1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue, 4by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; 6and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control, perseverance; and in perseverance, godliness; 7and in godliness, brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. 8For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. 10Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. 11For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
12Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth. 13I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, 14knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure.
16For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received from God the Father honor and glory when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts, 20knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. 21For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
16 For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
We hear and read so many things that are not true. This is especially true of what we read online. The advent of AI-generated stories is only getting started. We see things with our eyes that are just made up by a computer. There are supposed fact-checkers on Facebook and other social media sorting truth from fiction, but we have no reason to believe that anything they check is true. Who is fact-checking the fact-checkers? We’ve learned that they are political hacks who put their own agenda into everything they “fact-check.” They are not “fact checkers”; they are information controllers. Information all around us seems less trustworthy every day. It’s hard for people to know what to believe. But what we read about in the Bible is not generated by AI. It is passed down to us through the ages from credible eyewitnesses.
Oddly, according to the Christian Post, less than half of all evangelicals believe the Bible is true. And only 17% of Christians have a Biblical worldview. So, how can we know that what we read in the Bible is true? Some people say there is no such thing as truth. Yet, how can they state that if that too is an absolute statement? The beautiful thing about the Bible is that it makes factual claims and has the evidence to back them up. Peter tells us in the most credible terms that Jesus came from heaven. He was sent by God, and He truly is the light of the world that can shine light into the darkness of our lives. Peter’s summation of who Jesus is and what He did for you and me is based on corroborated eyewitness accounts. Peter saw and heard the evidence with his own eyes and ears. In this passage, Peter is remembering and reiterating a pivotal point in his life. He is harkening back to what we call the Transfiguration.
Peter says we did not follow μῦθος myths and cunningly devised fables. Peter explains that they not only saw this together, but they heard it together. They saw Jesus in His glory, and they heard the voice of God proclaiming exactly who Jesus was. Personal experiences certainly can be subjective. An experience by itself doesn’t make something true. Many of us reading this devotional can give an account of what we think God has done in our lives. Some have come to me and claimed that they’ve seen Jesus. Others have come and told me how their lives have been changed by Christ. These accounts are subjective. But in the verses that follow Peter’s restatement of the Transfiguration, he explains that everything they saw and heard was supported by incredible prophecies uttered hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth.
Peter is telling us, “We heard it. We saw it. And, it was all foretold by the prophets.” His account gives great credibility to the gospel story. Getting to a belief in God is usually much easier than coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus. However, the hook is in the Messianic prophecies. They just couldn’t have been made up. They lead in a certain path to Jesus as the Divine Messiah, the Savior of the world. You can take that to the bank!