A More Sure Word of Prophecy

In Brother Peter’s second epistle, he states some precious truths about God’s power and promises, and then begins the line of thought that we wish to develop here. “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount. 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: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”* (2 Peter 1:14-21)

“To have these things always in remembrance.” Let us consider this in a historical perspective. We see the Lord in the garden giving a command to Adam and Eve, a command that they were supposed to keep always in remembrance. Satan succeeded in driving it out of their remembrance with lies. Although men later began to call on the name of the Lord, so few kept God’s truth in remembrance that only eight were saved from the Flood. We can continue through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and see some getting it better than others. We see among the brothers of Joseph different degrees of remembrance. We see this problem with remembrance when the children of Israel went into the promised land under Joshua’s leadership. “The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua.”* (Judges 2:7) But then they turned away to idols. We see this in the lives of the kings of Judah. As often as not, the son of a godly king would turn to idols, and forget the living God. Sometimes even a king who started out for the Lord would turn away toward the end of his life. So remembrance has been a real problem in history.

Here, Brother Peter faces this issue as he is coming near the end of his course. He knows these things are true. “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.” And why is it so important for Brother Peter? Is it because he’s persuaded that there is some good moral content in them, like some of Aesop’s fables or Grimm’s fairy tales? No, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” He was there! He was an eyewitness! He heard the words. He saw the miracles. He was on the mount of transfiguration! “For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard.” Peter, and James, and John heard! Perhaps you are inclined to think, “If only I had been there, and a part of that. Then I could be sure, like Peter!” But he says further, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy.” There’s something more reliable than being eyewitnesses. There’s something more certain, there’s something higher, than personal experience. There’s something more valid, more dependable, more sound. This is a person who walked with Jesus on this earth for three and a half years. This is a person who witnessed His glory on that mountain. And he is saying, “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.”

Let’s develop this thought: we have a more sure word of prophecy, we have the Word of God written down, inspired, but how do we go about assimilating it? How do we go about getting the good out of it? “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.” Think a moment about being out in a dark place at night. Maybe your job is to watch, to guard until morning. You make do with what you’ve got. If you have a campfire there, then that’s your light. You focus on it, you see from its light, you keep it burning as you wait for the dawn. And when dawn comes, and the sun rises, it fills up the whole earth with light, so there isn’t any darkness left. “Until… the daystar arise in your hearts.” When you need to know what’s true, or what the Lord wants you to do, or how to proceed amidst many opinions and teachings and choices, ask, “What is your teaching about this, Lord? What is the truth on this matter? There are so many different opinions, people say this, and other people say that.” “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.” Draw near to God. Don’t be content with a surface look at the scriptures, but ask Him to teach you, and keep asking Him to teach you, until you’re taught! Ask Him what He wants of you in this area until you’re illuminated—not just a glimpse, not just a little light, but until it fills your heart. Until it’s clear, like the daylight.

And then, to help us go further: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” This is a first principle of understanding. Not, “How does this fit in my way of thinking?”; “I think this must be the right meaning, because it appeals to me”; “Someone I highly respect believes this”; or, “That’s the way I think things ought to be.” No: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” We’ve got to go to the Author—the Author was not man, the men were just taking down notes, as it were. They were just the scribes. They were moved by the Holy Ghost. If you would understand this “more sure word of prophecy,” if you would have a clear way of getting to that point where it illuminates your heart, you must appeal to the Holy Ghost. You must have the Holy Ghost abiding with you. If you don’t have a new heart and a walk with the Author of the Bible, you can’t get that illumination—a clear understanding of the scriptures. And you have to not only know the Author, but look to Him and depend on Him to teach you. Not my will, but His will be done. Not the way I like to think, but the way it really is. Not the way that’s going to be easier for me, but the way that’s true. I don’t want a private interpretation, I want the Lord’s interpretation. “Take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.”

What a precious thing it is to be able to be taught by God. How do you know this is God’s standard about this, or that? How do you know God requires this? How do you know God wants you to do that? How do you know this is really right, and this is really wrong? Because the Lord is willing to teach us. Because He has given us a sure word of prophecy. As Jesus said to Thomas, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”* (John 20:29) Why blessed? Well, one aspect is this: they’re depending on a more sure word of prophecy. Let’s discuss a little the shortcomings of “eyewitness” learning.

My senses can fool me. I can be fooled by my eyesight. Our minds fill in a lot of gaps in our eyesight. One morning I was walking by a bedroom, and I glanced in and thought my youngest daughter was in the bed. I wanted to talk to her, so I went in. She wasn’t in the bed—it was just her covers rolled up. Your mind often supplies things based on sketchy information.

I can be fooled by my hearing. Sometimes I hear a few words and my mind supplies the rest, and I’m persuaded someone said something they never said. I picked it out of context, or I heard part of it and my imagination did the rest.

I can be fooled by my taste buds. When I was about 20 years old, I was working long hours in a cannery, and would come home and eat after everyone else had finished. One time, a chicken salad had been prepared for me. Now I didn’t like mayonnaise, and everyone knew it, so I figured they wouldn’t put any mayonnaise in a chicken salad they had prepared for me. I just ate it, assuming no mayonnaise was in it. There was something a little different than usual about it, but it still tasted pretty good, and I said so. Then I was told that there was mayonnaise in it. You see, my taste buds were influenced some by my own preconceptions. If they’d told me before I’d eaten it that there was mayonnaise in it, it would have tasted worse to me.

Sometimes I can even be fooled by my sense of touch. If I touch something extremely cold, it feels like it burns.

“A more sure word of prophecy.” We don’t have to depend on private interpretation. We don’t have to depend on our own experience. Our experience has some value, but we have a more sure word of prophecy. We have a foundation to lean on. The Word of God illuminated in our hearts by the Spirit of God. It’s a foundation all our experiences ought to be built on. There’s no mirages in the Word of God. Interpreted by the Author, the Word of God and the Spirit of God, it is the foundation of truth in our lives. Oh, “to have these things always in remembrance.”

Brother Peter has gone on. It wasn’t too long after he wrote this that he went on. But you know, a lot of people have gotten a hold of God’s precious truth and remembered it since then, who weren’t eyewitnesses. They had a more sure word of prophecy, and we have it available to us, too. Thank the Lord.