Why You Can Trust Scripture

2 Peter 1:16-21

Why You Can Trust Scripture

Our church gave some money the last couple of years for our VA’s Reboot Combat Recovery groups. Reboot is a Christian-based approach to healing from the spiritual wounding of war. Groups are held in the evening, and Veterans may bring a spouse or other adult family member if they want. Even though we advertise the groups as faith-based, sometimes people miss that. In our last group, we had just shared an example from David the warrior king, and a Veteran piped up, “How can you believe any of these stories from the Bible? They’re just fairy tales!” I felt angry at first. But as calmly as I could, I reminded him that the course is faith-based and optional, that he didn’t have to be here. I also said that a lot of folks in the room believe these to be true stories, not fairy-tales. Several heads nodded in agreement. We kept going, and towards the end of group, I asked him if he would stick with us. He pointed to his wife and said with a sheepish smile, “She says we’re staying, so we’re staying!” At the end of the 12-week course, I saw a complete transformation in this Veteran. He was a changed man! And you could tell he had grown leaps and bounds in his respect for the Bible as the word of God.

Sometimes attacks on the Bible come from cynics, but sometimes—if we’re truthful—we have doubts ourselves: Is the Bible real? Is it really God’s word? What about the seeming inconsistencies that people point out? And how come there are so many translations? Can I really trust it?

Today I want to borrow from the verses we just heard from 2 Peter chapter 1 and give you three reasons why you can trust that the Bible is the word of God. First,

1. It was written by direct eyewitnesses at risk of their lives (vv. 16-18)

Peter was one of the three disciples Jesus allowed to be present at the Transfiguration, that mountaintop experience when God transfigured his son Jesus to his fully glorified self as deity in the flesh. It was such a supernatural experience that the gospel of Mark records about Jesus, “His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them” (Mark 9:3). Most scholars believe Peter helped Mark write his gospel.

Peter is that great disciple that, when he doesn’t know what to say, he just says something! (“Open mouth and insert foot!”) Here he was so awestruck that he began to babble about putting up tents for Jesus and his two companions, Moses and Elijah, so they could stay a while. A dark cloud covered the three, and a voice boomed from heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” (Mark 9:7). After the cloud dissipated, Jesus alone remained. Understandably, Peter and his two companions were shaken to the core.

It was this story that came to mind when Peter wrote today’s letter. Listen again to verses 16-18: “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 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.”

This was a case when truth was stranger than fiction. Peter says basically, “Hey, we saw it! We did not make this stuff up!” In a Jewish court of law at the time, if you were to bring a charge against someone, you needed a witness or two to corroborate your story. I find it interesting that Jesus provided that for Peter. He allowed Peter and two witnesses to be present. And here’s the thing: Peter, James, and John would all die violent deaths for their belief in Jesus as the Messiah. And all three would go all the way to their death not once wavering in their account of Jesus Christ.

Lee Strobel, in “The Case for Christ,” makes the point that people will not die for a lie. They will not go to the grave defending something that is untrue. Yet, Peter and others wrote what happened to them, knowing that in their lifetime, with the paranoid Roman government and the corrupt Jewish leadership, their words would not be well accepted. Yet they never wavered in their account.

You can trust the Bible as the word of God because it was written by people telling the truth, putting their lives at great risk by penning the words we read today. We benefit from their courage.