The Quiet Whisper of God

“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. We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:16-21)

At the time Peter was writing his letters, the early followers of Christ faced a surfeit of false teachings and so called prophets declaring that what the Apostles taught was false, including their declaration that Jesus Christ would one day return to earth in full splendor and glory as Saviour and God; as they had been told after watching Christ’s Ascension (Acts 1:9-11).
In his second letter, Peter turns these accusations on their head, by pointing out that it is the false prophets who are making up stories and inventing myths, while the faith Christians can live by is founded on two simple truths: Apostolic witness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the written prophetic revelation of God in scripture. Peter flatly denies that they as Christ-followers are inventing cleverly devised tales, and made-up stories, unlike some religious charlatans who made a very nice living by claiming to have some new revelation that would help their followers get whatever they wanted.

We are well acquainted with such religious groups and people throughout the last decades, like Daesh (ISIS), and cult leaders like Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, and Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church . . . the list is almost endless. What they have in common, however, is complete exploitation; luring people in with promises of things like freedom from problems, the gaining of power, closeness to God, but what they offer in reality is oppression, financial abuse, mental and emotional harm, sexual abuse and even death.

Peter emphasizes that he and the other Apostles are simply sharing what came first from Christ, with whom they ate and walked and breathed; and he relates how he experienced Christ’s transfiguration, seeing Moses and Elijah appear with him, in no doubt a startling and glorious manner that was beyond comprehension. The Apostles are merely repeating what Jesus said, and sharing what he did, nothing more, and nothing less. Peter then refers to the scriptures, telling Christians that they will do well to note the scriptures that speak of the Day of the Lord, because scriptures are like a lamp shining in a dark place, illuminating and making the path possible to walk without stumbling. Both Old and New Testaments speak of scripture as a light or a lamp. The Psalmist says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). When Peter speaks of prophetic scripture as “a lamp shining in a dark place,” he is using a familiar metaphor.

Consequently, Peter is able to declare that certain people have interpreted the scriptures to fit their own understanding, and thus deny the reality of Christ’s Second Coming. He challenges the whole idea of private interpretation; no interpretation is reliable unless it comes with full and careful understanding, and as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter concludes that those denying the reality of Christ’s Second Coming are in conflict with the apostolic teaching that Christ will come again, and he warns that the result of their false prophecies will be their own destruction.

The danger of this kind of false interpretation is always with us. It is often tempting to determine what we believe, based first on our own opinions and then superficially backed up by ‘cherry-picked’ or twisted scripture, rather than to look carefully at what the scriptures say, in the language and culture in which they were written, who the audience was, and what was happening historically. We only need to look at the different attitudes of Christians across the global Church towards gay men and lesbians, and same-sex marriage in order to have a fair idea of how badly people can read the Bible - and we are still paying the price of that in most denominations as vitriolic and vicious preaching pour out of them.

At the end of the day, if a Christian leader’s teaching on any subject, or if your or my understanding of scripture, oppresses others, if it speaks without grace or compassion, and bears no fruit of the Holy Spirit, if it denies another’s humanity and their being created in the image of God, then it is not from God and is certainly not from the Christ we follow, and who calls us to love God fully, with heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.

Peter took great care to reveal what he understood of Christ’s teaching and of scripture, in order to build and encourage faith and trust in an infinitely loving God, a wonderful Saviour, and an empowering Holy Spirit. For us as disciples, we need to take just as much care with our discipleship, in order to grow as mature, loving Christians, honour God, and be a help and blessing to others. It is rarely the loudest or most powerful voice amongst human beings that brings us to truth. As Elijah experienced, it is not the earthquake, fire or wind that brings the presence and revelation of God (1 Kings 19:11-13), but rather the quiet whisper of his Spirit that convicts our hearts of truth and leads us on in grace and love.