Page 43 - BACK TO BETHLEHEM
P. 43
The Holy Spirit in our hearts takes the written word and we
behold the Living Word, Christ, so that we might know God.
The Word was God. He wants us to know Him intimately. That
was His provision.
With that as the background, I want to give you Peter’s
testimony. In his early life, as we read in the verse before in
Matthew 16:16&17, “Flesh and blood didn’t reveal it. You got
that from My Father.” But you know Peter. He sometimes
forgot what he learned. Thirty years go by. The last book he
ever wrote was 2 Peter, and the last words he ever wrote were,
“That you might grow in the knowledge of Christ.” So, as he
writes the last letter he ever wrote just before he died, he said,
“I want to show you how to see Jesus in the Bible.”
If you were Peter and you looked back over your life,
and you had to choose only one event, what would you choose?
Would you think about when your brother introduced you to
Jesus? Would you think about the miracle of the coin lodged in
the fish’s gill? Would you think about Lazarus being raised
from the dead? You are ready to die. Would you tell them how
you one time walked on water? Would you tell them about
Gethsemane and about your failure? Would you tell them about
the resurrection or about the ascension? You were there when
you saw Him rise. Would you tell them about Pentecost when
He came in the Person of the Holy Spirit? Would you tell them
how an angel set you free and you got out of prison?
There were so many events in Peter’s life and as he’s
ready to die he looks back and he says, “Of all of those events,
there is one I want you to know about.” He chose the
transfiguration. To him that was what the people needed to hear
before he died.
I just want to review the facts about the transfiguration
and then we’ll look at the principle. This record is written in
Matthew, Mark and Luke. Listen to Matthew 16:28, “Truly I
say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who
shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in
His kingdom” The event begins with this strange promise. He
said that there were some standing there who would not die until
41