"WE WERE WITH HIM" -- Monday:
"For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount." (2 Pet 1:17-18)
When Peter wrote his second Epistle, he was near the time of his departure from the land of trouble and sorrow. With tenderness he wrote, "Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me" (2 Pet 1:14). Tradition tells us his closing days were oppressive, as he was shackled in a standing position to a pillar in a dreadful pit. As he wrote to those who had "received a faith of the same kind as" the Apostles themselves (1:1), his mind reached back to the time when the Lord Himself "dwelt among" them. Peter had been privileged to walk with Jesus "from the baptism of John" until the day He was taken up from them (Acts 1:22). What recollections must have flooded his mind. Doubtless the Holy Spirit moved holy remembrances from the past into his memory. He could recall Jesus' baptism, when the Father, Son, and Spirit were all perceived with the human senses. From the turning of the water into wine to the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the memory of a host of mighty works could have coursed through his aged but fertile mind. The feeding of two great multitudes, the cleansing of multiple lepers, and occasions when Jesus "healed them all" in a great display of power, were welcome to his memory. Some of Christ's great discourses could have been recalled, from the sermon on the mount to His prayer in Gethsemane. What precious gem would Peter deliver to his readers? What holy recollection would he set before them? How would the Spirit move him in this letter?
Peter does not refer to what is commonly called "the great commission" (Matt 28:18-20). He does not recall the Olivet discourse, when Jesus spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the world, and His return (Matt 24). In sanctifying power, the Spirit brings before Peter the time when they were with Jesus in "the holy mount" of transfiguration. He remembers the Lord's "majesty," and the "excellent glory" that pervaded that citadel of revelation. He does not focus on what he blurted out on that occasion. Nor, indeed, does he refer to the words spoken by Moses and Elijah to Jesus. Rather, he remembers the penetrating words of God the Father. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him!" That was the Voice he heard, and that is what he wanted his readers to hear.
There is the essence of doctrinal correctness: what God the Father said of Jesus! There is the heart of the Gospel: what Jesus is to God! In this word we are told where to turn our eyes and ears. Our focus is defined, and the center of our attention is explained. The most central frame of mind in the universe is that of the Father toward the Son. It is at the heart of the remission of sin and the intercession of Christ. It is what makes the Gospel good news, giving it power. It affects our prayers, our hunger and thirst for righteousness, and our longing for glory. The Father is well pleased with the Son. When we are pleased with Him, God is pleased with us also.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask that You to share with me the view of Your Son that You Yourself have.