It is 2000 years since Jesus walked the earth and offered Himself for our salvation. How can we know it is true? We weren’t there, but it would be foolish for us to believe it couldn’t be true on the basis of our absence. Yet how many do that? Is all history suspect except for those few events I have been alive for? And will I get offended if others refuse my testimony because they weren’t where I was? We can know the truth of the events by relying upon the testimony of those who were there and thus in a position to know (cf. Luke 1:4).
God wants us to be certain of things we believe. A biblical faith is not a blind faith, a wishful ‘stabbing in the the dark’, but rather it is a faith based upon knowledge. Note Paul’s affirmation in 2 Tim. 1:12: – “know”; “believe”; “persuaded”! These are not words of uncertainty! The apostle Peter was nearing the end of his life and he was concerned about his brethren in 2 Pet. 1:12-15. He wanted them to be faithful unto death, being fully persuaded of the truth of Christianity. So he advances a three-fold test of the truth of Christianity.
1. The testimony of the apostles (vs. 16-18). We cannot be witnesses of the resurrected Christ. We are of that group who believe in Him having not seen Him. However, the apostles were witnesses of Christ and they are important to the truth of Christianity, as eye-witnesses are to the credibility of any history. Peter said he and his apostolic compatriots did not make up the story of Jesus, and why would they? Did he and some fishing buddies decide to invent the story of Jesus for a lark?! There has to be motive for the invention of stories (detectives look for motives in solving crimes). What motives do men have to invent stories? Some motivations could be fame, fortune, position, revenge, or to escape conviction. A little reflection will reveal that none of these motives have any bearing as to why the apostles would invent a story about a mythical Jesus Christ. In fact, to concoct such a story such as we have in the New Testament was to invite, not fame or fortune, but trouble. There remains another motive to explain the declaration of the apostles: it was true! They thought it was important and wanted the world to know!
It was not an hallucination – they all heard and saw – Peter, James and John were with Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration. John wrote a similiar general testimony in 1 John 1:1-3. Other disciples saw the resurrected Christ as well – cf. 1 Cor. 15:6 (500 at once). Hallucinations do not occur to 500 people at once, especially the same hallucination! The apostles were ‘unwilling’ believers (Mk. 16:14). In fact, they were the first unbelievers of the resurrected Christ and had to be convinced – cf. Acts 1:3; 10:39-41. There would be no point in Jesus appearing to us, for how would we know it was Jesus? We cannot be witnesses of Jesus. Note an example of identity problems in the occasion of the healing of the man born blind. In John 9:8 the neighbours said, “Isn’t that the man born blind?” Some said it was he, and some said it was like him, but he said “Yes, it’s me” (v.9). Then his parents chimed in with “we know this is our son” (v.20).
Christianity is not based on fables. You cannot create a religion in the place and time where it was all supposed to have happened if it didn’t happen. Every local would know it wasn’t true. Christianity is an historical religion based upon historical facts of an historical character – Jesus Christ. It is not mythology, but rather located in a time and place, and this means it could be checked out by the contemporaries.
2. The testimony of the earlier prophetic word (vs. 20,21). Christianity did not arise out of nothing. If it had suddenly sprang into existence without prior notice we would have reason to consider it a flash-in-the-pan, a Johnny-come-lately, and an invention of man. When John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to question Jesus, their question was “Are you He that should come?” The coming of Jesus was prophesied and expected. The Old Testament prophecy is the root of Christianity. The “private interpretation” (v.20) of the old translations is not a suggestion that we shouldn’t attempt to understand Scripture by ourselves as some ecclesiastical powers suggest. Timothy learnt the Scriptures from boy hood without trusting in a cleric – 2 Tim. 3:15. This particular word (private interpretation) has to do with the giving of the prophecy, not the understanding of it. V. 21 will make this clear. Over 300 prophecies were made about Jesus Christ. For instance it was prophesied that He would be of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David, born of a virgin in Bethlehem, be despised, rejected and offered as a sin offering, killed but no bones would be broken, buried with the rich and rise from the dead. Josephus, the Jewish historian, made a comment about the ten thousand wonderful things that the prophets said he would do.
Frederick the Great asked his chaplain for proof that the Bible was true, but he didn’t want some long, drawn-out proof. The chaplains’ answer was brief – “The Jews”. God has been working in that nation in history and all things He spoke concerning them have come to pass. In Matt. 5:17,18 Jesus said He came to fulfil the law and prophets, and He fulfilled the law in His righteous life and He fulfilled the prophets in the things He did and the things that happened to Him. So Peter says in 2 Pet. 1:19, We have a more sure word of prophecy. He doesn’t mean that the Old Testament was unsure, but rather He means that the words of the prophets have been made more certain. How? The words of the prophets were in prospect awaiting the coming of the Christ to fulfill them, but the words of Peter and the other apostles show that what had been in prospect has been fulfilled. He says we should take heed of it as a light in a dark place. It is natural for our eyes to be drawn to a light when we are in darkness. This leads to the third testimony:
3. The testimony of our own consciousness. Peter says we are to take heed till the daystar arise in your heart at the dawning of the day. The daystar is really a planet (Venus), and it is called that because it heralds the dawn, being the only one shining as the sun draws near the horizon. Peter is not referring to the return of Christ – that will be actual – he is rather referring to something that takes place in the heart. We all begin with a glimmer of truth and understanding, but we must grow in faith and knowledge. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was a mature Christian faith. The darkness of doubt and uncertainty and timidity must give way to belief, trust, and confidence. This is because knowledge and conviction are what affect the life and soul. We are what we eat, and this true physically and spiritually. (Prov. 4:18)
It could be said that the best proof of Christianity is a genuine Christian. This is true with respect to others: some men were arguing as to which was the best translation of the Bible. One man said the best version he had read was the life his godly mother lived. She put into attitudes and actions what was written on the pages of the Bible or whatever edition it was that she read. Jesus said much the same thing in John 13:34,35. If Christianity does not make us live differently from the world, then the world will doubt it is genuine. Wisdom is justified by its children, said Jesus.
This is also true with respect to others. Christianity is not true because it is not true in their life. To know that Christ is being formed in us is a wonderful knowledge. The Bible speaks of gnosis (knowledge) and also of epignosis (the experience of knowledge). To be able to look back on our life and see changes is a testimony to the power of the gospel and also to the genuineness of our own faith. 2 Cor. 13:5 says we are to examine our own selves, whilst 1 Pet.2:3 says we are to taste and see that the Lord is good. Peter quotes from Ps. 34:8 which says more than “taste and see”. It adds “blessed is the man that trusts in Him”. Many people do not experience the truth of Christ because they have never trusted Christ.
Two men were walking along a street. One was a soap-manufacturer and atheist, the other was a Christian. Seeing a drunk lying in the gutter the soap manufacturer said “See, Christianity hasn’t done that man any good”. A little further along they came across a dirty street urchin and the Christian said, “I see your soap hasn’t done that boy any good”. The soap manufacturer protested, “That’s not fair, the soap has to be applied!” “Even so with Christ”, replied the Christian.