2 Peter 1:19 (ESV) … “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts…”
The section from here to the end of chapter deals with the false teachers. Despite such teachers, we can know the truth about God. The word of the prophets refers to the writings of the entire Old Testament, not simply the prophets. In making reference to this, Peter expressed his complete confidence in the Old Testament Scriptures. Peter has just described his incredible experience of seeing Jesus Christ in all of his glory on the mountain of transfiguration. That experience was a preview of what it will be like to see Christ at his second coming. Yet here, when Peter notes that we have the word of the prophets made more certain, he essentially says to his readers: “You do not have to rely only on my experience. We have another source of assurance about Christ that is even more reliable—the Scriptures.”
So confident was Peter of the reliability and authority of the Scriptures that he counseled us to use the Scriptures as our guide until the Second Coming of Christ. Until the day dawns refers to the day of the Second Coming (see Mal. 4:2). The morning star is a picture of Jesus Christ at his Second Coming (see Luke 1:78, Eph. 5:14; Rev. 22:16). We are to walk by the torchlight of Scripture until the second coming of Jesus. One commentator suggests: “We are on a pilgrimage throughout our lives in this dark world. God has graciously provided us with a lamp—the Scriptures. If we pay attention to them for correction, warning, guidance and encouragement, we shall walk safely. If we neglect them, we shall be engulfed by darkness” (Green, 100).
Until we see Christ face-to-face, we have an authoritative source of spiritual truth. Scripture introduces us to God and a way of life that honors him. Why do we neglect to “pay attention” to it? Some in Peter’s day were so influenced by the false teachers that they were beginning to fail to give serious attention to the Scripture.[1]
[1] Walls, D., & Anders, M. (1999). I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude (Vol. 11, pp. 113–114). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.