1. We need continually to be aroused. We may know all things necessary for salvation; we have known them, it may be, all our lives; we are firmly convinced of their truth; but we need to keep that knowledge vividly before our hearts, to bring it to bear upon the circumstances of our daily lives. Few of us have this recollectedness, this persevering watchfulness; we need constant exhortation. St. Peter's readers had the knowledge of the gospel; they had heard it from St. Paul and his companions. St. Peter gladly acknowledges it—exhortation is better received when it is expressed in kindly terms. But he has a duty to perform; he felt, like St. Paul, that he was a debtor both to Jews and Greeks; that he must do his utmost to preach the gospel of Christ, and to keep alive the flame of holy love in those who knew the truth. So he will take all opportunities of arousing those whom he is addressing; he will never relax his efforts as long as he lives; he knows that they will always need the word of exhortation; he knows that it will always be his duty to exhort them. St. Peter is an example to all Christian ministers. They must watch for souls; they must never weary in their work; at all times and in all places they should strive, sometimes by word, always by example, to arouse men to a sense of the momentous importance of the things which belong to their peace. They are never "off duty," as men are in other occupations; they should be always on the watch for opportunities of saving souls, of building up believers in their most holy faith, of comforting the feebleminded, of arousing the careless, of warning, guiding, encouraging, according to the needs of those with whom they have to do.
2. "The night cometh when no man can work." St. Peter looks forward to his death with sweet and holy calmness; he knew that it would be swift—the sharp death of martyrdom. He may have felt that it was near at hand; for he was an old man now, and the hour of which the Lord had spoken (John 21:18, John 21:19) could not be long delayed. He calls it the putting off of his tabernacle. His earthly body was but as a tent, perishable, temporary; the tent was old, worn out; it could not last long. The apostle knew, like St. Paul, that he had "a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," and, knowing this, he could calmly await the dissolution of the earthly house of this tabernacle. But the approach of death, the thought that, when it came, it would be speedy, was a reason for more earnest work while there was time. It is good for us to keep the thought of our approaching death in continual remembrance, to accustom ourselves to reflect calmly and thoughtfully upon it. Such meditation throws a clear light upon the solemn meaning of our earthly life, on the deep importance of finishing the work which God has given us to do. Sometimes we can do that work all the better when the shadow of approaching death is falling upon us. Our testimony seems more real, deeper, and more convincing, when it comes from men who are on the point of departure, whose immediate future is in the world beyond the grave. The thought of coming death will make true Christians all the more eager to work for God; they wilt pray that Christ may be magnified in them, whether it be by life or by death; they will pray for a holy, peaceful death, not only for their own sakes, but also that others, seeing how Christian men can die, may be led to follow their faith. They will work for the salvation of souls even on their death-bed, and they will do what lies in their power to leave behind them a legacy of holy example and holy memories, or, it may be, of holy writings, which may benefit those who remain. To such holy souls death is a departure, an exodus, out of a life of sorrows into the land of promise, the heavenly Canaan. The Lord who died for them is with them when they die; he accomplished his decease at Jerusalem for them. His death hath destroyed the power of the king of terrors, and taken away the sting of death; his death was a departure out of humiliation into glory. He told Peter once that he could not follow whither he was going then, but that he should follow him afterwards. And so now it is his will that all those whom the Father hath given him should be with him where he is.
II. THE CERTAINTY OF THE TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL.
1. They are not fables. There were many strange stories current, some among Jews, some among Gentiles; there were many legends, many myths. But the gospel history stands apart from all these in its unimpeachable truthfulness. It contains many wonderful works of power, many wonders of grace; it announces the future advent of our Saviour Jesus Christ. But all these are related with a simplicity which has the stamp of truth. The gospel speaks to us as with a voice from heaven; it awakens echoes in our hearts; it brings with it its own evidence.
2. They have the testimony of eye-witnesses. There were many eye-witnesses of the Lord's life and works—five hundred brethren at once had seen him after he was risen from the dead. But there were three who had received an august initiation into the holiest mysteries, who had been eye-witnesses of his majesty when the splendour of the Divine glory flashed through the veil of human flesh, and saints long ago departed from the world came to do him homage, desiring, as the blessed angels desire, to look into the mysteries of redemption, and to understand something of the blessed and awful meaning of his most precious death.
3. The direct testimony of God the Father. On the day of the Transfiguration sure and irresistible proof of the Saviour's Divine majesty was vouchsafed to eye and ear alike. That radiant glory came from God the Father; the highly favoured three had then a foretaste of the glorious vision which the blessed shall behold in heaven according to the Saviour's prayer, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." That great sight was to prepare them for the awful agony that was to follow. God gives from time to time glimpses of the blessedness of heaven to his saints; the Saviour manifests himself to his chosen as he doth not unto the world. And sometimes those who are most highly favoured with the vision of his love are called to be in a special manner partakers of his suffering, to bear about with them in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. But the three apostles did not only behold the glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father; a further heavenly witness was vouchsafed. A voice uttered by the excellent glory was borne out of the bright cloud to the transfigured Lord; it was borne along towards him, as if riding on the cherubim, flying on the wings of the wind; it came like a living thing, a strange startling reality, a voice such as no other man had heard except the holy Baptist. Borne along in majestic course, it came to the transfigured Jesus, and recognized him as the eternal Son. "This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased." None other than God the Father could have uttered that voice; the emphatic I ( ἐγώ) announced his presence. He was well pleased in the adorable Son; ever from all eternity had the love of the Father beamed upon the everlasting Son of God. Now, in his incarnation, in his voluntary humiliation, the Father was well pleased; he had declared his good pleasure at the baptism, he declared it again at the Transfiguration. The Lord Jesus might be despised and rejected of men; he was owned by the Lord God Omnipotent as the Son of God most holy. And surely, as God was well pleased in him who humbled himself and became obedient even unto death, so he is well pleased now with those to whom the only begotten Son hath given power to become the children of God, when they abase themselves, when they learn of the Lord Christ humility and submission of will, and pray in his holy words, "Father, not my will, but thine be done." The chosen three heard that august voice as it was borne from heaven; they heard it, as the emphatic ἡμεῖς signifies, themselves, with their own ears; there was no room for doubt, no possibility of error. The voice was borne from heaven; it was borne to Christ; the three chosen witnesses heard it, as they were with him in the holy mount. We have their testimony, the testimony of eye-witnesses, who declare unto us that which they saw and heard. The witnesses were men whose truthfulness could not be impeached. They had nothing to gain in this world, but everything to lose; all were persecuted, two of them suffered the death of martyrdom. We may well thank God for the strength and certainty of the evidence of Christianity.
4. The testimony of prophecy. The Law and the prophets testified of Christ. The Lord himself appealed to that testimony when, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded the things concerning himself (Luke 24:27). All the varied testimony of all the prophets converges in the Person of Christ, and finds its fulfillment there. No other deliverer has arisen answering to ancient prediction; in the Lord Christ only meet all the voices of the prophets. Many recognized the power of this testimony in apostolical times: the eunuch who was reading the great prophecy of Isaiah when Philip drew near to his chariot; the multitudes who listened to the apostles as they persuaded them out of the prophets, witnessing, as they did again and again, that "all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." This testimony of the prophets, so convincing in itself, so especially weighty and sacred to Hebrew believers, was rendered surer by the most august and authoritative of all testimonies, the direct testimony of God the Father, given in the voice that was borne from heaven. None who heard that voice could entertain one moment's doubt that the Lord Jesus was indeed he "of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, did write."
5. The value and use of prophecy. It is good to give heed to prophecy, to study the prophetic Word. The external evidences of our religion are very helpful to inquirers after truth; ancient prophecy is an important factor of those external evidences. It is like a lamp that shineth in a dark place. The world is a dark dreary place; we could not find the strait path and narrow way that leadeth unto life without the guiding light of the holy Word of God. The heart is a dark place, gloomy, dry, and squalid, when it is not illumined by the Holy Spirit, of God. In that dark place the light of prophecy shineth. It guided the steps of many an anxious inquirer in the early days of Christianity; doubtless the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah led many thoughtful men, besides the Ethiopian eunuch, to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That chapter, like so much more of Old Testament prophecy, appeals to the deepest yearnings of the awakening heart, to the sense of sin, the feeling of need, the longing for atonement, the reaching forth of the soul for a personal Saviour. Prophecy is a "burning and a shining light," as John the Baptist was; his office was to lead men to Christ, to say, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Such is the office of prophecy. Its guiding lamp is precious; but more precious far to the individual soul is the revealed presence of that Saviour of whom all prophecy speaks. His presence, manifested according to his promise into the Christian heart, is the dawn of the spiritual day. He is the Day-star, the Light-bringer; for he is the Light, the Light of the world. Precious above all price is the clear brightness of that holy day; precious, therefore, is prophecy, as it guides us onward through the encircling gloom till the dawning of the day, and the rising of the Bright and Morning Star. And we shall value the guidance of prophecy the more when we consider the source from which it comes. The prophecies of Holy Scripture are not the result of human thought. The prophet did not himself unravel the mysteries of the future. It was not Joseph who interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh, or Daniel who interpreted the visions of Nebuchadnezzar. It was not for the prophet to interpret the revelation presented to himself. Interpretation as well as vision comes from God. "It is not in me," said Joseph: "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets," said Daniel to the king. Prophecy came from heaven, like the voice which spake at the Transfiguration; it was borne to the prophet, as that voice was borne to the Lord. The holy men who uttered the prophecies were borne along by the Holy Spirit of God. God who spake at the Transfiguration is the God who spake by the prophets. Both forms of testimony come from him; both are sure and certain; the one makes the other surer.
LESSONS.
1. St. Peter looked forward calmly to the approach of death; we should learn to do the like. He regarded the nearness of death as an incentive to earnest work; we should follow his example.
2. The external evidence of our religion is sure; we have the testimony of eye-witnesses, who themselves had the testimony of God. We have the testimony of prophets who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
3. But the surest evidence to each individual soul is the manifestation of Christ, the Day-star, rising in the heart. "Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us."
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
2 Peter 1:1
Peter's primacy.
We have, in the career and the fame of St. Peter, an extraordinary instance of a man rising from obscurity to renown. A Galilaean fisherman became the leader of the college of apostles, and has for centuries been acknowledged by the whole of Christendom as one of its inspired teachers and counselors; whilst by a great part of Christendom Peter has been regarded as the chief human head and ruler of the Church, first in his own person, and afterwards by those considered to be his successors. It is certainly very remarkable in how very many respects Peter stands first among our Lord's apostles. Confining ourselves to the scriptural narrative, disregarding all traditions, and giving no heed to superstitious claims, we cannot but admit the many evidences of St. Peter's primacy.
I. PETER WAS THE FIRST AMONG THE LITTLE GROUP OF CHOSEN DISCIPLES ADMITTED TO WITNESS CHRIST'S GLORY. Peter was the first-mentioned of the three who saw the transfigured Son of man upon the holy mount; and it was he who, as the spokesman of the others, exclaimed, "It is good for us to be here."
II. PETER OCCUPIED THE SAME POSITION AMONGST THOSE CHOSEN TO TESTIFY OF THE SAVIOUR'S HUMILIATION AND AGONY. Ill the garden of Gethsemane, Simon was one of the same band of three whom Jesus kept near to himself; and his prominent action in his Master's defense is proof of his admitted leadership.
III. PETER WAS THE FIRST OF THE APOSTLES TO BEAR WITNESS TO THE LORD'S MESSIAHSHIP AND DIVINITY. It was his exclamation, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," which called forth the Lord's approval and original blessing, "Blessed art thou, Simon," etc.
IV. PETER WAS THE FIRST TO PROCLAIM THE SAVIOUR'S RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. Paul himself records that the risen Redeemer first appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. "The Lord hath risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon,"—such were the joyful tidings which circulated among the little company during the resurrection-day.
V. PETER WAS THE FIRST, AFTER THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO HIS FELLOW-MEN. Upon the Day of Pentecost he stood up, and in the name of the brethren published to the multitude the explanation of the marvelous events of that day. As the chief speaker and representative of the Church, he proclaimed, not only the facts of the Resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit, but pardon and salvation through the redemption which Christ had wrought.
VI. PETER WAS THE FIRST AMONG CHRISTIAN CONFESSORS TO ENDURE AND TO DEFY THE RACE OF THE PERSECUTOR. The storm broke upon the loftiest oak of the forest. Peter was naturally selected by the enemies of the faith as its most public and powerful representative, that he might be made to feel their power. But his attitude and language proved that he was conscious of the presence and support of One mightier than all those who were opposed to him.
VII. PETER WAS THE FIRST AMONG THE TWELVE TO WELCOME BELIEVING GENTILES INTO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The case of Cornelius, the circumstances attending the "Council of Jerusalem," are sufficient proof of this. Although the "apostle of the circumcision," it is plain that Peter was in fullest sympathy with that Divine move-meat of expansiveness which was to represent Christianity as the religion for mankind, and Christ as the Saviour of the world.
VIII. PETER WAS THE FIRST CONCERNING WHOM IT WAS FORETOLD THAT HE SHOULD SUFFER A DEATH OF MARTYRDOM FOR THE LORD WHOM HE LOVED. Jesus himself forewarned him of the fate which was before him, and even signified what death he should die. He who counted it an honour to fulfill his Lord's will, and to proclaim his Lord's grace and love, when the time came, counted it a joy to share his Master's reproach and to bear his Master's cross - J.R.T.
2 Peter 1:3, 2 Peter 1:4
The bounty of God.
The lot of the primitive Christians whom the apostles addressed in their spoken and written utterances must, for the most part, have appeared to ordinary observers far from desirable. Not only were they drawn from the lowly and unconsidered classes of society, but they often had much to endure as a consequence of their reception of the gospel and their fidelity to Christ. Especially did they meet with the contempt of the great, on account of their adhesion to what the world deemed an unreasonable superstition, and with the hostility, now of a mob, and again of a governor, who attacked them with the weapons of persecution. Yet these primitive Christians took an independent view of their own position, and judged themselves very differently from the world's judgment. They were taught by their inspired instructors and counselors—as by St. Peter in this passage—to consider themselves objects of the Divine favour, recipients of the Divine bounty—nay, even partakers of the Divine life. Such an appreciation of their position and spiritual endowments might be deemed by their unenlightened and worldly neighbours mere fanaticism. But events proved that the Church of Christ was under no illusion in cherishing a profound conviction that all its true members were enriched with incomparable wealth, and called to a glorious destiny. High thoughts of privilege prepared for deeds of daring and of endurance; and the world which could not comprehend the Church's faith and claims was constrained to feel and to acknowledge the Church's power.
I. THE DIVINE GIVER.
1. His boundless power accounts for the plenitude and variety of God's bestowments upon his people. If we speak of him as "the Almighty," when considering his material creation and all its illimitable extent, and its teeming wonders, much more evidently is such an appellation justified when we turn to regard those higher manifestations of creative energy which are furnished in transformations wrought in the individual and the social life of man.
"'Twas great to speak a world from naught,
'Twas greater to redeem."
2. His wonderful generosity. The endowments of the Church arc said to be "granted" or "given." And this must have been so; for they are altogether beyond human acquirement, whilst nothing that man could do could earn such blessings. And when the sinfulness of the whole race of men is considered, the generosity which was expressed in the bestowment of such gifts upon such recipients must be acknowledged to be wonderful indeed.
II. THE SPIRITUAL GIFT. There are two parties to every gift, and in order to appreciate it, it is necessary to look at the gift in relation to him who gives and to those who receive.
1. Looked at on their Divine side, these gifts are the fulfillment of "promises precious and exceeding great." It would be absurd and sinful to suppose that what God bestows upon his creatures is flung to them in a momentary and capricious fit of liberality. As a matter of fact, from the earliest periods of human history, from the time of man's "fall," the revelation of God had been one intended to inspire hope of salvation; and the primaeval promise had been renewed, both by language and by symbol, from age to age. These promises might not always be fully understood, clear as they are to us when we read them in the light of their fulfillment. But they were glorious with a glory exceeding any human assurances of help and blessing. And the purport of them all was to reveal a Divine intention to provide spiritual blessings—knowledge, deliverance, and life—for a needy and a sinful race. Great as were the promises, the fulfillment was greater still. A Saviour was promised, and in the fullness of time a Saviour came; the incarnation and advent of Christ were the accomplishment of the predictions and the purposes of eternal wisdom and eternal love. The diffusion of the Spirit throughout a society which needed enlightenment and healing and fertilization was the accomplishment of some of the most striking and poetical prophecies of Old Testament Scripture.
2. Looked at on their human side, these Divine gifts include "all things that pertain unto life and godliness." A marvelously comprehensive description! Spiritual death and ungodliness prevailed in the world. And there was no human means by which their power could be destroyed and the salvation of men secured. But in the fulfillment of the Divine promises, in the mediatorial dispensation, in the coming of the Son of God, and of the Spirit of life and holiness, the amplest provision was made for the highest and immortal welfare of men. We may compare this declaration with the reasoning of Paul, who argues that he who spared not his Son, but gave him up for us all, will with him also freely give us all things.
III. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE DIVINE GIFT IS APPRECIATED BY THE HUMAN RECIPIENT.
1. There is a call, a summons, an invitation of God. Very fine, very elevating and encouraging, is St. Peter's representation of the method adopted by Divine wisdom to secure that the gift shall not be lost. It is "by his own glory and virtue" that God calls us to salvation, i.e., by an exhibition of his natural and moral attributes eminently fitted to reveal himself to our hearts, and to produce upon those hearts a deep impression, winning them to faith, devotion, gratitude, and love. The beginning of good must be, and is, a movement on the part of the Almighty Ruler and Saviour.
2. There is a consequent "knowledge" of our redeeming God, which the revelation makes possible to us, furnishing us with an object of knowledge. Such teaching as this is directly opposed to the agnosticism with which so many are content. Our Lord himself, in his intercessory prayer, laid the greatest stress upon the knowledge of himself and of the Father. Doubtless this is a knowledge of a higher kind than is our knowledge of nature; and it is far more powerful to affect the character, to mould the life. Yet it is knowledge which is within the reach of the lowliest and the least cultured. To know God in Christ is life eternal - J.R.T.
2 Peter 1:4
Partakers of a Divine nature.
Readers of classic literature are aware that, the cultivated pagans of antiquity broke down the distinction between the human and the Divine, by representing their emperors and other great men as taken after death into the rank of the gods. But this apotheosis was rather an exaltation in rank than an assimilation to, an incorporation in, a higher moral nature. The religion of Christ, on the other hand, evinces its immeasurable superiority to these human religions by representing the participation in the Divine as moral, and by holding out the prospect, not merely to a limited class, but to all who receive the gospel.
I. THE RESPECTS IN WHICH MAN MAY SHARE THE NATURE OF GOD.
1. This partaking is not in the natural attributes of Deity, such as omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, which are incommunicable.
2. But in the moral attributes. Of these may be especially mentioned holiness, or the disposition and habit of loving and doing all things that are just and pure; and love, or the disposition and habit of seeking the true and highest well-being of all whom it is possible to benefit. It is a proof of the elevated conception of God which Christianity has introduced into the world, that these Divine attributes should occur to the mind as those most worthy of our admiration and imitation. And Christians must feel at once that, if these are wanting to the character, it is out of the question to pretend to trace assimilation to the nature of our holy and loving God.
II. THE CONSTITUTION IN VIRTUE OF WHICH MAN MAY SHARE THE NATURE OF GOD,
1. The human constitution is in complete contrast with that of the inferior animals, which may in their life carry out the purposes of God, but can only do this blindly and unintelligently. It is, says Kant, the prerogative of an intelligent being to act, not merely according to law, but according to the representation of law; i.e., to conceive, adopt, and voluntarily obey, the law.
2. Thus it is that man is endowed with a nature capable, through God's mercy, of acquiring the moral nature of his Divine Maker and Lord. Constituted as he is, fashioned in the likeness of God, man can, under heavenly influences, perceive the excellence of the moral attributes of his God, can admire and can aspire to them, can resolve and endeavour to participate in and acquire them.
III. THE PROVISION MADE WHEREBY THIS POSSIBILITY MAY BECOME ACTUAL. It is not to be supposed that, merely by aspiring, a man can share the nature of God, any more than by merely desiring to fly he can raise himself into the air and cleave it as with wings. An interposition of a supernatural character is necessary.
1. A condition and means by which this end may be secured is deliverance by the redemption of Christ from the corruption of the world. There is no harmony between the lusts of the world and the flesh, and the life of God. The Redeemer came in order to set men free from the power which debases and degrades—in order, as St. Peter says in the context, to enable men to escape from the corruption that is in the world by lust. And experience has shown that the mediatorial grace of Christ is able to effect what do human power can bring to pass.
2. The renewal and purification which are the work of the Holy Spirit of God are the moral power by which the participation in question is actually accomplished. He brings the life of the Eternal into our human nature, and pours that life through the whole being of the believing and grateful disciple of Christ, so that he becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus.
IV. THE GLORIOUS RESULTS OF PARTICIPATION IN THE DIVINE NATURE.
1. A Divine nature involves a Divine life. This is not a merely sentimental, or even a merely mystical and transcendental, change; on the contrary, it is a change actual, discernible, and progressive; a change by which its Divine Author is glorified.
2. A Divine nature involves an immortal life of blessedness. To live in God is to live in the fullness of joy, and to live thus for ever - J.R.T.
2 Peter 1:16-18
Witness to Christ.
The Divine Saviour was the theme of apostolic preaching. They, whom he himself commissioned for the purpose, published the tidings of their Lord's first advent as the object of human faith, and of his second and future advent as the object of human hope. Thus the "power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ" was the great thought that inspired the apostles' minds, and animated them in their labours. And it was most natural and wise that, for their own sake and. for the sake of their hearers and readers, they should ever keep before their hearts, and should often mention in their discourse, those great facts concerning the Master upon which their new life and their new work were based. This accounts for the reference in this passage to the marvelous scene of Christ's Transfiguration.
I. THE WITNESS OF THE FATHER TO THE SON. On three occasions during our Lord's earthly ministry was the silence of heaven broken, and audible testimony borne by the Eternal to the "Son of his love." Of these occasions the Transfiguration was the most glorious and impressive. It was more than a majestic scene; it was an appeal to human intelligence and devoutness.
1. There was a voice from heaven. God chose an avenue which he himself had designed and fashioned, in order to reach the minds and hearts of men.
2. Expressed by this voice was the Father's personal relationship of affection towards Jesus. In his humiliation our Lord was acknowledged as the "beloved Son."
3. Witness was also borne to the complacency with which the Father regarded the Son, as fulfilling his will in the ministry and mediation he had undertaken.
4. The Transfiguration was justly regarded by the apostles as a bestowal upon their Lord of "honour and glory." Not that to them the outward splendor was everything; doubtless it was the symbol of a spiritual glory.
II. THE WITNESS OF THE DISCIPLES TO THEIR MASTER. This was a matter of fact, and is to us matter of history. Place and time are duly specified.
1. The disciples, who were serious and credible men, declared themselves to be eye-witnesses of Christ's majesty.
2. And ear-witnesses of the Divine attestation borne to him.
3. They expressly asserted that in this matter they were neither deceivers nor deceived. And, indeed, the case of their being either the one or the other is utterly incredible, is scarcely to be constructed by the imagination. They were not following cunningly devised fables; neither did they invent the incidents, nor did they adopt the inventions of others. In accepting the gospel narrative we build upon a sure foundation of fact.
III. THE PRACTICAL INFERENCE TO BE DRAWN BY THOSE WHO RECEIVE THIS TWO-FOLD WITNESS. Human nature is such that it is not possible for us to believe such facts as those which St. Peter here records, and not be affected by such belief in our spirit and our conduct.
1. As regards Jesus himself, whosoever receives the gospel is constrained to confess his power, presence, and coming.
2. As regards himself, he is bound to trust, love, honour, and serve the Saviour and Lord, who is thus made known to his spiritual nature by the revelation of the eternal Father, and by the testimony of his believing and devoted followers and apostles - J.R.T.
2 Peter 1:19
The lamp and the dawn.
Notwithstanding Peter's personal acquaintance with the Lord Jesus, and the abundant evidence which had come before him, during Christ's ministry, of his Master's duty and authority, Peter was far from disparaging the value of those attestations to the authority and sway of the Messiah-Prince to be found in the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
I. THE NIGHT OF TIME. The world is, apart from special illumination from above, a dark place. The human race, in this condition of being, are like wanderers in midnight gloom. Ignorance of what it most concerns us to know, sinful habits which cloud the reason and even corrupt the conscience, hopelessness as to the future beyond this brief mortal existence,—such are the elements of moral darkness. The gloom is not unrelieved, but it is real and undeniable.
II. THE LAMP OF REVELATION. The darkness of man's moral condition has been to some extent dispelled and scattered by the light which God himself has kindled in the minds of holy and devout men, and which they have shed upon their fellow-mortals' path. In them has been verified the grand saying of the poet—
''Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves."
The prophets, whose writings form a large part of the sacred volume, have rendered a service to humanity which in our day is inadequately acknowledged. Certainly they have introduced into human thinking and literature many of our sublimest conceptions of God, of morality, of society. And certainly they have done much to sustain the faith of men in a Divine rule, and to inspire the hope of men in a glorious future for the moral universe. Not only did they reveal the coming of the King whose way to empire should be through suffering and death; they revealed the prospect of a kingdom which has yet to be realized, and which is to secure the highest welfare of man and to exhibit the eternal glory of God.
III. THE DAYBREAK OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. The lamp is well enough for the night; but how welcome and how precious to the watcher or the traveler is the break of day! The day-star, the light-bringer, shines with rays of lustrous promise. Then the gray dawn appears in the east, and reddens as the sunrise approaches. Soon the sun rises in his strength and floods the world with light. The process is a picture of what happens in the spiritual history of humanity.
1. What the day is deserves to be considered. It is the day of knowledge, of holiness, of "hope. Through the shining of the Sun of Righteousness, they who sometime were darkness are now light in the Lord.
2. Where the day shines is also matter of great interest. To St. Peter the glory of noontide splendour was still in the future. Certain it is that the kingdom of Christ, like the path of the just, "shineth more and more unto the perfect day." What we have hitherto seen has been the beauty and the promise of the morning. The full noontide splendour has yet to be revealed. But in indulging bright hopes for the world, for the destiny of our redeemed and regenerated humanity, let us not lose sight of the internal, the spiritual, the personal experience of enlightenment. St. Peter's hope was that "in your hearts" this day should dawn, and this day-star arise. We have to look not only without, but within. If the heart be dark as a cavern secluded in forest depths from every ray of the sun in heaven, of what avail for us is it that the world is bathed in spiritual luster?
APPLICATION.
1. Take heed to the lamp of prophecy, which does not cease to shine, and which is needed by every traveler through the night of time, to direct his feet into the paths of safety, wisdom, and peace.
2. Hail the promise of the morning, and look forward to the spiritual and perfect day. Of times and seasons we know but little; but this we know—"The Lord is at hand;" "The morning cometh." "Lift up, then, your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh."—J.R.T.
2 Peter 1:21
God's voice in the Bible.