BY GREG CRUM
“For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:” 2 Peter 1:17-19
Here in his second epistle, Peter states that “we have also a more sure word of prophecy” in reference to the audible voice of God he heard on the Mount of Transfiguration. What is this “more sure word”? What could be “more sure” than hearing the very voice of God audibly? The “prophecy” of the written Scriptures, that’s what!
We live in an age, if not the definitive age, of information. We can learn of things that are happening in real time even if they are happening half the way around the world from us. There is real benefit in this, but just as much danger. This is the age of information, but also the age of misinformation.
Satan is the OG of misinformation and has twisted God’s truth from the beginning of mankind. We are seeing a lot of this in these last days, so much so that large groups of believers are being misled concerning what is right and what is wrong, and who is friend and who is foe. It is perplexing, but evidently, they have not realized they have a filter from God that will enable us all to sift right information from wrong.
Friends, we do not have to fall prey to the liar. God knew we would need a litmus test for truth in these last days so He gave us the 66 books of our Bibles. It is our truth filter that we must use to sift out the voices of truth from the voices of error in our day.
Remember God’s encouragement from 2 Timothy 3:13-16? Want to be wise? Want to know the truth from a theory? Then we must become personally acquainted with the Word of God! Now, do not misunderstand me. We can and should know God experientially through interaction between our spirits and the Holy Spirit. This relationship we have with God is not supposed to be a purely academic endeavor, but any experience we have must find foundation in what the Word declares about God, or it is not really God we are experiencing.
With that said, I was reading Psalm 145 the other day and I began to realize what wonderful insight that particular Psalm holds concerning the nature of God and how relevant it is today in giving us a “true north” reference point for our beliefs about Him. For those of you that want to know more about the character and motivations of the God of the Universe, it is highly recommended reading.
Curious? Want the abbreviated highlights? Well, here you go.
In verse 3 we read that “Great is the Lord.” Yeah, spoiler alert. You will not find the end of His greatness. Not in this life and not in our eternity to come! In verse 7 we read that He is abundantly good, too, fair and right in His dealings with us.
Verse 8? He’s gracious and merciful. He endows others with gifts they do not deserve, and so often does not enforce or allow the repercussions of our mistakes and willful sins.
In verse 9 we read that He is good to all—even the yahoos!
In verse 13 we understand that His kingdom will never end. There is no risk of this “candidate” losing the election and having the playing field flipped on us. We also see here that He is faithful; that He always does what He said He would.
Verses 14 through 16 reveal that He has our backs and that He provides for all—both needs and desires.
Verse 18 is a reminder that the Lord cares. He is listening if your heart is earnest.
Verse 19 and 20? Again, there He goes fulfilling the desires of those that depend on Him and those that love Him are spared.
Wow, so much insight, so much revelation about the God of the Universe just in one short chapter in our Bibles.
Brothers and sisters, the Bible is our filter in this age of misinformation. Let us use it to find out who God is, what He desires, and how we should think and act in response.
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.