Peter Warns All Believers Against False Teachers Within and Exhorts Us to be Steadfast Volume 14

The Trustworthy Prophetic Word of God Declared and Affirmed by the Apostle Peter Part 1 2 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: KJV Note: NKJV=New King 👑James Version As we declared in the very last commentary/bible study, the Apostle Peter had the reality and truth of who Christ Jesus our Lord was then and is now and always has been and that is He is very God manifested or made visible in human flesh to mankind, for Peter was an eyewitness to His Majesty/Splendor/Glory and God the Father speaking from Heaven affirming who Jesus Christ was and is for all Eternity. However, now the Apostle Peter writes to us these words, "We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:" (2 Peter 1:19) (KJV). What does Peter mean by these words? Is he saying that the Word of God (the Old Testament for Peter at the time of his writing) is more sure or certain than what he saw and heard? Of course he is not discounting what he saw of the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor the Words he heard spoken from Heaven, for our Lord Jesus Himself affirmed to Peter, James, and John the truth of what they saw and heard as they were about to go down from the mountain when He spoke these words to them, "Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, 'Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.'" (Matthew 17:9) (NKJV). Therefore, we see that this was real and true what the Apostles saw and heard. What Peter is actually saying here, is that the Words written by the Prophets of Old 🧓were and are true and trustworthy and of course they are because it was God/Jesus Himself speaking through them. Remember when Moses said this, "'The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear'" (Deuteronomy 18:15) (NKJV). Moses was not told who this Prophet would be or the fact/reality that it would be God Himself manifested in human flesh. Moses went on further down to write these words as well, "And the LORD said to me: What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My Name, I will require it of him." (Deuteronomy 18:17-19) (NKJV). Note: "Notice the very first words Moses writes, "AND THE LORD SAID TO ME:" This is what Moses and all the other true Prophets of God declared to the people and that being what the Lord said to them and everything that the Lord said to them came to pass exactly as He the Lord said it would. Here is the Prophet Ezekiel speaking the trustworthy Word of God, "Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life (that being his eternal life), that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn (repent) from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul." (Ezekiel 3:16-19) (NKJV). The Apostle Peter says at the end of 2 Peter 1:19 that 'light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts', for the English word 'dark' is translated by the Greek word auchmēros which is used this one time only in the entire New Testament and it means dust, as dried by wind; properly dirty and dark. The English word 'dawn' is translated by the Greek word diaugazō which also is used this one time only in the entire New Testament and it means to glimmer through, that is, break (as day): - dawn. Finally, the English word 'star' used here by Peter is translated by the Greek word light bearing ('phosphorus'), that is, (specifically) the morning star (figuratively): - day star. What our Lord Jesus means here is exactly what he declared to the Prophet Ezekiel to speak to the people and that is our human inner man 👨and inner woman 👩is evil and wicked (for we are all born that way at our physical birth into the human race Roman 3:10-18) dark and dirty, therefore, we need the light of the Word of God the Gospel of Christ to break through into our filthy hearts as the day light or the morning Sun Rise breaks through the darkness of nightfall and moves it out of the way so that only the light bearing rays of the Sun are visible, so do we human sinners need the filthy sin of our hearts dawned upon by the Word of God, that is, the Gospel of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-11), that is, Christ Himself as He enters the heart, for He is the Morning Star, as it is written by our Lord Jesus to us with these words, "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. 'I, Jesus, have sent My Angel to testify to you these things in the Churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.'" (Revelation 22:14-16) (NKJV). Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 2 Peter 1:19, "THE rendering of the first words in this passage must be reckoned among the distinct improvements of the Revised Version. As the translation stands in the Authorized Version, 'We have also a more sure word of Prophecy,' it conveys a sense which many must have found perplexing. The Apostle had just dwelt on the confirmation of faith, both for himself and those to whom he preached, which was ministered by the vision of the Glory of Jesus and by the proclamation of His Divinity by God's voice from Heaven. Could any Prophetic message vie in his estimate with the assurance of such a revelation? Now what St. Peter meant is made clear. 'And we have the Word of Prophecy made more sure'-more sure because we have received the confirmation of all that the Prophets spake dimly and in figure. The Apostle and the rest of the Jewish people had been trained in the ancient Scriptures, and gathered from them, some more and some less, light concerning God's scheme of salvation. There were, however, but few who had attained a true insight into what was revealed. They had dwelt, as a rule, too exclusively on all that spake of the glory of the promised Redeemer and of His coming to reign and to conquer. That there should be suffering in His life, they had put out of sight, though the Prophets had foretold it; and so when Christ spake of His crucifixion, soon to come to pass in Jerusalem, St. Peter exclaimed-and he had the feelings of his nation with him-'That be far from Thee.' The voice on the holy mount and the words of Moses and Elias had opened their eyes to the full drift of Prophetic revelation; and by the illumination of that scene of glory, where yet the lot of suffering was contemplated as near at hand, there had been given to them a grasp of the whole scope of prophecy, and their partial and distorted conception of the Work of Christ was banished forever. 'Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.' The idea of a volume of New Testament Scriptures had not entered St. Peter's mind. He knows that St. Paul's letters (2 Peter 3:15-16) are read by some, who do not all profit by the privilege; and his own letters he intends to be an abiding admonition to the Churches. The need, too, of a record of Christ's life and works, a Gospel, must have begun to be felt. But yet he points the converts to the ancient records of Israel as a guide to direct their lives. They had heard the Gospel story from the lips of himself and others. Thus they had the key to unlock what hitherto had seemed hard to understand, and could study their Prophetic volume with a new and perfect light. This he means by 'ye do well.' Ye go to the true source of guidance, drink of the fountain of true wisdom, and gain strength and refreshment-when it is much needed. Duly to take heed of these records is to search out their lessons and labor after that deeper sense which is enshrined beneath the Word. Given as they were at various times and in various fashions, and given to point on to God's purposes in the future, these Scriptures must needs have been dark to those who first received them, nor could the men whom God chose to deliver them have been fully conscious of all they were meant to declare as the ages rolled on and brought their fulfillment nearer. Nor are they all luminous even yet, but they grow ever more so to those who take heed. 'As unto a lamp shining in a dark place.' Spite of all the light we can compass, the world will always be in one sense a dark place. It is a world of beauty, full of the tokens of God's Handiwork, the indications of His Love. But evil has also made an entrance: and the trail of the serpent is evident in the sorrow, the disease, the wickedness, that abound on every side. And problems continually present themselves which even to the saints are hard to be solved. Many a Psalm records the conflict which has to be passed through ere God's ways can be reconciled to men. We must go into His House, draw near to Him, feel to the full His Fatherhood, ere our hearts can be contented. Nay, the disquiet breaks out again and again. So God, in His mercy, has provided His lamp for those who will use it; and to those who take heed it furnishes ever-new light. The history, the Prophecy, the devotion, the allegory, of the holy volume are all full of illustrations of the firm purpose of redemption, of the eternal, unchanging love of Jehovah, thwarted only by the perverseness of those whom He is longing to save from their sins. And to call God's revelation in His word a lamp is a striking and instructive figure. It is something which you can take with you, and carry into the dark places whither your lot may send you, and use its light just where and when you need it. But its light must be fed by the constant oil of diligent study, or its usefulness will not be found to the full. And the truth is the same if we apply the lesson to nations and Churches as it is for individuals. The records were given to a Nation chosen to keep the knowledge of God alive in the world. The word spoken did not profit, as it was meant to do, because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it. And there is the same faith needed still. The light of a lamp in a dark place shines but a little way; but by the rays of the Divine lamp men are to walk, in faith that the steps beyond will become clear in their turn. And thus alone will the problems of life be really solved, the religious contentions, the social difficulties, the trials of family life, the individual doubts and fears: all are elements of darkness; all need to be illumined by the lamp which God has provided. Oh that men would burnish it by diligent heed, and keep its radiance at the full by constant seeking thereunto! 'Until the day dawn, and the day-star arise' in your hearts. The day has begun to dawn for those who will lift up their hearts to its breaking. The day-star from on high hath visited the earth in the Person of Christ, but the full day will not be till He returns again. Yet His coming into the world was meant to lighten every man, and to win all men to walk in His light. 'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me,' is His own promise. And in that decease of which He spake with Moses and Elijah. He has been lifted up. But He has left it to them that love Him to lift Him up constantly before the eyes of men, to exalt Him by their lives; and our lax performances make the progress of His drawing all men, to halt. We fail to make due use of the lamp which He has put ready to our hand, and which only needs to be grasped. The perfect day will not come to us in this life, but He gives to His faithful ones glimpses of the dawn. They learn the presence of the Sun of righteousness, though as yet they see Him only through the mists and darkness of life; and they are cheered with the certainty of the coming day. And the day-star of the Spirit is kindled in the hearts of those who ask Him to dwell there; and they are led forward into greater and greater truth, into richer and fuller light. And for the same end the Spirit is promised to the Church of Christ: that she may be enabled, having used the lamp first given with all faithfulness, to open to men the ways of God more fully, and, amid the changes of times and varying vicissitudes and needs of men and nations, to prove that the only satisfaction to the soul is the increasing knowledge of the oneness of God's purpose and eternity of His Love. To such a power she will be helped by giving heed to the lamp in every dark place and seeking in its light the elucidation of all hard questions." If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...