Read with Me
2 Peter 1:19-21 (HCSB)
So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all, you should know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Listen with Me
Peter fully understood that his mere testimony about Jesus, what He did and who He proved himself to be, could only go so far as positive proof. But in addition to all that, he also had all the specific messianic prophecies that Jesus had fulfilled.
Jesus hadn’t only fulfilled a few of these prophecies. He had fulfilled every one of them to the letter. And that included not only those he could fulfill by His own planning and execution, such as riding a donkey into Jerusalem just before the Passover. He even completely fulfilled those over which He had no choice as a human being, including the timing, place, and manner of both His birth and His death.
This line of thought led Peter to state what he knew to be true, and what his readers needed to know as well. The prophets who wrote those things foretelling the coming of the Messiah and His mission were not writing out a cleverly devised plan, a script for would-be messiahs to follow in order to prove their legitimacy. Instead, each prophet was moved to write by the Holy Spirit. They simply wrote down the words of God accurately, even when they didn’t always understand what they were foretelling. When the prophecy was given as a vision, they wrote down what they saw as accurately as they could and faithfully copied down any interpretation that was given.
Thus, when Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecies completely, He proved Himself to be the one whom God had foretold would come, thus removing all doubt as to His legitimate claim to the titles Messiah, Savior, and Lord.
Pray with Me
Father, we too often forget that when we read the Scriptures, whether Old Testament or New, we are not reading the writings of mere men. We are reading Your words given through men. That means that we can trust what they say, every word. And Jesus’ complete fulfillment of every prophecy simply adds to the complete trustworthiness of every word contained in our Bibles. Thank you, Lord, that we don’t have to grope around in the dark looking for the truth, but we can simply read what You have given to us, knowing it is all true, accurate, and completely reliable. Amen.