Lesson 5

November 24, 1888.

2 PETER 1:16-21.

  1. IN his second epistle, what does Peter say that he had previously made known to the people? 2 Peter 1:16.
  2. With what positiveness could Peter speak of the glory of Christ’s coming? Ib.
  3. When had he been an eye-witness of Christ’s majesty as it will be displayed at his second coming? Verses 17, 18.
  4. State the details of this occurrence. Matt. 17:1-5; Mark. 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36.
  5. What had Jesus previously said which also shows that the transfiguration was a representation of the second coming of Christ? Matt. 16:28; Mark 9:1.
  6. Is it possible to have any better evidence than that given to Peter, James, and John? 2 Peter 1:19.
  7. What office does the word of prophecy serve to us? Ib. Ps. 119:105.
  8. How long will it shine to show us the way? 2 Peter 1:19, last part.
  9. In what period are we living, that a light should be necessary? Rom. 13:12; Isa. 60:2.
  10. What has brought about this night of darkness? Rom. 1:21.
  11. Who is the day-star? Rev. 22:16; John 8:12.
  12. Can any prophecy be interpreted by the unaided knowledge of any man? 2 Peter 1:20.
  13. Why not? Verse 21.
  14. What connection has the light of prophecy with the day-star, the light of the world? 1 Peter 1:10, 11.
  15. Why cannot all the world see this light? 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:3, 4.
  16. What aid must we have in order to understand it? 1 Cor. 2:9, 10.
  17. Having the aid of the Spirit, how must we proceed in our study? Verse 13, last clause.

NOTES

IT is usually considered that one who was an eye-witness of any event is the one best qualified to testify concerning it. And most certainly it is better than testimony given at second hand. So Peter assures us that he had not been deceived by cunningly devised fables when he made known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, because he himself had been an eye-witness of his majesty. Then he refers to the transfiguration scene, in a way to show that that was what he had in mind as exhibiting the power and glory of Christ at his second advent. And this is in accord with transfiguration. our Saviour said when he foretold the transfiguration.

“WHEN Christ, who is our life, shall appear,” there will be two classes of the righteous who will “appear with him in glory”:-those who have fallen asleep, and those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. The dead shall be raised, and the living shall be changed, and so they will together be glorified. So it was when Christ was transfigured. Elijah was there as the representative of those who shall be translated without seeing death, and Moses, as the representative of those who fall asleep. in Jesus, and whom God will bring with him from the dead. That Moses had been raised from the dead when he appeared with Elijah upon the mount, is proved (I) by the fact that if he had not been raised from the dead he could not have been there, for “ the dead know not anything.” Eccl. 9:5. See also Eccl. 9:6, o; Ps. 6:5; 115:17; 146:3, 4; Isa. 38:10, 11, 18, 19, etc. (2) Jude says that Michael (Christ) contended with the devil about the body of Moses. Jude 9. The devil has the power of death (Heb. 2:14) and shuts up in his prison house (the grave) all that he can, claiming that they are his lawful prey (see Isa. 14:12-17); and although Christ has brought away the keys of the grave, Satan does not willingly allow any to pass from his power. There could not possibly be anything that would cause a dispute between Christ and Satan about the body of Moses, except the matter of his resurrection. (3) If Moses had not been raised from the dead, the transfiguration would not be what both Christ and Peter declared it to be,—a representation of the second coming of Christ.

BUT notwithstanding the fact that Peter had actually been an eye-witness of “the power and coming” of Christ, and could testify from personal knowledge, he says, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy, unto which ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” The Revised Version renders this verse as follows: “ We have the word of prophecy made more sure;” but we cannot accept this rendering. Alford says that this rendering is on the ground,-

“That the comparative alludes to what has gone before as its reason, as if it had been said Wherefore, or Now, or Henceforth we have, etc.; i.e., ‘on account of this voice from Heaven which we have heard, we have firmer hold of, or esteem [possess] more sure the prophetic word, as now having in our own ears begun its fulfillment.’ The great objection to such a view is the omission of any such connecting particles as those above supplied. It is true the apostle may have omitted them [as he certainly did, and, presumably, on purpose] ; but even supposing that; it is further against the view, that if such be the force of the comparison, the thought is not at all followed up in the ensuing verses.”— New Testament for English Readers.

It may be further said that nothing can make the word of prophecy more sure than it was when it first came from the lips of the holy men whom God inspired. The meaning is evidently exactly given in the common version, that the sure word of prophecy is more sure than any panoramic view can be. Our eyes may deceive us, but the word of God “ liveth and abideth forever.”

PROPHECY is light proceeding directly from God, who is himself light. With him there is “no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5. In Heaven, where the will of God is done perfectly, all is light. In the New Jerusalem, the inhabitants “need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light.” Rev. 22:5. And when the will of God shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven, the whole earth will be lightened by the glory of God. “The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light” that comes from the city of God. Rev. 21:23, 24. But sin has separated man from God, so that darkness now covers the earth. The prophecy comes as a beacon-light to guide men to the source of light. As with the rays from a distant light-house, the prophetic light may at first be comparatively faint; but the nearer we approach to the source of light, the brighter the light will become; and so of those who take heed to it, it may truly be said that their path is “as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Prov. 4:18.

“No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.” This means that Scripture is its own interpreter. For every prophecy contained in the Bible, the key is found there also, and therefore every prophecy is of public interpretation—the interpretation is just as free to one person as it is to another. Whenever a man puts forth any view as an explanation of a given prophecy, the humblest person has a right to challenge his exposition, no matter how learned he may be. If he cannot produce positive Scripture authority for his interpretation, it must be rejected, or at least held in suspense until some wiser person can find .a Bible reason for the theory. The Peshito Syriac version renders the verse thus: “No prophecy is an exposition of its own text.” The idea is the same as that expressed above. No man can read a prophecy and tell by his own unaided power, from the reading of it, what it means. He must look for an exposition to some other passage, possibly in the same chapter (as in Daniel 7), but still separate from the prophecy itself. Spiritual things must be compared with spiritual.

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