Revelation 3

Revelation 3:1

The Prophetic Word

2 Peter 1:16. Peter leaves no doubt that the coming of Christ in majesty is a reality. Any doubt that might arise about this, he radically represses. That doubt could be spread if his readers would listen to the false teachers who claim that that coming is a devised tale. There are also today many Christians, also leading scholars, who declare such a coming of the kingdom to a fairy tale. Let yourself not be fooled, in one way or the other, by such people who are inspired by the devil. Listen to Peter. Then you listen to a man who is completely rightly minded and who is able to tell you about what he himself has experienced.

He is not a follower of a fata morgana, an illusion. What he has told them about “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, is not a story that he had made up, but he was one of its “eyewitnesses”. He is not an eloquent fantasist, but a sober realist. He and the other apostles – he also speaks on their behalf, that can be derived from the word “we” – were one in their testimony. It is not just the testimony of one single witness, but of several apostles. What they have made known is based on their own observation.

They have seen the Lord Jesus in radiant glory and majesty. That happened, as he says in 2 Peter 1:18, “on the holy mountain”, that is the mountain of transfiguration. There he and James and John were given, as it were, a foretaste of the appearance of Christ in glory and of the power that goes together with it. That glory and power will characterize “our Lord Jesus Christ” during the millennial kingdom of peace, when He will be reigning on earth.

2 Peter 1:17-18. After referring to the visible testimony, the testimony that he has seen with his own eyes, Peter then speaks about the audible testimony. He and the two brothers have heard what God the Father testified of His Son. Peter still remembers exactly what God the Father said. In what He said, the Father gave honor and glory to the Son. Peter must certainly have remembered how he proposed to build three tents, one for the Lord Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and how as a response to that, the Father directed all attention to His Son.

No one can stand in His shadow. He alone is worthy of receiving all honor and glory. The Father did that to prevent any misunderstanding that His Son would be put on a par with even the greatest men from His people (Matthew 17:4-5). Out of His wonderful dwelling place the Father spoke out His undivided pleasure in His Son. He has given honor and glory to Christ (Hebrews 2:9).

In the voice that they heard, the pleasure of God in His Son was echoing. That voice came from “the Majestic Glory”, that is the cloud as the symbol of the dwelling place of God. This cloud was above the tabernacle as the visible sign of God’s presence among His people. That cloud overshadowed the three disciples. Out of the cloud “such a voice” came. The pleasure that came from “the Majestic Glory” in that voice to the Lord Jesus, was the expression of that glory. He was the Object to Whom the Father had given honor and glory.

The whole scene there on that holy mountain was shining of glory. And Peter and John and James were also there. That scene made a permanent impression. They had believed that Christ was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

2 Peter 1:19. Through what they had seen and heard on that holy mountain, they had “the prophetic word [made] more sure”. Peter expresses himself in the most forceful words to take away every doubt concerning the coming of the kingdom. Then he emphasizes the prophetic word. You “do well to pay attention” to it. You pay attention to it if you consider it, if it determines the direction of your life. The prophetic word is “as a lamp” (Psalms 119:105). In its light you are able to see how everything develops in the direction of the fulfillment.

You need that lamp, because the world is “a dark place”. The world is saying that it is enlightened, but without Christ it is really only darkness (John 1:5). The translated word ‘dark’ means ‘filthy’, ‘dirty’. The world with all its splendor and magnificence is according to God a filthy place and that’s how it is also to the Christian who is taught by God. The only light that shines through this filthiness, is the light of the prophecy.

The people of the world imagine that they are able to transform the world into a kingdom of peace. It is an illusion that they can cherish till the Lord Jesus comes and will judge all unrighteousness. The prophecy foretells His coming in many ways and with His coming the end of the day of man.

If you really pay attention to the prophecy you will surely want to study the prophecies diligently. That will prevent you from the foolishness to cooperate with the world in its search for a world peace. You will separate yourself from the world and point out to the people in the world the coming of the Judge, so that they may convert from their sins to escape from the judgment. You know that His coming is near, that He will come as “the sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2). After exerting the judgment He will establish His kingdom of peace, the eternal kingdom. Then the day of Christ will come, the day of His glory and then the lamp will not be needed anymore. Then the prophetic word will be fully fulfilled.

Peter, however, does not speak about the sun, but about the “morning star”. Before the dawning of the day, the morning star arises. With the morning star the Lord Jesus is meant (cf. Revelation 2:28; Revelation 22:16) as the One Who brings light. The morning star appears when it is still dark, but at the moment that the day is dawning. The appearance of the morning star announces the rising of the sun.

Therefore Peter says that the morning arises in your heart, which means that, while there is darkness around you, your heart is focused on the nearby coming of the Lord Jesus. In that way you live as if the kingdom has already come and you now already consider the rights of the Lord Jesus, like it will soon happen over the whole earth. You are, to say it with another word of the Scripture, ‘a son of the day’ (1 Thessalonians 5:5), that is someone who now already has that day in his heart.

2 Peter 1:20. For a sound study of the prophecy, Peter gives some more significant instructions at the end of this chapter. In the first place, “know this first of all”, you should not see a prophecy separately, but you should see it in relation with other prophecies. In this way Peter passes on the significant rule that you should always compare Scripture with Scripture. If you don’t do that you will manipulate the prophetic word and interpret it as it best suits you. But the fulfillment of the prophecies happens in the way it is written in the Word and not according to your own ideas. The key for the right understanding of the prophecies is Christ, His suffering and the glory thereafter. The testimony of Jesus is after all the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10b).

2 Peter 1:21. It is of great importance to bear in mind that prophets have not spoken from their own will, but from God. The origin of God’s Word in its whole, amongst them the prophecies, is not in the will of man. It is to be compared with the new birth that also comes from God alone, without any contribution of man (John 1:13).

God the Holy Spirit has used men to have His Word to be written. Those men were ‘holy’ men, because God had set them apart for this service. They indeed wrote on their own initiative, but at the same time they were “moved” or ‘led’, ‘carried’ by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). In that way they did not write down their own thoughts, but what God wanted them to write. Not the authors were inspired, but what they wrote was inspired. Here you see what inspiration is: the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the Bible authors at the moment of their writing.

To sum up, you learn from what Peter says here that there are three elements in the inspiration: 1. The Divine authorship of the Bible. God has ‘breathed out’ His Word; it comes from Him, it is not a writing about God, but from God. 2. The human instrument. The writers were ‘holy’ men, which means set apart to write down what was ‘breathed in’ by Him, according to His will – which did not happen at the expense of their own style, for they were not just ‘type writers’. 3. The written result. The product of the ‘breathing’ of God and of ‘moved’ by the Spirit of the authors is the Word of God as you now may have in your hands.

Now read 2 Peter 1:16-21 again.

Reflection: What is the importance of the prophetic word for you?

Revelation 3:2

The Prophetic Word

2 Peter 1:16. Peter leaves no doubt that the coming of Christ in majesty is a reality. Any doubt that might arise about this, he radically represses. That doubt could be spread if his readers would listen to the false teachers who claim that that coming is a devised tale. There are also today many Christians, also leading scholars, who declare such a coming of the kingdom to a fairy tale. Let yourself not be fooled, in one way or the other, by such people who are inspired by the devil. Listen to Peter. Then you listen to a man who is completely rightly minded and who is able to tell you about what he himself has experienced.

He is not a follower of a fata morgana, an illusion. What he has told them about “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, is not a story that he had made up, but he was one of its “eyewitnesses”. He is not an eloquent fantasist, but a sober realist. He and the other apostles – he also speaks on their behalf, that can be derived from the word “we” – were one in their testimony. It is not just the testimony of one single witness, but of several apostles. What they have made known is based on their own observation.

They have seen the Lord Jesus in radiant glory and majesty. That happened, as he says in 2 Peter 1:18, “on the holy mountain”, that is the mountain of transfiguration. There he and James and John were given, as it were, a foretaste of the appearance of Christ in glory and of the power that goes together with it. That glory and power will characterize “our Lord Jesus Christ” during the millennial kingdom of peace, when He will be reigning on earth.

2 Peter 1:17-18. After referring to the visible testimony, the testimony that he has seen with his own eyes, Peter then speaks about the audible testimony. He and the two brothers have heard what God the Father testified of His Son. Peter still remembers exactly what God the Father said. In what He said, the Father gave honor and glory to the Son. Peter must certainly have remembered how he proposed to build three tents, one for the Lord Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and how as a response to that, the Father directed all attention to His Son.

No one can stand in His shadow. He alone is worthy of receiving all honor and glory. The Father did that to prevent any misunderstanding that His Son would be put on a par with even the greatest men from His people (Matthew 17:4-5). Out of His wonderful dwelling place the Father spoke out His undivided pleasure in His Son. He has given honor and glory to Christ (Hebrews 2:9).

In the voice that they heard, the pleasure of God in His Son was echoing. That voice came from “the Majestic Glory”, that is the cloud as the symbol of the dwelling place of God. This cloud was above the tabernacle as the visible sign of God’s presence among His people. That cloud overshadowed the three disciples. Out of the cloud “such a voice” came. The pleasure that came from “the Majestic Glory” in that voice to the Lord Jesus, was the expression of that glory. He was the Object to Whom the Father had given honor and glory.

The whole scene there on that holy mountain was shining of glory. And Peter and John and James were also there. That scene made a permanent impression. They had believed that Christ was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

2 Peter 1:19. Through what they had seen and heard on that holy mountain, they had “the prophetic word [made] more sure”. Peter expresses himself in the most forceful words to take away every doubt concerning the coming of the kingdom. Then he emphasizes the prophetic word. You “do well to pay attention” to it. You pay attention to it if you consider it, if it determines the direction of your life. The prophetic word is “as a lamp” (Psalms 119:105). In its light you are able to see how everything develops in the direction of the fulfillment.

You need that lamp, because the world is “a dark place”. The world is saying that it is enlightened, but without Christ it is really only darkness (John 1:5). The translated word ‘dark’ means ‘filthy’, ‘dirty’. The world with all its splendor and magnificence is according to God a filthy place and that’s how it is also to the Christian who is taught by God. The only light that shines through this filthiness, is the light of the prophecy.

The people of the world imagine that they are able to transform the world into a kingdom of peace. It is an illusion that they can cherish till the Lord Jesus comes and will judge all unrighteousness. The prophecy foretells His coming in many ways and with His coming the end of the day of man.

If you really pay attention to the prophecy you will surely want to study the prophecies diligently. That will prevent you from the foolishness to cooperate with the world in its search for a world peace. You will separate yourself from the world and point out to the people in the world the coming of the Judge, so that they may convert from their sins to escape from the judgment. You know that His coming is near, that He will come as “the sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2). After exerting the judgment He will establish His kingdom of peace, the eternal kingdom. Then the day of Christ will come, the day of His glory and then the lamp will not be needed anymore. Then the prophetic word will be fully fulfilled.

Peter, however, does not speak about the sun, but about the “morning star”. Before the dawning of the day, the morning star arises. With the morning star the Lord Jesus is meant (cf. Revelation 2:28; Revelation 22:16) as the One Who brings light. The morning star appears when it is still dark, but at the moment that the day is dawning. The appearance of the morning star announces the rising of the sun.

Therefore Peter says that the morning arises in your heart, which means that, while there is darkness around you, your heart is focused on the nearby coming of the Lord Jesus. In that way you live as if the kingdom has already come and you now already consider the rights of the Lord Jesus, like it will soon happen over the whole earth. You are, to say it with another word of the Scripture, ‘a son of the day’ (1 Thessalonians 5:5), that is someone who now already has that day in his heart.

2 Peter 1:20. For a sound study of the prophecy, Peter gives some more significant instructions at the end of this chapter. In the first place, “know this first of all”, you should not see a prophecy separately, but you should see it in relation with other prophecies. In this way Peter passes on the significant rule that you should always compare Scripture with Scripture. If you don’t do that you will manipulate the prophetic word and interpret it as it best suits you. But the fulfillment of the prophecies happens in the way it is written in the Word and not according to your own ideas. The key for the right understanding of the prophecies is Christ, His suffering and the glory thereafter. The testimony of Jesus is after all the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10b).

2 Peter 1:21. It is of great importance to bear in mind that prophets have not spoken from their own will, but from God. The origin of God’s Word in its whole, amongst them the prophecies, is not in the will of man. It is to be compared with the new birth that also comes from God alone, without any contribution of man (John 1:13).

God the Holy Spirit has used men to have His Word to be written. Those men were ‘holy’ men, because God had set them apart for this service. They indeed wrote on their own initiative, but at the same time they were “moved” or ‘led’, ‘carried’ by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). In that way they did not write down their own thoughts, but what God wanted them to write. Not the authors were inspired, but what they wrote was inspired. Here you see what inspiration is: the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the Bible authors at the moment of their writing.

To sum up, you learn from what Peter says here that there are three elements in the inspiration: 1. The Divine authorship of the Bible. God has ‘breathed out’ His Word; it comes from Him, it is not a writing about God, but from God. 2. The human instrument. The writers were ‘holy’ men, which means set apart to write down what was ‘breathed in’ by Him, according to His will – which did not happen at the expense of their own style, for they were not just ‘type writers’. 3. The written result. The product of the ‘breathing’ of God and of ‘moved’ by the Spirit of the authors is the Word of God as you now may have in your hands.

Now read 2 Peter 1:16-21 again.

Reflection: What is the importance of the prophetic word for you?

Revelation 3:3

The Prophetic Word

2 Peter 1:16. Peter leaves no doubt that the coming of Christ in majesty is a reality. Any doubt that might arise about this, he radically represses. That doubt could be spread if his readers would listen to the false teachers who claim that that coming is a devised tale. There are also today many Christians, also leading scholars, who declare such a coming of the kingdom to a fairy tale. Let yourself not be fooled, in one way or the other, by such people who are inspired by the devil. Listen to Peter. Then you listen to a man who is completely rightly minded and who is able to tell you about what he himself has experienced.

He is not a follower of a fata morgana, an illusion. What he has told them about “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, is not a story that he had made up, but he was one of its “eyewitnesses”. He is not an eloquent fantasist, but a sober realist. He and the other apostles – he also speaks on their behalf, that can be derived from the word “we” – were one in their testimony. It is not just the testimony of one single witness, but of several apostles. What they have made known is based on their own observation.

They have seen the Lord Jesus in radiant glory and majesty. That happened, as he says in 2 Peter 1:18, “on the holy mountain”, that is the mountain of transfiguration. There he and James and John were given, as it were, a foretaste of the appearance of Christ in glory and of the power that goes together with it. That glory and power will characterize “our Lord Jesus Christ” during the millennial kingdom of peace, when He will be reigning on earth.

2 Peter 1:17-18. After referring to the visible testimony, the testimony that he has seen with his own eyes, Peter then speaks about the audible testimony. He and the two brothers have heard what God the Father testified of His Son. Peter still remembers exactly what God the Father said. In what He said, the Father gave honor and glory to the Son. Peter must certainly have remembered how he proposed to build three tents, one for the Lord Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and how as a response to that, the Father directed all attention to His Son.

No one can stand in His shadow. He alone is worthy of receiving all honor and glory. The Father did that to prevent any misunderstanding that His Son would be put on a par with even the greatest men from His people (Matthew 17:4-5). Out of His wonderful dwelling place the Father spoke out His undivided pleasure in His Son. He has given honor and glory to Christ (Hebrews 2:9).

In the voice that they heard, the pleasure of God in His Son was echoing. That voice came from “the Majestic Glory”, that is the cloud as the symbol of the dwelling place of God. This cloud was above the tabernacle as the visible sign of God’s presence among His people. That cloud overshadowed the three disciples. Out of the cloud “such a voice” came. The pleasure that came from “the Majestic Glory” in that voice to the Lord Jesus, was the expression of that glory. He was the Object to Whom the Father had given honor and glory.

The whole scene there on that holy mountain was shining of glory. And Peter and John and James were also there. That scene made a permanent impression. They had believed that Christ was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

2 Peter 1:19. Through what they had seen and heard on that holy mountain, they had “the prophetic word [made] more sure”. Peter expresses himself in the most forceful words to take away every doubt concerning the coming of the kingdom. Then he emphasizes the prophetic word. You “do well to pay attention” to it. You pay attention to it if you consider it, if it determines the direction of your life. The prophetic word is “as a lamp” (Psalms 119:105). In its light you are able to see how everything develops in the direction of the fulfillment.

You need that lamp, because the world is “a dark place”. The world is saying that it is enlightened, but without Christ it is really only darkness (John 1:5). The translated word ‘dark’ means ‘filthy’, ‘dirty’. The world with all its splendor and magnificence is according to God a filthy place and that’s how it is also to the Christian who is taught by God. The only light that shines through this filthiness, is the light of the prophecy.

The people of the world imagine that they are able to transform the world into a kingdom of peace. It is an illusion that they can cherish till the Lord Jesus comes and will judge all unrighteousness. The prophecy foretells His coming in many ways and with His coming the end of the day of man.

If you really pay attention to the prophecy you will surely want to study the prophecies diligently. That will prevent you from the foolishness to cooperate with the world in its search for a world peace. You will separate yourself from the world and point out to the people in the world the coming of the Judge, so that they may convert from their sins to escape from the judgment. You know that His coming is near, that He will come as “the sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2). After exerting the judgment He will establish His kingdom of peace, the eternal kingdom. Then the day of Christ will come, the day of His glory and then the lamp will not be needed anymore. Then the prophetic word will be fully fulfilled.

Peter, however, does not speak about the sun, but about the “morning star”. Before the dawning of the day, the morning star arises. With the morning star the Lord Jesus is meant (cf. Revelation 2:28; Revelation 22:16) as the One Who brings light. The morning star appears when it is still dark, but at the moment that the day is dawning. The appearance of the morning star announces the rising of the sun.

Therefore Peter says that the morning arises in your heart, which means that, while there is darkness around you, your heart is focused on the nearby coming of the Lord Jesus. In that way you live as if the kingdom has already come and you now already consider the rights of the Lord Jesus, like it will soon happen over the whole earth. You are, to say it with another word of the Scripture, ‘a son of the day’ (1 Thessalonians 5:5), that is someone who now already has that day in his heart.

2 Peter 1:20. For a sound study of the prophecy, Peter gives some more significant instructions at the end of this chapter. In the first place, “know this first of all”, you should not see a prophecy separately, but you should see it in relation with other prophecies. In this way Peter passes on the significant rule that you should always compare Scripture with Scripture. If you don’t do that you will manipulate the prophetic word and interpret it as it best suits you. But the fulfillment of the prophecies happens in the way it is written in the Word and not according to your own ideas. The key for the right understanding of the prophecies is Christ, His suffering and the glory thereafter. The testimony of Jesus is after all the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10b).

2 Peter 1:21. It is of great importance to bear in mind that prophets have not spoken from their own will, but from God. The origin of God’s Word in its whole, amongst them the prophecies, is not in the will of man. It is to be compared with the new birth that also comes from God alone, without any contribution of man (John 1:13).

God the Holy Spirit has used men to have His Word to be written. Those men were ‘holy’ men, because God had set them apart for this service. They indeed wrote on their own initiative, but at the same time they were “moved” or ‘led’, ‘carried’ by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). In that way they did not write down their own thoughts, but what God wanted them to write. Not the authors were inspired, but what they wrote was inspired. Here you see what inspiration is: the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the Bible authors at the moment of their writing.

To sum up, you learn from what Peter says here that there are three elements in the inspiration: 1. The Divine authorship of the Bible. God has ‘breathed out’ His Word; it comes from Him, it is not a writing about God, but from God. 2. The human instrument. The writers were ‘holy’ men, which means set apart to write down what was ‘breathed in’ by Him, according to His will – which did not happen at the expense of their own style, for they were not just ‘type writers’. 3. The written result. The product of the ‘breathing’ of God and of ‘moved’ by the Spirit of the authors is the Word of God as you now may have in your hands.

Now read 2 Peter 1:16-21 again.

Reflection: What is the importance of the prophetic word for you?

Revelation 3:4

The Prophetic Word

2 Peter 1:16. Peter leaves no doubt that the coming of Christ in majesty is a reality. Any doubt that might arise about this, he radically represses. That doubt could be spread if his readers would listen to the false teachers who claim that that coming is a devised tale. There are also today many Christians, also leading scholars, who declare such a coming of the kingdom to a fairy tale. Let yourself not be fooled, in one way or the other, by such people who are inspired by the devil. Listen to Peter. Then you listen to a man who is completely rightly minded and who is able to tell you about what he himself has experienced.

He is not a follower of a fata morgana, an illusion. What he has told them about “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, is not a story that he had made up, but he was one of its “eyewitnesses”. He is not an eloquent fantasist, but a sober realist. He and the other apostles – he also speaks on their behalf, that can be derived from the word “we” – were one in their testimony. It is not just the testimony of one single witness, but of several apostles. What they have made known is based on their own observation.

They have seen the Lord Jesus in radiant glory and majesty. That happened, as he says in 2 Peter 1:18, “on the holy mountain”, that is the mountain of transfiguration. There he and James and John were given, as it were, a foretaste of the appearance of Christ in glory and of the power that goes together with it. That glory and power will characterize “our Lord Jesus Christ” during the millennial kingdom of peace, when He will be reigning on earth.

2 Peter 1:17-18. After referring to the visible testimony, the testimony that he has seen with his own eyes, Peter then speaks about the audible testimony. He and the two brothers have heard what God the Father testified of His Son. Peter still remembers exactly what God the Father said. In what He said, the Father gave honor and glory to the Son. Peter must certainly have remembered how he proposed to build three tents, one for the Lord Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and how as a response to that, the Father directed all attention to His Son.

No one can stand in His shadow. He alone is worthy of receiving all honor and glory. The Father did that to prevent any misunderstanding that His Son would be put on a par with even the greatest men from His people (Matthew 17:4-5). Out of His wonderful dwelling place the Father spoke out His undivided pleasure in His Son. He has given honor and glory to Christ (Hebrews 2:9).

In the voice that they heard, the pleasure of God in His Son was echoing. That voice came from “the Majestic Glory”, that is the cloud as the symbol of the dwelling place of God. This cloud was above the tabernacle as the visible sign of God’s presence among His people. That cloud overshadowed the three disciples. Out of the cloud “such a voice” came. The pleasure that came from “the Majestic Glory” in that voice to the Lord Jesus, was the expression of that glory. He was the Object to Whom the Father had given honor and glory.

The whole scene there on that holy mountain was shining of glory. And Peter and John and James were also there. That scene made a permanent impression. They had believed that Christ was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

2 Peter 1:19. Through what they had seen and heard on that holy mountain, they had “the prophetic word [made] more sure”. Peter expresses himself in the most forceful words to take away every doubt concerning the coming of the kingdom. Then he emphasizes the prophetic word. You “do well to pay attention” to it. You pay attention to it if you consider it, if it determines the direction of your life. The prophetic word is “as a lamp” (Psalms 119:105). In its light you are able to see how everything develops in the direction of the fulfillment.

You need that lamp, because the world is “a dark place”. The world is saying that it is enlightened, but without Christ it is really only darkness (John 1:5). The translated word ‘dark’ means ‘filthy’, ‘dirty’. The world with all its splendor and magnificence is according to God a filthy place and that’s how it is also to the Christian who is taught by God. The only light that shines through this filthiness, is the light of the prophecy.

The people of the world imagine that they are able to transform the world into a kingdom of peace. It is an illusion that they can cherish till the Lord Jesus comes and will judge all unrighteousness. The prophecy foretells His coming in many ways and with His coming the end of the day of man.

If you really pay attention to the prophecy you will surely want to study the prophecies diligently. That will prevent you from the foolishness to cooperate with the world in its search for a world peace. You will separate yourself from the world and point out to the people in the world the coming of the Judge, so that they may convert from their sins to escape from the judgment. You know that His coming is near, that He will come as “the sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2). After exerting the judgment He will establish His kingdom of peace, the eternal kingdom. Then the day of Christ will come, the day of His glory and then the lamp will not be needed anymore. Then the prophetic word will be fully fulfilled.

Peter, however, does not speak about the sun, but about the “morning star”. Before the dawning of the day, the morning star arises. With the morning star the Lord Jesus is meant (cf. Revelation 2:28; Revelation 22:16) as the One Who brings light. The morning star appears when it is still dark, but at the moment that the day is dawning. The appearance of the morning star announces the rising of the sun.

Therefore Peter says that the morning arises in your heart, which means that, while there is darkness around you, your heart is focused on the nearby coming of the Lord Jesus. In that way you live as if the kingdom has already come and you now already consider the rights of the Lord Jesus, like it will soon happen over the whole earth. You are, to say it with another word of the Scripture, ‘a son of the day’ (1 Thessalonians 5:5), that is someone who now already has that day in his heart.

2 Peter 1:20. For a sound study of the prophecy, Peter gives some more significant instructions at the end of this chapter. In the first place, “know this first of all”, you should not see a prophecy separately, but you should see it in relation with other prophecies. In this way Peter passes on the significant rule that you should always compare Scripture with Scripture. If you don’t do that you will manipulate the prophetic word and interpret it as it best suits you. But the fulfillment of the prophecies happens in the way it is written in the Word and not according to your own ideas. The key for the right understanding of the prophecies is Christ, His suffering and the glory thereafter. The testimony of Jesus is after all the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10b).

2 Peter 1:21. It is of great importance to bear in mind that prophets have not spoken from their own will, but from God. The origin of God’s Word in its whole, amongst them the prophecies, is not in the will of man. It is to be compared with the new birth that also comes from God alone, without any contribution of man (John 1:13).

God the Holy Spirit has used men to have His Word to be written. Those men were ‘holy’ men, because God had set them apart for this service. They indeed wrote on their own initiative, but at the same time they were “moved” or ‘led’, ‘carried’ by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). In that way they did not write down their own thoughts, but what God wanted them to write. Not the authors were inspired, but what they wrote was inspired. Here you see what inspiration is: the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the Bible authors at the moment of their writing.

To sum up, you learn from what Peter says here that there are three elements in the inspiration: 1. The Divine authorship of the Bible. God has ‘breathed out’ His Word; it comes from Him, it is not a writing about God, but from God. 2. The human instrument. The writers were ‘holy’ men, which means set apart to write down what was ‘breathed in’ by Him, according to His will – which did not happen at the expense of their own style, for they were not just ‘type writers’. 3. The written result. The product of the ‘breathing’ of God and of ‘moved’ by the Spirit of the authors is the Word of God as you now may have in your hands.

Now read 2 Peter 1:16-21 again.

Reflection: What is the importance of the prophetic word for you?

Revelation 3:5

The Prophetic Word

2 Peter 1:16. Peter leaves no doubt that the coming of Christ in majesty is a reality. Any doubt that might arise about this, he radically represses. That doubt could be spread if his readers would listen to the false teachers who claim that that coming is a devised tale. There are also today many Christians, also leading scholars, who declare such a coming of the kingdom to a fairy tale. Let yourself not be fooled, in one way or the other, by such people who are inspired by the devil. Listen to Peter. Then you listen to a man who is completely rightly minded and who is able to tell you about what he himself has experienced.

He is not a follower of a fata morgana, an illusion. What he has told them about “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, is not a story that he had made up, but he was one of its “eyewitnesses”. He is not an eloquent fantasist, but a sober realist. He and the other apostles – he also speaks on their behalf, that can be derived from the word “we” – were one in their testimony. It is not just the testimony of one single witness, but of several apostles. What they have made known is based on their own observation.

They have seen the Lord Jesus in radiant glory and majesty. That happened, as he says in 2 Peter 1:18, “on the holy mountain”, that is the mountain of transfiguration. There he and James and John were given, as it were, a foretaste of the appearance of Christ in glory and of the power that goes together with it. That glory and power will characterize “our Lord Jesus Christ” during the millennial kingdom of peace, when He will be reigning on earth.

2 Peter 1:17-18. After referring to the visible testimony, the testimony that he has seen with his own eyes, Peter then speaks about the audible testimony. He and the two brothers have heard what God the Father testified of His Son. Peter still remembers exactly what God the Father said. In what He said, the Father gave honor and glory to the Son. Peter must certainly have remembered how he proposed to build three tents, one for the Lord Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and how as a response to that, the Father directed all attention to His Son.

No one can stand in His shadow. He alone is worthy of receiving all honor and glory. The Father did that to prevent any misunderstanding that His Son would be put on a par with even the greatest men from His people (Matthew 17:4-5). Out of His wonderful dwelling place the Father spoke out His undivided pleasure in His Son. He has given honor and glory to Christ (Hebrews 2:9).

In the voice that they heard, the pleasure of God in His Son was echoing. That voice came from “the Majestic Glory”, that is the cloud as the symbol of the dwelling place of God. This cloud was above the tabernacle as the visible sign of God’s presence among His people. That cloud overshadowed the three disciples. Out of the cloud “such a voice” came. The pleasure that came from “the Majestic Glory” in that voice to the Lord Jesus, was the expression of that glory. He was the Object to Whom the Father had given honor and glory.

The whole scene there on that holy mountain was shining of glory. And Peter and John and James were also there. That scene made a permanent impression. They had believed that Christ was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

2 Peter 1:19. Through what they had seen and heard on that holy mountain, they had “the prophetic word [made] more sure”. Peter expresses himself in the most forceful words to take away every doubt concerning the coming of the kingdom. Then he emphasizes the prophetic word. You “do well to pay attention” to it. You pay attention to it if you consider it, if it determines the direction of your life. The prophetic word is “as a lamp” (Psalms 119:105). In its light you are able to see how everything develops in the direction of the fulfillment.

You need that lamp, because the world is “a dark place”. The world is saying that it is enlightened, but without Christ it is really only darkness (John 1:5). The translated word ‘dark’ means ‘filthy’, ‘dirty’. The world with all its splendor and magnificence is according to God a filthy place and that’s how it is also to the Christian who is taught by God. The only light that shines through this filthiness, is the light of the prophecy.

The people of the world imagine that they are able to transform the world into a kingdom of peace. It is an illusion that they can cherish till the Lord Jesus comes and will judge all unrighteousness. The prophecy foretells His coming in many ways and with His coming the end of the day of man.

If you really pay attention to the prophecy you will surely want to study the prophecies diligently. That will prevent you from the foolishness to cooperate with the world in its search for a world peace. You will separate yourself from the world and point out to the people in the world the coming of the Judge, so that they may convert from their sins to escape from the judgment. You know that His coming is near, that He will come as “the sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2). After exerting the judgment He will establish His kingdom of peace, the eternal kingdom. Then the day of Christ will come, the day of His glory and then the lamp will not be needed anymore. Then the prophetic word will be fully fulfilled.

Peter, however, does not speak about the sun, but about the “morning star”. Before the dawning of the day, the morning star arises. With the morning star the Lord Jesus is meant (cf. Revelation 2:28; Revelation 22:16) as the One Who brings light. The morning star appears when it is still dark, but at the moment that the day is dawning. The appearance of the morning star announces the rising of the sun.

Therefore Peter says that the morning arises in your heart, which means that, while there is darkness around you, your heart is focused on the nearby coming of the Lord Jesus. In that way you live as if the kingdom has already come and you now already consider the rights of the Lord Jesus, like it will soon happen over the whole earth. You are, to say it with another word of the Scripture, ‘a son of the day’ (1 Thessalonians 5:5), that is someone who now already has that day in his heart.

2 Peter 1:20. For a sound study of the prophecy, Peter gives some more significant instructions at the end of this chapter. In the first place, “know this first of all”, you should not see a prophecy separately, but you should see it in relation with other prophecies. In this way Peter passes on the significant rule that you should always compare Scripture with Scripture. If you don’t do that you will manipulate the prophetic word and interpret it as it best suits you. But the fulfillment of the prophecies happens in the way it is written in the Word and not according to your own ideas. The key for the right understanding of the prophecies is Christ, His suffering and the glory thereafter. The testimony of Jesus is after all the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10b).

2 Peter 1:21. It is of great importance to bear in mind that prophets have not spoken from their own will, but from God. The origin of God’s Word in its whole, amongst them the prophecies, is not in the will of man. It is to be compared with the new birth that also comes from God alone, without any contribution of man (John 1:13).

God the Holy Spirit has used men to have His Word to be written. Those men were ‘holy’ men, because God had set them apart for this service. They indeed wrote on their own initiative, but at the same time they were “moved” or ‘led’, ‘carried’ by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). In that way they did not write down their own thoughts, but what God wanted them to write. Not the authors were inspired, but what they wrote was inspired. Here you see what inspiration is: the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the Bible authors at the moment of their writing.

To sum up, you learn from what Peter says here that there are three elements in the inspiration: 1. The Divine authorship of the Bible. God has ‘breathed out’ His Word; it comes from Him, it is not a writing about God, but from God. 2. The human instrument. The writers were ‘holy’ men, which means set apart to write down what was ‘breathed in’ by Him, according to His will – which did not happen at the expense of their own style, for they were not just ‘type writers’. 3. The written result. The product of the ‘breathing’ of God and of ‘moved’ by the Spirit of the authors is the Word of God as you now may have in your hands.

Now read 2 Peter 1:16-21 again.

Reflection: What is the importance of the prophetic word for you?

Revelation 3:6

The Prophetic Word

2 Peter 1:16. Peter leaves no doubt that the coming of Christ in majesty is a reality. Any doubt that might arise about this, he radically represses. That doubt could be spread if his readers would listen to the false teachers who claim that that coming is a devised tale. There are also today many Christians, also leading scholars, who declare such a coming of the kingdom to a fairy tale. Let yourself not be fooled, in one way or the other, by such people who are inspired by the devil. Listen to Peter. Then you listen to a man who is completely rightly minded and who is able to tell you about what he himself has experienced.

He is not a follower of a fata morgana, an illusion. What he has told them about “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, is not a story that he had made up, but he was one of its “eyewitnesses”. He is not an eloquent fantasist, but a sober realist. He and the other apostles – he also speaks on their behalf, that can be derived from the word “we” – were one in their testimony. It is not just the testimony of one single witness, but of several apostles. What they have made known is based on their own observation.

They have seen the Lord Jesus in radiant glory and majesty. That happened, as he says in 2 Peter 1:18, “on the holy mountain”, that is the mountain of transfiguration. There he and James and John were given, as it were, a foretaste of the appearance of Christ in glory and of the power that goes together with it. That glory and power will characterize “our Lord Jesus Christ” during the millennial kingdom of peace, when He will be reigning on earth.

2 Peter 1:17-18. After referring to the visible testimony, the testimony that he has seen with his own eyes, Peter then speaks about the audible testimony. He and the two brothers have heard what God the Father testified of His Son. Peter still remembers exactly what God the Father said. In what He said, the Father gave honor and glory to the Son. Peter must certainly have remembered how he proposed to build three tents, one for the Lord Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and how as a response to that, the Father directed all attention to His Son.

No one can stand in His shadow. He alone is worthy of receiving all honor and glory. The Father did that to prevent any misunderstanding that His Son would be put on a par with even the greatest men from His people (Matthew 17:4-5). Out of His wonderful dwelling place the Father spoke out His undivided pleasure in His Son. He has given honor and glory to Christ (Hebrews 2:9).

In the voice that they heard, the pleasure of God in His Son was echoing. That voice came from “the Majestic Glory”, that is the cloud as the symbol of the dwelling place of God. This cloud was above the tabernacle as the visible sign of God’s presence among His people. That cloud overshadowed the three disciples. Out of the cloud “such a voice” came. The pleasure that came from “the Majestic Glory” in that voice to the Lord Jesus, was the expression of that glory. He was the Object to Whom the Father had given honor and glory.

The whole scene there on that holy mountain was shining of glory. And Peter and John and James were also there. That scene made a permanent impression. They had believed that Christ was the fulfillment of the prophecies.

2 Peter 1:19. Through what they had seen and heard on that holy mountain, they had “the prophetic word [made] more sure”. Peter expresses himself in the most forceful words to take away every doubt concerning the coming of the kingdom. Then he emphasizes the prophetic word. You “do well to pay attention” to it. You pay attention to it if you consider it, if it determines the direction of your life. The prophetic word is “as a lamp” (Psalms 119:105). In its light you are able to see how everything develops in the direction of the fulfillment.

You need that lamp, because the world is “a dark place”. The world is saying that it is enlightened, but without Christ it is really only darkness (John 1:5). The translated word ‘dark’ means ‘filthy’, ‘dirty’. The world with all its splendor and magnificence is according to God a filthy place and that’s how it is also to the Christian who is taught by God. The only light that shines through this filthiness, is the light of the prophecy.

The people of the world imagine that they are able to transform the world into a kingdom of peace. It is an illusion that they can cherish till the Lord Jesus comes and will judge all unrighteousness. The prophecy foretells His coming in many ways and with His coming the end of the day of man.

If you really pay attention to the prophecy you will surely want to study the prophecies diligently. That will prevent you from the foolishness to cooperate with the world in its search for a world peace. You will separate yourself from the world and point out to the people in the world the coming of the Judge, so that they may convert from their sins to escape from the judgment. You know that His coming is near, that He will come as “the sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2). After exerting the judgment He will establish His kingdom of peace, the eternal kingdom. Then the day of Christ will come, the day of His glory and then the lamp will not be needed anymore. Then the prophetic word will be fully fulfilled.

Peter, however, does not speak about the sun, but about the “morning star”. Before the dawning of the day, the morning star arises. With the morning star the Lord Jesus is meant (cf. Revelation 2:28; Revelation 22:16) as the One Who brings light. The morning star appears when it is still dark, but at the moment that the day is dawning. The appearance of the morning star announces the rising of the sun.

Therefore Peter says that the morning arises in your heart, which means that, while there is darkness around you, your heart is focused on the nearby coming of the Lord Jesus. In that way you live as if the kingdom has already come and you now already consider the rights of the Lord Jesus, like it will soon happen over the whole earth. You are, to say it with another word of the Scripture, ‘a son of the day’ (1 Thessalonians 5:5), that is someone who now already has that day in his heart.

2 Peter 1:20. For a sound study of the prophecy, Peter gives some more significant instructions at the end of this chapter. In the first place, “know this first of all”, you should not see a prophecy separately, but you should see it in relation with other prophecies. In this way Peter passes on the significant rule that you should always compare Scripture with Scripture. If you don’t do that you will manipulate the prophetic word and interpret it as it best suits you. But the fulfillment of the prophecies happens in the way it is written in the Word and not according to your own ideas. The key for the right understanding of the prophecies is Christ, His suffering and the glory thereafter. The testimony of Jesus is after all the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10b).

2 Peter 1:21. It is of great importance to bear in mind that prophets have not spoken from their own will, but from God. The origin of God’s Word in its whole, amongst them the prophecies, is not in the will of man. It is to be compared with the new birth that also comes from God alone, without any contribution of man (John 1:13).

God the Holy Spirit has used men to have His Word to be written. Those men were ‘holy’ men, because God had set them apart for this service. They indeed wrote on their own initiative, but at the same time they were “moved” or ‘led’, ‘carried’ by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). In that way they did not write down their own thoughts, but what God wanted them to write. Not the authors were inspired, but what they wrote was inspired. Here you see what inspiration is: the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the Bible authors at the moment of their writing.

To sum up, you learn from what Peter says here that there are three elements in the inspiration: 1. The Divine authorship of the Bible. God has ‘breathed out’ His Word; it comes from Him, it is not a writing about God, but from God. 2. The human instrument. The writers were ‘holy’ men, which means set apart to write down what was ‘breathed in’ by Him, according to His will – which did not happen at the expense of their own style, for they were not just ‘type writers’. 3. The written result. The product of the ‘breathing’ of God and of ‘moved’ by the Spirit of the authors is the Word of God as you now may have in your hands.

Now read 2 Peter 1:16-21 again.

Reflection: What is the importance of the prophetic word for you?

Revelation 3:8

Examples of God’s Judgment

2 Peter 2:1. In contrast to those who were moved by God (2 Peter 1:21), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat (Matthew 13:24-25). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times (Jeremiah 23:11-21). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity.

There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it (2 Peter 1:19).

He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too (Micah 3:11). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear (Jeremiah 5:31). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Galatians 5:20). In it is the germ of destruction.

False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word.

Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all.

That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there (Matthew 13:38; 44). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father (John 17:2).

The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves (Romans 9:22). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them.

2 Peter 2:2. They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature.

The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. Romans 2:24), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth.

2 Peter 2:3. Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property.

For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity (Revelation 18:12-13). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass.

2 Peter 2:4. That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7 with Genesis 6:2, the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in Jude 1:6. These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them.

He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire.

2 Peter 2:5. The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it (Genesis 6:5-12). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3). In those days God warned men in His mercy.

Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark (Hebrews 11:7), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything.

2 Peter 2:6. The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse (Luke 17:28-29; Genesis 19:4-5). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities (Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24).

Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment.

There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life.

The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word.

Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again.

Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?

Revelation 3:9

Examples of God’s Judgment

2 Peter 2:1. In contrast to those who were moved by God (2 Peter 1:21), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat (Matthew 13:24-25). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times (Jeremiah 23:11-21). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity.

There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it (2 Peter 1:19).

He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too (Micah 3:11). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear (Jeremiah 5:31). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Galatians 5:20). In it is the germ of destruction.

False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word.

Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all.

That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there (Matthew 13:38; 44). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father (John 17:2).

The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves (Romans 9:22). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them.

2 Peter 2:2. They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature.

The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. Romans 2:24), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth.

2 Peter 2:3. Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property.

For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity (Revelation 18:12-13). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass.

2 Peter 2:4. That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7 with Genesis 6:2, the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in Jude 1:6. These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them.

He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire.

2 Peter 2:5. The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it (Genesis 6:5-12). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3). In those days God warned men in His mercy.

Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark (Hebrews 11:7), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything.

2 Peter 2:6. The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse (Luke 17:28-29; Genesis 19:4-5). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities (Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24).

Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment.

There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life.

The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word.

Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again.

Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?

Revelation 3:10

Examples of God’s Judgment

2 Peter 2:1. In contrast to those who were moved by God (2 Peter 1:21), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat (Matthew 13:24-25). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times (Jeremiah 23:11-21). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity.

There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it (2 Peter 1:19).

He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too (Micah 3:11). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear (Jeremiah 5:31). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Galatians 5:20). In it is the germ of destruction.

False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word.

Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all.

That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there (Matthew 13:38; 44). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father (John 17:2).

The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves (Romans 9:22). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them.

2 Peter 2:2. They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature.

The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. Romans 2:24), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth.

2 Peter 2:3. Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property.

For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity (Revelation 18:12-13). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass.

2 Peter 2:4. That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7 with Genesis 6:2, the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in Jude 1:6. These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them.

He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire.

2 Peter 2:5. The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it (Genesis 6:5-12). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3). In those days God warned men in His mercy.

Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark (Hebrews 11:7), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything.

2 Peter 2:6. The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse (Luke 17:28-29; Genesis 19:4-5). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities (Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24).

Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment.

There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life.

The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word.

Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again.

Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?

Revelation 3:11

Examples of God’s Judgment

2 Peter 2:1. In contrast to those who were moved by God (2 Peter 1:21), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat (Matthew 13:24-25). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times (Jeremiah 23:11-21). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity.

There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it (2 Peter 1:19).

He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too (Micah 3:11). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear (Jeremiah 5:31). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Galatians 5:20). In it is the germ of destruction.

False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word.

Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all.

That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there (Matthew 13:38; 44). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father (John 17:2).

The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves (Romans 9:22). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them.

2 Peter 2:2. They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature.

The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. Romans 2:24), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth.

2 Peter 2:3. Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property.

For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity (Revelation 18:12-13). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass.

2 Peter 2:4. That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7 with Genesis 6:2, the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in Jude 1:6. These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them.

He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire.

2 Peter 2:5. The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it (Genesis 6:5-12). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3). In those days God warned men in His mercy.

Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark (Hebrews 11:7), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything.

2 Peter 2:6. The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse (Luke 17:28-29; Genesis 19:4-5). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities (Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24).

Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment.

There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life.

The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word.

Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again.

Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?

Revelation 3:12

Examples of God’s Judgment

2 Peter 2:1. In contrast to those who were moved by God (2 Peter 1:21), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat (Matthew 13:24-25). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times (Jeremiah 23:11-21). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity.

There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it (2 Peter 1:19).

He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too (Micah 3:11). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear (Jeremiah 5:31). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Galatians 5:20). In it is the germ of destruction.

False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word.

Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all.

That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there (Matthew 13:38; 44). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father (John 17:2).

The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves (Romans 9:22). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them.

2 Peter 2:2. They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature.

The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. Romans 2:24), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth.

2 Peter 2:3. Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property.

For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity (Revelation 18:12-13). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass.

2 Peter 2:4. That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7 with Genesis 6:2, the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in Jude 1:6. These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them.

He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire.

2 Peter 2:5. The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it (Genesis 6:5-12). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3). In those days God warned men in His mercy.

Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark (Hebrews 11:7), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything.

2 Peter 2:6. The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse (Luke 17:28-29; Genesis 19:4-5). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities (Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24).

Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment.

There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life.

The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word.

Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again.

Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?

Revelation 3:13

Examples of God’s Judgment

2 Peter 2:1. In contrast to those who were moved by God (2 Peter 1:21), the true prophets, Peter now refers to the prophets who are moved by the devil, the “false teachers”. Everything that comes from God, which is therefore good, is copied by the devil. The false prophets are the weed that looks very much like wheat (Matthew 13:24-25). They are among the people of God, among whom Peter has his ministry. He warns the believers of them. False prophets and false teachers are not a new phenomenon. They were also there among God’s people in former times (Jeremiah 23:11-21). They proceed their work in the false teachers, who in the meantime have populated professing Christianity.

There are not few people today who pretend to be prophets while pretending to be teachers. False teachers have been able to enter the Christian company because God’s Word is hardly read, if at all. That is because many Christians have no life of God and those who have, find it hard to read God’s Word. That especially applies to the prophetic word. That’s the reason why they do not pay attention well to it (2 Peter 1:19).

He who does not know what God’s Word says about the future, is an easy prey to false teachers who surely know how to picture a beautiful future. They let themselves be paid for that too (Micah 3:11). False teachers twist God’s Word and give another meaning to biblical words. They say things that people love to hear (Jeremiah 5:31). Their message is completely in line with people who only live for here and now; they love to hear that (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

These false teachers seek to “secretly introduce destructive heresies”. Their teachings always cause conflicts and division because they never point to the Lord Jesus, but they always seek their own honor and glory. They look for unstable souls and win these souls for their destructive teachings. In that way they gather people around themselves and separate these people from the fellowship of believers of which they first were a part. Heresy or faction is a work of the flesh and not of the Spirit (Galatians 5:20). In it is the germ of destruction.

False teachers do not operate openly, but secretly. That proves that they are doing works that belong to the darkness. Such works cannot stand the light. Therefore, be alert as soon as you notice that a person is secretly trying to win your support for his ideas, for instance about forming a church. Test what you encounter against God’s Word.

Ask yourself whether the proposal is doing justice to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Another character of a false teacher is namely that he denies the Master by Whom he is bought. He first pretends to be doing what the Master says, but soon it will become apparent that he does not consider Him at all.

That he has been bought by the Master does not mean that he is a believer. He has indeed been bought, but not redeemed. The Lord Jesus is the Owner of the universe and everything in it, including the people. Through His work on the cross He has bought the world. He bought the world to possess the treasure that was hidden there (Matthew 13:38; 44). In the same way He has control over all flesh, that is all people. He uses that power to give eternal life to those who were given to Him by the Father (John 17:2).

The authority of the Lord Jesus is unlimited, but these corrupted people do not consider that. Their corrupt actions will quickly and unexpectedly bring an appropriate judgment of destruction over them. It is a destruction which they have prepared for themselves (Romans 9:22). They draw the judgment toward themselves. He Who will judge them is the One of Whom they now deny the rights He has over them.

2 Peter 2:2. They are dragging “many” in their slipstream on the way to destruction. Their lawless view of life and their way of living is attractive for the mass of people. If you follow them, you do not need to take anything into account. You can follow your lusts without restraint. The example of the false teachers shows it. This is the way they love to hear and experience the truth. Away with that narrow-minded thinking of petty Christians who take the Bible as an enslaving principle for their lives. They too can read themselves and they cannot read anywhere that God forbids you to go wild as you like it. Love is after all from God and can be enjoyed limitlessly. Limitations are invented by man. And a human being is a free creature.

The fact that by this way of thinking and acting “the way of the truth will be maligned” (cf. Romans 2:24), does not arise with them or they refuse to have anything to do with it. With ‘the way of the truth’ the whole Christian truth is meant, both in teaching and in life. Unbelievers dislike and scoff at God’s truth because Christians who talk about standards and values trample God’s truth.

2 Peter 2:3. Their lawless life comes from their “greed”. Not only their deeds are corrupt, but also inwardly they are full of corruptness. They seek to rob money from their followers. Through their wonderful speeches and argumentations that they completely invented themselves, they make their victims. These naive people are systematically robbed from their identity and property.

For false teachers, there is no humanity. They are predators who see humans only as merchandise to earn money. In Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5), which stands for the roman-catholic church in the end time, the predator has come to maturity (Revelation 18:12-13). The judgment has already been established a long time ago and will definitely happen. There is no slumber, no dozing off, as if it will be all right and perhaps pass.

2 Peter 2:4. That God will absolutely judge corruption, is illustrated by Peter with three examples from the past. The first example is with regard to the angels who have sinned. By comparing Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7 with Genesis 6:2, the sin of the angels is the sin that is described in Jude 1:6. These angels took human form and had sexual intercourse with women. In that way they abandoned the place that was given to them by God. This is a terrible disobedience that God must punish. Therefore He did not spare them.

He who falls away from God, deliberately and purposefully proves to go against Him and to defy Him in His Being. He was indebted to His righteousness to commit these angels “to pits of darkness”, away from the earth and away from heaven. They had chosen for the darkness and that they received as a prison. They are in assured custody in the vestibule of hell until this day, awaiting final judgment. This will be executed at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace when all evil will be forever locked up in hell, the lake of fire.

2 Peter 2:5. The second example is the flood that came upon the “ancient world”. God could neither spare the ancient world. The cause is the persistence of man in his wickedness. Man continuously invents evil, until the whole earth has been completely filled by it (Genesis 6:5-12). God has been patient for a long time, no less than one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3). In those days God warned men in His mercy.

Through Noah He revealed His righteousness to men that He has to judge sin. At the same time he gave the way for salvation in the ark that Noah was to build. Each blow of the hammer was a warning for a coming judgment. Unfortunately, the preaching of Noah remained without result, but without this changing the content of his message. The proof, the flood, came. Noah, together with his household that also entered the ark (Hebrews 11:7), was the only one who was protected against this disaster that destroyed everything.

2 Peter 2:6. The third example is the judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were full of the most horrible sins. The life of the people in these cities consisted of satisfying all of their physical needs and lusts, from eating and drinking till a general experiencing of homosexual intercourse (Luke 17:28-29; Genesis 19:4-5). This deeply depraved way of living calls God’s judgment upon itself. God’s action in judgment is most emphatically mentioned in the judgment on these cities (Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24).

Also the radicalism of the judgment is impressive. Peter speaks about a point of “reducing [them] to ashes”. It is in no way possible to make something from ashes. God also overthrew [Darby Translation] these cities. These cities had overthrown God’s order of creation by their homosexual conduct and they therefore received an appropriate punishment.

There is another aspect attached to this judgment and that is that it serves as a deterrent example for each who would consider to live such an ungodly life. You sin against your own life if you follow the life of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in their sinful practice of life.

The city of Amsterdam breathes the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole Dutch society is heading fast in that direction because it is infused by that spirit. Let yourself be warned by this example and remain faithful to God and His Word.

Now read 2 Peter 2:1-6 again.

Reflection: What is it that Peter is warning about?

Revelation 3:14

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

Revelation 3:15

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

Revelation 3:16

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

Revelation 3:17

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

Revelation 3:18

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

Revelation 3:19

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

Revelation 3:20

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

Revelation 3:21

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?

Revelation 3:22

The Way of Balaam

2 Peter 2:7. The same God Who brings judgment on the ungodly, is the God who delivers the righteous. If you know the history of Lot as it is described in Genesis, then you must be rubbing your eyes to make sure that you’re not mistaken about what is said of Lot here, that he was “righteous”. It is even said three times.

He was everything but a Noah, who preached righteousness. The righteousness of Lot had not become visible, it was not reflected, neither in his words and nor in his deeds. Still he was a righteous man, inwardly. Therefore we had to be informed by the Scripture itself, for else we would have never known. Of course it does not do credit to Lot. It also will do you no credit if no one knows that you are a believer or if other believers have to put a question mark on your faith because they do not see anything of it.

2 Peter 2:8. That Lot indeed was a believer, appears from the fact that he was truly suffering by what he saw around him. He saw immoral people living in lawlessness. He dwelled in their midst and came into contact with them day by day. He heard their dirty talking, he saw their filthy behavior and that all cut through his soul. He was filled with disgust by what he saw and heard. In that respect he is an example for Christians who are saying that it doesn’t affect them when they for instance watch sexually oriented scenes in a movie. Does it also cut through your soul when you see the immoral signs on the billboards along the road or when you hear filthy speech around you?

2 Peter 2:9. The examples that Peter has mentioned make clear that the Lord knows how to distinguish between “the godly” and “the unrighteous”. That appears from His dealings with them. His dealings with Godly people appears from their deliverance. His dealings with unrighteous people appears from the judgment that He brings on them.

He knows the temptations that people are facing, who have respect for Him. These temptations are tests of faith: outer circumstances in which believers may find themselves, through which their faith is tested. The Lord knows how to deliver His own from it. He is able to change the circumstances or to help them through these circumstances, or even, like the case of Lot, to take away the believer out of those circumstances.

The unrighteous are reserved for judgment. None of the unrighteous will escape judgment. No one can run away from God. For those who do not want to bow before God, black darkness has been reserved (2 Peter 2:17). This forms a great contrast with the believers who are reserved for the inheritance, while the inheritance is reserved for them (1 Peter 1:4-5).

2 Peter 2:10. After the examples that have demonstrated the inescapability of God’s judgment, Peter continues to expose the false teachers. Among them there is a category that operates more depraved than the false teachers already do in general. It is a category of men who surrender themselves to the filthy lusts of their flesh and who, in limitless arrogance, treat all authority given by God with contempt. Those people especially will be struck by God’s judgment.

Today it is about ‘Christian’ teachers who, in order to satisfy their own dirty lusts, teach that you are allowed to have sex with whoever you want. In order to succeed they know how to manipulate the truth of God’s Word in such a way that they convince others of their freedom and that they can live out their lusts in that way.

They have the audacity to defy any authority that makes them feel constrained. They are that arrogant and proud that they feel no hindrances to blaspheme and reject God’s authority. Blaspheming is falsely accusing and deliberately evil speaking of something or someone, in order to make the other despicable. An example of that you find in the feminist theology that rejects and disempowers God’s order of creation and refuses to speak about God as Father.

2 Peter 2:11. In their recklessness and arrogance these kind of people go that far, that they exalt themselves above the mightiest angels. Angels who in power and holiness go far beyond these void and through and through depraved people (Psalms 103:20; 2 Kings 19:35), do not dare what these people dare to (Jude 1:9; Zechariah 3:2). Their big words and blasphemy are proven to be completely reprehensible by the conduct of these powers who are many times greater.

2 Peter 2:12. The people who are guilty of that, are unbelievers who arrogantly call themselves Christians. They behave “like unreasoning animals” and therefore they are classified in line with them. Balaam is even classified below the animals, for he is lectured by an animal (2 Peter 2:16).

As less able as natural unreasoning animals, false teachers are able to ponder on these things with insight. They simply do not understand what they are talking about, even though they use such learned words. Just as unreasoning animals are born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, false teachers are caught and destroyed. They are acting after their evil nature and receive the result of their actions.

They are not created for destruction as if they were destined to, but they will be destroyed in their own destruction. They bring themselves under destruction. In that way a person, who practices a sexually free way of living, may be infected by AIDS and in this way receive the wages that goes hand in hand with his life in unrighteousness.

2 Peter 2:13. They exercise their activities for wages and this is the way that God will repay them. By that I do not mean that all people who for instance have AIDS, have received this disease as wages for their life in unrighteousness. A person can also contract this disease by an inaccurate action of others. I heard about someone who was infected by a transfusion of contaminated blood. A person can also contract a disease while nursing someone with an infectious disease.

“A pleasure to revel in the daytime”, when normal people are working, is the highlight of pleasure for them. Instead of being generous they are greedy and gluttonous. And consider thereby that Peter does not talk about their behavior in the world, but in the midst of the Christian company. They carouse “with you”. They succeeded in taking their place in the midst of Christians to mingle with them. There they take part in eating and drinking in a way that reveals where their life consists of.

Exactly because of this kind of people, separation is needed. If we allow them to act their way freely, they will ‘blemish and spot’ the Christian community. “Blemishes and spots” are no adornment, but taint what is beautiful and clean. That’s why they must be removed as soon they become visible.

2 Peter 2:14. While they are feasting, their eyes go restlessly to and fro to lustfully look at beautiful women as much as they can (cf. Job 31:1). In their mind they commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). They have no restraints on their consumption and no restraints on their sexual lusts. People who cannot control themselves when it comes to eating and drinking often also not able to control themselves in other areas either. They are constantly sinning, without any moment of pausing.

They seek how they can entice “unstable souls”, people who are not firmly rooted in the Scripture (cf. Colossians 2:7), to profit from them. This behavior comes forth from “a heart trained in greed”. They have developed a sense by which they know exactly who to make prey to their greedy desires.

Peter succinctly calls them “accursed children”, or better, children of curse. They come from a curse and are a curse for all who come into contact with them. Their end is in accordance to that, for the Lord Jesus will send them to the eternal fire as accursed ones (Matthew 25:41).

2 Peter 2:15. False teachers have known the right way (cf. 1 Samuel 12:20-24; Hosea 14:9), that is the way of obedience to God and His Word, but have abandoned it. Then they also distort the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). After the error of Balaam (Jude 1:11) and the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14) they will end up on the way of Balaam and will follow his way.

By speaking about “the way of Balaam” Peter sets Balaam as the example of going a way that makes religion a merchandise. You find his history in Numbers 22-24. There it appears that he presented himself as a prophet of God, while he was planning to curse God’s people because he was offered a lot of money to do so. That is considered by God as ”wages of unrighteousness”. It is wages that is earned by doing evil works.

2 Peter 2:16. In a special way God hindered the foolishness of the prophet to curse His people. He gave the “mute donkey” that Balaam rode on, the ability to speak “with a voice of a man”. The donkey rebuked Balaam for his own transgression. He struck the donkey three times, while the donkey only carried him and protected him against calamity (Numbers 22:22-33). He proved by that that he was blind to the warnings and persistently continued his own way. By letting the donkey speak to him, God made clear how foolish the prophet was. Subsequently, God allowed Balaam to continue his way, while He forced him to bless His people.

Also today God has His methods to speak to false teachers and He often does that in a way that makes stubborn, money-hungry false teachers despicable. It would be a good thing if they want to listen for their own well-being, otherwise they will partake of the fate of Balaam (Numbers 31:8).

Now read 2 Peter 2:7-16 again.

Reflection: Which characteristics of false teachers are given in these verses?