Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: 2 Peter 1:12-21

As our passage begins, it’s evident the apostle Peter has a deep sense that his death (which Jesus prophesied in John 21:18-19) is imminent. He writes of his urgent need to remind his readers of the great truths of the gospel message, because he knows that he will soon put aside “the tent of this body” and depart. He wants to ensure that they will never forget the truth when he is gone.

In his quest to deeply embed the truth in their hearts, Peter reminds his readers (and us) that the apostles were eye-witnesses (v.16-17) and “ear-witnesses” (v.18) who saw and heard the glories of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. Peter and the other apostles did not invent “cleverly devised stories”. Indeed, everything those early readers of his letter had heard from him and the other apostles first-hand was utterly trustworthy and true.

Today, when we read the Gospels and their testimony of Jesus, we too can be absolutely certain that their apostolic content is neither hearsay nor an invention, but the absolute truth! And the apostles’ explanation (in the Book of Acts and the epistles) of the ministry and teaching of Jesus, is an absolutely accurate account. And, by the way, I would add that we also know this by virtue of the life-changing impact of the New Testament on billions of people over the last 2000 years

And then Peter declares boldly that the Old Testament, so filled with prophetic insight into the Messiah, is also completely reliable, because it did not originate in the will of a human but in the heart of God, Who inspired its authors by the Holy Spirit.

So the long and the short of today’s passage is this: In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit Himself was pointing towards Jesus and His coming. In the New Testament, the apostles were pointing backwards and testifying to their first-hand experience of Jesus and passing on the teachings He had entrusted to them. And the whole of Scripture is to be received and wholeheartedly believed as an accurate testimony of the saving work of God through Jesus Christ.

LORD, we praise You for the Bible – Your sacred signpost to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ! Please open our eyes to see Your glory and to hear Your truth from the pages of Scripture, every day of our lives. Amen.