EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/02/2025 8:20 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Intro to 2 Peter 1:16-21”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Peter 1:16-21
Message of the verses: “16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased" —18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
I continue quoting John MacArthur’s introduction to these remaining verses in the first chapter of 2 Peter chapter one.
“However, conservative, orthodox, evangelical scholars such as Francis Turretin (1623-1687), Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), Charles Hodge (1797-1878), Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921), and J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) tirelessly and consistently defended Scripture’s sufficiency and trustworthliness. Those men and other God-honoring teachers firmly supported the Reformation’s view of the supremacy of God’s Word, which is summarized by Bush and Nettles:
The Reformers believed Scripture to be God’s Word written. It was trusted, not doubted. It was studied, not ignored. It was taken as the final authority with regard to those matters on which it spoke or made affirmations. God had not revealed everything. The Bible did not expressly contain all the truth that could be known. But what the Bible did teach was believed to be completely trustworthy. Truth is any other area would not contradict biblical truth. Starting from Scripture, one could find the true knowledge of reality. (L. Russ Bush and Tom J Nettels, Baptists and Bible [Chicago: Moody, 1980], 175)
“What the apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:16-221 is foundational to the Reformers’ understanding of Scripture and clearly declares that in the Bible believers have an accurate, written revelation of God’s truth. Peter echoed the psalmist’s declaration: “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Ps. 19:7b; cf. 93:5; 111:7). God, through the prophet Isaiah, said this about both the reliability and impact of His Word:
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. (Isa. 55:10-11; cf. 40:8; Ps. 119:89; Matt. 5:18; 24-35; John 10:35b; 2 Tim. 2:19a)
In his second epistle, Peter wrote to believers barraged by false teaching that sought to undermine their trust in Scripture and thus destroy the Christian faith. In chapter 2 he would describe in vivid terms the proponents of such error so his readers could understand and better recognize the danger they posed. But it is not enough merely to be aware of false teachers; believers need to know how to decent against their errors. The weapon in that defense is God’s sure Word (cf. 2 Cor. 10:3-5). In the present passage, the apostle references both his own eyewitness of revelation and God’s supernatural, written revelation.”
I have to say that this introduction that John MacArthur has written for these verses is kind of a mystery to me, and so that means that I need to go over it again to better understand it. One of the other things that I am doing is to listen to MacArthur’s sermons on 2 Peter so that should help me in better understanding this last letter that Peter wrote.
11/2/2025 8:49 PM
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