Bible Passage: 2 Peter 1:16-21
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: February 15, 2026

Bulletin

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Oftentimes in life, paying attention to a light means the difference between life and death.  Drivers better pay attention to the traffic lights as they approach an intersection.  Green means I can go; red means I better stop or risk being T-boned.  The pilot of a plane flying on a foggy night better pay attention to the runway lights as he comes in for a landing.  Long before the days of satellite global positioning devices, ship captains at sea knew they better pay attention to the light from lighthouses on shore to avoid running aground, or worse.

Not only does careful attention to light often mean physical safety, paying attention to light also means spiritual safety.  Peter is a guy who knows a thing or two about seeing a special light.  As we heard in our Gospel lesson today, Peter was present at the Transfiguration of Jesus!  He saw the glory of Jesus as it was revealed on that mountainside!  And as a guy who saw a bright light, Peter encourages his readers to pay attention to the light God has given them.  So today we take the encouragement from our text:  Pay Attention to the Light…Peter Did!

“Encouragement” is the word we might use to summarize Peter’s purpose in writing this letter.  Peter is warning his readers that false teachers will try to worm their way in.  Peter says they will secretly bring in destructive heresies (2:1) and fabricated messages (2:3).  These false teachers are just gonna make it up as they go!

To counter this, Peter plays the “apostolic” card.  He says, To be sure, we were not following cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the powerful appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (v. 16)  Peter didn’t come saying, “Once upon a time in a land far away…”  Peter proclaimed what he himself saw!  He was an eyewitness of the majesty of Jesus!

Peter tells the story of the day he SAW that bright light.  For he [Jesus] received honor and glory from God the Father, when the voice came to him from within the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  We heard this voice, which came out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. (v. 17-18)  Peter is remembering that night when he, along with the brothers James and John, went with Jesus up onto that mountainside.  He is remembering what he saw.  He is remembering looking at the face of Jesus and shielding his eyes because it was like staring into the sun!

He is remembering how the Father called attention to this light.  The Father didn’t say, “Hey look, guys!  It’s Moses!  And Elijah!  Isn’t that cool?”  All attention is directed to Jesus and his identity. This is my Son!  Peter and James and John were seeing a glimpse of the glory of the Son of God!  It was the glory the Son of God had with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity.  If unmitigated, it is unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16).  So what Peter and his friends saw was an attenuated, a “dialed-back,” degree of glory that sinful humans could bear!  But even this attenuated glory made its point with Peter!  Years later he would write about it in this letter.

Maybe you have reflected on Peter’s experience on the mountain and thought, “I would have stronger faith if only Jesus would show me his glory!  I would never doubt!  I would never question!”  In the second half of our text Peter tells us that God has also given us a bright light: We also have the completely reliable prophetic word.  You do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place. (v. 19)  The undercurrent here is certainty.  We want certainty, don’t we?  We want to be sure what we believe is rock-solid and reliable.  Here is wonderful news: God wants you to have certainty, too!  And so he has given to you the Word.

Peter calls the Word of God a lamp, a light, shining in a dark place.  The word he uses for “dark” is a word used only here in the Bible.  It is a word that means more than just “the absence of light.”  It is a word that means “squalid.”  One dictionary defines “squalid” as “dirty, filthy, foul, nasty.”  The definition goes on:  “All these terms are also applicable to moral uncleanness or baseness or obscenity.  Dirty then stresses meanness or despicableness. Filthy and foul describe disgusting obscenity or loathsome behavior.  Nasty implies a peculiarly offensive unpleasantness. Distinctively, squalid implies sordidness as well as baseness and dirtiness.”  And friends, that squalor is not just “out there.”  It is born into me, and I am born into it.  But the Word shines a beam of light into this squalid world!  It tells of the Son of God who covers his majestic glory and steps into this squalid world.  The Word tells of rescue from my own personal squalor and rescue from this squalid world through the Son of God who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)  News of Jesus’ rescue bursts into our hearts!  It is the news we have been waiting for!  It is morning in my heart.  The day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts. (v. 19)

But can we be absolutely certain the light of God’s Word is reliable?  Can we place our hope of eternal life in these “words”?  Yes, we can.  Peter reminds us, We know this above all else:  No prophecy of Scripture comes about from someone’s own interpretation.  In fact, no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were being carried along by the Holy Spirit. (v. 20-21)  This Book is not cleverly invented stories and myths and fairy tales and legends.  These words are truly and miraculously GOD’s Word.  God the Holy Spirit, who cannot lie, carried the human authors so they wrote only and exactly what the Spirit of Truth wanted recorded!  These are the utterances of God himself!  That is why this Book is our light.  That is why we will always give it our full and undivided attention!

Amen.