2 Peter 1:21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
In the verses leading up to today’s verse we see Peter telling readers about what he witnessed and how Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies of the Old Testament (the Scriptures not yet combined into the OT). He continues the thought here and goes on to tell us that those prophecies did not come from people, but rather they came directly from God through the Holy Spirit.
We are talking about interpretation here, before going into our verse on prophetic revelation. The words Peter used are not debating how one should interpret the Word of God or questioning what prophecies might be saying, but rather they point to the inspiration – the Holy Spirit revealing things to us and guiding us in understanding. Without the Spirit’s revelation, we wouldn’t understand.
Peter is not teaching us how to read the Word or how to test prophecies. He is teaching us the origin of things. They all originate from God Himself. They are revealed through the Spirit in spoken form or written form and the Spirit helps us to understand. The way Bible.com put it, “…the prophecies of Scripture are the words of God about the actions of God. And God always accomplishes what He sets out to do.” All of the written words we have from the prophets of old and from men like Peter were inspired by God, delivered through the Holy Spirit, not made up on their own or devised by human effort.
Why is it important? Or how does it affect you or me? Verses like today’s are reminders that the Truth we seek, the answers we look for, the direction we should go – it all comes from the Holy Spirit. We have the Spirit with us at all times and He reveals things to you and guides you to do God’s will. The question is, are you listening?
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