FIRST READING Exodus 24:8-18
8And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. 12The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.” 15Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
PSALM Psalm 2:6-12
6”I myself have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” 7Let me announce the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son; this day have I begotten you. 8Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. 9You shall crush them with an iron rod and shatter them like a piece of pottery.” 10And now, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11Submit to the Lord with fear, and with trembling bow before him; 12Lest he be angry and you perish; for his wrath is quickly kindled.
SECOND READING 2 Peter 1:16-21
16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
GOSPEL Matthew 17:1-9
1And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. 9And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
THE FOUNTAIN OF TRUTH
All of us learned in school about the legendary Spanish explorer, Ponce de León. Ponce de León is credited with discovering the State of Florida because he was looking for the legendary fountain of youth. I like watching the old TV reruns, reality shows like Alaskan Bush people and documentaries. And generally speaking, these shows are not aired on the big networks but on the budget TV channels. The reason I bring this up is that the commercials on these budget channels tend to be infomercials. And it doesn’t take very long watching these infomercials to realize that there are still many today, who like Ponce de León, are on the quest for that fountain of youth. Everything from pills to face creams to diets, all promising the magic elixir of eternal youth. The problem is, no one has ever found it, and they never will. The truth is, there is no such fountain.
But even though there’s no fountain of youth, there is a fountain of truth, that can keep your spirit and soul eternally young forever. It’s a fountain that never runs dry, whose water is free and fresh, and this fountain is the word of God. I’m afraid that our nation, as well as much of the church, has forgotten just how valuable the Bible really is. But don’t take my word for it. Let me quote from a few Presidents of the United States.
John Quincy Adams said, “The first, and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. I speak as a man of the world…and I say to you, ‘Search the Scriptures.'” Andrew Jackson said, “The Bible is the rock on which our Republic rests.” Abraham Lincoln said, “I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this book upon reason that you can, and the balance by faith, and you will live and die a better man.” Theodore Roosevelt said, “Almost every man who has by his life-work added to the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud, of which our people are proud, almost every such man has based his life-work largely upon the teachings of the Bible.” It was Woodrow Wilson who said, “A man has deprived himself of the best there is in the world, who has deprived himself of a knowledge of the Bible.”
Calvin Coolidge said, “The foundations of our society and of our government rests so much on the teachings of the Bible, that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings should cease to be practically universal in our country.” General Robert E. Lee said, “The Bible is a book in comparison with which all others in my eyes are of minor importance, and which in all my perplexities and distresses has never failed to give me life and strength.” But I believe the great evangelist, Billy Sunday, put it best when he said, “If you take the best out of all of the books of all of the ages ever written in the world, you still would not produce a book that would touch the hem of the garment of the Bible.” So what is it that makes this book so valuable?
What is it that separates this book from every other book that ever has been written, or will ever be written? According to St. Peter, there are three qualities about the Bible that makes it “the fountain of truth.” First, the Bible outlives human expression. Peter had a major goal he wanted to accomplish in writing this second letter. He wanted to remind his readers that their faith was to be based not on a preacher, or a personality, but on the principles found in the word of God. Three times in the verses just prior to our epistle reading for today, Peter speaks about remembering.
In v.12 he says, ” Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.” He then says in v.13, “I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder.” He further says in v.15, “And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.” Peter knew he was going to die. In fact, in some translations, in verse 13 he calls his body a tent.
To me that’s interesting because a tent isn’t where you live; a tent is where you camp out. This life and this world are temporary: We’re all just camping out. Jerry Glanville, who used to be the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, once said, “If you don’t live in Atlanta, you’re just camping out.” In reality when we die, we’re really just moving from this temporary structure to our permanent home. We quit traveling, and move to our eternal home, whether it be heaven or hell. You’d be interested to know that Robert E. Lee’s last words before he died were: “Strike the tent!”
What Peter was saying was, “I am going to die, but you will still have the word of God.” The messenger may die, but the message will live on. Peter was a great teacher, but he’s gone; Paul was a great teacher, but he’s gone; James was a great teacher, but he’s gone. Down through the centuries there have been some great preachers of the word of God. Whitfield was a great preacher, but he’s gone; Wesley, a great preacher, he’s gone; Luther, the great reformer, teacher and preacher, he’s too is gone. Preachers come and go, but the preaching of the word carries on. Ministers come and go, but the ministry of the word carries on. Teachers come and go, but the teaching of the word carries on.
You see, if we didn’t have the everlasting eternal word of God, we would be at the mercy of men’s memories for what spiritual truth we have. But as we’ve learned, even from past US Presidents, the memory is both defective and selective. Oftentimes, we forget what we ought to remember, and we remember what we ought to forget. Usually it’s not that we can’t remember, sometimes we don’t want to remember. But our faith is not based on a man or a memory, but on the word of God.
The Bible not only outlives its friends, it also outlives its foes. Dr. Vance Havner used to say that “for two thousand years, infidels, skeptics, and critics have tried to bury the Bible, but it’s the only book that can outlive the pallbearers.” The famous infidel, Voltaire, once said, “I am tired of hearing it declared that twelve men sufficed to establish Christianity, and I want to prove to them that it only needs one to destroy it.” He went on to say that within twenty-five years the Bible would be totally forgotten and Christianity would be a thing of the past. In what can only be seen as ironic, forty years after his death in 1778, a Bible society bought Voltaire’s home and made it the head-quarters of a printing press that turned out copies of the word of God. The second quality that makes the Bible the fountain of truth is that the Bible outweighs human experience.
Peter was dealing with false teachers, those who denied the truth of Christianity. In v.16 we read, ” For we did not follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” The word fable is the Greek word muthos from which we get the word “myth.” It means a manufactured story that has no basis in fact. Peter makes the point strongly that Christianity isn’t a fable; it is indeed fact. Jesus isn’t a fairy tale figure. He was, is, and will always be true and real.
The reason Peter declares this so strongly is because he was both an eyewitness and an ear-witness. A witness is someone who simply tells what he has seen, what he has heard, and Peter was a faithful witness. He commits his testimony to writing: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.” (vv.16-18)
There were only three people who witnessed this vision, and heard this voice, and he was one of those three. They were on that Mountain of Transfiguration, and saw Jesus in all His glory. They personally heard the voice of God who said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Their experience was glorious and wonderful, but Peter also knew something about that experience, and that is, it was one never to be repeated, and one that can never again be experienced. So where does that leave us who have had no vision and heard no voice? We’re dependent on those who were there that day.
Peter tells us that God has given us something better than experience—the word of God. V.19 says, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” The point that Peter is making is this: The word of God is more sure than what your eyes can see, and what your ears can hear. Ps. 19:7 says, “The testimony of the Lord is sure.” Ps. 93:5 says, “Your testimonies are very sure.” And in Ps. 111:7 we read, “All His precepts are sure.”
Five or so years ago, 100,000 people gathered at a farm in Conyers, Georgia. They came together because Nancy Fowler, a former nurse, who claims to have had hundreds of visits from the Virgin Mary and from Jesus Christ since 1991, said that the Virgin Mary was going to give her a final message that she would speak to the world. They came by bus, by car, by plane, hoping to see a vision, an appearance of the Virgin Mary, and to hear what the Virgin Mary had to say to Nancy Fowler. Yet, had someone simply said, “I’m going to stand in the middle of this farm and open up the word of God,” people would have passed by with a yawn.
As any mature Christian will tell you, we’re to never accept subjective experience over objective revelation. The reason for this, is that satan can counterfeit an experience, but he cannot counterfeit the word of God. The word of God is more sure than a vision you might see or a voice that you might hear. If I were to have some kind of vision I might misunderstand it, I might not remember it, I might misinterpret it. If I were to hear a voice, I might miss part of what was said. Neither visions nor voices can compare with the value of the word of God.
Between Moses and Matthew, Malachi and Mark, Lamentations and Luke, Jeremiah and John, Amos and Acts, and Proverbs and Paul, we have God’s complete once-for-all revelation. We don’t need Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, Ellen White, Nancy Fowler, golden tablets, dreams and visions, or another testament; all we need is what we have, which is the inspired truth of the infallible word of God.
Martin Luther once said, “I have made a covenant with my God that He send me neither visions, dreams, nor even angels. I am well satisfied with the gift of the Holy Scriptures, which give me abundant instruction and all that I need to know both for this life and for that which is to come.” Luther knew that all truth was contained in the Bible and to know the Bible was to have God’s word for us.
The third reason the Bible is the fountain of truth is that it outshines human explanation. The reason why our only authority for anything we believe and any way that we live, is the word of God, is because of three qualities that belong uniquely to this book. First is Divine initiation. In vs. 20 we read, “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.” This verse actually means something far different than what it appears to mean in English. The word “own” is the Greek word idios which is used 114 times in the New Testament, and it always means “of its own.” The word “interpretation” literally means “to untie” or “to unfold.” What the verse literally says is “no prophecy of Scripture is of its own unfolding.
You see, this isn’t referring to interpretation, but rather to origination. That is, the men that wrote the Bible didn’t weave their own spiritual web. This book didn’t originate in the mind of men, but rather it originated in the heart of God. Someone once said, “I know man didn’t write the Bible. A good man wouldn’t have written it because it claims to be from God, and a good man wouldn’t make a false claim. A bad man wouldn’t have written the Bible because it condemns his evil. So, it must have been written by God.” The second quality of the Bible is its Divine inspiration.
Looking at vs. 21 we read, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Again, we find something very interesting here. Not only was the writing of the Scripture inspired, but the writers of the Scripture were also inspired. The Greek word for “carried” is a word that refers to a ship driven by the winds when its sails are up. In other words, these writers had their spiritual sails up, and the wind of the Holy Spirit blew them to write down exactly what God wanted them to say.
As they wrote the word of God, even though they used their own style, their own vocabulary, and their mind was fully engaged, they were guarded in their hearts, and guided in their minds to say what God wanted them to say. There are those who claim that because the Bible was written by men, it must have errors, because men are fallible. It was Charles Haddon Spurgeon who dealt with this criticism in a great way. Referring to these Bible critics who used this logic, he said: Over and over they cry ‘but there is a human side to inspiration.’ Of course there is; there must be the man to be inspired as well as the God to inspire him.
The inference which is supposed to be inevitable is—that imperfection is, therefore, to be found in the Bible since man is imperfect. But the inference isn’t true. God can come into the nearest union with humankind and He can use people for His purposes, and yet their acts will not, in the slightest degree stain His purposes. Even so, He can utter His thoughts through people, and those thoughts may not be in the least affected by our natural fallibility.
The bottom line is, men may have been the ones who put ink to paper, but God authored the Bible. This Bible never claims to be the words of men; it claims to be the word of God. As you read the Bible you cannot escape this stunning conclusion. In the Old Testament alone, phrases like: “God said,” “God spoke,” and “the word of the Lord came” occurs nearly 4,000 times, 700 times in the first five books, 40 times in one chapter. No other book has, can, does, or will make that claim, because the only book that is the word of God is the Bible.
The third quality, is that of Divine illumination. Again, in verse 19 we read, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” The Bible from which we read today, the same book that we should read every day of our lives, gives light to the dark, and life to the dead.
Peter refers to this world as a “dark place,” and the word he used literally means “murky.” It’s the picture of a dank cellar or a dismal swamp. Into this world that is dark and dank and dirty, God has sent the flaming torch of His word to lead us from darkness to light, and from death to life.
A Christian received some mail one time from an atheist who had mailed him some literature, telling him that if he would read this literature he would truly be enlightened and his life would be better off. This Christian sat down and wrote the following response to this atheist:
My Dear Sir: If you have anything better than the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, the story of the prodigal son, the standard of morality superior to the Ten Commandments, something more comforting in death than the Twenty-third Psalm, or anything that will throw more light on the future of this world than the book of the Revelation, would you please send it to me. He never received an answer.
The 19th century preacher Henry van Dyke put it this way: This is the greatest book on earth; its author is God, its truth is divine, inspired in every word and line, though written by human hands. This is the solid rock of truth that all attacks defies; O’er every stormy blast of time, it towers with majesty sublime, it lives and never dies. This is the volume of the cross its saving truth is sure; its doctrine pure, its history true, its gospel old, but ever new shall ever more endure. This book is the fountain of truth whose waters are fresh and free, and never runs dry. All we have to do is drink from it, and we will have joy on earth and life everlasting.
Amen