2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised series when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Eyewitness testimony can be powerful. At the trial this week of a young man accused of murdering two people and wounding another, the third victim gave his testimony about the accused man’s actions toward him. This third man testified that he was pointing his gun at the accused before the accused fired at him. He was the aggressor.
This testimony should be enough under that state’s law to acquit him of this third set of charges at least. This third man was there and confessed to his own guilt in pointing the gun at the accused. But some people don’t believe eyewitnesses such as this. They have their minds made up prior to the introduction of evidence.
All too often the power of eyewitness testimony is dismissed, not because it is weak evidence, but because it goes against a story we have convinced ourselves. Our story, the one we hold in our minds, is more powerful in those moments than the words of those who were actually there. Our story can be a powerful weapon used against the Truth.
Our text for today refers to the fact that the writer was an eyewitness of the events he is presenting to his readers. This theme of firsthand evidence is at the bedrock of the Gospel message. The people who relayed the message in writing, the New Testament, were eyewitnesses or people who gathered the evidence from eyewitnesses, as in the case of Luke.
We can trust the message they passed along to us. Their lives matched their message. They weren’t changing the message in order to make a buck from an unsuspecting audience. No, instead, they were sharing a message the confronted the individual and the culture in which it rose. Nothing about the message was easy, and they kept it that way.
If the Gospel story were playing out today, there would be media consultants who would help change the message so as to gather a larger following, thus increasing their bottom line. But this didn’t happen with the Gospel. The swallow continued to be a difficult one. The Gospel is hard to accept.
The writer of our text is encouraging his readers to continue in their faith, even in the face of persecution. One of the difficult parts of Jesus’ message was that He was going to return bodily to this world. He would set up His Kingdom here on Earth, and rule and reign with us.
But Jesus had not yet returned, despite the story the readers had in their minds. They thought it was going to be a quick turnaround for Jesus. He would do the Redeye express to heaven and then catch the return flight and be back before anyone noticed He was gone. But this didn’t happen.
Years had passed after His ascension, and He still had not returned. They could use some encouragement in order to continue to believe what He said. And thus our text.
The writer was an eyewitness of his majesty. He had seen the glorified side of Jesus and this helped him continue to believe. He uses that eyewitness status as leverage to help them be patient. Jesus would return! He had witnessed his glory. They could trust Jesus to keep His Word.
We need to trust the testimony of the New Testament. It was written to encourage us to continue to believe, even while we wait for the promise of His return to come to pass. Trust Him!
The Arnold Journey 