Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, this morning I'm going to preach to you the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:00:08] Now, I don't think of the transfiguration as getting a whole lot of press, at least compared to other events in Jesus life and ministry.
[00:00:17] It's largely overshadowed by our Lord's birth and his death and his resurrection. Part of that is because we have special times of year where we celebrate those other things.
[00:00:27] We have Christmas where we celebrate the birth of Christ. We have Easter where we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, which is very fitting.
[00:00:38] But the transfiguration, I don't remember this being a Bible story that came up very often in Sunday school growing up. Something that we look to very often.
[00:00:47] And I always ask myself, when anything in Scripture seems underrepresented or something that we don't focus on very much, I think it's good to ask ourselves why.
[00:00:58] And as I think about the transfiguration, I want to ask the question why we might be tempted to neglect this passage of Scripture where Christ is transfigured before the eyes of his disciples.
[00:01:13] One reason I think we might be tempted to neglect this passage is because we live in a culture that tends to emphasize the humility of Jesus Christ, and we tend to downplay his glory and majesty.
[00:01:27] We're okay with Jesus being a humble, gentle servant, but we're not okay with him being a conquering king and a ruling Lord.
[00:01:37] We have difficulty believing that these two things can coexist. Christ as servant and Christ as Lord Jesus disciples preferred to think of him. They hoped that he would be their conquering hero.
[00:01:54] And they were not excited about the prospect of him suffering and dying on a cross.
[00:02:00] They couldn't comprehend how he could be both servant and Lord.
[00:02:05] When Jesus told Peter that he was going to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days, rise again. Peter rebuked him, rebuked Jesus, saying, God forbid it, Lord, this shall never happen to you.
[00:02:26] I think it's also hard for us to reconcile Christ's humility, his lowness and his glory.
[00:02:34] Some of us might be like Peter, but others of us tend to want to think of Jesus only as a suffering servant and to deny his work as conquering king.
[00:02:46] We might fall into Peter's error, but in a different way.
[00:02:50] If we heard Jesus say things like, the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds, we might be tempted to Say to Jesus, God forbid it, Lord. This shall never happen.
[00:03:10] Jesus is both the humble suffering servant and the glorious sovereign Lord.
[00:03:18] He lays down his life for his people and he is coming to judge the quick and the dead.
[00:03:28] We must use both hands to constantly hold up both of these truths for ourselves and for others.
[00:03:37] Another reason we might neglect the transfiguration. And if you don't know what that is, we'll get to it in a minute. You'll see what the transfiguration is. I'm assuming most of you know already.
[00:03:47] But another reason we might neglect this event in our own study of Scripture is our natural weakness.
[00:03:54] I find it very difficult to comprehend glorious, majestic, heavenly realities presented to me in Scripture.
[00:04:02] And I'm not alone. It was difficult for the disciples to comprehend what they were seeing on this mountaintop when confronted with Jesus glory.
[00:04:12] And as we'll see in a minute, the gospel writers like Mark find themselves at a loss for words to describe what even happened that day on that mountain.
[00:04:22] It's hard to wrap our fleshly minds around the supernatural revelation of God's power.
[00:04:28] And sometimes we avoid dwelling on these things because the truth is, it's humbling and it's terrifying.
[00:04:37] But we should not neglect the transfiguration.
[00:04:42] It was an extremely significant event in the life of Jesus. And we could say even more so in the life of his apostles.
[00:04:50] Before I get to reading Mark's account of the transfiguration, this is what the apostle Peter, who was there on that day when this thing happened, this is what Peter tells us of its significance in his own life and in the advancement of the gospel.
[00:05:07] In 2 Peter 1, he says, we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
[00:05:20] For 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.
[00:05:32] And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
[00:05:39] So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
[00:05:52] Now, all three of the Synoptic Gospels, by which I mean Matthew, Mark and Luke. The John is a little different in its approach.
[00:06:01] Matthew, Mark and Luke record this event that we're going to read from Mark right next to several other events in The Gospel accounts. Now, that's not always the case. Often in the Gospels, you get different events happening in different places in the story because Matthew, Mark and Luke were emphasizing different things about Jesus ministry. But this is an event in Jesus life where the same events are recorded right around it.
[00:06:27] So some of those events around what we're about to read are the feeding of multitudes. There's the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000.
[00:06:36] We have right before this, the Pharisees and the Sadducees asking Jesus for a sign to prove who he says he is.
[00:06:45] And Jesus responds to them. An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah.
[00:06:56] Jesus asks his disciples right before the transfiguration happens. He says, who do people say that I am? And Peter confesses famously, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[00:07:09] Around this time in his ministry, he begins to tell his disciples that he must suffer.
[00:07:16] He says, also, whoever would follow me must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[00:07:23] Then Jesus in Matthew, Mark and Luke, just before the transfiguration scene, he says this. This is from Matthew. He says, truly, I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
[00:07:42] So let me give an overview of all of that context, which is all the things happening around the transfiguration. In the Gospels, Jesus is doing great signs in in the presence of multitudes of people.
[00:07:55] The Pharisees and Sadducees demonstrate their unbelief in spite of these signs and wonders when they ask for a sign. Jesus instead teaches the importance of faith in Scripture, assuring them that God has already revealed himself and been revealing himself to them. But they simply refuse to see.
[00:08:19] At the same time, Jesus knows the weakness of his disciples.
[00:08:24] So he does a few things.
[00:08:26] He confirms for his disciples who he really is.
[00:08:32] He is the Christ, just as Peter confesses he is in Matthew 16 and in Mark 8 and in Luke 9, Jesus also tells them of his impending suffering. Speaking plainly is what Mark says.
[00:08:47] This is what Mark 8, 31, 32, it says, he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And he was stating the matter plainly. That's the word of Mark.
[00:09:07] In addition to this, Jesus teaches that his disciples must suffer too. Not just him. He says, just as I Am persecuted. You will be too.
[00:09:17] Now all of these things. Set the stage and prepare the disciples for Jesus approaching death.
[00:09:24] But it's not all gloom and doom.
[00:09:27] Jesus kindly promises a taste of his coming kingdom even in their own lifetime.
[00:09:35] And then he fulfills that promise very quickly.
[00:09:41] Let's read together Mark 9. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word? This is Mark's account of the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:09:52] And Jesus was saying to them, truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.
[00:10:05] Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves.
[00:10:13] And he was transfigured before them.
[00:10:16] And his garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.
[00:10:25] Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
[00:10:41] For he did not know what to answer for. They became terrified.
[00:10:45] Then a cloud formed overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud. This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.
[00:10:55] All at once. They looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus alone.
[00:11:02] As they were coming down from the mountain. He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man rose from the dead.
[00:11:10] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:11:13] Would you please be seated?
[00:11:15] So let's walk through this historical account we have from Mark of the transfiguration. First of all, we should acknowledge who was there.
[00:11:26] First and foremost. We hear that Peter and James and John were taken by Jesus up onto the mountain.
[00:11:33] These are the some of those here who will not taste death that Jesus talked about in verse one.
[00:11:43] The Gospels are structured intentionally in how they are written. It's not a coincidence that Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus promising some of those in front of him a sight of his coming kingdom. And then all of those gospel writers say, right after that, just a few days, the next week, he took some of them with him, and they got a glimpse of his glory.
[00:12:11] Now, thus far in Jesus ministry, as far as his physical appearance was concerned, the disciples had not seen the glory of God in his coming kingdom.
[00:12:23] Jesus didn't look much like a son of God in just his physical appearance.
[00:12:29] Now he had been showing his power, evidences of his heavenly Glory.
[00:12:36] But what's the Son of God really supposed to look like?
[00:12:41] This term, son of God or son of the Gods, had been used in the ancient world to describe bright, shining, powerful angels when they appeared.
[00:12:53] When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar says, look, I see four men walking about in the midst of the fire without harm. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
[00:13:12] The fourth man in that fire was distinct in his visible appearance from the other three. He looked like an angel from God in a way that the other three did not. And it was visibly evident.
[00:13:26] No one looked at Jesus and said, look, a Son of God.
[00:13:31] His physical appearance was unremarkable, and this was to fulfill what Isaiah had said about him. From Isaiah 53, he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.
[00:13:50] And not only was Jesus outward appearance unimpressive, but the time of his crucifixion was fast approaching, when all Christ's signs of power, like healing people and raising them from the dead, would be overshadowed by shameful, overwhelming weakness on the cross. He couldn't have looked less like a son of the Gods.
[00:14:15] But Jesus didn't leave his disciples without hope and encouragement. In this trying time, he gave Peter, James and John a foretaste of his heavenly glory in preparation for his crucifixion.
[00:14:27] Now, why these men? Why Peter, James and John? Well, these were his closest disciples.
[00:14:34] I just want to make a side note here. There are some privileges that are given to some believers and not given to other believers.
[00:14:43] Some have glorious visions and some do not.
[00:14:47] If you are one who receives glorious visions from the Lord, give glory to God.
[00:14:53] If you have not received transporting, heavenly revelations, don't be discouraged.
[00:14:59] Jesus says, blessed are they who do not see and yet believe.
[00:15:04] God has revealed himself to each one of us in the testimony of his apostles.
[00:15:10] And so we don't need to doubt.
[00:15:13] Jesus has risen from the dead and he possesses a heavenly glory that is going to be revealed.
[00:15:21] Now, Peter, James and John were men who also were going to advance the cause of the Gospel in many ways, namely, in the writing of Scripture, especially with Peter and John in their writing of Scripture. These men were called to record their eyewitness testimony of everything Christ said and did.
[00:15:41] And both Peter and John reference this in their letters, that they saw this with their very own eyes.
[00:15:48] Everything in Jesus life and ministry was done according to the law of God.
[00:15:55] And that law said in Deuteronomy 19:15, it says, on the evidence of two or three witnesses of matter shall be confirmed.
[00:16:03] And here we have three witnesses seeing what happened on this day.
[00:16:11] But Peter, James and John aren't the only ones in attendance at the transfiguration.
[00:16:17] Jesus is attended by two of the Old Testament's most eminent saints, Moses and Elijah.
[00:16:25] Now, what was significant about Moses presence here?
[00:16:29] Well, Moses was the bringer of the law of God.
[00:16:33] Moses went up in his own time on a high mountain and had direct, unmediated fellowship with God.
[00:16:41] He then stood as a mediator between the people of Israel and the Lord God of Israel. God made his commandments known through the mouth of Moses. And Moses was loved and approved of by God.
[00:16:55] What was the significance of Elijah's presence?
[00:16:59] Well, Elijah was the prophet's prophet during the time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
[00:17:05] He performed miracles, even raising people from the dead.
[00:17:09] Elijah spoke God's word in a time of great opposition to the truth.
[00:17:15] He believed in God when the whole world was against him. Hundreds of prophets of baal, along with wicked King Ahab. And he was transported from the earth directly to heaven with a chariot and horses of fire.
[00:17:29] He is the prophet of prophets.
[00:17:33] Perhaps no one was more revered, and rightly so, in that time and in that place among the Jews than Moses and Elijah.
[00:17:42] As men, they represented the entire revealed word of God at that time, the law and the prophets.
[00:17:51] And here they are themselves witnesses to Jesus being the Messiah.
[00:17:59] Listen to this from Romans 3. It says, but now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe after his resurrection. Jesus is explaining to two of his disciples his presence in the Old Testament it says, beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in the Scriptures on the mount of transfiguration.
[00:18:38] This doctrinal truth that the law and the prophets testify to Jesus Christ that he is the Messiah, that doctrinal truth is brought into reality in living color as the men who represented the law and the prophets show up the themselves as witnesses testifying to Christ's glory as the apostles look on.
[00:19:03] But Moses and Elijah were dead.
[00:19:06] At least Moses was.
[00:19:09] How could this be? How were they there?
[00:19:12] Well, Jesus was giving his disciples a glimpse of his heavenly kingdom.
[00:19:17] And that heavenly kingdom is made up of all the saints who have ever trusted in Christ, including those who have already gone to heaven and are now awaiting the resurrection When Jesus comes in his glory, he won't be alone when he returns.
[00:19:34] We, you and I, with our eyes, will see Moses and Elijah.
[00:19:40] And it won't be just Moses and Elijah.
[00:19:43] Who else will be with Jesus when he returns?
[00:19:49] What comes to mind? What are the first things that come to mind? Who will we see with Christ when he returns?
[00:19:56] I'm looking for. Actually, it is an opportunity, an opportunity for interaction in the preaching. Who pops into your mind? If there's Moses and Elijah and a whole host that Christ is bringing from heaven, who will be with Christ?
[00:20:09] King David? Abraham?
[00:20:14] Just two others.
[00:20:15] It'll be four. It'll be glorious. It'll be four people.
[00:20:20] Yes.
[00:20:21] What?
[00:20:22] Peter. Peter will be there, too, in glory. Yeah.
[00:20:26] Isaac. Very good. Yes.
[00:20:29] Yep. Paul. Yeah. We could name any number of saints, and it won't just be those recorded for us in Scripture, but it will also be all of the saints who have come before us since Scripture.
[00:20:41] The fathers of the Church, who we look up to and revere, who we read their writings, but also those who have gone before us in our own families. Your godly father, mother, grandfather will come with Christ, a great host from every tribe and nation when he returns. But best of all, do you know who we'll see face to face?
[00:21:05] We'll see our Savior, our friend and our brother, our shield and defender will finally get to see Jesus.
[00:21:18] And we, you and I, will behold his glory with our own eyes, just as Peter and James and John did.
[00:21:28] It will actually be better than what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration.
[00:21:34] Now we still have to wait for that time to come.
[00:21:38] And the disciples still had waiting to do also.
[00:21:42] But God is so very kind. Jesus knew his disciples had to wait and that they had to endure much, even persecution and death, before they would be reunited with their Lord.
[00:21:55] So he gives them a sweet encouragement that some of them, before they die, will catch a sight of the glorious kingdom.
[00:22:02] And then he shows Peter and James and John that very glimpse.
[00:22:07] And it's not just for them.
[00:22:09] It was at that point just for Peter, James and John. But we now have the sure word of the testimony of this glory, confirmed by the testimony of three faithful men.
[00:22:22] Thankfully, the resurrection happened so Peter, James and John were allowed to tell other people about it. And we get to be those other people who know that this happened.
[00:22:32] Where did this happen?
[00:22:34] It happened on a high mountain is all we know.
[00:22:37] Mountains have always been considered places for drawing near to God.
[00:22:42] This is reflected in many pagan religions which try to invent ways of reaching God. But it's also true of the right worship of God in the Old Testament that God demonstrates his nearness to his people on mountains.
[00:22:56] It's reflective of the fact that God is high and lifted up and his ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and our thoughts.
[00:23:05] This wasn't the first mountain that Moses nor that Elijah had been up on with God.
[00:23:11] Their ministries were punctuated by experiences with the living God on mountaintops.
[00:23:17] Here, the Lord Jesus demonstrates His lordship by ascending a high mountain and taking his closest disciples with him to witness this great meeting between himself and Moses and Elijah.
[00:23:29] In Second Peter, Peter refers to this mountain as the holy mountain.
[00:23:35] Now, we don't know what mountain exactly. This is somewhere in Israel.
[00:23:41] The Holy Spirit was apparently not concerned with us knowing and fixating on some special holy place.
[00:23:49] It was holy because Christ was there.
[00:23:53] In his own teaching, Jesus de emphasizes the significance of physical holy places. If you think of the woman at the well, he says, woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father, but the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such people, the Father seeks to be his worshipers. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
[00:24:20] You are not made holy by going to a holy mountain or into a special church building.
[00:24:27] You are made holy through fellowship with Jesus Christ. And it was Christ's presence on this mountain that made it holy.
[00:24:37] Now, what happened there is this very simple statement with a lot to it. It says, he was transfigured before them.
[00:24:48] That's why we call it the Transfiguration. By the way, when Moses came down from being in the presence of the Lord on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34, he had a shining face reflecting the glory of God whom he had been with.
[00:25:07] Here at the Transfiguration, Jesus the Lord himself has a bright and shining unveiled face showing the brightness of God's glory.
[00:25:21] Moses glory was reflected.
[00:25:25] Jesus himself possesses the glory of God, and he carries with him a ministry far better than that of Moses.
[00:25:35] Moses brought the law which condemned and convicted Christ brings with him the glory of righteousness and obedience to that law, along with the power to save sinners from the law's condemnation, something Moses never provided.
[00:25:53] Matthew and Luke tell us in particular that Jesus face was shining.
[00:26:01] And both they and Mark tell us about how radiant his clothes were.
[00:26:07] Mark's description is by far my favorite. He finds himself at a loss for words and can only describe in the negative.
[00:26:14] You know, when you've gotten your stained white Dress shirt back from the cleaners, and they've taken all the stains out, and it's an even brighter white than when you bought it. Well, it wasn't anything like that. It was even brighter, as no launderer on earth could make them.
[00:26:34] This was still Jesus.
[00:26:37] They recognized him, but it was a transfigured Jesus that Peter, James and John saw.
[00:26:44] The Greek word here is the word metamorphao.
[00:26:48] Does that sound familiar to anybody? Like the word metamorphosis.
[00:26:53] When a caterpillar changes into a butterfly, we call it a metamorphosis.
[00:27:00] It is difficult to believe that the creature that went into that chrysalis is the same creature that emerges out of it.
[00:27:08] Jesus, during his ministry on this earth, was clothed in lowly, plain, unimpressive flesh.
[00:27:15] But in this moment, these disciples caught a glimpse of what was behind the veil, obscured by the rough and unremarkable body of Jesus.
[00:27:24] For a moment, he looked to them like the divine, conquering king they had been wanting all along.
[00:27:30] They were seeing his glory.
[00:27:34] Now, what is glory?
[00:27:39] Scripture can mean a few different things when it uses the word glory.
[00:27:45] Sometimes by glory we mean praise and honor.
[00:27:49] That which is given through the praise of lips. We can give glory to God with what we say, with what we sing.
[00:27:55] Glory can be given to God through obedience, because obedience to a Lord shows that that Lord has power and authority as we obey him. That's one kind of glory that can be given to God.
[00:28:08] Glory can mean splendor, like the glory of the kingdoms of the world.
[00:28:13] When Satan is tempting Jesus, he takes him up on a mountain and shows him the kingdoms of the world and their glory, their splendor, their riches, the expanse of their land, their beautiful buildings, the things that demonstrate power and dominion and prosperity. That can be glory.
[00:28:35] Christ's heavenly glory was manifested throughout his ministry on earth. There's a kind of glory he was showing to his people.
[00:28:45] It was glorious angels who announced his birthday.
[00:28:49] Even though the baby they found in a manger looked pretty normal, there was a glory there.
[00:28:56] The works of Christ demonstrated his glory that he possessed. John 2 says, after he turns water to wine and cana, it says that he manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him through his powerful miracles.
[00:29:15] These were signs that showed that Christ truly possessed heavenly glory. Like when he raises Lazarus from the dead. We see who this man is.
[00:29:26] But then there is a glory that is visibly manifested.
[00:29:32] This is a bright, shining glory.
[00:29:37] Think of the sun.
[00:29:40] It's one thing to see the evidence of the sun's power as plants grow or as the mist rises from the ground in the morning, it's another thing to behold the brightness and the glory of the sun itself.
[00:29:57] Someone might see a plant growing or see the mist rising from the ground and say, well, I don't see the sun.
[00:30:04] Maybe something else is causing those things to happen.
[00:30:08] But you can't look at the Son itself and doubt its glory and its power.
[00:30:16] The disciples and all the Jews had seen the evidence of Christ's heavenly glory as he healed and taught with authority.
[00:30:26] But it wasn't until the transfiguration that they beheld his glory in this way.
[00:30:32] Some might say, and many do, in spite of the evidences of Christ's glory, that Jesus Christ is not actually glorious.
[00:30:41] They might come up with other naturalistic explanations for how miracles happened, or claim that Jesus is just an ordinary man who's misunderstood.
[00:30:52] That's only possible because Christ's heavenly glory has not been visibly manifested to the world.
[00:31:01] Only a few have gotten a taste of that.
[00:31:06] But when Jesus returns from heaven, his arrival will be like the rising of the sun.
[00:31:14] Every eye will see him and it will be utterly impossible to deny his glory. On that day.
[00:31:24] The glory that is shown to us in His Word, which we cannot see with our actual eyes and which we therefore lay hold of by faith, will become visible.
[00:31:36] And faith will no longer be necessary.
[00:31:39] Nor will unbelief be possible, because we will all see his glory even more fully than Peter and James and John did.
[00:31:52] How do the disciples respond when they see Christ transfigured before them?
[00:31:59] Well, Peter displays a wonderful mixture of silliness and faith.
[00:32:04] It's silly that Peter wanted to set up tents for Moses and Elijah who had just appeared out of heaven.
[00:32:09] It's even sillier that Peter thought maybe Jesus, shining with invincible heavenly glory, needed Peter to pitch a tent for him.
[00:32:17] But honestly, this scene makes me fall in love with the apostle Peter.
[00:32:22] Both Danny and I, we both love the Gospel of Mark, especially because Mark seems to focus on the foolishness and weakness of the disciples. And maybe this because tradition has it that Mark was very close to the apostle Peter.
[00:32:38] And I think as Peter told what happened to Mark, that might have been what happened. As Peter told Mark, he made sure to highlight his own foolishness and silliness.
[00:32:50] And so I feel like, yeah, I think if I was there, I'd do something just as dumb as Peter did.
[00:32:56] We read that Peter did not know what to answer for. They became terrified.
[00:33:03] Notice the disciples response to what was happening in front of them.
[00:33:07] They fell on their Faces in fear.
[00:33:11] And that was the proper response to what was happening in front of them.
[00:33:17] That is what they should have done.
[00:33:20] It is right to tremble in the presence of heavenly glory.
[00:33:24] God is to be feared. Christ is to be feared.
[00:33:31] Now, while they're trembling on the ground, God, the Father speaks from heaven.
[00:33:38] The Father makes it explicit here what has been gradually becoming evident throughout the course of Jesus ministry.
[00:33:46] At his baptism, the Father expressed his approval of his Son and his pleasure in his Son.
[00:33:53] God here reinforces that approval. But this time it's near the end of Christ's ministry, demonstrating Jesus faithfulness and steadfastness in doing the will of his Father, even through great trial.
[00:34:08] And the Father adds something here.
[00:34:12] He says, listen to him.
[00:34:18] The Father speaks this command in the presence of Moses and Elijah, the quintessential deliverers of God's message.
[00:34:27] But it's not them that Peter and James and John are instructed to listen to.
[00:34:32] Compared to the Lord, Moses and Elijah are mere servants.
[00:34:38] Hebrews 3 says this. It says, Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house, just that much.
[00:34:55] Moses and Elijah exist to serve Jesus.
[00:35:01] And lo and behold, in an instant when the disciples pull their faces up from the ground, Moses and Elijah have completely disappeared. Just leaving Christ the only mediator between God and man.
[00:35:14] And then Jesus touches them.
[00:35:18] We don't get this detail in Mark's account, but I think it's worth including from Matthew 17, 7, 8. It says Jesus came to them and touched them and said, get up and do not be afraid.
[00:35:32] And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
[00:35:38] Jesus doesn't rebuke the disciples for falling on their faces, trembling before God, but he does take away their terror.
[00:35:47] Not because God isn't to be feared, but because he, as their mediator, as the bearer of their guilt, has the power to bring them into fellowship with God.
[00:35:59] If you humble yourself in holy fear before the Lord, Jesus will come to you too and touch you and say, get up and do not be afraid.
[00:36:09] Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will raise you up. That's a theme especially in the Apostle Peter's writing. He's constantly saying that this might have influenced his understanding of humbling yourself in the presence of God and being raised up by Christ.
[00:36:29] Now, after this happens, we see that Jesus tells Peter, James and John not to tell anyone.
[00:36:37] Things like this show up all over the Gospels. And I think us living 2000 years after Jesus life and ministry. We get confused, like, why were they not supposed to tell anybody that this happened?
[00:36:48] Well, in the unfolding revelation of Jesus as the Christ, it was very important for him to be revealed as suffering servant before he was revealed as glorious king.
[00:37:02] These select few disciples had the privilege of getting things a little out of order, getting a preview of what was coming.
[00:37:11] But remember, these select few had already believed that Jesus was the Christ before Peter had even seen this heavenly glory on this mountaintop. He believed and confessed that Jesus was the Christ.
[00:37:26] Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that that happened right before this, that Peter had already believed and confessed that he was the Christ, though he'd only seen what everybody else had seen.
[00:37:38] And it's on account of this faith. I believe that Peter, along with James and John, are given the revelation of Christ's glory on the mountain.
[00:37:48] But it was still necessary for the Christ to suffer before entering into his glory as he tells his disciples on the road to emmaus in Luke 24.
[00:37:58] And I think this is instructive, this order.
[00:38:01] Christ as crucified servant before risen Lord.
[00:38:08] You don't get to have Jesus as your glorious Savior king without embracing him as the humble crucified servant who died for your sins.
[00:38:22] What does the transfiguration have to do with us?
[00:38:26] Well, for one thing, it is one place of many. We have in Scripture the testimony that Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth.
[00:38:36] And in particular, he is the glorious King of heaven who possesses a supernatural glory that is beyond anything we can think or imagine with our earthly senses.
[00:38:48] The brightness of the sun may help us, but combine the brightness of the sun with the personal presence of a living, breathing man, and you get incomprehensible power that is worthy of all praise, honor and dominion.
[00:39:03] The richest, the strongest, the most beautiful on this earth pale in comparison to Christ, who possesses all authority, not just on earth as an earthly king, but all authority in heaven as well. He is the Son of God.
[00:39:24] And because he is God's glorious Son, we must listen to him, which is to say we must believe the word of God.
[00:39:38] Listen to this. From Hebrews 1.
[00:39:40] It says, God after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets, in many portions and in many ways in these last days, has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world.
[00:39:57] And he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power.
[00:40:08] When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high having become as much better than the angels as he has inherited a more excellent name than they.
[00:40:22] We are to listen to the testimony of Christ.
[00:40:26] In particular, we must believe in Scripture's testimony of the glory of Jesus Christ.
[00:40:34] This requires faith because Jesus does not appear glorious in the eyes of the world. Right now we are in a position actually pretty similar to the Jews of Jesus Day.
[00:40:48] They had the messianic prophecies and the miracles of the Old Testament, but Jesus Himself did not appear glorious in the flesh.
[00:40:58] So they demanded further proof that he really was the Christ.
[00:41:02] But Jesus said the prophets of the Old Testament were enough for them to believe.
[00:41:08] Today we have an even better assurance of who Christ is through the apostolic testimony of the transfiguration and the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus.
[00:41:19] But it's still a testimony that we are called by God to believe.
[00:41:25] It's a reliable testimony, but it's one that still requires faith. Which Hebrews tells us is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
[00:41:38] Jesus Himself is not visibly manifested as glorious in the eyes of the world right now, not in this way.
[00:41:49] There are many evidences of his power and glory, especially as his people obey him in this world and as his word is preached. But He Himself has ascended into heaven, and no one gets to see his full glory until he returns.
[00:42:05] This is why we walk by faith, not by sight.
[00:42:09] Peter believed Jesus was who he said he was before beholding his glory.
[00:42:14] We are called to do the same on the basis of the testimony of his glory revealed to us in his word.
[00:42:22] Here's how Peter encouraged Christians in the first century who believed even though they had not seen Jesus.
[00:42:30] He says this in 1 Peter 1. He says, though you have not seen him, you love Him.
[00:42:37] And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy, inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
[00:42:53] As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating. As he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow, it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. In these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look.
[00:43:24] Therefore prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:43:36] That's for you, fix your hope completely. On the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:43:47] The hope of the Christian is in a future glory yet to be revealed.
[00:43:55] The New Testament could not be any clearer about this.
[00:44:00] Let me read you this from Romans 8. The apostle Paul says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
[00:44:14] For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
[00:44:20] For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
[00:44:35] For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
[00:44:55] For in hope we have been saved.
[00:44:58] But hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he already sees?
[00:45:03] But if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it.
[00:45:11] In Colossians the Apostle Paul says, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you will be revealed with him in glory.
[00:45:22] The APostle Peter in one Peter says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope. Hope always looks forward, a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[00:45:56] This future glory is truly revealed now in our hearts through the working of the Holy Spirit, confirming the testimony of Christ's glory in His Word.
[00:46:07] By faith we behold the glory of Christ in His Word.
[00:46:14] And that faith leads us to hope for what Christ has promised us in the last time, when he is revealed from heaven in glory.
[00:46:24] Now what actually happens when Christ returns? What is our hope in. Well, one thing that happens is that we ourselves will be transformed when he appears.
[00:46:36] We will undergo our own metamorphosis.
[00:46:42] It will be far better than just being healed from your chronic illness.
[00:46:47] It will even surpass the glory of being raised from the dead.
[00:46:52] When Moses was in the presence of God, his face shone with the glory of God.
[00:46:57] Imagine what will happen when we stand face to face with this glorious Christ when he comes in his glory.
[00:47:07] From 1 Corinthians 15 it says, Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
[00:47:19] Behold, I tell you a mystery.
[00:47:21] We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
[00:47:35] For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
[00:47:42] The apostle John, who was there, saw this, writes, beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.
[00:47:51] We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is, just as he is full of heavenly glory, as Peter, James, and John briefly saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration.
[00:48:09] No earthly glory can take the place of this future glory that we are eagerly waiting for. We must put our hope completely in the glory that is to be revealed to us.
[00:48:21] That means there are some things that we should not put our hope in.
[00:48:28] One is we must not put our hope in wealth.
[00:48:33] Do not spiritualize your desire to get rich.
[00:48:38] Don't tell yourself it's okay to want to get rich as long as you say you're doing it for the Lord.
[00:48:44] I think none of us is immune from the enticements of some form of prosperity gospel that tells us, if you live the right way, you'll get to live the good life.
[00:48:54] You'll be wealthy, you'll have a big house, all your kids will go to college.
[00:48:59] Those are not the promises of the gospel.
[00:49:03] The gospel teaches us to fix our hope on God, who supplies us with contentment in this life and with riches in the life to come.
[00:49:13] Brothers and sisters do not love money.
[00:49:19] Certain earthly blessings do flow from honoring God. Sometimes that includes wealth.
[00:49:25] But be on your guard against making wealth the goal.
[00:49:29] The desire to get rich is diametrically opposed to fixing your hope on God.
[00:49:36] Our hope is to be completely fixed on the grace that is to be revealed to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:49:44] The overwhelming emphasis of the New Testament is not on what amazing earthly wealth and institutions the apostles were able to build through their labors, but on how the gospel empowered them to suffer the loss of all things so that they might win the crown of life.
[00:50:01] They demonstrated their hope in an eternal inheritance as they renounced the things of this world.
[00:50:07] Do not fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches.
[00:50:14] We must also not put our hope in cultural power and influence.
[00:50:19] Many Christians are enticed by this.
[00:50:22] I know one popular Christian talking head who insists that what Christians need to be doing is capturing prominent centers of cultural influence, by which he means things like big, beautiful church buildings on important street corners.
[00:50:37] In accordance with this philosophy, he attends a liberal mainline Protestant church that has completely abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ, all for the sake of having cultural influence.
[00:50:49] What's the goal here?
[00:50:51] Is it building the kingdom of Christ?
[00:50:54] It can't be, if what's being sacrificed is the truth of Christ's word.
[00:51:00] I think the example of Moses is instructive here.
[00:51:03] Hebrews 11 says, by faith Moses.
[00:51:07] This is fitting because we saw him earlier by faith. Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
[00:51:32] For he was looking to the reward by faith. He left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen.
[00:51:45] Brothers and sisters, we walk by faith, not by sight.
[00:51:52] Let us praise God for this written record of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ that we have in the Gospels.
[00:51:59] Let it strengthen our faith in the word of Christ, and let it bolster our hope in eternal life.
[00:52:06] That which is to be revealed to us, that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, which we're still eagerly waiting for.
