Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Pastor Jim Osman explores how Peter became an eyewitness to majesty during Christ's Transfiguration, using this divine encounter to refute false teachers who denied the second coming. In 2 Peter 1:16-18, the apostle defends Christ's return through personal eyewitness testimony and Old Testament prophetic revelation. The Transfiguration in Matthew 17 provided Peter, James, and John with a preview of Christ's kingdom glory. Therefore, when false teachers claimed Christ's return was merely "cleverly devised myths," Peter responded as eyewitnesses to majesty who personally witnessed the divine glory accompanying His second coming.
Furthermore, this eyewitness account encourages believers that they will share Christ's glory while warning unbelievers of coming judgment. The Christian faith rests not on fabricated stories but on reliable eyewitnesses to majesty who recorded what they experienced. Consequently, Peter's testimony provides unshakeable evidence that Christ will return in power and glory.
★ Support this podcast ★
Creators and Guests
What is Kootenai Church: 2 Peter?
In this podcast series, Pastor Jim Osman of Kootenai Community Church preaches through the Book of 2 Peter, emphasizing its call to spiritual growth, discernment against false teachings, and steadfast hope in Christ’s return. This verse-by-verse exposition explores the theological and practical significance of Peter’s message for believers today. Join Jim to deepen your faith and anchor your life in the truth of God’s Word. Subscribe for biblical insights from 2 Peter!
Well, we are in a study of 2 Peter 1, and I'll ask you to turn there in just a moment, but first turn to Matthew 17. I got you there, didn't I? I gave you just enough time to head toward 2 Peter. We're going to be in 2 Peter 1 here in just a moment, but we're going to take a look at an event in the life of Jesus to which Peter refers in 2 Peter 1, the transfiguration of our Lord. And we're actually going to move a bit back in the context into chapter 16 of Matthew and pick up the last few verses of chapter 16 because it does set the stage and the tone for the transfiguration event.
Matthew 16. Let's look at verse 24:
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:24–26 LASB)
Stop there for just a moment. Notice the radical demand that Jesus is giving there. Lay down your life. Take up your cross. Follow Me. Be willing to turn your back upon all that is the world and all that the world has to offer and come after Me, a lowly carpenter from Nazareth. And if you were listening to Jesus give those demands, you might have thought to yourself, “To what end? For what purpose? Why? Give up everything to follow You?”
Look at verses 27–28: “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay each one according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Now ignore the chapter break because though it is not arbitrary, sometimes the chapter breaks feel a bit arbitrary, and this is one of those occasions where it interrupts the flow of thought. In verse 28 of chapter 16,
28 “I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
17:1 And six days later Jesus brought with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.
2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
4 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three booths here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”
6 And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
7 And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”
8 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
9 And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” (Matt. 16:28–17:9 LSB)
Now there is a lot in this short passage that we are not going to cover today. We're going to save that for another day. But what is of interest to us with this transfiguration event is why Peter uses it so much later in his life in 2 Peter 1 to make a point concerning something that the false teachers of his day were denying. What is this event? What happened? And what is the significance of it such that Peter would cite it toward the end of his life in his final Epistle?
This event is called the transfiguration, and that is from the language of the passage itself. You'll notice in Matthew 17:2, it says, “He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” Mark, in his Gospel, chapter 9, verses 2–3, uses the same word. He says, “He was transfigured before them; and His garments were shining intensely white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.” And then Luke, in his gospel, chapter 9, verse 29, says, “It happened that while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.”
The word transfigured is the Greek word metamorphoō, which means to change in appearance or to be transformed. You can hear our English word metamorphosis in there, metamorphoō. All three Synoptic Gospels mention this, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9. And all three of the Gospels connect it to a specific promise that Jesus gave, and that promise we read at the end of chapter 16. Look again at verse 28: “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. And six days later Jesus brought with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves” (Matt. 16:28–17:1). So Matthew connects that promise at the end of chapter 16 with that event at the beginning of chapter 17. These two things go together. This is the promise: some of you here will not die before you see the glory of the kingdom. And then Matthew immediately tells us what the fulfillment of that immediate promise was at the end of chapter 16.
Mark does the exact same thing. In Mark 9:1, “Jesus was saying to them, ‘Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God having come in power.’” And then He gives the transfiguration event.
Luke does the same thing. Chapter 9, verse 27: “I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” And then Luke gives us the transfiguration event.
All three Gospel writers agree there was the promise that some of them would not die before they saw the glory of the kingdom. And all three of them agree that that promise then was fulfilled immediately by the transfiguration event. And I say immediately; it was six days later.
And who are the “some” then who did not taste death before they saw the glory of the kingdom? That would be Peter, James, and John. All of the rest of the disciples did taste death before they saw that glory. And you will taste death before you see that glory, if the Lord should tarry. Only three of them, Peter, James, and John, did not die, but in fact, a week later, saw the glory of Christ and His kingdom manifested to them.
Now what is the transfiguration event? The transfiguration is a glimpse of that kingdom. It is a preview of Christ's royal glory and majesty. Now listen carefully. The transfiguration event was not the full manifestation of the kingdom, nor was it historically the arrival of the kingdom with all that it encompasses. They got a preview of the kingdom that was to come.
Second Peter 1:16—we're not there yet, so don't turn there just yet. We'll be there in just a second. The verse that we looked at last week—remember Peter says, “We did not make known to you the power and coming [the powerful coming] of our Lord Jesus Christ [that's the parousia, the second coming], following cleverly devised myths, but,” Peter says, “[we were] eyewitnesses of His majesty.” What Peter saw was the glory of the kingdom manifested in the Person of Christ. He was not an eyewitness to the coming of the kingdom and the establishment of the kingdom in Matthew 17. He was an eyewitness of Christ's majesty. He saw the glory in the face of Christ that will accompany Christ when He comes to set up His kingdom in royal majesty. He was an eyewitness of His regal glory. That's how we would say it.
Now Peter in his day was refuting the false teachers who denied the second coming of the Lord, and one of his arguments against their denials was to say, “I know He's coming because I was an eyewitness of it. I saw the glory that is to come. I saw a glimpse. I saw some of the phenomena associated with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I beheld that majesty.” What Peter saw was some of the phenomena of the kingdom in the same way that Pentecost is a preview of some of the phenomena of the kingdom that is to come. On the day of Pentecost, the sun was not turned to blood, the moon was not turned to darkness, there were not signs in the heavens and signs in the earth. There was the gift of tongues and the pouring out of the Spirit. And what the disciples were able to do and what everybody there witnessed was a preview of some of the work of the Spirit in the kingdom that is to come. They saw a glimpse of it in the same way at the transfiguration. Peter, James, and John saw a glimpse of the glory that Christ will have when He establishes His kingdom.
Kenneth Gangel in his commentary on this passage says “The transfiguration was designed to show the three apostles [Peter, James, and John] what Christ would be like in His glory and to give them a foretaste of the kingdom.” I think it is difficult for us to get our minds fully around what that would have been like for Peter, James, and John. I mean, we long for it. At least I do. I hope you do. We long for the establishment of that kingdom and the glory that we will receive and enjoy in that kingdom, and I've never even tasted a small glimpse of that compared to Peter, James, and John. That had to have been something that, for Peter, would just replay in his mind constantly. Man, there is a glory to come, I saw that glory, I saw His majesty with my own eyes, and I heard that declaration, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matt. 17:5) I would have that playing on loop in my head, to be able to taste that and to see it, just a foretaste of it.
All three Gospels record that Moses and Elijah were there, but only Luke tells us what they were talking about. Matthew and Mark say they were having a conversation, Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. By the way, Moses represents the Law, Elijah represents the Prophets. So you have One who is foretold in the Law and in the Prophets standing there having a conversation with the lawgiver and the head of the prophets, Elijah. And they were having a discussion about what? Luke tells us in chapter 9, verses 30–31: “And behold, two men were talking with Him, and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to fulfill at Jerusalem.” They were discussing the coming passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, His crucifixion and what was going to happen at Jerusalem.
By the way, that would be, I think, a fantastic conversation to listen in on, wouldn't it? Moses and Elijah from the perspective of glory, Jesus knowing full well what was ahead of Him, having a conversation about what was going to be accomplished at Jerusalem, His crucifixion and passion spoken of in the Prophets and pictured in the giving of the Law. You have the lawgiver and the prophet there having a conversation with the One who was the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, discussing all of these events that were about to unfold. What a conversation!
You would think that just sitting there, listening to that, you would just be content to say, “I could be a fly on this wall forever. I don't have to open my mouth at all.” Not Peter! “Lord, it's good for us to be here. If it's pleasing to You, let's build three tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” Just right off, going where angels fear to tread, Peter just walks right across it, opens his mouth, and then is quietly rebuked or gently rebuked by, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him” (Matt. 17:5). Stop talking and listen. Don't need your bright ideas, don't need anything, just shut your mouth, take it in, hear what is being said, learn something. Nobody here needs to hear from you, Peter. He's probably going to get angry at me for saying something like that when we get there.
Now turn back to 2 Peter 1. We'll read together verses 16–21. We're going to be looking today at verses 17–18. Second Peter 1:16: “For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses of His majesty.” That's what Peter's talking about. We told you the Lord is coming. He is returning in glory. We didn't make this up out of whole cloth. We didn't fabricate this. This is not a myth. This is not a fable. This is not a tale fit for old women. Peter says, “I saw it. I was an eyewitness of that majesty.” You could never convince Peter that the Lord was not going to return in glory because he got a preview of that event.
17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—
18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 And we have as more sure the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
20 Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes by one's own interpretation.
21 For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Pet. 1:17–21 LSB)
Last week I gave you an outline for these verses, and this is it. I will remind you of what it is. In order to refute the claims of the false teachers, Peter is defending here the certainty of Christ's return by using two lines of argument. Number one, he is saying, “I am an eyewitness to it.” It was an event that was previewed by eyewitnesses. And second, there is prophetic revelation that promises it, and so the prophets have predicted it. This event, the coming of Christ, is previewed by Peter and prophesied by prophets. Those are his two lines of argument. In verses 16–18, he describes his eyewitness encounter with that. And then in verses 19–20, he talks about the prophetic testimony concerning the very same event.
So today we're looking at verses 17–18. And notice how Peter describes this event in verse 17: “When He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.’” And by the way, in this passage, 1 Peter, that idea of majesty—the word majesty is ascribed to both Christ and the Father. Glory is ascribed to both Christ and the Father. And what Peter is doing here in describing them in such similar terms—and even power is used of both the Father and the Son. What Peter is doing here is he is saying to us, “This Person with whom the Father is well-pleased is divine.” It's true that Jesus was fully man, but He was more than that. He was also fully God. He's not just a mere man, but possessing full humanity, He possessed full deity as well, which is why the Father can give glory to Him, bestow upon Him glory. He shares His glory with the Son. And in the Old Testament, Yahweh says, “I will share My glory with no one.” Isaiah 42:8: “I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” And yet Yahweh the Father gives to Yahweh the Son His own glory.
Now it's true that you and I will share in that glory, we will bask in that glory, we will reflect that glory, but we will never be a source of glory in and of ourselves. We just get to ride the coattails of His glory as He brings us along for the ride. But we will never be sources of that glory. But here's the Father giving and sharing His glory with the Son because He is well-pleased with Him. That speaks of His divine Person.
The glory is described in all three Gospels, and you saw the description in Matthew. His face glowed with glory. It “shone like the sun” (Matt. 17:2). He was transformed. Before the face of the disciples, He was transfigured or transformed. His face shone like the sun. Something happened so that His appearance was changed.
And then He is given honor in what the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased” (v. 5). And by the way, that phrase is spoken at the baptism of Jesus and at the transfiguration of Jesus. “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” And in both occasions, the allusion is back to Isaiah 42:8, which is the beginning of what's called the servant section of Isaiah. Isaiah 42:1 says, “Behold, My servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul is well-pleased. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” Isaiah 42:1 describes My servant, this one in whom Yahweh is pleased. So at the Mount of Transfiguration, you have the declaration concerning the Son, Yahweh speaking from the cloud, the Father describing the Son as one in whom His soul is pleased. He is using the language of Isaiah 42:1 to basically say this is the servant. This is the servant, His servant, in whom His soul is well-pleased. Christ doesn't just share the nature of God the Father. He in fact possesses fully that divine nature and then functions in His humanity as the perfect servant of Yahweh.
This declaration by God concerning Christ is significant in light of a couple of things. First, it's significant in light of His incarnation and His soon suffering. It's interesting that right before the transfiguration in the Gospel of Luke, before Luke describes Jesus saying, “Whoever comes after Me must take up his cross and follow Me and be willing to lose your life, and if you lose it, you'll gain it, and if you try and gain it and gain the whole world, you lose it”—right before Luke describes that, Luke says that Jesus was saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day” (Luke 9:22). In other words, our Lord was telling the disciples all about His coming passion. And then Jesus, in the midst of that, says, “There's going to be a day when some of you here will see that glory that the Father is going to bestow upon the Son.” And then a little less than a week later they're all three on the mountain and they hear Elijah and Moses and Jesus speaking of the very thing that Jesus had predicted a week earlier, that the Son of Man would be rejected by the chief priests and the elders, He'd be crucified, and He would rise again. They were having this conversation amongst themselves.
And it is significant that in the midst of the conversation about the suffering of our Lord, the Father says, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” The suffering of Christ, the rejection of Christ, Him being killed—those were no indications of God's displeasure. In fact, Jesus said in John 10:17, “The Father loves Me, because I lay down My life.” It was in fact the death of Christ and His willingness to go to the cross to redeem a people that were given to Him by the Father—that is why the Father was pleased with Him.
Galatians 3:13 says that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” It's hard for us to get our minds around, but this one who was under the curse of the Father's wrath was at the same time infinitely pleasing to the Father. Infinitely pleasing to Him. In fact, Isaiah 53:10 says,
10 Yahweh was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if You would place His soul as a guilt offering, He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will divide for Him a portion with the many, and He will divide the spoil with the strong; because He poured out His soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors. (Isa. 53:10–12 LSB)
In the midst of conversing about His suffering, which was to take place at Jerusalem, it is the Father who says, “This is My Son; with Him I am well-pleased,” knowing that within months, the Lord Jesus Himself would hang on a tree, accursed under the wrath of God, and the pleasure of the Father with the work of the Son would never stop. It would never end. That would never change. Even under the curse of our sin. In the context of His incarnation, in the context of His soon humiliation on the cross, He receives honor and glory, and Peter, James, and John get a preview of the kingdom that is to come. The Servant who had the Spirit of Yahweh (Isa. 42:1), the Servant that will bring justice to the nations (Isa. 42:1), and the Servant with whom Yahweh is pleased (Isa. 42:1) is the same Servant who would bear the sins of His people in Isaiah 53. So it's significant in light of His suffering.
It's also significant in light of the kingdom glory that was bestowed upon Him. Who was it that was to rule the kingdom of David? Who was that promised to? In 2 Samuel 7:12–13, speaking to David, Yahweh said, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you, who will come forth from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” Second Samuel 7:16: “And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”
The transfiguration demonstrated that the kingdom promised to David's Son is still coming, and it will still happen. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus were not saying, “What do we do now that the nation has rejected Him? Let's come up with plan B.” No. In the conversation of the nation's rejection, the elders rejecting Him, the Father says, “The elders may reject Him, but this is My Son in whom I am pleased.” And because the Father, Yahweh, is pleased with the Son, He will give to the Son the kingdom of David, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever.
This is what the angel promised to Mary: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of His kingdom” (Luke 1:31–33). This one who is Son of the Most High is the Son of David. And it is significant that Christ, here in the context of describing the nation's rejection of Him and the fact that they would crucify Him, was transfigured before them for a few brief moments to show that though the nation rejected Him, God's plans for national Israel and for the kingdom have not changed. They are having a conversation about His rejection and His crucifixion, and you get a glimpse of the kingdom glory that is promised to Him when He takes that kingdom. It's all still on track. At the transfiguration, the majestic glory of that kingdom was made visible, and Peter got a preview of it.
By the way, he speaks of that kingdom in chapter 1, verse 11, of our very context when he says that “in this way [that is, through all diligence] the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” That future kingdom that is coming, entrance to that will be abundantly supplied to you. Peter's got kingdom on his mind in chapter 1 because he's dealing with false teachers who were denying that this was coming.
Yahweh is pleased with the Son and will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will rule all that He was promised. There's a reason for that, by the way, and that is because the promise to David to seat one of his descendants on his throne and to give Him an eternal kingdom, that promise to David was as much a promise to David's descendant that it would happen as it was a promise to David himself. God must seat Christ upon David's throne and give Him the nations as His inheritance so that He will rule to the ends of the earth and He will rule over the house of David forever in an eternal kingdom because that promise made to David was a promise made to the Lord Jesus Christ, which means that the Father will fulfill His word to the Son and seat one of his descendants on David's throne.
Daniel foresaw this vision in Daniel 7:13 when Daniel says,
13 I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man [Son of Man, put that in the back of your mind for just a second] was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and came near before Him.
14 And to Him [that is, to the Son of Man] was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not be taken away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. (Dan. 7:13–14 LSB)
Do you remember what it was that Jesus said to Peter, James, and John when they were coming down from the mountain in Matthew 17:9? He says, “As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, ‘Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.’” What was Jesus doing by referring to Himself as the Son of Man and saying to Peter, James, and John, “Don't tell anybody that you have seen this until the Son of Man has risen from the dead”? He was connecting in the mind of Peter the words of Daniel and the event that he had just seen. Daniel saw a kingdom being given to the Son of Man, and at the end of that transfiguration event, Jesus said, “Don't tell anybody about this until the Son of Man has risen.” Jesus was connecting Himself with Daniel's promise. There's coming a day when Jesus Christ will be given all of the nations of the world, and He will rule all of them with a rod of iron. That must happen because Daniel has foreseen that. Daniel has promised that very thing.
Look at verse 18: “We ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.” Peter was an eyewitness and an earwitness. You don't hear that very often, earwitness, but he was an earwitness to something great. He saw the majesty and he heard the utterance given to Him on the holy mountain. For Peter to refer to the mountain as holy was not accidental, and by the way, Peter's not just simply saying, “Look, there's this little turf in the land of Israel that's especially special. It's especially holy.” It's not the ground itself that makes it holy, it is the fact that something happened there that was significant to Peter. It was a mountain set apart as a holy place where he saw something that only two other people got to see. So he refers to it as the holy mountain.
Now there is a place in Israel called the Mount of Transfiguration where, traditionally, this transfiguration event happened. You can go there. There's a monastery at the top of it. Several years ago, when we were in Israel, we went to the Mount of Transfiguration. Nobody really knows for certain which mountain this was on. Could have been Zion, could have been this mountain, that mountain, Mount Carmel. Nobody knows what mountain it was at or where it was at. That wasn't recorded, but that doesn't stop the Catholics from building a tabernacle there. In fact, Peter said, “Lord, it's good for us to be here. We'll build three booths, three buildings. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” And he got reproved, and years later the Catholic Church said, “All right, not three buildings, just one. We'll build a monastery up there.” So they did. But nobody actually knows where this was at.
But the reference to the holy mountain, that reference is itself in 2 Peter 1 an allusion to another passage that we have already read and that we have already sung today. And that is Psalm 2:6: “As for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.” Peter is borrowing the language of Psalm 2. We saw this and we heard this when we were with Him on the holy mountain. Because what is Psalm 2 all about? “I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’” (v. 7). Behold, this is My Son, with whom I am well-pleased. You see how all of this language from the transfiguration event and from 2 Peter 1 is speaking of this reality that God has installed His King upon Zion, His holy hill?
8 “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like a potter's vessel.”
10 So now, O kings, show insight; take warning, O judges of the earth.
11 Serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Ps. 2:8–12 LSB)
On the holy mountain, Peter was a witness to the glory of the King when He receives the kingdoms of the earth. He heard Yahweh's declaration: This is My Son. Upon Zion I have given Him to rule. And not only Zion, but all of the nations of the earth, all of the corners of creation will be His. He will possess all of it. He will rule all of it. He will be sovereign over all of it. He will administer over David's kingdom, and the government will be upon His shoulders, and to His kingdom there will be no end. This is all yet to happen.
And the Father will demonstrate the pleasure that He takes in the Son when He gives to the Son all of creation to rule in that way. Now He sits at the Father's right hand, but He is coming again in power and in glory. Peter has seen a glimpse of that glory. And though He sovereignly rules all of creation even now, that is not the only manifestation of that rule. God has yet to give to Him the throne of His father David to rule over the house of Jacob and over that established kingdom forever and ever. And all of the nations will be His, and it will be a perfect kingdom of perfect righteousness and perfect justice. That is what is still promised to us.
Now let me draw here three notes of application as we close this up. First, the Christian faith—we should take great comfort and solace in this—the Christian faith does not rest upon stories made up by men. Atheists and agnostics and skeptics love to say you just believe in your Bronze Age book and it's just a bunch of stories fabricated in ancient times when people were dumber and had no access to science or literature or anything else, just a bygone relic of a patriarchal, stupid age full of people who didn't know any better, and they wrote these stories down. No, not at all.
Peter observed the glory of Christ. He “beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He listened to the claims of Christ that He was divine, and he saw with his own eyes the miracles that Jesus did that gave evidence of that. He heard the teachings of Jesus Christ, and for three years at least he observed His character and watched Him closely so that Peter could say, “I am an eyewitness and I am an earwitness of His majesty.” And then Peter got a glimpse of something even greater than all of that, which was a glimpse of the second coming of Christ. So the Christian faith does not rest on stories made up and fabricated by men, but we have received, thankfully, the eyewitness testimony of men who wrote down what it is that they saw, revealed by the Spirit of God.
Second, it should encourage us that we will, you will, someday share in this glory. You will someday share in this glory. You will see His glory, you will bask in that glory, you will be surrounded by that glory, and nothing will ever minimize that glory, ever. Romans 8:17 says, “If [we are] children, [we are] also heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:29–30 says,
29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers;
30 and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified. (LSB)
Past tense. If you are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, your glorification is a done deal. It's not “done” done because you still aren't glorified, but in the mind and the plan and the purpose and the certainty of God, it is a done deal. It is a past-tense event. Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.” So Christian, you will share that glory. You will see what Peter got to see someday.
And third, this return in glory for His people will also mean the destruction of His enemies. Believers, you have nothing to fear with the return of Christ. Nothing to fear, everything to gain. The unbeliever should have nothing but fear because he has everything to lose. If you are not in Jesus Christ, He will return in glory with His holy angels and it will be a return in judgment against sin, against rebels, against the kings and the peoples of the earth who say, “We will tear His fetters apart. We will not have this Man to rule over us.” That is what the rebels say. “We will not bow the knee. I will not confess Him. I don't want anything to do with Him. I will continue in my sin and my rebellion.” And God's answer to that is, “I've installed My King, and He will rule, and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
And so, Psalm 2:12, “Kiss the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” Sinner, unbeliever, rebel, there's bad news for you. He is returning, and He is returning in glory and in power and in strength. And He will not be put under the feet of any man again. His humiliation is over. From here on out, it is all exhortation and glory. And if you do not bow the knee to Him before He comes, you will suffer the fiery fury of His wrath against you for your sin for all of eternity. You have been forewarned.
But there is good news. As long as you have breath, you can repent and turn to this one who offers you refuge from the wrath of God. Jesus Christ came into this world and He lived a perfect life to die on a cross to bear the penalty and to pay the price for any and all who will trust in Him. His death is sufficient to pay the price for your sin, and you will find refuge for your soul if you turn from that sin and trust in the Christ who died in the place of sinners. He was humiliated, He was buried, and He rose again the third day, and He is coming again in triumph and in glory to establish His kingdom and to rule all of creation. Scripture commands you this day to repent and to believe, and if you do, you will find forgiveness, you will find righteousness, and you will find refuge in Him.
In order to refute the claims of the false teachers, Peter defends the certainty of Christ's return by reminding them and us that he was an eyewitness of that majesty. He was a witness to the kingdom glory that will bring final and full deliverance to God's people and final and full destruction to God's enemies. And he who has ears to hear, let him heed what has been said.