Concerning the word “eyewitnesses” Darby comments, “‘Admitted into immediate vision of the glory,’ a word used for full initiation into the mysteries.” Peter realizes that he James, and John were admitted to the highest degree of initiation at the Lord’s transfiguration, admitted to be the initiated spectators of His majesty. Peter considers the Lord’s transfiguration as a figure of His second coming, even as the Lord did in Luke 9:26-36. The Lord’s transfiguration in glory was a fact, and Peter was in it. The Lord’s coming back in glory will also be a fact as real as His transfiguration, and Peter will also be in it. This is not a cleverly devised myth passed on to the believers by the apostles.
Peter says that the apostles became eyewitnesses of the Lord’s majesty. This majesty denotes magnificence, greatness in splendor, honor, and glory, even magnificent glory (2 Pet. 1:17), as appeared to the eyes of Peter and the other two disciples in the Lord’s transfiguration (Matt. 17:2; Luke 9:32).
In verse 16 Peter seems to be saying, “We have told you that the Lord Jesus will come back in glory. This is not a tale or a myth. Even when He was on earth, the glory came out of Him, and He was transfigured. We saw His majesty when we were with Him on the mountain. We were eyewitnesses; we were initiated into a vision of His glory.”
In this verse Peter combines the Lord’s transfiguration with His coming back. This means that Christ’s transfiguration is a prefigure of His coming. In Luke 9:26-36 the Lord Jesus also indicated that His transfiguration was a figure of His glory in His coming back.
In verses 17 and 18 Peter continues, “For He received from God the Father honor and glory, such a voice being borne to Him by the magnificent glory: This is My beloved Son, in whom I delight. And this voice we heard being borne out of heaven, being together with Him in the holy mountain.” Honor is a matter of position, and glory is a matter of state. On the mount of transfiguration, the Lord was in a position of honor and in a state of glory.
Peter says that a voice was borne to the Lord by the magnificent glory. This magnificent glory denotes the overshadowing cloud at the Lord’s transfiguration (Luke 9:34-35), like the shekinah glory overshadowing the propitiation cover (Exo. 25:20; 40:34).
If we read the account in Matthew, Mark, and Luke concerning the Lord’s transfiguration, we shall see that the magnificent glory in verse 17 refers to the overshadowing cloud. Peter, James, and John saw the cloud, and that cloud was the glory. Likewise, in ancient times, after the tabernacle had been erected, it was filled with the glory of God, for the cloud of God’s glory overshadowed the tabernacle. It would have been difficult to discern the cloud from the glory, because the cloud was with the glory.
This Epistle was written in the time of the church’s degradation and apostasy. This apostasy was the background of this book. Peter’s burden was to inoculate the believers against the poison of apostasy. Apostasy is a deviation from fundamental truth or belief. Approximately thirty years after the church had been established, apostasy began to creep in. There was a deviation from the track of fundamental belief. Certain ones were teaching heresy. One of these heresies was that the preaching concerning the coming back of the Lord Jesus in glory is a myth, a tale that is not believable or trustworthy. As we shall see when we come to chapter three, certain mockers said, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (3:4). These heretics and apostates regarded the teaching that the Lord would come back in glory to judge the earth as a superstitious tale.
The heretics at the time this Epistle was written can be compared to today’s Modernists. The Modernists are a class of teachers who claim that the Bible is not inspired by God and that the miracles recorded in the Bible are merely superstitious stories. For example, Modernists do not believe that the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea in a miraculous way. Instead, some Modernists think that the children of Israel walked through shallow water, water that was made shallow by the blowing of a strong wind. In like manner, Modernists do not believe that the Lord Jesus fed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes. They explain this by saying that those in the crowd brought food with them and simply ate whatever they had brought. Even more serious, Modernists teach that Jesus was not born of a virgin and that He was not God. They claim that He died on the cross not for our redemption, but as a sacrifice for the kind of ism in which He believed. Furthermore, they do not believe in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In many respects, the Modernists of today and the heretics of the first century are similar.
In this Epistle Peter is giving the believers a strong testimony as an inoculation against heresy. This is the reason he points out that the apostles did not follow cleverly devised myths when they spoke to them about the coming of the Lord Jesus. Peter seems to be saying, “Don’t listen to the heretics. Along with John and James, I was an eyewitness of the Lord’s majesty on the holy mountain. We were with Him when He was transfigured, and we heard the voice declaring, This is My beloved Son, in whom I delight.’ What we have told you is not a legend, myth, or superstitious tale. We testified of what we have seen and heard. We saw the Lord Jesus transfigured, and we know that as He was glorified in His transfiguration, so He will come again in glory. You need to receive our word and believe it.”