12-15-23-ENG.

"What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also. "

1 John 1:3 
BETTER THAN BEING THERE

Read It: 2 Peter 1:16-18
What Peter wants us to know is that the Word of God will stand even after people are gone. He wants to make sure we understand that when he talks about the Word, he's not talking about a bunch of made-up up fairy tales that we just close our eyes and believe in anyway. The apostles tles did not pull the Gospel, the Word, the truth about Jesus Christ, out of the air. They were eyewitnesses of the things they wrote about. Peter is saying, "You have my solemn testimony that these things are true." In fact, there is no doubt that Peter was aware he was writing Scripture here. And he knew that for later generations of Christians like us who are far removed from the earthly days of Christ, his testimony recorded and verified in Scripture would be all-important. So Peter wanted to remove any doubt that the Word we have is true. I don't know about you, but for me that's real important, because sometimes times I have moments of doubt like everybody else.

Preachers are not immune to doubt. But when the doubts come, it's great to be able to go back to the basics, open the Word, and hear Peter say again, "When the question crosses your mind, just remember that I am not just telling you a tale I was told. I was there. I saw something. The Holy Spirit is my witness that this is true." One of the things Peter saw was the transfiguration of Christ, recorded in Matthew 17. You'll recall that on the mountain Peter heard God speak and saw Moses and Elijah appear and talk with Jesus. Moses represented the Law, and Elijah the Prophets-the Old Testament, in other words. And Jesus was there representing the new word from God. So what Peter says is that the whole Bible was there on that mountain witnessing to the deity of Jesus Christ. Peter never forgot that day. Neither did the Apostle John, as today's verse shows. But Peter is saying that as powerful as that experience was, what we have now is even better. We have the Word. Think About It Doubts are bound to come. It's what you do with them that's important. Don't let your doubts drown out the Word. Let the Word speak to your doubts.