The Old Bishop Who Knew the Eyewitness

In 155 AD, the elderly bishop Polycarp of Smyrna stood before a Roman proconsul who demanded he renounce Christ. Polycarp replied, "Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

What gave an old man such unbending certainty? Polycarp had sat at the feet of the Apostle John — the very John who had climbed the mountain with Peter and James and watched the face of Jesus shine like the sun. John had told Polycarp what he had seen with his own eyes: not cleverly devised myths, but the unveiled glory of the Son of God. Polycarp carried that testimony like a man carries a lantern through a long night. He passed it to his own student Irenaeus, who wrote it down for the churches of Gaul. Eyewitness to disciple, disciple to the next generation — an unbroken chain of light.

Peter understood this. He wrote to scattered believers reminding them that he had been there on the holy mountain. He had heard the voice of the Most High declare, "This is My beloved Son." And he urged his readers to pay attention to the prophetic word as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the dawn breaks and the Morning Star rises in their hearts.

We stand in that same chain today. The testimony has not dimmed. The lamp still burns.