FAMOUS LAST WORDS
THE LAST THINGS
DR. JIM DIXON
2 PETER 1:12-19
JULY 18, 2010
A little less than two months ago, Dennis Hopper died. It was May 29th, 2010. It was a Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. Dennis Hopper was a movie star, a Hollywood star. He rarely had leading roles, but he played significant roles in very popular movies, like Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, Rebel Without A Cause, Born to be Wild—movies that have almost cult followings today. Subcultures surround these movies. Of course, not all the movies that Dennis Hopper was in were renowned. He also was in Kevin Costner’s Water World. A few movies like that. He had five wives, and amazingly the day before he died, he divorced his fifth wife. And just before he died, he was given a Hollywood star on Hollywood Boulevard on the Walk of Fame. He showed up, though he was near death (he had been battling a rare and very aggressive form of prostate cancer for a year) and he weighed less than 100 lbs. But they gave him that Hollywood star, the five-pointed brass star. You’ve seen them. They embed them in the sidewalk, 6 feet between stars. 1.7 miles the stars run along Hollywood Boulevard; 2,403 stars, 2,403 actors that were deemed worthy of fame in the history of Hollywood, and Dennis Hopper was the 2,403rd.
Of course, in the Christian world we don’t do that. We have no Hollywood Boulevard. In the Christian world we have no Walk of Fame. There’s not some road you can go to and walk down the road and see star after star, see all the great and famous Christians who have lived through the centuries. If Christ were to allow such a thing, if there were such a road, if there were such stars, I’m sure there would be many surprises, if he were choosing the stars. I’m sure there’d be many surprises, many people who have labored, humbly, behind the scenes, people who have loved Jesus with all their heart, people who have served him faithfully. I’m sure, as well, that on that road there would be names that are well known. I’m sure there’d be a star there for James, the brother of our Lord, who was the great head of the church in Jerusalem. I’m sure there would be a star there for John, the beloved disciple. I’m sure there would be a star there for Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. I’m sure there would be a star for Peter, certainly foremost amongst the 12. Perhaps it would be the first star as you walk down the Walk of Fame on that boulevard. Maybe Jesus would give the first star to Peter.
Today, we conclude our series on the famous last words of Peter and we’re going to take a look today at some of the last things he said to us. We’re going to look at three things and the first is the death of the Apostle Peter because Peter addresses this and we want to deal with this.
Now on December the 8, 1995, my father died. I’ll never forget that day and of course, my birthday, my 50th birthday, was to be two days later, December 10. On December 8, the day my dad died, my wife Barb had planned a surprise 50th birthday party for me. It was at Mission Trujillo. In fact, we had it that night at Mission Trujillo. Some of you were there. Some of you were at my 50th birthday party at Mission Trujillo, and it was a hard time for me because just before Barb and I left the house, my brother called from California and told me that my dad had just passed away. We knew it was imminent. My dad had had a massive stroke one week earlier and Barb and I had flown out to California to be with my dad. My brother Greg and his wife had flown out to California to be with dad. We told my dad that we loved him and he went into a coma, but as he did on December 8th, that afternoon, my brother Gary called and said, “I’m putting the phone up to Dad’s ear and he’s about to go and just wanted to give you a chance to tell Dad that you loved him one last time,” and so I did and I began to cry. I began to cry and yet it’s kind of hard go to a 50th birthday party right after that. It’s kind of a weird and strange night. You know, my dad never knew that death was coming. He had not been ill. He was riding his bike 25-50 miles a day and my dad was almost 82, physically strong, but he had no clue that he was going to have a stroke. He had no clue that death was near. I think for most of us, we’d kind of like to have it to be like that. I mean we’d kind of like to not know. If Jesus were to say to you, “Hey, I’m going to tell you how you’re going to die and how it’s going to happen,” I think most of us would say, “I’d just as soon not know.” But Peter knew.
Peter knew, and so in our passage of Scripture for today, in 2 Peter 1 we see the words of Peter. “I intend always to remind you of these things so you know them and are firmly established in the truth which you have, but I think it right as long as I’m in this body, that I arouse you by way of a reminder since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon as are our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.” So, the death of Peter had been prophesied by Jesus and Peter knew approximately when and very much how he was to die. This takes us back to John 21. You see the record of the disciples being by the Sea of Galilee and Jesus appearing to them. Jesus is resurrected and alive and the disciples have gone fishing on the Sea of Galilee and they have a miraculous catch of fish by the power of Christ and they come ashore and they have breakfast there by the Sea of Galilee, the disciples and the resurrected Christ.
After breakfast, Jesus questions Peter, “Do you Love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” And Jesus commissions Peter, commands Peter, “Feed my sheep, shepherd my flock, pastor my lambs, serve my church.” And then they took a walk, Jesus and Peter, by the Sea of Galilee. They just took off and they took a walk, and that is when Jesus said to Peter, “When you were young, you girded yourself and you went where you would, but when you are old, you will stretch forth your hands and another will gird you and you will be carried where you do not wish to go.” This he said to show by what means of death Peter was to die. It was understood by Peter and the early church that Peter was to be crucified, and so he was. Peter died by crucifixion and traditionally he died in the city of Rome near the place where the obelisk now stands in the courtyard before the Basilica of St. Peter.
Now we really don’t know from the Bible that Peter was in Rome, but there is overwhelming evidence that he was, and even in the Bible there are hints. For instance, in 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter (this is in chapter 5, verse 13) addresses the Christian world and he greets them from Babylon and he also says that she who is at Babylon sends you greetings. Now, who is “she at Babylon,” sending the greeting? Some said, well, it was Peter’s wife. And certainly we know from the Bible that Peter was married. It seems unlikely however, that this is a reference to his wife. Most scholars believe that it’s a reference to the church at Babylon. “She who is at Babylon sends you greetings.” The Church at Babylon. Of course, oftentimes in the Bible and in Christian literature the church is referred to as she. It is the bride of Christ. She is the bride of Christ.
But what is Babylon? When Peter says, “She who is at Babylon greets you,” there was a Babylon in Egypt near Cairo. In the time of Peter, it had become a military outpost. The Jewish community had left there, so it’s an unlikely reference. There was a Babylon in the East that had once been the capitol of the Babylonian Empire. Babylon, the ruins of which are in modern day Iraq. And there was a Jewish colony there in the time of Peter, but there is never any evidence that Peter ever went east. There’s no evidence that Peter ever went to the city of Babylon near the Tigris and Euphrates, although John Calvin thought he did.
Most scholars believe that this is a code name for Rome, that we can find in early Jewish literature and in early Christian literature, both, that Babylon was often times a code name for Rome, the capitol of the Roman Empire. Even in the book of Revelation, it seems that Babylon may be a code name for Rome. And so, Peter would say, “The church at Rome sends you its greeting. I’m in Rome and the church that is at Rome sends you greetings.” This is likely. But we know from other sources that Peter was in Rome and Irenaeus, one of the early church fathers, tells us that Peter and Paul birthed the church in Rome. That’s not true. Iranaus was prone to exaggeration. But certainly, they did influence the church in Rome. We know that Peter and Paul did not found the church in Rome because in the first chapter of Romans, the 18th verse, the Apostle Paul, sending his letter to Rome, acknowledges he’s never been there yet. If he hadn’t been there and he’s writing the church in Rome, he couldn’t have founded the church in Rome.
On the other hand, Peter did have a hand in founding that church because it seems, biblically, in Acts chapter 2, that the church in Rome was actually founded at Pentecost, in the City of Jerusalem. The Bible says that after Pentecost and the descent of the Holy spirit, Peter gave this great sermon and people were gathered, a massive crowd representing many nations. And in that crowd, there was a group from Rome, we’re told in Acts chapter 2. So that group from Rome heard that wonderful sermon by the Apostle Peter and I’m sure that many of them came to Christ and that was probably the beginning of the church in Rome as they went back and started the church in Rome.
But we know from other sources that Peter and Paul served in Rome and Vesuvius, the respected historian, tells us that Peter and Paul collaborated and cooperated on ministry in the city of Rome. We also know this from Dioniceas. Most of all we know it from Clement. Clement was the third bishop of Rome. He was a disciple of the Apostle Peter and a friend of Paul. Probably he was a different Clement than the Clement mentioned in Philippians 4. But Clement wrote 1 Clement and most scholars date First Clement around 95-96 AD. Near the end of the first century, some of the early formations of the Canon, some of the early formations of the Bible actually have 1 Clement in it. It is a very respected old book by a venerated servant of Christ and in 1 Clement we’re clearly told that Peter and Paul were in Rome, that they served together, that they served the church in Rome, and that ultimately there were executed, martyred, by the order of Nero, the Roman Emperor. Paul, being a Roman citizen, was beheaded. He could not be crucified. No Roman citizen could be crucified. But Peter, not being a Roman citizen, was crucified. Clement tells us that it was in the middle of the 60’s, around 65 AD, and this would fit with what we know of history of Neronian persecutions.
We also are told, in the Acts of Peter, which is an apocryphal writing and not particularly credible, that Peter was crucified upside down because he refused to be crucified in the manner of his Lord. We don’t know if this is true. We do know that according to Eusebias the remains of Peter and Paul were visible to all and that people came in great number to see their remains and the place of their remains was well known. We know that their bones disappeared over the course of time. We also know that on June 26, 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that they had rediscovered the bones of Peter. We don’t know whether that is true, but if they have, those bones are somewhere in St. Peter’s Basilica.
How about you? Death is coming. You don’t know how you’re going to die. You don’t know when you’re going to die, you don’t know where you’re going to die, but death is coming. Some of you are young and you feel kind of bullet proof. You feel very energized and you see a big future ahead of you. Some of you are older. You feel the weight of time. Some of you are kind of frail and some of you are anxious. Death comes to all, young and old. You don’t know that the death rate is 100%. Of course, are you ready? Are you ready for your death? Do you know that your soul is secure? Do you know that you are bound for heaven? Do you know that your sins are forgiven? Have you come to Jesus? And, are you following him now?
In John chapter 21, when Jesus told Peter the manner of Peter’s death and when Jesus said to Peter, “You will stretch forth your hands and another will gird you and you will be carried where you do not wish to go,” it’s almost humorous. Peter understood. Looks like when I die, I’m going to die by crucifixion. But he turned around and saw John walking behind them as they were walking along the Sea of Galilee. Apparently, John followed them, the beloved disciple, and Peter, in his humanness, did what many of us would do. He said, “Well, what about him? Okay, you know, when I die, I’m gonna die by crucifixion, but what about him? What about John? What’s going to happen to him?” And I love the response of Christ. “If it be my will that he remain until I come again, what is that to you? You follow me!” And that is what Jesus would say to each and every one of us. As long as we draw breath, as long as we live our days here follow him. This is the call of Christ upon us.
But there’s a second word from Peter in his famous last words and it is a warning. Peter wants to warn us. He wants to warn the Church of Jesus Christ. In your lifetime and mine, we’ve probably received many warnings. Maybe we’ve heeded some and not others.
You all know the story of Amelia Earhart, and how she went down over the ocean while on a flight around the world. Amelia Earhart shouldn’t have taken off that day, but she did and she was never seen again. She was warned and she did not heed the warning. In our lifetime, many warnings come. Some we should heed and some perhaps not. But we should heed the Word of God. And that’s what Peter is saying to us, “You need to pay attention. You need to hear my warning.” And Peter uses what some scholars call the “Apostolic we.” “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were with him on the Holy Mountain.” The “Apostolic we.” He’s referring not simply to himself, but to all the apostles. And he’s saying, “This is our warning. You better heed it.” And he begins by telling us we’d better pay attention. Better pay attention to his words. Better pay attention to the apostles for, as he tells us at the end of 2 Peter 1, the apostles are not speaking by the impulse of men, but by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. They speak from God. So, pay attention. The Greek word is proseko. It means, take hold of and never let go. So, Peter is saying, “Now what I’m about to say to you, you take hold of this and you never let go. That’s how important this is.
Now I’m a pastor and I’m kind of like pastors all over the world. We notice that sometimes people don’t pay attention. We notice that sometimes people go to sleep. They go to sleep during the worship and singing and during the prayer and during the Word and we’re just happy to serve you as you try to catch up. But be careful. Be careful because Peter is saying, you better pay attention to the Word of God. You better pay attention to the apostles. You better pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place. Oftentimes in the Bible, the Word of God, the word of the apostles, the word of Christ is described as a lamp. Psalms 119, “the Word is a lamp under my feet and a light unto my path.” And many years ago archeologists discovered those foot-lamps in the Middle East and in the region of Israel and these were lamps that could be attached to the feet, and if you walked carefully, they could help you see a short distance ahead. And that’s the imagery of the Word of God that it gives us: light to see our way, sometimes only one step at a time, as we live out our lives. It’s always just one step ahead of us as we use the Word of God as a lamp unto our feet and it is a lamp shining in a dark place.
Have you ever been in a dark place? I mean have you ever been in a really, really, literally, physically dark place? I know many of you have traveled up to South Dakota. You might be thinking, You know, well, why would I go to South Dakota? Well, there’s a lot of wonderful places in South Dakota, wonderful places to have a vacation. Mount Rushmore is at South Dakota and you can see, etched in stone, the faces of Jefferson and Washington and Lincoln and Roosevelt and it’s majestic and Mt. Rushmore is a beautiful area with pine forests and wonderful hotels and camping grounds and Barb and I have been there and we’ve loved it.
In that region there’s a national park called the Wind Cave National Park. Quite a few of you have been there. It was discovered 127 years ago by a deer hunter. This guy was out hunting deer and he heard this strange whistling noise coming out of the earth and he found an opening in the ground and it was an opening to what would become the Wind Cave National Park. There are hundreds of miles of subterranean tunnels, most of which you are not allowed to access, but there are sections that you can access in the Wind Cave in the Wind Cave National Park. They’re beautiful with caverns and stalactites and stalagmites and there are walls of stone, some of which are pink and some of which are actually blue, some are brown, just a variety of colors reflecting the unique geology of the area and you go down there, and they have electrical lights through the portions where the public is allowed to go. But they like to scare you. So, Barb and I were down there and you’re in this long line and you’re looking around at everything and you’re just amazed and suddenly, they just turn off the lights. They tell you to stay where you are, which is exactly what you have to do and when they turn off those lights it is like darker than anything I’ve ever seen in my life. It was just so dark you just couldn’t see anything. It’s like total darkness.
And I don’t know if you’re ready to receive this or whether you believe this, but the Bible says, spiritually, that’s what the world is like. I mean spiritually, the Bible tells us the world is in darkness. It is in darkness and then there’s some light in the world because God is omnipresent. I mean that’s what makes hell so dark is that God will withdraw. “Hell is exclusion from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might,” 2 Thessalonians 1. And in God’s presence is fullness of joy. You don’t want to be anywhere where God is absolutely absent. In this world, God is omnipresent and there’s some of his light and we’re all created in the Imago Dei and there’s some residual effects of the image of God in all of us. There’s some light in this world but the world is fallen. Mankind is fallen and the Bible tells us the world is in darkness and Jesus is the light. Come into the world. John 8, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” The Bible tells us, “The true light which enlightens every man was coming into the world. It was in the world, the world was made by him, the world received him not. The light shines in the darkness. The darkness shall not overcome it.” The light of Jesus and so we have this warning to pay attention to Jesus and his word through the apostles and to remember.
Peter said, speaking very pastorally, “I want you to remember,” and this is so important to Peter because Peter has said, “…supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, brotherly affection with love.” We’ve seen these things. We’ve been going over these things in the prior weeks and Peter’s saying, “Remember.” And he says it in three different ways. “I intend always to remind you of these things them and be firmly established in the truth you have, but I think it right as long as I’m in this body, to rouse you by way of reminder since I know that the putting off my body will be soon as Lord Jesus showed me and I tend to see to it that after my departure you may be able, at any time, to recall these things.” So, he wants to remind us, he wants us to remember, he wants us to recall. He says it in three different ways and I think it’s… as a pastor, I’m very impressed with his words when he says to the flock, “You already know these things, and in fact, you’re established in the truth, but I’m still going to remind you. I still want to make sure you can recall.”
This is the burden and responsibility placed on all pastors. It’s not to entertain. The Bible says, “In the last days many will have itching ears and will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own liking. They will turn away from listening to the truth.” Nobody wants to hear the same thing twice. They just want to hear something new, something new, something new. But is it true, true, true? So, the call of the pastor is to make sure that the truth of Christ is engrained in the flock, and that requires repetition for the sake of remembrance.
This is a warning that Peter is giving them and he gives them a warning regarding deception, that they should not follow into myth and he tells the them, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word for myth is “muthos,” from which we get the English word myth. And this word is an end times word used in 2 Timothy 4:4 where we’re told in the end times many will no longer endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, will accumulate teachers to suit their own liking. Turning away from listening to the truth and wander into muthos.
Now Peter is saying, “Don’t be deceived. We are not following cleverly devised myths. We were eyewitnesses to his majesty and when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration, when he received honor and glory, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, ‘This is my beloved Son.’ We heard this voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the Holy Mountain. You do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining into a dark place, so avoid deception.” In the Bible Satan is called The Deceiver, Revelation 12:9, “planao,” with the definite article, present participle, “THE Deceiver.” This is the title given to The Evil One. He is The Deceiver. He is the Archon of this world. He’s a usurper. One day Jesus will come and cast him down. But he is the Archon, the Prince of this World. He is the ruler of this world and he has led the world into deception. We are the people of Christ. We have been called out of darkness into his marvelous light and we are to live faithfully by his word.
Well, Peter concludes with a promise in these famous last words and it’s a twofold promise and the first promise is the day will dawn. “Pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns.” What is the day? You know what the day is? What is Peter referring to? The day is going to dawn. Pay attention, be faithful, follow Christ until the day dawns. In Revelation 1:10, the day is called the Lord’s Day. 1 Thessalonians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 2, the day is called the day of the Lord. In Joel 2, in Malachi 4, two of the great passages in the Old Testament, it’s called the great and terrible day of the Lord. In 2 Peter, chapter 3, it is called the Day of God. In Philippians 1 and 2, it’s called the Day of Christ. It’s called the Day of our Lord Jesus in 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 1, and in 1 Corinthians 1 it is also the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is the day of God, it is the day of the Lord, it’s the great and terrible day of the Lord, it is the day of the Lord Jesus, it is the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Bible this expression, “the day,” refers to the consummation and to the final events that surround it. There are rare passages in the Bible where the day actually refers to everything from the coming of Christ to the earth because he is the Messiah, the Anointed One, and in a sense, even by his first coming, the day began. He is the one who will usher in a new day.
But most of the time, when you look at this expression contextually in the Bible it refers to the consummation and to the final events of history. It refers to the time of tribulation. The Lord Jesus himself tells us that there will come at the consummation of time, a great tribulation, a time of seven years where the earth will experience stress and calamity such as it has never seen. That devastation is coming on the day. The day refers to the Second Coming, which in the Bible is sometimes described as the apocalypsis, the unveiling, sometimes the epihanea, the appearing, sometimes the parousia, the coming of the King. It’s all part of the day.
And the day includes the rapture of the church—1 Thessalonians 4, where the Apostle Paul writes, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a cry of a command, where the archangels call with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise and we who are alive and who are left until his coming, shall be caught up, rapturo, rapture, caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. It’s all a part of the day. And the millennium, the new heavens, the new earth, is part of the new day. But most of the time when you see this expression about the Day of the Lord and the great and terrible day of the Lord, it’s in reference to the judgment. The Day of the Lord is day of the Final Judgment. The Day of Judgment is coming and it will dawn and the earth will give account and Jesus will receive his people unto himself.
But there is another promise here and that is the promise of the Morning Star. “Pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.” The Morning Star is going to rise. This is the promise that Peter leaves us with and the Greek word is “prospheros,” light bearer, and it was used as a title for the Morning Star.
If you get up in the morning and you look up into the sky, what is the morning star? Do you know what star that is? It’s Venus. Venus is the morning star and it signals the end of the night and the new day is about to dawn and the brightest star, when you get up in the morning, very early, is Venus, the morning star. In the Bible Jesus is called the Morning Star. He is prospheros. He is the light bearer. He is the Venus Star. Jesus is “Proinos Aster,” He is the star of the morning.
In Revelation 22:16, Jesus leaves us with a title. He said, “I am the bright Morning Star.” He is the morning star and in Revelation 2, in the church of Thyatira, Jesus promises the church that He will give us the Morning Star, and in a sense that means he will give us himself, for he is the morning star. But in a deeper sense, he will give us the new day because he’s ushering in a new day. He is the Morning Star; a new day is coming and it’s all promised to his people. The Morning Star will rise. In Malachi 4, Jesus is called the Son of Righteousness, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. He’s called the Son of Righteousness and Jesus is the Son of Righteousness. He will rise with the dawn of a new day and it will be a day of righteousness and he will come with healing in his wings. This is the reminder and the promise that Peter would leave us with.
Of course, the Devil would disguise himself as an angel of light where possible and it’s possible in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 that the Devil may be called Lucifer, which would also mean light there, morning star. Understand that even the word “anti christos,” the word for Antichrist, not only means against Christ, but “one who would take the place of Christ.” And that’s what the Devil wants to do. He would love to take the place of Christ. He would disguise himself as light. In his own mind, he believes he’s going to usher in the new day, and it’s all deception. Self-deception. Global deception. But Christ is the morning star and the Son of Righteousness and he will usher in the new day and it’s a beautiful thought from Peter that the morning star is going to rise in our hearts.
And Jesus is in our hearts now. We’ve received him in our hearts. We love him and think of that day when he comes again and that morning star, indeed, rises in our hearts. How glorious that will be. So, we have these famous last words from Peter to the church and he reminds us that death is approaching and be ready until he comes. Follow him, but be ready. Make sure you’ve given your heart to Christ and your soul is secured and your sin forgiven and he warns us to pay attention to the Word, to remember, and to not be deceived by men. And he promises us that the day will dawn and the morning star will rise. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.