and i remembered the Word of the Lord, how he said, ‘john baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ [acts 11:16]
peter remembers the word of the Lord–he remembered that the Holy Spirit was coming to his people–all people, and he must have had other passages from the law and prophets coming to his mind:
now two men remained in the camp, one named eldad, and the other named medad, and the Spirit rested on them. they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. and a young man ran and told moses, “eldad and medad are prophesying in the camp.” and joshua the son of nun, the assistant of moses from his youth, said, “my lord moses, stop them.” but moses said to him, “are you jealous for my sake? would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” and moses and the elders of israel returned to the camp. [numbers 11:26-30]
the Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;a
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound [isaiah 61:1]
and it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit. [joel 2:28-32]
so how do we remember the word like peter did? peter tells us with his own words in 2 peter:
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. for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. for whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. for in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
therefore i intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. i think it right, as long as i am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since i know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. and i will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. [2 peter 1:3-15]
there is a lot here, but to draw a couple things out:
first, we remember the word through his divine power–it is through the Holy Spirit that we remember–and follow-the word of the Lord!
second, we remember by growing in faith, virtue, knowledge (of the Word!) self-control, steadfastness, godliness and community–all of these merit their own paragraph, but in short, we grow in knowledge of the word through regular reading, disciplined memorization, prayer, meditation on the word, and it happens in the community of brothers and sisters who also love the word–the body of Christ, the church!
peter remembered, and at the end of his life, wanted other people to remember the word of the Lord so that they might bear fruit–let us spend time in the presence of the Lord, in his word so that we can remember the words of the Lord, the gospel, when we are pressed, in conflict and persecuted–let us remember what Jesus has done for us!
~ ce