MONDAY 14th
2 Peter 1:3-4
‘His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.’
I have included the two verses again this morning to enable you to look at them again for the context out of which I will continue the devotions today with the phrase, ‘through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence’.
Two things to consider, ‘through the knowledge of him’ and ‘who called us to his own glory and excellence’. But before we go into more detail the ESV uses the phrase ‘who called us TO his own glory . . .’ while the NIV uses ‘who called us BY his own glory’. The ESV has a footnote for the word ‘to’ to say, or ‘by’, but in my studying of it I have used the actual ESV translation, not the footnote. The sense changes slightly as BY suggests the means being called, while TO suggests being called to something. Either way we can say we have been called by his own glory and called to his own glory.
The divine power which is available, is granted to us through the knowledge of him who called us, that is it is a power that is made available only to those who have come to a knowledge of him who is the Saviour, who brings us to a true, real and dynamic relationship with God. We cannot have the power needed that pertains to life and godliness without first knowing Jesus who was sent from God. We may live good lives before salvation, but no matter how good our lives may seem to have been, it would never lead us to salvation nor to genuine godliness.
In our last devotion I mentioned the need to receive divine power through the reading of the Word of God, through the avenue of prayer and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but I repeat what I also touched on in the devotion before that, that these avenues of reception can only happen when we have come to a saving knowledge and a deepening knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ‘all things’ come after we have in our lives the knowledge of him, first as Saviour and secondly as Lord.
Then, it is only those who have a genuine knowledge of Jesus who will be called to his own glory and excellence. That is, that not all will come to the place of seeing both the glory of Jesus and his excellence, we can know something of his glory and excellence in our lives now as he fills us with everything pertaining to life and godliness and in our living for him and in his ways, but I think there is something here that speaks also of his eternal glory and excellence. He has called us by his grace to himself, so that we share with him now, but we will share in an even greater way when we get to the place of our eternal dwelling. I am reminded of the Scripture, ‘But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.’ (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)