How Christians Get Deceived—and Destroyed

There are scholars with PhDs in theology, New Testament Greek, Biblical Studies—trained in apologetics and defending the faith, who have been deceived and have gone astray. There are people who have lived incredibly godly lives, made huge sacrifices, served on the mission field or as pastors, and who have been led astray and now deny the faith. If there are people smarter than me, more well-versed than me, godlier than me, more self-controlled than me, and more zealous for the Lord than me who have been led astray, how can I be assured it won’t happen to me?

There is some false teacher out there somewhere who could outsmart you. Peter sees it, and he rips off their masks and exposes their strategies so you and I can avoid the shipwreck of faith that has overtaken so many before us.

This week’s text may not be the most heartwarming passage in the Bible, and nobody puts it on a coffee mug or bookmark. But it could very well save your life!

What Does 2 Peter 2:15-19 Mean?

2 Peter 2:15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing. A donkey—a beast without speech—spoke with a man’s voice restrained the prophet’s madness.

17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For speaking grandiose emptiness, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who have just recently escaped from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity

The false teachers have abandoned the straight way (the path of obeying God) that they used to be on and have wandered off to follow the way of Balaam. They follow Balaam’s love of money (experts in greed). They follow Balaam’s spiritual blindness (he didn’t perceive the Lord even when God made it obvious through the miracle of giving the donkey speech). They follow Balaam’s strategy of enticing God’s people to destroy themselves by indulging their lusts. They follow Balaam’s madness. And they follow Balaam’s demise, inviting God’s judgment on themselves. They promise water (blessing, grace, life, etc. from God) but don’t deliver. They use sophisticated complex rhetoric that is nothing but disguised emptiness. But it impressive unstable, new converts who have lusts they want to indulge. The false teachers appeal to those lusts, promising freedom to indulge.

2 Peter 2:15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. 6 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing. A donkey–a beast without speech–who spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For speaking grandiose emptiness, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they seduce people who have just recently escaped from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity–for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

 

Introduction

Who would you say is the worst bad guy in the Old Testament? Not an easy question, right? So many candidates. I suppose Goliath would be a classic villain, but he’s not mentioned much by later Bible writers. If you go strictly by how often Scripture keeps pointing back to that person as a villain, there are two that stand out. The first one’s no surprise—Pharoah. He comes up again and again. But the other one might be a name you wouldn’t have guessed—Balaam. The guy with the talking donkey.

In the book of Numbers, Balaam does something so evil that it’s actually kind of hard to believe when you read about it. It even shows up in the book of Revelation as a model of evil. And not just Revelation, but also here in our passage today.

2 Peter 2:15 [the false teachers] have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam

The False Teachers’ Influence

We’re in the final section of this brutal chapter where Peter unloads on the false teachers with warnings of judgment. Up to now he’s focused on their sinful, depraved lifestyle. That’s one reason for their judgment. But the really big reason they’re in so much trouble with God is because of the damage they do to people by leading them astray. He mentioned that back in verse 2, where he said “Many will follow their shameful ways.” Now he’s going to expand on that.

It’s one thing to be evil; it’s another to drag a whole lot of other people into evil. That’s what makes it such a serious matter. It’s like the difference between suicide and serial mass-murder. Destroying souls is even worse than destroying bodies. That’s why they deserve such severe punishment.

And it’s why they are so dangerous. Peter isn’t just writing to tell us how much trouble the false teachers are in with God—he main purpose in writing is to prevent you and I from becoming casualties. Remember the purpose of the book.

2 Peter 3:17 … be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your steadfastness.

Imagine an ancient set of tracks that lead down a steep valley and then straight off a cliff. That’s Balaam’s way. The false teachers are all following that set of tracks. And they’re convincing as many people as possible to join them. And Peter is standing there at the top, facing against traffic and telling everyone, “No, don’t follow them. They’re headed for a cliff!” That’s a snapshot of the book of 2 Peter. And in today’s passage, he’s going to zoom in on these ancient tracks and show us Balaam’s path.

Balaam’s Path

Balaam was responsible for one of the most disturbing events in all of Jewish history. It happened in a very important section of the book of Numbers that spans 4 chapters—22-25. The first three of those chapters tell a story that’s actually pretty encouraging. But then you get to chapter 25, and the story takes a turn that’s honestly hard to read.

Here’s what happened in those first three chapters (Numbers 22-24): God had rescued the Hebrews from bondage in Egypt, and after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, they’re approaching the Promised Land. Just before going in, they come alongside the border of Moab. And when the king of Moab sees this sea of Israelites carpeting the landscape as far as the eye can see, he freaks out. Israel hadn’t planned on bothering Moab, but the King of Moab was scared. He had no military option because Moab was so vastly outnumbered. So he sends a message to a famous prophet named Balaam and offers him money to put a curse on the people of Israel.

Balaam says no. So the king of Moab, Balak, sweetens the pot. He sends a delegation of real big shots with a ton of money. Balaam has a great response.

Numbers 22:18 … “Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God.”

But then they say, “Show him the money.” Like in the movies when the guy writes a number on a piece of paper and slides it over to the other guy. Balaam sees the number and says, “You know what—no sense rushing out of here. Why don’t you guys stay the night.” And by morning, Balaam has a bag packed and goes with the messengers to see the King of Moab.[1]

On the way there, he has donkey trouble. His donkey seems to break down on the side of the road. What’s really happening is the angel of the Lord is standing in the road, ready to kill Balaam. The donkey saves Balaam’s life three times by refusing to go forward, so Balaam beats him.

Numbers 22:28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” 29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me!

Balaam’s Blindness

Now, what are we to make of that? Did the people back then believe that animals could talk? Of course not.

2 Peter 2:16 … A donkey—a beast without speech—spoke with a man’s voice

So Peter says, “Just so you know—yes, I do realize that donkeys can’t talk.”[2] It was a miracle.[3] And it says that in the account itself.

Numbers 22:28 Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth [4]

How much spiritual insight does it take to know that if your donkey starts talking to you, something supernatural is happening? The typical reader in the ancient world would understand that,[5] Peter understands that, we understand it, but you know who didn’t pick up on it? Balaam, the famous, high-dollar prophet. This man who was so good at seeing into the spiritual realm and discerning unseen realities and could tell you exactly what God was doing and saying—he’s the one guy who was oblivious to what was going on. God made it so obvious that even a donkey could see the angel of the Lord, and God gives Balaam a giant clue by miraculously enabling the donkey to speak—still, he’s oblivious. Balaam is the blindest prophet ever—less perceptive than a donkey.

And so Balaam becomes the prototype for false prophets. When Peter says the false prophets of his day left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam, it’s not a compliment. The implication is that they share in Balaam’s blindness.

But that’s not even the worst part.

Balaam’s Strategy

Balaam keeps going,[6] arrives in Moab, signs on the dotted line, and the king pops some popcorn, sits back and says, “Okay, go ahead and curse the Israelites. This should be good.” Balaam opens his mouth, and all that comes out is a blessing on the Israelites. He ends up saying, “They are going to be so blessed, I can only hope to end up like them.”

King Balak is like, “What are you doing? I’m paying you to curse them not bless them.” And Balaam says, “Yeah, sorry. God pulled a fast one on me there.”

So they try again. They go to a new location, and the King goes all out to make sure it works this time. He built seven altars and offered 14 bulls and rams. He does all that preparation, then he says, “Okay Balaam, light ‘em up!”

Balaam says, “Okay, here we go …” He opens his mouth, and this time an even greater blessing comes out. As hard as Balaam tried, God wouldn’t let him curse Israel. And this blessing goes on and on. The king of Moab says, “Stop! Cut! Cut! You know what—just don’t say anything.

Numbers 23:25 … Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!

Just stop talking!”

Balaam says, “Let me give you one for the road,” and he gives a third blessing. And this one ends up being one of the greatest blessings in the whole Bible on Israel, complete with a messianic prophecy and a promise that Israel would destroy Moab in battle. If Moab would have done nothing, they would have been fine. But now Israel’s going to defeat them. And that brings us to the end of the three chapters—Numbers 22-24.

God’s Protection

Do you see what I mean about it being an encouraging passage of Scripture? The Israelites were just minding their own business in their camp, had no idea any of this was going on, but God was protecting them the whole time.

This passage shows us God’s faithfulness to protect his people. Not even the most powerful spiritist in the world can bring a curse on them. This is a great comfort. If someone tries to turn God against you, you can rest assured—God will never let any kind of divination or occultism or witchcraft or even prayer or prophecy work against his people. The most powerful occultist in the world could cast a spell on you, and God would just turn it into blessing.

And we know that’s the point of these three chapters because years later God reminded them of it in Deuteronomy 23:5—“Remember how God protected you when Balaam tried to bring a curse and God turned it into a blessing?” He reminds them again in Joshua 24:9-10 and then again in Micah 6:5. God didn’t want his people to ever forget how he protected them from Balaam.

It was a great example of Romans 8.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … 38 neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God

Israel could not be destroyed by some pagan prophet trying to make a buck. They couldn’t be harmed by a curse, by divination, by a false prophet – not even by the devil himself. They couldn’t be destroyed by anything … except one thing, and Balaam finally figured it out.

Where the Story Turns Ugly—Chapter 25

Chapters 22-24 are beautiful and reassuring, but then comes chapter 25, and this is the disturbing part. By the end of ch.25, 14,000 Jews are dead. Imagine that. It’s easy to gloss over but it’s a huge number. Almost 5 times the death toll of 9-11. Think of the project it was just to bury that many people—100 bodies per day for 6 months.

But that’s not even the worst part. The reason I said it’s disturbing and hard to read is because of who killed them. It was God. He cursed them with a plague.

Balaam didn’t give up after chapter 24. He wanted that money, he was determined to get it, so he found a way. He said, “Look, God won’t let me curse his people, but what if we got the people to voluntarily put themselves under God’s curse? All we have to do is get them to turn away from God completely and worship your Moabite gods.” God has said if his people forsake him and turn to pagan idols, he will destroy them. So let’s make that happen.”

Well, how do you get a fiercely monotheistic nation like Israel to suddenly abandon the God that just brought them up out of Egypt with 40 years worth or miracles? Through persuasive preaching? No. By force? No. Did he deceive the people into believing the wrong thing? No.

How did he do it? Sex. The allure of pagan worship back then, the reason it was so tempting, was it involved a lot of temple prostitutes.

Revelation 2:14 … Balaam taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.[7]

Balaam said, “Hey King. Just send some of the temple prostitutes into the Israelite camp, have them invite the men to check out their worship rituals, and just watch what happens.”

That strategy worked. The Israelite men fell for it, got caught up in immorality with the Moabite women, embraced pagan idolatry, rejected God, and that brought God’s curse on them in the form of a plague that killed 14,000 Jews. After three wonderful chapters of God’s protection, Balaam finally succeeds in coming up with a way to bring God’s curse on his own people. See what I mean by “disturbing”?

You read that and think, “That’s a terrible story. The bad guy wins. Why did God let that happen?” It was a profound lesson for Israel and for us. No spiritual force can ever possibly turn God’s favor away from you. But it is possible for you to reject God’s favor by rejecting God.

And when people do that, very often it’s because of some kind of sexual desire. With men it’s generally some physical involvement. With women it’s generally a romantic attraction to an unbeliever. But one way or another, people want a way out of the restrictions of the biblical sexual ethic. If you talk to 100 people who have left the faith, you’ll find that for a large percentage of them, it was that—some kind of romantic or sexual desire.

So when Peter says, “They wandered off to follow the way of Balaam,” Balaam’s strategy was to bring God’s curse down on his own people by enticing those people with sexual sin. And that’s exactly what the false teachers do.

Enticing

2 Peter 2:14 … they entice[8]the unstable

2 Peter 2:18 … they entice people who have just recently escaped from those who live in error.

The word “entice” means to lure with bait.

What’s the bait?

By Appealing to Lust

2 Peter 2:18 … by appealing to the lustful desires of flesh with debauchery,[9]they entice people

“Lustful desires of the flesh” refers to the internal desire, and “debauchery” is the external, physical carrying out of those lusts. The false teachers win followers by appealing to the desire people have to let their lust play out in their lifestyle. It’s the allure of being able to indulge the flesh and still be okay with God. That’s the bait—you can follow Jesus and still do what you want sexually.

Grandiose Emptiness

But how do they pull that off in a church? If a preacher gets up and says, “Go out and just sleep around like alley cats out there,” that wouldn’t fly. How do they make this message acceptable to Christians?

2 Peter 2:18 speaking grandiose emptiness

They use highly sophisticated, complex rhetoric full of a lot of jargon and big words and long, complex sentences. You listen to them and think, “Man, that guy’s smart! You can’t necessarily follow all the complexity of his reasoning, and you’re not sure what all the big words mean, but you’re so impressed that you’re ready to accept whatever his final conclusion is. And what is the conclusion?

Preaching License

2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom

This is the only line in the whole chapter that tells us what the false teachers were actually teaching. What was their heresy, exactly? It was about freedom. “You’re free in Christ to do what you want. You’re not under the law. Christianity is not about keeping rules—it’s a relationship. Don’t be burdened by a lot of repressive taboos. You’re under grace, and grace means God will cut you some slack. God understands human weakness and your impulses—don’t feel like you have to repress all your desires and conform to some impossible standard.”

You know what that is? That’s a whole lot of truth mixed with a little bit of heresy. And truth plus heresy equals heresy. Mark this: Any teaching that gives permission to sin is heresy.

And that’s true even if you call it grace, which they always do. We see that in the parallel passage in Jude.

Jude 1:4 … They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality

If someone tries to tell you God’s grace is God cutting you slack, lowering his standards, winking at sin, backing off of his requirements, dumbing down holiness, giving any kind of green light for sin—that person is a false teacher and a heretic.

Freedom

The other term they like to use is freedom. In Jude they call it grace; Peter’s false teachers call it freedom.

2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom

They take our freedom in Christ and twist it into freedom to indulge the flesh.

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh

1 Peter 2:16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as slaves of God.

The false teachers were using freedom as an excuse to indulge their flesh. And when people live that way, the only way they can silence their conscience is to come up with some sort of theological justification. But the clearer God’s Word is in condemning a sin, the more complicated the rationalization has to be to convince anyone. So they came up with these long, convoluted, highly technical explanations of what grace and freedom really mean. But if you took the time to unravel the argument point by point, and you looked up all the words and mapped it all out, you would find that what they are saying is emptiness. I love Peter’s description—grandiose emptiness. Highly sophisticated hot air. Or to be even more contemporary—it’s a word salad. There are a lot of really impressive sermons—and seminary lectures and theological books and journal articles that are just really big theological word salads. And sadly, people are persuaded by word salads.

The promise of freedom sounds appealing, so they buy in. But they’re always disappointed.

Empty Clouds

2 Peter 2:17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm.

When God promises spiritual blessing, he very often describes it in terms of providing water.

Revelation 7:17 the Lamb … will lead them to springs of living water.

Isaiah 12:3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Isaiah 58:11 You will be like a well-watered garden

Water stands for all the wonderful, life-giving grace we receive from God. So what do you think the Holy Spirit is saying when he says these men are springs without water?

The ministry of these preachers provides no blessing from God, no grace, no salvation, no spiritual refreshment or renewal, no Holy Spirit, no life from God—nothing but hot air.

Preachers are springs. Every preacher, just by being a preacher, is claiming, “I have spiritual water from God.” So it’s really a good question for all Bible teachers and preachers to ask themselves—am I providing water? There are many preachers who are not false teachers—they are godly pastors who are right on doctrinally and they lead holy lives, and yet, all too often their sermons are springs without water. There’s just nothing there that gives spiritual life. Back in the 80’s we would have listened to those preachers and said, “Where’s the beef?”

Seek out preaching that provides water. Word salads in the pulpit are dangerous. It’s not harmless hot air, because there are a lot of people who are looking for an excuse to believe wrong things. They are susceptible to arguments from experts that justify indulging their lusts. If a really smart-sounding expert in a lab coat comes out and says you can lose weight by eating all the stuff you want to eat and by avoiding exercise, he’ll get a lot of followers.

And that’s the false teachers’ goal—to get followers. It’s not that they want people to commit immorality. They just want people. The bigger their crowds, the more money they make. And you can get big crowds by telling people what they want to hear—especially if you use a lot of seminary lingo to make it sound legit.

Their Victims

And it really works on people who have a weak understanding of Scripture. That’s who the false teachers target. Look at the people they go after.

2 Peter 2:14 … they entice the unstable

Unstable means they aren’t solid or rooted or established in the truth of Scripture.[10] They’re like that because they have so recently been saved.

2 Peter 2:18 … they entice people who have just recently escaped from those[11]who live in error.[12]

“Escape” is Peter’s word for conversion—becoming a Christian. “Just escaped” means just a short time ago. False teachers prey on new converts. Like African lions who go after the weakest in the herd. New converts are vulnerable because the less you know, the more susceptible to assertive confidence and complicated word salads.

It’s interesting that Peter describes becoming a Christian as escaping from “those who live in error.” He’s talking about unbelievers. Their family, their friends, the culture—unbelievers around them are telling them, “Stay with us! Don’t become a Christian.” And all the pressure from those who live in error is holding them captive.

But finally one day they break free, escape from those people, and bow the knee to Christ. Imagine someone being held captive inside a burning building. He finally escapes and runs out. And as soon as he gets out, some leaders in the church And they say, “Hey, congratulations! You broke free. Now come with us, and we’ll show you how to live as a free man” and they lead them right back into the burning building. This is why they deserve the hottest hell.

It’s the same point Jesus made when he rebuked the false teachers of his day.

Matthew 23:13 Woe to you … hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. … 15 You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

What sin could be worse than slamming the door of heaven in men’s faces and diverting people who are trying to go to heaven into hell?

Balaam’s Motive

So when Peter says the false teachers have they left the straight way and wandered astray into Balaam’s way, he’s saying they’re not only as spiritually blind as Balaam, but they follow Balaam’s diabolical strategy that entices God’s people to put themselves right into the crosshairs of God’s judgment. They lure vulnerable Christians into provoking God’s wrath using the bait of sexual immorality.

But why would they do that? Do they hate those people so much they want to destroy them? No. They don’t care about the people. Their motive is the same as Balaam’s motive—money.

The Wages of Unrighteousness

2 Peter 2:15 … They wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor,[13]who loved[14]the wages of unrighteousness.

Balaam loved that payday. And the false teachers had that same motive.

2 Peter 2:14 … they are experts in greed

According to Chuck Smith, the prosperity preachers hire professional writers to craft their fundraising letters, and the writers get a percentage of the donations that come in. One of those writers (Gene Ewing) came up with the “seed faith” idea for Oral Roberts. A brilliant idea—appeal to people’s greed to get them to send more money. Roberts used it, and the ministry income doubled. They really do have a high level of expertise in greed.

And the fact that people get hurt in the process doesn’t seem to matter. Balaam was fine with watching 14,000 people die of a plague as long as he got his money.

It’s amazing what people will do for money. A group called OnePoll.com asked 1000 people what they would do if the price were right. 15% of Americans would betray a friend for money. For $10,000, 1 in 10 are willing to lie under oath or steal a bike. For a million dollars, 1 in 10 Americans would punch a stranger in the face or smuggle drugs over the border. But it would take $100 million to get them to kick a puppy. And for $1 billion, 12% of men said they would be willing to commit murder.

Who knows how honest people are with pollsters, but we know for sure that false teachers will do something a lot worse than any off that for money. If the spiritual lives of thousands of God’s people have to be destroyed for them to be rich, so be it. If people end up in hell who would have otherwise gone to heaven, so what? They don’t care.

Balaam’s Insanity

They’ve lost their minds—just like Balaam.

2 Peter 2:16 … A donkey … spoke with a man’s voice restrained the prophet’s madness.

The term “madness” means to be out of your mind—insanity. If someone thinks they can persuade God to turn against you, that person is out of his mind. If someone thinks it’s worth it to get rich by sacrificing the spiritual wellbeing of God’s people, he’s insane—detached from reality.

Balaam’s Demise

So they shared in Balaam’s blindness, his strategy, his motive, and his madness. And the result—they share in Balaam’s demise.

2 Peter 2:16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing.[15]

And Balaam didn’t live long after that. When Balaam tried to curse Israel and God turned it into a blessing, and part of the blessing was, “Israel is going to defeat Moab in battle,” which they did, and Balaam was killed in that war.

Now, does Peter intend for us to infer that the false teachers will also be destroyed by God for their sin? Yes. Look again at that phrase “the wages of unrighteousness” in v.15. That has an ironic double meaning. When Peter says Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness, the obvious meaning is that he loved the money the King of Moab was offering him. But Peter’s original readers would have noticed something else. In the Greek, the phrase “wages of unrighteousness” is exactly the same phrase as in v.13 where it says they will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Literally, it’s “with harm they will receive the wages of unrighteousness.” So just two verses earlier, Peter used “wages of unrighteousness” to refer to the punishment they will get for their unrighteousness.[16]

So what are the wages of unrighteousness? It’s a lot of money now and then judgment from God later. Don’t ever envy wicked people when they prosper in their wickedness. It’s not real prosperity.[17]

Mists

When Peter said these guys are springs without water and mists driven by a storm in v.17[18] , the term for “mist” is used in contexts of foreboding darkness and gloom associated with God’s judgment.[19] And in case we don’t pick up on that association, Peter just says it:

2 Peter 2:17 … and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.[20]

That word “blackest” is the same word from v.4 to describe where the rebellious angels are being held for judgment.

2 Peter 2:4 … God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.

Remember, hell was not created for humans. Jesus said humans go there, but it was created for Satan and his minions (Matthew 25:41). The fire of hell gets a lot of press, but another big feature is the darkness. I’m told people who stay too long in complete darkness go insane. It’s unbearable.

The light of God represents perception (the ability to see), truth, joy, and spiritual life. Hell is devoid of any of that.

Reserved

This blackness has been reserved for them. That’s the same word that Peter used back in v.4 when he said the false teachers were being held for judgment. They’re being held for final judgment, Judgment is being held for them—reserved for them.

On the other hand, this is also the same word from 1 Peter 1:4 where it says something is being held or reserved for you.

1 Peter 1:4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–reserved in heaven for you

We all make reservations—in one place or the other.

Conclusion: The True Prophet

Well, now you’re highly informed about false teachers and false prophets so you can be on your guard and avoid being carried away by them. But that’s not the only benefit of all this knowledge. According to Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Acts 3:22-23, and Acts 7:37, one of the Messiah’s primary roles is to serve as the ultimate prophet.

And when you think about it that way, any passage that describes false prophets becomes precious to us because it describes the exact opposite of what a prophet should be, which means if you reverse it, you get a perfect description of Jesus’ role as prophet. It’s like old school photography, where you create an image from the negative—taking the opposite and reversing it. That would make 2 Peter 2 one of the most helpful chapters in the whole Bible for understanding Jesus, the ideal prophet.

So let’s close our time by contemplating the Lord Jesus Christ. What do we get when we reverse the image Peter gives us here?

• Rather than leading many astray, Jesus teaches all of us the truth, and instead of leading into error, he rescues us from error.

Matthew 24:35 … my words will never pass away.

• Rather than being motivated by greed and getting rich off the people

2 Corinthians 8:9 … though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

• Rather than having spiritual blindness like Balaam, he is the light of the world.

John 1:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

• Rather than enticing us to place ourselves under God’s curse, he leads us into the Father’s love.

John 14:23 If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

• Rather than insanity …

Colossians 2:3 In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

• Rather than promising the kind of freedom that enslaves, Jesus provides true freedom.

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

• Rather than himself being enslaved by immorality, Jesus is perfect in holiness.

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are– yet was without sin.

• And rather than being a spring without water

John 4:14 whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

• Rather than being doomed to destruction …

Daniel 7:14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

 

[1] God initially told him to refuse. Later God told him to go with them. It may be that this was God’s judgment on Balaam, giving him over to his own greedy desires and allowing him to be drawn in.

[2] Liberals have suggested this is myth or fable or fairy tale like the three little pigs. But it’s clearly written as history—describing a real event that actually happened. There are three places in Scripture where animals speak—here, the serpent in Genesis 3, and an eagle in Rev.8:3. There is no controversy about the eagle, because it’s obviously symbolic. No one takes that to be a real eagle. Genesis 3 and Numbers 22 are different because it’s clearly written as history.

[3] Finally God opens his eyes to see what’s going on, Balaam says, “Okay, I sinned. I’ll go back home.” But the LORD says, “No, now you’re going to carry out my plan. Go there, but only say what I give you to say.”

[4] How did God do it? Did he give the donkey different vocal cords and a different brain momentarily? Or did he just miraculously cause Balaam to hear words coming from the animal? So that the servants who were with him just heard the normal braying of a donkey, but Balaam heard actual words. That seems consistent with similar events in Scripture. In John 12, some people just heard thunder, but Jesus heard the voice of God. In Acts 9:4, Paul heard the Lord speak in a way that others who were with him didn’t hear. On the Day of Pentecost, each person heard the message in their own language.

[5] In ancient writings, whenever animals speak in a story, it’s a sign of supernatural activity. Animals can’t talk, so if they do talk, it’s a miracle which means it’s a message from higher spiritual powers. If a person in that ancient world read Genesis 3 about the serpent speaking to Eve, he wouldn’t say, “Oh, snakes used to be able to talk.” No, he would say, “Oh, the writer is showing us that there’s a supernatural being at work here.” And they would have the same conclusion reading the Balaam story.

[6] When God opened his eyes to see the Angel of the LORD, Balaam admitted his sin and offered to turn around and go home. But the Lord told him to go ahead, but to only speak the Lord’s words. Balaam tried his hardest to disobey that, but the Lord wouldn’t let him.

[7] See also Numbers 31:16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people.

[8] This is the same Greek word in both v.14 and v.18. Strangely, the NIV translates it “seduce” the first time and “entice” the second time.

[9] This is the third time Peter has used this word. First of the shameful ways of the false teachers in v.2 and then of the debauchery of Sodom and Gomorrah in v.7.

[10] This is the negative form of the word Peter used in 1:12 where he called his readers “firmly established.”

[11] Usually we think of salvation in terms of escaping from sin and condemnation, or maybe escaping from the devil’s clutches. But here, it’s escaping from the people in the world. Unbelievers have a hold on one another and restrain people from coming to Christ. For conversion to happen, one must escape from fellow unbelievers’ influence.

[12] The word “error” (planē) designates unbelievers (cf. Rom 1:27; Eph 4:14; 1 Thess 2:3; 2 Thess 2:11; Jas 5:20; 2 Pet 3:17; 1 John 4:6; Jude 11).

[13] Peter has a strange spelling of Beor—“bosor.” There is no other example of this spelling that we know of. Perhaps it was a Galilean pronunciation.

[14] This is an example of how the Greek word agape doesn’t necessarily refer to Christian love. It’s a generic word for love and the context determines which kind of love.

[15] The miracle of the donkey speaking was a rebuke from God.

[16] The same phrase is also used in Acts 1:18 to describe the reward Judas got for his unrighteousness, which was used to buy the field where he died.

[17] See Psalm 73 for more on this idea. The psalmist almost slipped spiritually because of his envy of the wicked when they prospered, but then he saw how they will end up.

[18] the parallel in Jude has “clouds without rain, blown along by the wind” (Jude 1:12). But instead of clouds, Peter uses the term “mists.” It’s the same idea as Jude—they promise rain but don’t produce any. But Peter’s adding an additional idea.

[19] For example, Zephaniah 1:15 where it’s translated “blackness.” That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. See also Amos 4:13; Joel 2:2; Isaiah 29:18.

[20] That’s Peter’s summarized version. Jude adds a little more detail.

Jude 1:12 These men are … shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted–twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

 

[1] The reason Israel turned away from God was because of a memory problem. God warned them over and over—Don’t forget what it was like to be slaves, and don’t forget what I did to deliver you.” And what happened?Psalm 78:11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them. They forgot everything God told them to remember. But they did remember one thing. Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost– also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. They forgot the misery of their bondage. But they remembered the food.

[2] From ch.7.