05 The Prophetic Word: Why You Can Trust Scripture (2 Peter 1:12–21)

Krisan Marotta: Thank you for joining me today for the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is the podcast where we explain not only what scripture means but how we figure it out. The lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast, or you can find them on the webpage at wednesdayintheword.com slash 2 Peter 5. Today we're gonna finish the first chapter of 2 Peter. This is the fifth talk in our series on the book of 2 Peter, and we're gonna look at chapter 1, verses 12 through 21. Let's get started. As always, we're gonna start with a little review. Peter has been drawing a connection between believing the gospel and pursuing godliness. So in the gospel, God has promised that because of the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ, He will forgive us for our guilt and our sins and free us from slavery to sin. Ultimately we will one day share in the glory of God in that we will be holy as God is holy. We will share His moral excellence or His perfection. But that day is not here yet. We are not yet fully freed, and in this life we will continue to struggle with sin. Part of the gift of saving faith is not only forgiveness, but also the desire to be freed from sin. Therefore, a genuine saving faith produces in us a longing for and a pursuit of holiness and godliness, and that's the connection Peter's been making in chapter one. If we despise holiness or we feel indifferent to holiness, then it calls into question whether or not we actually have saving faith. Peter's main point so far in chapter one is that pursuing a life of faith cannot be separated from pursuing godliness. He's not simply exhorting us to be nice people or to be good people or to do these nice things so that we will all get along better. He is calling us to consider the implications of the gospel we say we believe and whether or not our lifestyles reflect those implications. As he finishes the chapter, in the section we're going to look at today, verses twelve through twenty one, we will see several important themes. And he's gonna make two points in this section that other New Testament authors also make, and they are one, that the people of God need to constantly be reminded of the truths of the gospel, and two that we can have confidence in those truths because they are grounded in the eyewitness testimony of the apostles and of the Old Testament prophets. Alright, let's start with verses twelve through fifteen. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. So here Peter explains why he's writing this letter. This letter is a reminder. It's written to people who already believe the gospel, and as he said in one one, he's writing to people who have obtained a faith of equal standing. He is writing to people who have come to believe the gospel as faithfully taught by the apostles of Jesus Christ, and we talked about in verse one that that equal standing is the same content, equal content. They believe what the apostles believe. Nevertheless, he sees part of his job is keeping them awake, stirring them up by way of reminder. I think the idea here is that we can easily become distracted by the world. We can metaphorically go to sleep and forget the truths of the gospel, and Peter is writing to wake us up or to wake up his readers, to keep them awake and alert such that they remember what the gospel is about. That is as true today as it was when Peter wrote it. It is very easy to fall into a stupor, and it's very, very easy to get overwhelmed by the cares of today, the responsibilities we have, the needs of today, the problems we're facing, and we forget that this is all just the preliminaries. This is the lobby, so to speak, and the curtain hasn't even gone up on Act One yet. We forget that eternity is waiting and that this world is not our home, this is not the goal, this is not the be all and end all. There is something bigger going on than the cares and worries of daily life. And Peter sees his job as keeping them awake and alert and reminding them of the truths of the gospel. For his readers, this alertness is especially important because they have false teachers in their midst. They are being seduced and enticed by these false teachers into believing things that are not true, and they're in danger of being lulled into sleep by them or lured away from the gospel. So Peter's writing to encourage them to remember the truth that they first believed, especially in the face of all these other voices that are calling out false ideas to them. He feels this urgency to remind them of the truth so that they won't listen to the false ideas and the false teachers. That's his first reason for writing. His second reason for urging them to remember this truth is that he believes his death is imminent. This is his last chance, so to speak. He believes his own death, which he calls the laying aside of his earthly dwelling, is soon to come, and we know from history that he was right. He tells us that Jesus made this clear to him. Now we don't know precisely how Jesus made this known. Peter doesn't tell us, but it's likely that he's referring to an incident that's recorded in John's gospel. This is in John chapter twenty one. It's after the resurrection, the risen Jesus has appeared to Peter and some of the other disciples on a beach where they're head they had breakfast, and Jesus commissions Peter to feed his sheep, that is, to teach the gospel as an apostle. Then in John twenty one, eighteen and nineteen it says, and this is Jesus speaking in verse eighteen, truly, truly I say to you, when you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you were old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. And then John adds prayer parenthetically, this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, that is, Jesus said to Peter, follow me. Essentially, Jesus is telling Peter, When you're an old man, you're going to be executed for preaching the gospel. People are going to take you where you don't want to go. And Peter is probably writing this letter about thirty years later or thirty years after this event recorded in John's Gospel. He is now that older man, and he expects the words of Jesus to come true. So as far as we know, Peter is probably referring to that incident, although it's likely that Peter and Jesus had many other conversations that aren't recorded in Scripture, and Peter could have more information from one of those conversations. History tells us that Peter was crucified in Rome soon after writing this letter. Now some of us have reached that same spot in life. We have reached an age where we start asking ourselves, what do I want to do with the time I have left? I myself am no longer looking at this bright future of infinite possibilities, and I am starting to think about that so-called bucket list. Time is growing short, and what do I want to do with it? I find Peter's answer to that question inspiring but also kind of intimidating. I first faced this, oh, now what question when my children grew up and left home, and I decided that I wanted to devote myself more fully to learning and understanding the Bible, like Peter, and this podcast as a result. Peter says he wants to spend his remaining time reminding people of the gospel. He wants to urge them to pursue this life of godliness promised in the gospel and warn them against the false teachers. And as he notes in 115, he wants people to think about what he has said long after he is dead. He wants to leave a legacy of truth. He wants to encourage the people he's speaking to in such a way that his encouragement will remain after he is gone. And they will be able to bring to mind what he said as they reread this letter, which is of course exactly what we're doing here today. We're being reminded of what Peter thought was so important he had to write it down while he still had time. And I would like to think that Peter would approve of what we're doing studying his letter today. Hopefully, prayerfully that is the case. Now of course Peter's legacy is unique. He's not just a good Bible teacher, he was an apostle. He was in many ways the leader of the apostles and one of those chosen few who were closest to Jesus when Jesus walked on earth. He had a unique opportunity to learn the truth and a unique front row seat and a calling to proclaim it. And when he reminds us of the truths of the gospel, these are things he saw and learned firsthand from the words of Jesus, and that's what he's going to go on to talk about. Look at sixteen through eighteen. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. So Peter goes on to say, Look, I am an eyewitness to the earthly life of Jesus, and he's saying, This gospel is true, we saw Jesus with our own eyes, we heard Jesus speak with our own ears, and we heard a voice from heaven proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. This is one of those common themes in the New Testament. The apostles all claim that they are not just another school of philosophers or scholars who sat around and thought up this system or this way of thinking and then decided to write some books about it. They all claim they learned this message from Jesus Christ, that he taught it to them personally, and that his authority was confirmed by God Himself in a verbal, audible voice from heaven twice, once at his baptism, once at his transfiguration, and then also he was confirmed in the signs and miracles he performed. Now Peter's authority as an eyewitness is particularly important to his readers because they're dealing with false teachers, and the false teachers are rejecting the teaching of the apostles. They're distorting the gospel, they're rejecting the testimony of the apostles, and they are encouraging people to believe a different philosophy and to live their lives in a very different way. And in rejecting the teaching of the apostles, they're not just rejecting one philosophy in favor of another philosophy, they're rejecting the gospel as it was taught by the one and only person who was confirmed to be the Son of God twice by an audible voice from heaven, and then a third time in the resurrection from the dead. Jesus gave the apostles authority to speak for and about him, and this is the teaching that the false teachers are rejecting. So they are rejecting not only teaching of eyewitnesses, but those who were chosen and specifically given authority to speak for and about Jesus. Peter reminds them that he's not just another thinker who's come up with a few good ideas, he is an eyewitness of the life and ministry and teaching of Jesus, and he was given authority by Jesus to speak for him. Now Peter in particular was with Jesus very early in his public ministry and saw pretty much everything Jesus did. He was one of the first apostles chosen and he was with him through the cross and resurrection. Peter saw many miracles and heard Jesus teach many times. So it's interesting to note what he cites as evidence. There are a lot of things he could have cited as here's a reason to listen to me and believe this testimony, but he refers to what we call the transfiguration. And you can find the record of that in Matthew seventeen, Mark nine, and Luke nine. I'm going to read the account from Matthew. This is Matthew seventeen starting in verse one and going through verse nine. And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light, and behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. He was still speaking, when behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this they fell on their faces and were terrified, but Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. Now there are a lot of things we could talk about from this scene, but I only want to point out two for our purposes in Second Peter. First, Moses and Elijah. Moses, of course, had been dead for hundreds of years at this point. Elijah was presumed dead. He was last seen taken into the heavens in a chariot, and now here are Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus who is shining like the light of the sun. However you look at it, their presence is a miracle. It is also a striking and symbolic miracle. Moses and Elijah are the great representatives of the law and the prophets. Moses is the lawgiver, the one through whom the Lord gave the law, and Elijah is seen as a kind of foundational prophet. And here they are standing with Jesus in his glory. It suggests symbolically that the law and the prophets are giving their approval of Jesus, and that Jesus is the great fulfillment of what God began in the law and the prophets, and their presence with Jesus as his glory is revealed is a way of symbolically saying all of that. And if that's not enough, there's a voice from heaven which makes the idea explicit. Look at 17 5 again. He was still speaking when behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Now the Son of God is not a new idea in the New Testament, and this is the second thing I want to talk about. The Son of God is an old testament concept and it is a way of talking about the Messiah. The Son of God referred to the Davidic king who would inherit the promises of Abraham and the promises to David and rule on David's throne forever. He was the one through whom not only the Jews would be blessed, but all the nations of the world would be blessed. And he will establish peace and justice and represent the rule of God on earth to us. He was the Messiah. The Son of God was a way to embody that whole concept, and that is the concept of being the Messiah. When these Jewish disciples then hear a voice saying, This is my son, listen to him, they would understand that voice to mean this is the Messiah. This is the one you've been waiting for. This is the king who will establish my rule over all the earth. So we have more than a very visual dramatic miracle. Yes, we have Moses and Elijah back from the dead, we have Jesus shining like the sun, and we have a voice from heaven speaking audibly, and all of that is very striking and dramatic. It is very impressive, but it is meant to carry a message. Just like the miracles were meant to establish that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is the long-awaited Christ, that's what the transfiguration is to establish. This is the Messiah. This is the one promised by God in the law and the prophets. This event puts God's stamp of approval on Jesus as the Messiah, as the one promised in the law and the prophets. So you have the law represented by Moses, and you have the prophets represented by Elijah, and they are bearing witness along with the voice, this is the one. And I think that's the point Peter's making. If you reject the teaching of the apostles, you are rejecting something very, very important. This is not just the word of a few good men. This is a message from God Himself. Notice how he goes on to connect this with the prophetic word, look at nineteen through twenty one. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Now think about the connection between Peter's eyewitness testimony and verses sixteen and eighteen and then the word of the prophets in nineteen. The prophets promised that God would send his son, and Peter personally can testify that God supernaturally demonstrated that Jesus of Nazareth is that Son. The word of the prophets then has been established, as he says, it has been made more sure, it has been made apparent and revealed. So the prophets spoke of a time when God would send his son, and their message has now been established and confirmed, because God has now given a sign that the Son has come, and that Son is Jesus. And Peter links his eyewitness testimony as establishing what the prophet said. He's giving his testimony that the time has come, these promises have been fulfilled, and they were fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Now to have the creator of the universe break into history and audibly tell you something is a big deal. It does not happen very often in history. First he spoke to the prophets, and he spoke to them and told them what he was going to do, how he was going to save humanity, and that this would come about through the Messiah. Now he has spoken at the Transfiguration and said, This is the one I promised would come, and Peter can testify that it happened. He's saying, I was there, I saw it. And this is why Peter emphasizes that you should pay attention to this word, look at nineteen again. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. I love this metaphor because in a sense we're all stumbling around in the dark. We can't see properly. We don't know what's really going on. We are lost and we are blind, but we have been given a light in our darkness. And Peter's saying, We will do well, you will do well to follow that light and pay attention to it. God has shed light into the darkness through the message he proclaimed through the prophets and then through his son, and now through his apostles, and he has confirmed that Jesus is the Messiah. Ultimately we're waiting for the darkness to be completely vanquished, but that day has not yet come. In the meantime, we have the light of the prophets and the apostles. In Peter's language, we're waiting until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts. It's still dark now, but we have the light of the prophets and the apostles. I think he's referring here to the second coming of Christ and the full establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. The dawn is that day when Christ's victory will be revealed to all creation, and sin and darkness will be fully vanquished, and Jesus will establish his rule on earth as it is in heaven. And that day is not yet come, we're still looking forward to it, but it will be the day of his second coming. And this hope gives us light in the darkness now. We're still waiting for it to be fulfilled, but we have this light, this hope. To guide us. And he adds that we can have great confidence that our hope will not disappoint, and the prophetic word is true, and he has given you eyewitness testimony to it. Alright, one more thing I want to talk about in this section, look at 20 and 21 again. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. On first reading, I think this verse seems pretty straightforward and clear. Peter is saying, Look, we didn't make this stuff up. This message came from God Himself. So I was surprised to learn that these verses are debated among scholars. Exactly what does Peter mean when he says no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation? Well, in general, there are two main alternatives to understanding what Peter is saying here, though there are lots of variations on the themes. Now I am probably guilty of oversimplifying the options, but for clarity's sake and for simplicity, I'm going to group the debate into two main lines of thought. Now there are lots of nuances and variations, so I'm not representing every side of the debate in all its detail, but in general you can look at it into these in these two broad categories. So the debate centers around the word interpretation in 120, where he says, No prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. Without looking at the context, if we came to a verse that mentioned prophecy and interpretation, we might think that interpretation is making sense of what the prophecy said. A prophetic word has been given, maybe it was given in poetry, maybe it was given in parable or metaphor, and now we have to interpret that poetry or that metaphor and explain what they refer to in reality. So interpretation would be a matter of how do I understand what the prophet has said, how do I unravel it. And many people understand Peter to be saying something like that, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, that is no prophecy of scripture should be interpreted according to one's own private interpretation. The prophecy has been made and it's not appropriate for me to make my own interpretation of it. If that view doesn't make much sense to you, I'm sorry. It doesn't really make all that much sense to me either, so I expect that I am not explaining it very well or properly, and maybe someone who advocates for that point of view can jump in and explain it better. Fortunately, there is another option that makes more sense to me, and that is that he's not talking about my interpretation of what the prophet said, rather he's talking about the prophet's message itself. What is the source of the prophet's message? Did it come from his own interpretation, his own understanding, his own imagination? No, it came from God. So I would paraphrase that no prophecy of Scripture comes about from the prophet's own imagination or his own understanding. In other words, he didn't look at the world and figure this out. It was told to him by God through the work of the Holy Spirit, making it clear and accurate to him. And given the context, I would understand Peter to be saying no prophet makes this stuff up. Notice how well that fits with verse twenty-one. Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. In other words, no one made this up, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. It seems pretty clear under that view that Peter is talking about his own understanding. Prophecy does not result from the prophet's own understanding, it does not result from an act of human will, but prophets spoke what God told them through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now, as an aside, I don't think this verse sheds any particular light on how the prophets knew what to say, or through what particular means God made his voice clear to him. We know the Holy Spirit was involved, but we don't really know precisely how. That's not the question Peter intends to answer here in this context, and I don't really think he gives us enough information to speculate on what that method might be. This is a more general statement, and all he intends to say is the prophet's message came from God. They didn't make it up in contrast to the false teachers. Again, in this context, I think Peter is reminding his readers that they can have great confidence in the message of the prophets and the apostles, that it was not their own opinion, it was not their own speculation, it wasn't their own philosophical system, this is a word from God. And furthermore, they can have great confidence in what Peter is telling them about Jesus because Peter was an eyewitness to the events that confirmed Jesus to be the Messiah as promised in the law and the prophets. Peter did not make up cleverly designed tales either. He's an eyewitness. And not surprisingly, in the very next verse, he talks about false prophets and false teachers. So Peter is saying that unlike the prophets and the apostles who are authoritatively telling you what God told them to say, these false prophets and false teachers are just making stuff up. They are teaching what seems right to them and they have no foundation for it. He has had these false teachers in mind from the beginning, and now as we get into chapter two in the next podcast, he's going to specifically address them. So I would paraphrase this section as follows It is my purpose before I die to remind you to embrace the truths of the gospel and to live them out. I want to leave these reminders with you as my legacy after I am gone. I didn't make up this gospel message, rather I was an eyewitness. I saw Jesus glorified and I heard God testify that Jesus was his son, the Messiah. My testimony establishes and confirms the reliability of the message proclaimed by the prophets. Therefore, you should heed the prophetic message confirmed in Jesus like a light that will guide you in the darkness while we wait for the great day of the Lord's return to bring in the dawn. We should have great confidence in the prophets because they didn't make up their words either. They spoke through the power of the Holy Spirit. So do not listen to the message of the false teachers, instead hold tight to the message of the prophets and the apostles. Alright, just to conclude, let's talk about what we can learn from this. You'll notice in this section that Peter is strongly emphasizing the divine source of the Bible. And he is not alone. Jesus tells us the scripture can't be broken. John says he was an eyewitness to the life of Jesus in his gospel and his letters. Paul says he didn't receive his gospel from men, but that he was taught by Jesus. So what are we to make of such statements? Now these statements alone wouldn't convince an atheist that the Bible is the Word of God. Clearly, just because someone says God told me X, Y, Z, it doesn't make it true. That person could be lying, exaggerating, or crazy. There are all sorts of things we take into consideration when trying to prove that the Bible is trustworthy. And we don't just say I believe the Bible is true because the Bible says it's true. But when we look at the overall picture, so when we look at the historical evidence for the reliability of the Bible we have today, when we look at the historical evidence for the life and resurrection of Jesus, when we look at the way the world works or fails to work, when we look at the evidence from creation and how what the Bible describes fits with reality, then we reach a spot where the Bible makes sense. When you get to a point where you think, yes, this book makes sense, yes, it seems reasonably accurate and historically accurate, and I have come to believe that it is generally reliable, then you have to ask the question, what sort of book is it? Just how reliable is it? And at that point, what the Bible says about itself becomes crucial. And here's one of those passages at the end of 2 Peter chapter 1 where the Bible speaks about itself and addresses how reliable it claims to be. Here's one of the apostles speaking about his own testimony and that of the prophets, and he tells us we can have complete confidence in what the Bible tells us because it came from God and not from mankind. Think about this. We deal with people this way all the time. Let me give you an analogy to explain what I'm trying to get at. Suppose you send me an email and you tell me a story about something that happened to you. Now I've known you a long time and I know the kinds of things you do, and I generally find that what you say is trustworthy. When you start telling me this fascinating story, it becomes important what you tell me about it. If you tell me this event happened to you on your vacation, that's very different than if you tell me you made up this event to submit it to a fiction contest. And that would be different still if you tell me that you heard it from your neighbor who heard it from her sister, who heard it from her best friend. And that would be different still than if you tell me this fascinating story is just a rumor that you heard from your friend and you don't know whether it's true or not. So how am I to understand the story depends on what you tell me. If you tell me it's true and reliable and you are a firsthand witness to the event because it happened to you on vacation, then I'm gonna take it very seriously. If you tell me you made it up, then I'm gonna know it's fiction. If you tell me it's rumor or gossip, then maybe I don't put all that much weight in it. Now I trust you, so if you tell me, you don't know if it's true or not, then I would conclude, okay, it might not be true. But if you tell me you saw it and it happened and you experienced it firsthand, then I'm more likely to believe it's true because I have come to know you as a trustworthy person. So when we come to the Bible, it's more than believing the Bible just because the Bible says it's true. I have come to believe that the Bible is reasonably trustworthy, and then when the Bible tells me it takes itself very seriously and claims to be the Word of God, I have to recognize that. So it's this whole package. It's coming to the conclusion that the Bible is a reasonably accurate historical document based on external evidence, and then looking at what the Bible says about itself and taking that claim very seriously. Just like I would believe you in your email if you said it was true, because I believe you and I know you to be a trustworthy person, so when the Bible comes along and I have seen that it is reasonably accurate and trustworthy, and it tells me this is the word of God, I need to take that claim seriously. And I think that's the position we're in with the New Testament authors. They make bold claims about their relationship to the truth. They're saying, Trust me, I was there, I saw it, I'm an eyewitness, and this is true. Peter and all the New Testament authors claim to understand the difference between fact and fiction. They claim to understand the difference between making something up and being an eyewitness to an event. They claim to understand the difference between human opinion and divine revelation from God, as we saw in this section we just looked at. And with one voice, the New Testament authors and the Old Testament prophets insist that they are telling us what they saw and what God revealed. They repeatedly claim this stuff I'm writing you is not my opinion, it's not gossip, it's not fiction, and it's not rumor. This is a revelation from God, I was there and I saw it. So that seems to me to give us a choice about the Bible. We can decide that the Bible is not a reliable guide to truth, that it's not historically accurate, and we can reject it. But if we have decided that the Bible is a reasonably accurate historical document, and there is very good reason to believe that it is, which I can't go into here, but if we have reached that conclusion that it is a reasonably accurate historical document, then we have to take seriously what it says about itself. And virtually all the authors claim that they are speaking from God. They are not speaking their own opinions, but they are speaking a truth that God has revealed to them. They saw it or God told it to them. And from Peter's perspective, this is why it's so dangerous to listen to the false teachers. They have done exactly the wrong thing. They have rejected the apostolic gospel, they've rejected the prophetic message, and said, Oh, I'll tell you what's really going on, and then they have made something up. They have rejected the most reliable source of information about truth that we have and replaced it with their own preferred ideas. I think this section we just looked at in Second Peter rules out the middle ground that the Bible is true, but I can take it or leave it. There is no middle ground in thinking, oh yes, the Bible is reasonably accurate, it's true, it's the word of God, it's full of good ideas, but I can pick and choose which ones I want to believe. It's a good philosophy I ought to strive to live by as long as it's convenient and I can dabble with it for inspiration now and then, but I don't have to take it seriously. I think Peter would say that's not an option. Either you believe Peter that he was an eyewitness and what he claims is true, or you don't. There's no middle ground to dabble in it and to pick and choose. As he says, this is the light and the darkness. This is the truth that we need to know. This is the way out of slavery to sin and condemnation to death. This is not just good information that you'd like to have in your back pocket. This is the way to find eternal life. I'm glad you joined me today for Wednesday in the Word. I pray this podcast has blessed you. And if it has, please share it with a friend. It's really easy to subscribe, just go to wednesdayintheword.com and click on subscribe to this podcast. And if you have a moment, please leave a positive rating on your favorite podcast platform. If you leave good ratings, others find the podcast. It really does work that way. Wednesday in the Word is not just another sermon, it is serious Bible study applied to real life. You'll find hundreds of episodes on our website as well as a wealth of Bible study resources. All of it is free and shareable and uncluttered by advertising, so you can browse for any topic or passage that interests you. Our theme music is graciously provided by my friend and my favorite musician Reggie Coates of Heartfelt Music and Ministry. You can find more of his music on heartfeltmusic.org, and if you go there, you'll be glad you did. Thanks for listening today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I hope you'll join me next week for Wednesday in the Word.