¹⁷For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— ¹⁸and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

Peter zooms in on one specific incident, to which he gives testimony, namely the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–9). Jesus had just told His disciples that some of them would “not taste death until they saw the coming of the Son of Man in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:28). Then he took Peter, James, and John onto the mountain, where they saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. The unusual nature of this event demanded authoritative validation, to which Peter gives his apostolic weight. He was a personal eyewitness of this event; it was not fiction made up in an overly zealous mind.

Matthew, who himself did his research and must have gotten his description of the event from any of the three witnesses, described it this way: “And [Jesus] was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light” (Matt. 17:2). Peter describes what he heard, first with an interpretation of what was said, and then with the quote of what he heard. What he saw and heard was a brief, sneak preview of Christ in His glory being honored by God. It was as though God were pulling back the curtains of time and giving them a foretaste of what was to come. They were seeing Jesus being glorified by His heavenly Father!

The quotation is remarkable on several accounts. First, it is taken from Isaiah 42:1, in the section of Scripture that repeatedly asserts the uniqueness of Yahweh, God of the Jews. There are no other gods besides Him. Peter is saying that Jesus is the One in whom Yahweh God delights. Yahweh is the one who says, “I am the Lord [that is, Yahweh], that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images” (Is. 42:8). Yet, Peter testifies that God gave His glory to Jesus! The apostle heard with his own ears, and not only Peter but James and John heard as well.

The second reason this experience was remarkable is that it came just after Jesus had tested His disciples about who they thought He was. Peter passed the test by confessing, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” His faith led him to that conclusion, and this confession came before God confirmed it with a voice out of heaven. Faith preceded seeing and hearing! We today cannot testify to hearing God’s audible voice as Peter did, but we can confess by faith that we have come to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, without seeing or hearing.

Lord, I do believe that You are the Son of God, deity in the flesh.