Points to Ponder: Luke 9:28-36 New International Version 1984 (NIV1984) 28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. (He did not know what he was saying.) 34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him. 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen. 1) Whiteness and light is what God uses to show His and. 2) Godly experiences doesn t come from looking but looking of ourself. 3) The heavenly conversation proclaims there is more than what meets the. 4) We want the but not the, the not the. 5) God points to His and His for a true vision of salvation. 1 Transfiguration Soll u In Nomine Jesu u 6) display the glorified life through the Some interesting things have happened on top of mountains in. the Bible. Moses and the 70 elders of Israel ate and drank in the sight of God at the foot of Mt. Sinai. On a mountain in Moriah the Lord told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. On Mt. Carmel Elijah had his famous showdown with the prophets of Baal. On Mt Ararat the ark came to rest. God has had awesome things happen on top of mountains. Heaven itself is sometimes referred to as Mt. Zion. Therefore, it shouldn t surprise us when Jesus decided to reveal His glory to Peter, James and John on top of a mountain. As we journey up this mountain with these three disciples, through the eyes of faith we ll See the Glory of the Lord. I. In a transfiguration Luke starts today s text by writing, Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and went up a mountain to pray You would have to think that these three knew something special was up as Jesus took them up on top of a mountain. The funny thing is they were nearly asleep as Jesus was
2 Transfiguration Soll See The Glory of the Lord! praying. Maybe the trip up the mountain wore them out. Perhaps they got tired praying with Jesus. Either way - they didn t seem to be expecting any heavenly experience of the sort. Yet in the midst of this seemingly mundane task they were given a truly heavenly experience they would never forget. How true that is for us. Do we really expect to see a glimpse of glory when we open our Bibles, come to church or kneel at the altar? Don t we find ourselves dozing off with the seemingly mundane, the repetitive, the common things we do? Like the Lord s Prayer for instance, do we expect our faith to see our heavenly Father s face as we pray, or do we just rattle through it? Yet here is the potential for glory! Luke says that Jesus was transfigured before them, literally changed into another form. He became dazzling, like looking at the sunshine reflecting off of pure white snow. Jesus was in fact revealing part of His glory- light! Whiteness and light is what God uses to show His holiness and glory. This is the Glory of the Lord we read about in the Old Testament. It s the glory of God seen in the cloud or the pillar of fire that lead the Israelites through the wilderness. It s the cloud that fills the temple or the tabernacle. During His state of humiliation, Jesus had hidden His glory behind flesh and blood. The miracles and the message were magnificent glimpses of majesty. With this transfiguration Jesus pulls back the veil more, letting His glory shine. There is no doubt about who Jesus is. He is not a pretender to the throne He is the real deal. The transfiguration proves it. Notice how God gave the glimpse of glory here. Instead of pointing the disciples inside of themselves - He pointed them to Christ and said to them, look at Christ. The glory of the Lord is not found by looking for transfigurations within - by trying to manufacture God through pepped up music or hyped up emotions. We see the glory of the Lord by looking at the transfiguration outside of yourself - at Christ. When we look at Christ - and He takes off the veil to show us who He is - it fills us with wonder and awe as we see His glory and majesty shine through. He is the real deal. There is no disappointment in His light. Here is true glory and holiness. Here is the glorified life. II. In a heavenly conversation Wouldn t that one vision of Christ in His glory have been enough? Yet God wasn t done letting the glory of Christ shine. Elijah and Moses appeared talking with Jesus. Just think about the message that God was sending just by having Elijah and Moses standing there with Jesus. There is more here than meets the eye. There is LIFE after DEATH! These heroes of the faith really did exist - and they still exist today! Moses who saw God on Mt Sinai, and Elijah, who stood with God on Mt. Carmel, were now talking with Jesus on the Mt of Transfiguration. They had been buried a 1,000 years before! But here they stood in glory. God s promise of a resurrection and eternal life! Luke writes, They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. This is of course a reference to Jesus death and resurrection. This is the purpose
3 Transfiguration Soll See The Glory of the Lord! for which Jesus came. This is the fulfillment of 1,000 of years of promises and expectations. Satan would be defeated. Sin would be vanquished. The gates of hell will be shut for those who believe in this transfigured Savior. How did Peter respond? Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. While Jesus and Moses and Elijah were talking about His future DEATH, all Peter could talk about was life. His fear made him foolish. When God showed them His true light, the disciples really weren t able to comprehend the majesty of the moment. Instead of using his ears and listening to what they were talking about, Peter was caught up with his eyes could see. But this heavenly conversation proclaims that there is more to our faith than meets the eye. Isn t this why God keeps the veil over his glory at the present time? Isn t that why He presents Himself to us hidden under bread and wine of the Lord s Supper - or the water of baptism - or the simplicity of the Word? If he really let His glory shine to our eyes we would become so overwhelmed that we would miss the real glory the glory of you forgiven and reborn as a child of God. We want the glory but not the gory, the life but not the death. We just want to hear God loves me not God hates sin. We just want the blessing God gives us not the sacrifice we give God. We want the joy of life, not the sorrow of repentance. That s not the way it works. Moses and Elijah - as glorious as they were at the moment - were only there for a moment and the results of that moment would last only a short time. But they were there to encourage Jesus on to a far less glorious moment but whose results would last for the rest of time - His death for the sins of the world on a different mountain - Calvary. In the midst of that dark cross is where God s light shines the brightest! III. In the envelope All of this was actually bearable - maybe not understandable - but bearable for the disciples. The third stage of this transfiguration just proved to be too much. Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him! Why was that? Remember how God used to show Himself in the Old Testament - it was a pillar of cloud by day. When He decided to make His glory known at the tabernacle - again He would enter it with His presence - so that even Moses couldn t go in. At the top of Mt. Sinai - the clouds and thunder surrounded it - and God s message was STAY AWAY. I am HOLY - you are NOT! So when the disciples saw this cloud - God s presence and glory was descending down upon them. In their sinfulness - it was overbearing - they couldn t stand to look at it because it was just too glorious for them. So they went to their knees. When God confronts us with His glory - we have no choice but to hide. We are sinful people and He is holy. A part of us thinks - I wish God would show me some miracles - show me some glory - stop hiding behind the Word and sacraments - stop masking Himself behind creation and nature. But then, we have to ask ourselves, is that what we really want? If God were to do that,
we could never get off of the ground. All we could do is cower in fear because of our sin. So God, seeing the disciples cowering in fear - reverted back to His old faithful - the same way that He has chosen to work since day ONE - He SPOKE to the disciples saying, This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him! He pointed them to HIS WORDS and HIS SON for a true vision of light and salvation. Isn t it kind of ironic that in the midst of these miracles and wonders and visions, God still ends up connecting to His people in the same way He always has - through the word. This is what we can handle. This is what soothes us. It doesn t scare us to hear God say this of His Son. It makes us look up and smile. There we see the glory of the Lord shinning for us. IV. In the Lives of His Disciples As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until He had risen from the dead. Instead of telling them to go and tell all nations immediately, they needed time just to soak in the meaning of what just happened. We in America are always so worried about doing, doing and doing. What do I need to DO as a Christian? How can I be EFFECTIVE? Sometimes, God just wants us to be still and to listen - to soak things in. The Mount of Transfiguration was one of those times. Later the disciples were to tell of what they saw and heard. We too display the glorified life through the glory of the Gospel. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with everincreasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). The glory of the Gospel transforms us. We don t merely reflect it; we absorb it and are made glorious with the same glory as the Lord himself. We progressively become more Christ-like in our lives until that day when we receive the heavenly glory. Then our own transfiguration will be complete! As we stand on the Mount of Transfiguration today - enjoy the scenery. It s awesome to see Jesus for who He is. True God! The light of the world! It s great to hear Him and Moses and Elijah talk about what he came to do - die for the sins of the world. It s even awesome to hear the Father say that He really does love Jesus. We can t stay up here forever - but we can enjoy the scenery for a moment - before we go up to another mountain - Golgotha - and watch Jesus put on the dirtiest uniform He could - our sins. Amen. u Soli Deo Gloria u Children s Talk: I don t know if any of you have ever looked into a light bulb. If you have, then for the first couple of seconds you are totally blinded, but after a couple of seconds, you can gradually see the inside of the bulb, the element something so small yet it gives off light, power and heat. 4 Transfiguration Soll
You know that God does not want us to be like fireworks, all brightness and bangs one minute - and afterwards just dead sticks and cardboard cylinders. He was our faith to burn with a constant flame, fuelled by the mains of His power and spirit. That light bulb I spoke of earlier burning with the power of God, no artificial power, that element in the bulb is us, the light as showing the radiance of God. 5 Transfiguration Soll