The Final Word | Week 3

The Final Word
Week 3 – 2 Peter 1:16-21

Majestic Glory

We weren’t, you know, just wishing on a star when we laid the facts out before you regarding the powerful return of our Master, Jesus Christ. We were there for the preview! We saw it with our own eyes: Jesus resplendent with light from God the Father as the voice of Majestic Glory spoke: “This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of all my delight.” We were there on the holy mountain with him. We heard the voice out of heaven with our very own ears. 2 Peter 1:16-18 (MSG)

I. Prepare to depart – 2 Peter 1:11 & 15

‍2 Peter 1:11 & 15 – (entrance...decease)
“My decease...an entrance. Then again, the combination of these two words suggests to us that the one act, in the same moment, is both departure and arrival. There is not a pin-point of space, not the millionth part of a second of time, intervening between the two. There is no long journey to be taken. A man in straits, and all but desperation, is recorded in the old Book to have said: ‘There is but a step between me and death’. Ah, there is but a step between death and the Kingdom; and he that passes out at the same moment passes in” (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, p. 209).

II. Eyewitnesses of His Majesty – (v.16)

“But in the case of our Lord the glory which the disciples beheld – which streamed through His garments, so that His ordinary dress became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth could whiten – was the raying forth from within of the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father” (F. B. Meyer, The Works of F. B. Meyer, Vol. 1, Loc. 19213).

“His (Christ’s) death was not simply an example, as some liberal theologians want us to believe; it was an exodus, an accomplishment. He accomplished something on the cross – the redemption of lost sinners!” (Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, p. 443)

III. Majestic Glory – (v. 17)

“We cannot and will not confidently confront our enemy, the devil, if we are not absolutely convinced that God is exactly who He says He is” (The Final Word, p. 65).

Attributes of God – Abundance (Jn. 10:10)
“My cup runneth over” (Ps. 23:5 KJV)
“My cup overflows (Ps. 23:5 NASB)
“My cup brims with blessings” (Ps. 23:5 MSG & NLT)

You are neither a cup half empty or half full. As a believer your cup is always running over!

IV. Voice from Heaven – (v. 18)

Mt. 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36

The disciples experienced Christ’s visible glory and an audible voice from heaven.

“The transfiguration is not an illumination of Jesus from the outside (cf. Ex. 34:29-35) but from the inside. Dazzling white (lit. ‘bright as a flash of lightning’). The transfiguration provides a glimpse of the future glory of the Christ (Lk. 9:20), the Son of Man, at his second coming (vv. 26- 27) when he comes in the cloud of the glory of God (cf. Lk. 9:26; 21:27; 2 Peter 1:16-18)” (ESV Study Bible, Loc. 285272).

Moses and Elijah – represent the Law and the Prophets. Jesus is the fulfillment of both.

Moses reflected God’s glory, Jesus radiated it.

Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines] in your hearts. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God
(2 Peter 1:19-21 NLT).

V. A lamp shining in a dark place (v. 19)

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” C. S. Lewis

The only way to see clearly and think sanely is to see and think biblically.

VI. Prophecy of Scripture – (v. 20)

VII. Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (v. 21)

The inerrancy of scripture

God draws, beckons and woos us by Who He is:

• My Abba, Father – Mk. 14:36; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6
• My All-Able, Almighty God – 2 Cor. 9:8; Eph. 3:20; Rev. 4:8; 19:6
• My Burden-Bearer – Ps. 55:22; 68:19; 1 Peter 5:7
• My Cornerstone – Is. 28:16; 33:6; 1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2:20
• My Deliverer – Ps. 18:2; 144:2
• Exalted – Ps. 18:46; 148:13; 97:9; Acts 2:33; 5;31
• Faithful and True – Rev. 19:11; 2 Tim. 2:13; 1 Thess. 5:24
• My Fortress – Ps. 9:9; 31:2-3; 62;6; Jer. 6:19; Prov. 14:26
• Giver of Every Good Gift – James 1:16; Rom. 8:32; Luk3 11:13
• Head of the Church – Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18
• My Hiding Place – Ps. 32:7; Is. 4:6
• Holy, Holy, Holy – Is. 6:3; Rev. 4:8
• I AM – Ex. 3:14-15; Ps. 119:91; Rom. 8:28
• Judge of All the Earth – Acts 10:42; 17:31; 2 Tim. 4:1, 8; Rev. 19:11
• King of Glory – Ps. 24:7-10; 1 Cor. 2:8
• My Lamp, My Light – 2 Sam. 22:29; Ps. 27:1; 18:28
• My Life – 1 John 5:1; John 11:25; Col. 3:4
• Love, Lover of My Soul – Mi. 7:8; Rom. 8:35-39; 1 John 3:1
• My Master – Col. 4:1; 2 Tim. 2:21
• Most High God – Ps. 78:35; Acts 16:17; Mark 5:7
• Name Above All Names – Phil. 2:9; Eph. 1:21
• Over All, Overcomer – Rom. 9:5; John 16:33
• My Peace – Eph. 2:14; Phil 4:7
• Quick and Powerful – 2 Tim. 3:16-17
• My Redeemer – Job. 19:25; Ps. 19:14
• My Rewarder and My Reward – Heb. 11:6; Rev. 22:12; Is. 40:10
• My Salvation – Hab. 3:18; Luk3 1:47; Rev. 19:1
• Sovereign – Dan. 4:35; Ps. 103:19; Hab. 3:19
• Spirit of Truth – John 16:13; 14:17
• My Teacher – John 13:13; Is. 28:6; Ps. 32:8
• My Unchanging One – Mal. 3:6; Ps. 102:27; Heb. 13:8; James 1:17
• My Vine, My Abiding Place – John 15:1,5
• Yahweh – Ex. 3:13-15
• Zion’s Righteous King – Zech. 9:9

He is mine and I am His! Hallelujah! What a Savior!!

Ah, there is but a step between death and the Kingdom; and he that passes out at the same moment passes in”
(Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, p. 209).

Right now we see as in a mirror dimly,
Trying so hard to see more clearly,
Yet all we see now are simply shadows of the true. But one day, dear friends, we are stepping through. Then we will know fully as we have been known, And yes, dear child of God, we will finally be home!

“For now we see as in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12).

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