How can I be certain? If only I could know for sure! Everyone has those thoughts. It is usually in connection with something very important in your life. Because we are near Valentine’s day, people are thinking about relationships and love. A woman might ask “How can I be sure he really loves me?” If you believe the media, he will buy you a diamond or a vehicle on every holiday! But would that really make you certain? Given our skeptical human nature, whenever a promise is made, we look for actions that back up that promise, especially when the promise is “till death do us part” Each time you see an action that fulfills the promise, you are made more certain that the promise is true. When actions don’t match words, you wonder about the promise. A diamond might be nice, but so would taking out the garbage without being asked, or warming up her car and scraping the ice of her windows on a cold morning. The subsequent actions are your extra-added assurances, your guarantees that the promise is valid. You are made more certain.

Peter wrote about some extra-added assurances we have that God’s promises are true.

2 Peter 1:16-21 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.  And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.  For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

 By the time Peter wrote these words, he was considered an old man. He was in his sixties. In the New Testament world, when one’s life expectancy was not much longer than sixty years, he was an old man. In fact, when he wrote this letter his life was about to come to an end. However, his death would not be from natural causes. He was going to die a martyr’s death. He would be put to death for telling others what He knew about Jesus, the same thing he was doing in this letter.

Peter was recalling The Transfiguration about 30 years after it happened. 30 years is a long time. Some have that questioned how good his memory could be after all that time. To me, Peter seems pretty sharp, but we don’t have to rely simply on Peter’s mental capacity  He is writing under divine inspiration, the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And it is not as though he were a blind man trying to describe the color of a sunset or a deaf man describing a symphony. Peter had been both an eyewitness and an earwitness of the events he is writing about. On top of that, the Holy Spirit is reminding him of the things he saw and heard. He was there on the mountain with Jesus. He saw the glory of God revealed, confirming Jesus as the true Son of God. He heard the Father speak His approval.

This was just one of many events Peter witnessed that shows Jesus to be the one who fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament. In all likelihood, the recipients of this letter had a Jewish background, which meant they knew about the Scriptures. Peter was trying to use their knowledge of Scripture as a starting point to explain who Jesus is. Peter knew, as we know, that all Scripture points to Jesus as the Savior. And everything Jesus did – His Work, His life, His miracles, His transfiguration, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His giving of the Spirit on Pentecost – all these things confirmed the Scriptures for His disciples. The Transfiguration was just one part of the Old Testament prophetic word “made more certain.”

More on this tomorrow.