Friday, 14 August 2020
2 Peter 2:1-22
“For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” -2 Peter 2:21
Apostle Peter being a true and good leader was much concerned about the welfare of the Christians. He wanted them to learn the truth about Jesus and become strong and mature in Christ. Peter was quite angry with the false teachers of his day and wrote strongly against them saying that God would punish them severely. Peter wanted to warn Christians about these false teachers who once knew the truth but forsook the right way and went astray.
Peter used vivid illustrations to describe these false teachers – he speaks of a well without water and mist that is blown away by a strong wind. People go to a well to get water that sustains them- keeps them alive. Some wells contain no water; they may look good but a dry well is useless. Likewise, the false teachers did not give anything valuable to Christians. But Jesus on the other hand, promised that He would give life forever. In John 7:37-39, Jesus promised to give us life-giving water- the Holy Spirit would live inside us and from within us would flow rivers of living water! For Jesus said: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)
A mist does not have sufficient moisture to make the land wet; a strong wind can quickly blow it away. Similarly, the false teachers have no power to help other people- they themselves will soon be blown away. The false teachers sound very confident and want to impress other people; they try to attract those who are new in the faith who have not learned much about God; they have not yet completely understand how to live in the right way. They may have found that the Christian life is difficult. The false teachers propagate lies like- Christians do not need to change their behaviour; they could still enjoy their former evil desires, thus lure them back to sin. Such doctrine is destructive!
False teachers are losers, both in time and eternity. They will know for eternity what they missed in time. God wants us in these last days to carefully study the Word of God with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and clearly understand right from wrong as given in His Word.
Knowing Jesus Christ does not mean that someone fully embraces Him as the Savior- it can be a superficial knowledge. To reject the message of Jesus Christ is the most tragic mistake anyone could make in life. It may have been easy if people could be somehow forced to receive Jesus as their Savior but it just does not work that way. Only the Holy Spirit can change hearts. We must be very cautious of false teachers who instead of leading people to the character and nature of Christ, draw them subtly by their crafty teachings to continue in the world of darkness. Such do not experience the true joy and freedom in Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Let it be our prayer that God through His Holy Spirit will fill us with divine wisdom to understand the truth and give us a discerning spirit to examine and accept the truth as given in His Word and to have the boldness to reject the fake and every false teaching.
To Heed: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” (2 Corinthians 13:5)