the divine nature of God and Christ, if we have also escaped the corruption that is in the world. Many today focus on kindness and love toward others. Look though at the order that Peter says these things come through:  Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.      The love and kindness of Christ comes when we diligently, in faith, supply moral excellence, self control, perseverance and godliness. We cannot model the kindness, the love, the compassion, the mercy and grace of Jesus to the world, if we don’t also model His moral excellence, self control and godliness.   

Peter ends today’s text saying:  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. 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.    We should not be so eager to hear the new, modern revelation people have regarding the prophetic word and scripture. If we want to fully know God and Jesus, if we want to fully understand scripture, the best interpreter we have is the author, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also one with God and Christ and yet that same Spirit dwells in us. In John 14:16-17;26 Jesus says:   ^“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you… the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”    In John 16:13-15 Jesus says:  “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.    Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit, the Three in One God, in whom I am also one with Your divine nature, through Your mercy and grace given through the cross.   Amen.