Peter Confirms That What He Has Said About The Glory of Jesus Our Lord Is Based On His Own Factual Experience (2 Peter 1:16-18).
They have been called by His own glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3), and have been promised abundant entry into His eternal kingdom (2 Peter 1:11). Here is the essence of their faith in Christ. In their being called they have come to know Christ as He is and to rely on His promise for the future. But the question may well be asked how can they be sure that His glory and presence (Parousia) are genuine? How can they know that this is any different than the gnosis (knowledge) received by Hellenistic religionists. Why should they listen to Peter rather than to the false teachers? Well, says Peter, there are two reasons:
· Firstly because he and his fellow-disciples HAVE ALREADY ACTUALLY AND HISTORICALLY EXPERIENCED HIS POWER AND GLORY AND COMING (Parousia) on the holy mount. There can therefore be no doubt about it. They know that He has come in His glory as the Saviour. As a result they know that His power and glory and Parousia are not just some unverified spiritual experience, but are something which is historical and real. They have actually experienced His power. They have actually seen His glory. They have actually been made aware of His Parousia.
We should notice that to Peter His Parousia is not just His second coming. It is His total coming combined. He has come and was here and will one day be even more glorously revealed.
· And secondly because the prophets of old have borne witness to it (2 Peter 1:19-21).
An important point should be noticed here about His Parousia (presence, coming). This has already been experienced on the holy mount. Thus we must see that in Peter the word parousia refers to the coming and presence of Jesus as a whole, and not just to His second coming, although it does, of course, very much include that. Like the writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews 9:26-28 he sees Christ's Parousia as happening in two stages, firstly in His revealed presence on earth, which continues on in His presence within His people (John 14:23; John 17:22-23; Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:27; Acts 9:4), and secondly in His manifested return in glory, of which the Transfiguration was a foretaste. It is this combined event that has changed history for ever, and confounds the false teachers. And His people can know that the whole is real and historical because Christ's appointed eyewitnesses saw the reality of it revealed in the Transfiguration.