SPEAKING TRUTH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

2 Peter 1:16-18

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

One of the greatest things about sharing the Bible with others is that we are speaking truth into their lives, undeniably perfect truth.

I can say this with confidence because the Word of God is just that, His Word, a collection of words from the almighty, infallible Maker and Master of all creation. He tells us as much while speaking through the Apostle Paul as he writes this to his ministry mentee, Timothy:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Here we find an absolute, and if you read this blog regularly, you know I love to point out these kinds of statements. In this passage, we are told that all scripture is God-breathed and all means all. There is not one single word in the Bible that hasn’t been breathed out by Him for us to use in “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” with the end goal of ensuring each “servant of God” is “thoroughly equipped for every good work”.

And so when we speak any part of the scriptures, we are speaking God’s perfectly truthful Word.

Reinforcing this, we read accounts in the Bible from people who actually walked the earth with God incarnate, sharing time with Jesus, His Son who was One with His Father (John 10:30). Peter was one such person and we find him telling of one such time he shared with the Savior of the world as we turn to our passage today from 2 Peter, chapter 1. Look again at these words here:

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. Vv.16-18

Can you almost hear Peter saying, “I’m not making things up!” as he addresses anything he may have shared about Jesus? He and his fellow apostles weren’t regurgitating some recycled, “cleverly devised stories” but rather spoke from a place where they were actually with the Messiah and Savior of the world.

Then Peter follows this with telling about one such eyewitness experience, one that only he, James, and John could speak of as they were the only three who were invited to join Jesus “on the sacred mountain” in what we know as The Transfiguration which is present in three of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). We’ll look at Matthew’s account in this message:

After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Matthew 17:1-9

Can you imagine having been there on that mountain where God, “the Majestic Glory”, appears in a “bright cloud” to proclaim His love, favor, and endorsement for Jesus, His Son?

It would have been something you would want to tell everyone but that wasn’t the will of Jesus. Rather, He commanded Peter, James, and John not to “tell anyone what” they had seen until He, “the Son of Man”, had been “raised from the dead”.

And so Peter waited in obedience to the demand of His Master and waited to share his eyewitness experience until his second letter to the Christian believers scattered through “the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1), speaking truth to them all about Jesus, a truth validated by the Gospels.

Friends, like Peter, we get the deep privilege to share timeless truths, not “cleverly devised stories”, as we convey the scriptures to others and I will confess that it’s the best thing I get to do on any given day as I walk with Jesus and receive direction from the Holy Spirit, direction that ensures I am properly carrying out the will of my Lord in the way I live.

I pray you experience the same as you speak the truth found in the God-breathed scriptures with others.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.