The Proof And The Promise (Transfiguration Sunday 2023)

THE PROOF and the PROMISE (Transfiguration Sunday 2023)

2 Peter 1:16-21  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 had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.  (17)  For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."  (18)  We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.  (19)  So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  (20)  First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,  (21)  because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (NRSV).

Someone (Alan Kay) once said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”. (R. Daniel Watkins. An Encyclopedia of Compelling Quotations. [Anonymous]. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2001). Peter had opponents who accused him of inventing his own prophecy (2 Peter 1:20). Despite what these false prophets say, Peter stays true to his calling to truthfully share the Gospel.

Peter knows that his days are numbered as he hints of the closing chapter of his life in 2 Peter 1:13 -15. He compares his life to at tent. The one thing Peter will not do with the time he has left is compromise the Gospel by mixing or adulterating it with man-made ideas. Peter had his experience of the transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ against his opponents whose credibility could not hold water!

Peter’s struggle is much like our struggle today to expose myths, and preach the message of the truth on borrowed time.

MYTHS

Are false teachers dangerous to the church? Of course they are. We have to remember that there have been false teachers and prophets in every generation. They have founded their teaching on human wisdom, compromising the Gospel with an ungodly motive.

1) Human wisdom: Isn’t false teaching usually based on human wisdom? God’s infinite ways are far higher than our finite ways (Isaiah 55:9 paraphrased).

2) Compromise: What would have been the reasons that pseudo-Christian teachers and preachers to compromise the message of the Gospel?

3) Motive: Would it have been for wealth, power or both? How many so-called Christians pastors are not preaching the truth? How can those in their congregations know the truth that will set them free if Christ is not the center of the message?

What are the myths that need to be cleared up?

1) Three myths: It is has been said that the false teachers had been trying to create doubts about three things which were the 1) the incarnation; 2) the resurrection; and the 3) and the coming kingdom. Hymaneus and Philetus were noted as examples of the type of people who were doing these kinds of things. (Kenneth l. Barker & John R. Kohlenberger III. eds. Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary. Volume 2: New Testament. Edwin A. Blum. “2 Peter”. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994, p. 1067). What they were doing was “inventing” their own myths which were distorting the truth.

2) Heresy: Although Peter did not mention these two heretics, Hymenæus and Philetus, the Apostle Paul did specifically mentioned them by name because of how they distorted the Gospel. Paul condemned both Hymenæus and Philetus for their heresy . Consider how it is worded in The Passion Translation of 2 Timothy 2:17 “For the words of Hymenaeus and Philetus are like gangrene, they have already spread their poison to many” . Paul turned Hymenaeus over to the devil for blaspheme (1 Timothy 1:20) and also condemned Philetus for distorting the true meaning of life after death resurrection. The false teachers were denying the true Biblical teaching about the resurrection of the body. “They believed that when a person became a Christian, he or she was spiritually reborn, and that was the only resurrection there would ever be”. (Life Application Study Bible Notes). We are reborn in our baptism--- born of God’s Holy Spirit. As Paul said, in our baptism we are buried with Christ and raised with Christ as new creatures in Christ while we are still in this life. We have abundant life in the here and now and eternal life in our resurrection through Jesus Christ in the hereafter.

MESSAGE

How can people get right with God if they have been given the wrong information about God?

1) Heretical evangelism: The message of Peter's rivals was obviously not based on the truth. So how many people did they lead astray because they distorted the truth? How could they ever know how many would be led astray through their misinterpretation? How many people are being led astray today because of false teachers and prophets?