The apostle Peter made
reference to his eyewitness account of Jesus transfiguring Himself
into His glorified body upon the mountain as recorded in the gospels
of Matthew in chapter seventeen and Mark chapter nine. As awesome as
this proof was that Jesus is who He says He is, Peter told his
readers that there is “a more sure word of prophecy” than
that experience. In chapter one and verse twenty he points to what
that “more sure word” is, and what may not be derived from
it. We read:
Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
The verse begins, “Knowing
this first,...” Before Peter
continued his thoughts about the “more sure word of
prophecy”, he desired that his
readers “know first” what he is about to tell them. Whenever
there is a first indicator it means priority, first in rank,
honor, principle, and chief. In other words, what is about to be
declared should be of particular priority for us. We should pay
attention to it, and pay attention to it well.
The
verse continues, “that no prophecy of the scripture is of
any private interpretation.”
Peter desires that everyone who reads his words know that “no
prophecy of the scripture” is
specially revealed to any particular person. In other words, the
scriptures are not as though they “pertain to one's self, one's own
or belonging to one's self”. There is no one person who has an
advanced or special “private”
“interpretation”
which means “a loosening, unloosing” of the scriptures
that is greater than any other reader of them. The priority of Peter
in this verse is to be sure that no one thinks he or she has any
special advantage or insight into the scriptures more than anyone
else who reads them. There were some in Peter's day who were like
this, and his declaration makes sure his readers were not to follow
in their path.
Have we ever encountered
someone who thought themselves to be just a little better at knowing
a particular scripture than another? Perhaps they thought God gave
them an insight into the scriptures that no one else will ever know
or perceive. One of the attitudes behind this type of thinking is
pride, and although pride will raise its ugly head in most of us, it
should never be so about the scriptures. God gave everyone everywhere
the same ability to know the prophecy of His word. There are a few
folks who have been around it a little longer and know a little more
of its trues and applications, but this is not exclusive knowledge.
God desires that everyone come into a personal relationship with Him
as revealed in His word, and as Peter reminds the church in his day
of the evidence for the relationship with Jesus Christ, let it be a
reminder for us to continue to dive into the words of God that are
open and available to us all.
Next
time we will learn about the origin and source of the scriptures, so
read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation” and the new marriage book “So, You Want
to Be Married” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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