February 2, 2025

Luke 9:28-45

A Glimpse of His Glory

Sunday Sermons

Some moments change everything. The disciples had walked with Jesus for a while now—learning as eyewitnesses of Jesus’ healing, teaching, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. Now, at the Transfiguration of Christ, on a high mountain, Jesus peeled back the veil between heaven and earth, revealing his divine glory in a way they’d never seen before. Then right after that, they all descended back down into the valley where chaos, suffering, and struggles with unbelief awaited.

That’s the paradox of the Christian life, isn’t it? Glory and struggle. Awe and agony. We long to stay on the mountaintop, but Jesus calls us to walk with him through the valley of our broken world.

Join Pastor Jim as he helps us catch the mind-blowing, heart-pumping, eye-popping glimpse of glory and rich depth of meaning we find in the Transfiguration of Jesus.

Speaker

Jim Thomas

Series

The Gospel According to Luke

Go to Series

Scripture

Luke 9:28-45

Topics
Suffering Worship

Sermon Notes

  1. The Incomparable Glory of the Son
  2. The Eternal Communion of the Saints
  3. The Divine Imprimatur of the Father
  4. The Progressing Transformation of the Disciples

“At the Transfiguration, the prophets rejoiced because they had seen Christ’s humanity, which they had not known. And the apostles rejoiced because they had seen the glory of his Divinity, which they had not known.”
St. Ephrem, the Syrian

“This scene (the Transfiguration) has been preserved for us because God loves us. He knows that we are often troubled by doubt and fear, and he wants us to rest, assured that Jesus is worthy of our trust. He is God in the flesh, the one who satisfied God’s requirements on our behalf, and the one through whom God‘s promises are delivered.”
Paul Tripp, Everyday Gospel

“For 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. 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”— and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 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.”
2 Peter 1:16-19

“The fear of God as a strong biblical theme thus stands as a superb theological guard dog. It stops us from thinking that we are made for either passionless performance or a detached knowledge of abstract truths. It backs us into the acknowledgment that we are made to know God in such a way that our hearts tremble at his beauty and splendor, that we are remade at the deepest level. It shows us that entering the life of Christ involves a transformation of our very affections, so that we begin actually to despise—and not merely renounce—the sins we once cherished, and treasure the God we once abhorred.”
Michael Reeves

“Human beings do not readily admit desperation. When they do, the kingdom of heaven draws near.”
Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace!

Discussion Questions

  • Jesus, fully God and fully man, is singular in category and form. Do we focus on this enough…or in our Christian culture, have we lost our awe of God’s “beloved Son”(God’s words at the Transfiguration)? How do we retain our awe in the midst of our advancing world (technology, AI, etc)?
  • “Progressing transformation” is another way to describe sanctification (spiritual growth in the Christian life) and is a lifelong journey. Are you ever impatient with yourself and your progress? Where do you sense God’s sanctifying work in your life today?
  • In 2 Peter 1: 19, Peter tells us that we can have even more confidence in who Jesus is from the prophetic word than from his personal eyewitness/experience of the Transfiguration. How can this be true? Do you long for a personal “experience” over and above the confidence we can have by trusting in God’s Holy word?

Transcript

Morning everyone. So glad to be together again this morning. I want to thank our folks from our friends from Ann Arbor, Michigan; Salem, Oregon; Agartala, Tripura, India; and Dublin, Ireland who have joined us over the last week as we worship together, as we studied God’s Word together and hope they’re able to be with us again this week. Also, happy Groundhog Day. Isn’t that awesome? And since I did wake up this morning and see my shadow, this will be a six-week sermon. Really excited about that; I know you guys think that sometimes I’m a little long-winded or all of us up here are a little long-winded, but we really do love to study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel.

And by the way, we have extra copies. Maybe I’ve got somebody in the back as well. If you need a copy to follow along this morning, raise your hand up real high. We’ll make sure you get a copy of the text. You can follow along as we study Luke 9:28 through 45. I’ll remind you as well here in the room, the QR code is up on the screen there if you’d like the sermon notes and quotes. I believe that it’s also available online to those folks who are joining us from outside of Nashville or just at home. Today, our sermon will be titled “A Glimpse of His Glory.” We have a story that we’re going to study that is in all three of the synoptic gospels. So, we have studied this story before and I want to encourage you, as we always do, when we come to something that we’ve studied before. Don’t allow familiarity to breed some sort of indifference or I’ve already heard that, I know everything about that, whatever. Don’t do that.

I have studied these things many, many, many times over the years that I’ve been in ministry and every single time I step into the Scriptures, it’s like stepping into an ever-flowing stream. It’s different every time I step into it, and I’m different when I step into it a little bit, and hopefully, I’m different even again when I step out of it with what I may or may not have learned. So, “A Glimpse of His Glory,” and you’re looking at Luke, Chapter 9 in your Bibles. As a little bit of an anecdote, a preamble here before we get started, every year when I was growing up and perhaps when you were growing up as well, since we’re only in the second month of this year, as Kim mentioned earlier, and I’m still a little bit reflecting on some of the things that we do that are traditional things that we do every year. I was thinking about this text, and I was thinking about how it reminded me of a thing that my family did. My mom, my older brother, Larry, and Grandma Pearl, we called her Grandma Dull, D-U-L-L was her last name. She called me “Itchy,” and I was always tapping on the table. The foot was always going (tap, tap, tap) and it was like, “Stop it,” that kind of thing.

I was the annoying child with way too much sugar and caffeine and all that sort of thing, but we used to sit every year at the end of the year and watch the 1939 musical classic fantasy film, which most of you… Raise your hand. Have you seen The Wizard of Oz before? Raise your hand. And how many of you have seen it black and white? Anybody? Black and white? Okay. There’s a few of you that do that. That’s great. Most of you will know some of the famous lines from The Wizard of Oz. Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in… [Congregation:  Kansas] … anymore. We’re off to see the… [Congregation: Wizard] … the wonderful Wizard of Oz, because, because, because, because, because… [Congregation:  Of the wonderful things he does] Lions and tigers and bears… [Congregation: Oh my!] Yeah. That’s good. There’s no place like… [Congregation:  Home] And somewhere over…[Congregation: The rainbow].

Happened to you too. See, I’m like you. I remember the more important first few words and then afterward I have to just go watermelon, pepperoni, watermelon, whatever. I just make up words because I don’t know beyond “somewhere over the rainbow.” I think there’s somewhere beyond over the rainbow, and it makes me feel good to hear that song and all that sort of thing. One of my favorite scenes in that movie, maybe yours as well, is when Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and Lion all go back to the wizard’s throne room. They’ve done what he required and now they’re standing trembling before the Great Oz in hopes that he will reward them by keeping his promise to help Dorothy get back home, to give this scarecrow a brain, the tin man a heart, and to give some courage to the lion. And that scene, they literally peek behind a curtain. And well, I pulled some of the script off of the interwebs, which I’m getting quite skilled at doing, and I’d like to read just a little bit of it.

Dorothy tells the wizard, “We’ve done what you’ve told us. We brought you the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. We melted her.” She places the broomstick by the throne. “So, we’d like you to keep your promises to us, if you please, sir.” She’s so proper. I just appreciate so much Dorothy in the way that she does that. There’s a little bit of back and forth. The Wizard of Oz responds. He’s a little upset and he’s a bit furious, actually. He says, “Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Oz. I said come back tomorrow.” Toto, the little dog walks over to what looks like a little booth. Dorothy says, “If you really were great and powerful, you’d keep your promises.” And The Wizard of Oz says, “Do you presume to criticize the great Oz?” Toto pulls back the curtain revealing an ordinary man who’s pulling on levers and dialing knobs, controlling the image that everyone’s been looking at.

 And he says, “You ungrateful creatures! Think yourselves lucky that I’m giving you audience tomorrow instead of 20 years from now.” Looks over his shoulder. “Oh, the Great Oz has spoken…Oh!” He closes the curtain, speaks into the microphone again, “Pay no attention to the man behind the…” Yeah. Dorothy walks up, pulls the curtain open. “The Great Oz has spoken,” he says. And Dorothy says, “Who are you?” I love that scene. It’s so good. The Wizard of Oz still speaking into the microphone, holding on for dear life. “I am the great and powerful…” And then finally just turns to her and says, “…Wizard of Oz.” Dorothy says, “You are? I don’t believe you.” The Wizard of Oz, ashamed now, says, “I’m afraid it’s true. There’s no other wizard except me.” And it was at the end of that scene that a little six-year-old Jimmy Thomas, along with hundreds of thousands if not millions of children, every time they watch this movie, start to cry.

This peek behind the curtain was such a big disappointment. There was no real wizard in charge. He couldn’t help Dorothy get back, couldn’t give the Scarecrow a brain, the Tin Man a heart, or the Lion any courage, other than symbolically. The wizard turned out to be a fake, just another disappointing person who couldn’t keep his promises. Well, not to worry, the movie ends fairly well or at least kind of well, and I don’t want to spoil that for anybody if you’ve not seen it, because not everybody raised their hands. But our passage today, which describes a different kind of peek behind a curtain, is not merely a fantasy or a dream story, but what presents itself is actual historical reality. An event in a real place, on a real mountain, with real people, who later testified to being eyewitnesses to the event itself. As we read in the study, I hope we’ll find this not just another nostalgic tale about making our way back home, becoming smarter, feeling more alive or becoming courageous. And it’s definitely not about merely having faith in yourself or faith in faith, which is not really faith in anything, is it?

Those things all have their place in life, but here’s the story of greater reality that will lead us back to our true home, to a renewed mind via timeless truths and wisdom to a heart that beats with the love of God and overflows with courage and compassion for others. This passage is about what we can expect when we place our faith in the real Jesus of history, who according to these rational eyewitnesses, Matthew and Mark and John being there at one point as well, although this event is in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Luke has researched it well, as Pastor Tommy reminded us and Pastor Matt reminded us the week before as we looked at Chapter 1. He really was quite a historian, quite a researcher, medical professional, even some down through his church history have thought him to be perhaps an artist as well. So, this is a Renaissance man that’s writing to us before there was a renaissance. And he was a polymath. He understood many disciplines. And so, he goes at this with full force looking to find out the real facts about what actually happened.

And what you will see as I read this is that it’s not just a clever little dog that pulls back the curtain, but it is almighty God who rips open the curtain so that we can see some reality that is greater than any we could possibly have imagined on our own. Let me pray and then we’ll read the story: Father, as we read and study Your Word today, help us not allow these words to pass quickly from our eyes as we move on to the next thing. You’ve brought us to this place in this moment and to this passage so that we would be stopped by it, quickened by the Holy Spirit, captivated by Jesus, and left standing, trembling and in awe at Your love for us. You’ve inspired this passage in order to teach and transform us to rescue and redeem us, to produce in us lives shaped by Your grace, inflamed with Your glory. Give us, we pray, a clearer vision of Your truth, a greater faith in Your power, and a more confident assurance of Your love for us. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen.

Luke 9:28 and following down to verse 45. Some eight days after these sayings, and I know some of you who have read the parallel passages, Matthew and Mark. It’s Matthew 17 and Mark 9, I believe. There, it said that it’s six days after and this says eight days. Does the Bible contradict itself? No. Sometimes you and I will say “…about a week” and sometimes people will say years and years later, “Yeah. It was six or seven days, maybe it was eight days.” Something like that. So, Luke is careful to say not just, “…and eight days.” He says, “And some.” He’s got a little qualifier there, and I like that. I appreciate the reality of the fact that our gospel records are from different eyewitnesses and/or near eyewitnesses who are giving us an accurate account and qualify things that need to be qualified. Some eight days after these things, the sayings that we have just read about and studied through…it came about that he, Jesus, took along with him, Peter, John and James. They went up to the mountain to pray.

Which mountain is this? It’s going to be a high mountain according to Matthew and Mark’s account. In that area, remember we were just at Caesarea Philippi, which is right near Mount Hermon, which is 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Mount Hermon, almost 9,200 feet above sea level. That’s really high. That’s a high mountain. Some say this is Mount Tabor, which is closer in a little bit, but only 1,900 feet above sea level. I can’t really say for sure that I know which one it is, but it seems like Mount Hermon would make some sense. “While He was praying, [Jesus] the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.” The Greek word is “exastrapto.” Some of your translations might say “His clothing and His face became like lightning” or flashes of lightning. I think the King James says “glistening.” But it’s unusual is the point, okay? It’s not normal. It’s not just I just soaked my face with Oil of Olay, and man, I feel real good. It’s not that. It’s like flashing lights. It’s like a laser light show in our day and time, if you will.

“Behold, two men were talking with Him; they were Moses and Elijah.” What’s the importance of Moses and Elijah? Think about it yourself. Moses who represents at least two things would jump into a first-century Jewish mind, the law of God and the Exodus, the deliverance of God. The law of God, which none of us can keep, the deliverance of God, which all of us need because none of us can save ourselves. Elijah, probably the greatest among the prophets. Moses and Elijah we are told here and in Matthew and in Mark, both of them are now standing in this mountain with Jesus like a laser beam shining in front of the guys. Peter, James and John who happened to be there as well, but they’ve been asleep. We’ll see that in a second, but Moses and Elijah appear, and they appear in glory, verse 31 says. And they were speaking of His, Jesus,’ departure. The word in the Greek is Exodus or “Exidos,” actually, if you want to be technical, which He was about to accomplish, “plēroun” in Greek, it could be “fulfilled” as another way to say the same thing.

He’s about to accomplish a deliverance, a rescuing, if you will. And it will be a much greater rescue, a much greater deliverance, than some people from a zip code in a country which is still such a profound event in all of redemption history that even the Jews of our own day and time still talk about the Exodus. They still celebrate the Exodus, but we on a worldwide level are talking about a God who has done more than rescue one people group, in one zip code, in one little spot in time; but somebody who is offering salvation and redemption to all who will repent and believe – throughout all time, no matter what zip code you live in, no matter what nation you are from, no matter what color your skin, no matter where you’re at and you’re a runaway from God. The offer is to you and to me as well.

And so Moses and Elijah are talking to Jesus, and I love that we’re told what they’re talking about. I would love to have been a fly on the wall or on the rock next to them or something to hear. I just want to hear. I would love to hear Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. Jesus talking to Augustine or CS, on and on the list would go. I would love to have heard that. I mean, how did Moses and Elijah get along in front of Jesus? “Yo, Mo. What’s up?” “Eli, I don’t know. It’s been pretty rough. How you doing?” On and on. And how did the disciples know it’s Moses and Elijah to be able to write this? Were these guys wearing, “Hello, my name is Moses?” Or did somehow Jesus communicate to them, “Peter, James, John, it’s going to be hard for you to handle this, but that’s Moses, that’s Elijah.” I mean, it’s mind-blowing when you think about all that’s going on here. Peter and his companions, verse 32, had been overcome with sleep. That happens to them a lot. It’ll happen to them in the Garden of Gethsemane, and it happens to some of you who are sitting in the sun right here in our beautiful, lovely chapel.

If I occasionally hear someone in the church snort themselves awake during the middle of the sermon, I know what’s going on, but they’re overcome with sleep. But when they were fully awake, they saw His glory, Jesus’ glory. “…And the two men standing with Him. It came about, as these were parting from Him…” These meaning Moses and Elijah were parting from Jesus, as they were leaving, okay? Peter said this to Jesus, “’Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles; one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah’— not realizing what he was saying. I like it the way Luke said, “Not realizing what he was saying.” Do you ever have that experience of not realizing what you are saying? And after you say it, you go, “Oh, I wish I could pull that back in or maybe retrieve those words.” Because when they’re gone, they’re gone, baby. And it’s awkward, right?

I mean, this is like Peter basically saying, “Isn’t it great that me, James and John are here with you, Jesus, Moses and Elijah? Aren’t you glad we’re here with you?” It’s like the greeter at the door here saying when you walk through the door, “I’m so glad you’re here.” It’s like the greeter saying, “I’m so glad I’m here to greet you being here.” Isn’t it great to have me around? So that’s just awesome. And I know that sometimes we think we’re really doing God a great favor and He should be very excited about having us on His team because we are so wise and we know so much. And even as I’m praying sometimes, I drift into prescribing what God ought to do and how He ought to accomplish it and in what timing He ought to bring the outcome, it dawns on me. I’m like Peter, and God doesn’t need my advice. I need to seek His counsel. I need to rest and trust and hope in Him holding me fast, not me holding you fast.

Well, as that’s going on, while he was saying this, verse 34, “A cloud formed and began to overshadow them.” I love that word as well. We have a lot of great Old Testament images here. Think about it, Moses, the law, deliverance, Exodus. Elijah, the prophets, but more than that, they both had mountain-top experiences. And there’s tons of mountain topics. Mount Horeb, for instance, Mount Sinai, right? Mount Moriah. There’s all kinds of Old Testament mountain images and stories that happened on mountains. And here these disciples are on a mountain with Jesus. There’s a cloud that descends now, we’re told. And a cloud descended in the Old Testament, didn’t it? There’s a cloud that settles on the tabernacle as they’re traveling through the wilderness and they were almost home, but not quite, almost to the promised land, but not quite. And God led them by day with a cloud and by night with a pillar of fire, gleaming, lightning fire.

That’s just amazing how this connects. Luke is doing such a great job telling a story that is an account, a historical account that Matthew and Mark also tell. And it just really connects Jesus to the Old Testament through this cloud. All of a sudden, a voice comes, verse 35, and that voice says this: “This is My Son, My Chosen One; Listen to Him.” The timing of this is so perfect because Peter has just finished saying, “Isn’t it great that we’re here, Jesus?” And then the voice comes, “This is My Son… Listen to Him.” And it’s as if God the father tells Peter, “Zip it.” The only one that’s got something important to say right now is Jesus. You need to be listening to Him. And I like that. We’ve heard this before, haven’t we? From Heaven when Jesus was baptized, the voice from Heaven and John the Baptist who’s baptizing Jesus and the Spirit descends like a dove and the voice comes from Heaven saying, “It’s My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

And so, John the Baptist has a full-on trinitarian experience. God the Father speaking, God the Son in his hands as he drops Him in the water, pulls Him back up. And God, the Holy Spirit, descending we’re told as Jesus is baptized. And here the voice from Heaven comes once again and says, “What Jesus has to say is what we should be listening to.” He is the center of all of this, and we need to make sure we keep that in mind as well. When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. So, after the voice, after Moses and Elijah departed, they kept silent. Peter, James, and John reported to no one in those days, any of the things which they had seen. You can read Matthew and Mark’s account later if you would like, but Jesus actually tells them to tell no one about this until after the resurrection. It’s interesting to me to watch Jesus instructing people on when to speak and when not to speak.

 He’s pacing His ministry. He’s pacing the response to His ministry, and in this particular case, what we learned about from Matthew and Mark that we don’t see here in Luke is that He’s even saying, “This is going to make more sense to you, what you just saw, is going to make a lot more sense after I have done something even greater. After I’ve risen from the dead.” That’s how you’re going to interpret this transfiguration of Jesus, and I love that about Him. He’s such a great teacher, isn’t He? It came about the next day… Now here’s where you go up on the mountain, that’s true, some wonderful experiences up on the mountaintop, that’s great. You guys have had them. I’ve had them as well. And then you come back down off the mountain into sometimes a valley and sometimes things are difficult and tough. When they came out the next day, and they came down from the mountain, a great multitude met Him. Imagine people running for Him as they see Him with Peter and James and John coming off of this mountain, and people see in the distance that it’s Him.

And honestly, you’ll see they’re a little frustrated right now. They’re even a little upset. Some of them are confused and they run at Jesus, perhaps even it’s fair to say. “A great multitude met Him. And behold, a man from the multitude shouted out saying, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son. He is my only boy. And behold…” And by the way, that should resonate. He’s my only son. That phrase resonated with me when I read that. “’Behold a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth, and it mauls him, it scarcely leaves him. I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not.’” This is Dr. Luke. This is Dr. Luke who knows the difference between medical and physical issues. He knows them well. He understands diseases that might leave someone sort of disconnected from reality. He understands things like epilepsy and things that might send someone into a seizure, but he’s going past all of that.

He’s saying that this boy has been seized by a spirit, verse 39. There’s a demonic power behind all of this. He begged the disciples to cast it out. They could not. I bet that was an interesting conversation too. They’ve been out on mission. Jesus sent them out on mission. Told them to go out and heal people. Told them to go out and cast out demons. Told them to even raise people from the dead as they preached the Gospel. They wanted their words to be backed up by their deeds. They wanted their deeds to be explained by their words as they pointed to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. And yet verse 40 tells us, he begged the disciples. Which disciples? At least the other nine, remember there’s 12 disciples. Three of them went up on the mountain with Jesus. That leaves nine of them down at the base of the mountain with this crowd, and nine of them have not been able to help this man and this young boy.

And I could see these guys, they argue about who is the greatest all the time. It’s like one of them, Philip tries, “Come out of there, demon.” And nothing happens. And Bartholomew pushes him, “I got this one. In the name of Jesus, I command you, dah-dah.” Nothing happens. Maybe Matthew steps in because these guys are not up on the mountain with Jesus. And Matthew’s strutting and spitting now and yelling and screaming at the demons. And far as I can tell, demons aren’t really impressed with our screaming or strutting and spitting. And these guys are puzzled. They’re frustrated. They might’ve even started calling each other names as the disciples. “You don’t believe enough. You haven’t got enough faith,” as people might say in our own day and time. See, it’s not about how much faith you have. It’s about who your faith is in and is that object of your faith trustworthy? And I think this whole passage is about that. Including up on the mountain, including down in the valley, wherever you may be right now, wherever I may be right now.

Well, Jesus answered in verse 41. This is the first time that Luke records Jesus’ spoken words. He has been speaking to Moses and Elijah, but we don’t know what was said. Other than the subject matter, there’s nothing given to us that is “Jesus said this, Moses said that”. It’s just that they were having a conversation. Peter, James and John could tell that they were chatting. What did they chat about? I don’t know other than the Exodus, Jesus’ upcoming deliverance of His people. And Moses would be a great one to talk about the Exodus with, and Elijah would be a great one to talk about the fulfillment of prophecy with. And you can imagine that was great, but we don’t know exactly, precisely what was said. Here, Luke takes care to tell us Jesus answered and said. “O, unbelieving in perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” So, he’s talking to the man. He’s talking to the nine disciples that are there already. He’s talking to the crowds. They’re all hearing Him.

He wants to point them to the real object of their faith and who it ought to be. “While He was still approaching, the demon dashed him [this boy] to the ground, and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.” How precious is that? Because this father represents the most desperate of the desperate that you could imagine. He would’ve given his own life for this boy. And you who are parents, you know this. You would lay down your life in an instant if it would free your child. And so, Jesus heals this son and gives him back. I love that it tells us that tiny little detail. Verse 43 is worth printing a bumper sticker and putting it on the back of your car. Okay. You don’t have to do that, but it’s a really great verse.

 “They were all amazed at the majesty” or some of your translations will say at the greatness, “of God.” So, get this right. They looked at Jesus, they watched what Jesus did, and they magnified who? God. You understand? You see the connection? This is not just another of many religious options for you on the planet that are all kind of equal. This is different. It’s different when He walks on water because nobody else can. It’s different in so many ways. Up on the mountain it’s different. What happened there is massively different. It doesn’t happen anywhere else. And this happens here, and they’re amazed at the greatness or majesty of God. While everyone is marveling at it, all that He was doing, He said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears. For the Son of Man…” That’s His most often used self-reference. It’s a title that ties directly back to Daniel, Chapter 7. He’s the Son of Man.

It’s not just He was a son of a male person and a female that got together. No. He’s the Son. The Son of Man that was spoken of in the Old Testament is Messiah. So, understand every time Jesus says He’s the Son of Man to a first century Jewish listener here, He is saying, “I’m the Messiah.” It’s important that we interpret what we read here as best we can through the ears of the people who might be hearing it or reading it for the first time. A first-century Jew would know the Son of Man means He’s claiming to be Messiah. The Son of Man, He says, is going to be delivered into the hands of men. And we’ve heard this before where He predicts His arrest, His betrayal and arrest, His scourging, His crucifixion and His resurrection as well. They didn’t understand this statement. It was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement. Very curious the revelation of Jesus all along and throughout both the earthly ministry of Jesus, as well as so many times as we’re reading Scripture, we are reminded how we are dependent on the Holy Spirit.

And that’s one of the reasons we pray these prayers for illumination. We need God to help us understand stuff. Even stuff that we’ve read a million times or heard preached a million times before. I want to show you first of all where we’re at. It’s about 25 miles north. You see there in white. Well, in black it says Hermon. Okay? You can see that at the top of this green spike that comes up from the Sea of Galilee. Caesarea of Philippi and white right below that. Mount Hermon is kind of a mountain range. As I said, 9,200 feet above sea level. So, it’s beautiful. It’s snow-capped most of the time throughout the year because of its elevation. This is Mount Tabor, which is another option. Some people have said that this is where it was. Do we know where it was? No. If we did know, I’m pretty sure we’d turn that place into some kind of shrine and worship it and charge admission. So, I’m glad we don’t know exactly which mountain it is.

We just have that tendency to worship this symbol instead of the One it points to. So glad about that, but still glad that we see that this is set in space-time history. That it’s not just a dream that somebody had about Kansas and getting back home. Nothing wrong with the movie. I’m going to watch it again, but I’m really glad that this isn’t in that same category. This is different from that. I’m really glad that there is a true myth. The one true myth that makes all the other myths worth enjoying because they only sort of point symbolically to this one. We see here, I’m going to give you four things. The incomparable glory of the Son. Okay? If you prefer, the incomparable glory of the Son. I don’t care how you say it, potato, potato, incomparable or incomparable. What we’re saying here is that Jesus is one of a kind. There’s nobody like Him. I think the Latin term is “sui generis.” He’s in a different category altogether as no one else is like Jesus.

So, he’s not among many religious world leaders. As a matter of fact, even when we say Jesus is the greater Moses and Jesus is the greater Elijah, that’s true. But in a way, I want to go further. I want to say He’s greater because He’s actually in a completely different category and Moses and Elijah don’t even compare to Him. You understand? That’s what we’re saying about Jesus. That’s what we’re saying about the person you’ve placed your trust and hope in if you’re a Christian today. That’s when we sing “He will hold me fast.” We mean He can actually do that. You see? When we come to the table to give thanks for the fact that He has paid the price for our sins once and for all, we are believing and trusting and hoping in the One who could actually do that. He’s the only one that can rip open the curtain between Heaven and Earth. And so, He’s trustworthy. He’s incomparable in every single way.

Secondly, we see the eternal communion of the saints. And I love this too. I don’t know about you, but I’m old enough now gone through enough decades of my life, and some of you are as well and maybe even older than me, but we’ve lost loved ones along the way. If that’s you, raise your hand. You’ve lost loved ones along the way. You see how many hands are up? We’ve lost loved ones. What we need then as we are left behind, all of us who have lost loved ones along the way, we need hope. We need a greater narrative than just a fantasy musical story. We need something that’s rooted in reality, actually transcends the empirical reality or the sort of physical realm, something that transcends all of that and shows us that there is help coming or on offer that is not just one of us, or it’s not just a figment of our imagination, but it’s actually beyond all of that, transcends all of that.

And that’s why, in spite of what you may have heard, there are more and more people hungry right now for transcendence than there have been in a long time. We have achieved much. We’ve acquired much. AI makes us think, once again, we can rule the world because we can conquer reality itself. And the answer is, no, you can’t, because when you take those goggles off, even though that fast computer can answer your questions, really amazingly fast. I actually enjoy that. I use it a little bit, but I don’t let it own me. But at the end of the day, I need reality because artificial reality or augmented reality is not actually as great as actual reality. That’s the AI we actually need. Actual intelligence from God. The One who created knowledge, the One who created all of reality that exists, and I love that here in this story. He shows us the eternal communion of the saints. I would love when I get home, I would love to have coffee with Moses and Elijah and ask them about this particular event. I have other questions as well, but I would like to ask him about that.

I would love to talk to, as I said earlier, Augustus and C.S. Lewis. I can’t wait to have coffee with my dad, who I’ve never had a conversation with because he died when I was one. I don’t even remember him outside of photographs, but I can’t wait to have a conversation. I can’t wait to have coffee with all the TVCers who’ve gone on ahead of us. And some of you know them and love them, and you still feel the deep cut of their loss and the temporary separation we’re experiencing right now. I can’t wait to see them again. And this story about the transfiguration tells me I will. Why? Moses and Elijah, not just ghosts or apparitions. No. No. This tells us it was Moses and Elijah. Okay? There’s continuity to human personality in the afterlife. That’s what this tells us. You see that? You see that? Not directly said but certainly implied quite strongly and I think it’s fair to say it’s there. I’m very eager to finally see Jesus face-to-face. And I have no clue. How is it going to be possible that this me, dirty little me, insignificant little me? Somehow or another I’m promised I’m going to get to see Him face-to-face.

It’s right of the thousands of throngs, the crowds, that way-more-holier-than-me group that will be at the front, that I perceive to be at the front. Somehow or another I get to see His face too. And you’re promised that just as well. Precisely how? Again, we will know each other. I don’t know. I think knowing in the heavenly realm when the kingdom finally comes in its fullness is going to be mind-blowing. I think it’s going to be just amazing what it means to know each other. I mean was Moses and Elijah… Were they their 60-year-old selves there or were they their 35-year-old selves in this story? Remember, Moses didn’t even lead the children out of Egypt until he was 80. Isn’t that amazing? Any of you that are close to that age, he just got started when he was 80 with that process. And it’s really powerful to start thinking about all of that and have that eternal perspective. But we are members of the eternal communion of the saints. There’s much more to this to life than this world. There’s continuity of human personality.

Thirdly, there’s a heavenly realm that’s closer than we might think. They just appear here. They didn’t land in a little spaceship from some black hole in the universe up there. That’s not what happened. They just appeared. Jesus, after He’s crucified, He just appears in the upper room. Doors locked and everything, we’re told. He just appears. These guys disappear. It must be closer than we think. It might be another dimension that we just don’t have access to right now. They might be listening to us right now. I don’t know that, but we don’t obsess on them. Why? Because the Father said, “Listen to Him.” And He didn’t point to Moses. Listen to Him, and He didn’t point to Elijah. He said, “Listen to Him.” And He pointed to His Son, Jesus, in whom He was well pleased. Let’s not get distracted, but let’s enjoy the communion of the saints.

It is eternal. We will be with all the saints in glory. I’m excited about that. Thirdly, the divine imprimatur, of the Father imprimatur simply means God’s full endorsement. It’s God saying, “Look, Jesus is the One. You need look no further.” And Jesus will later say Father had given Him full authority and power in all of Heaven and Earth. And here once again is giving that divine imprimatur to Jesus.

Let me give you point number four. The progressive transformation of the disciples or the progressing transformation of the disciples. Let’s say it that way so that you don’t think about some political thing or something like that. It’s a progressing transformation, and I know some of you, I’ve talked to some of you. You’re so impatient with yourself that you’re actually beating yourself up over and over and over again. Living as if God’s grace hasn’t been lavished upon you. You’re beating yourself up thinking that it’s about your performance. And the good news of the Gospel. Yes. It acknowledges the fact that you and I blow it. That’s true. We mess up. No. We actually actively sin in open rebellion against God. That’s true. We do. None of us walk in perfection here. But the great news of the Gospel is that in spite of the fact that you and I are more guilty than we might would ever admit, God’s love for us is much greater than we could possibly even imagine.

It will blow your mind as much as a rip in Heaven on the top of a mountain would blow Peter, James and John’s mind. There really is a reality beyond this one that we are empirically able to assess and see and taste and touch and hear and all of that. There’s a reality beyond all of that. And there is a God, a supreme being who is offering you and me salvation for free as a gift, and He’s done everything necessary for you to receive that gift. Will you receive it? Will you receive it is the only question now that remains for you and for me. And I think it’s important. There’s a progressive or progressing transformation of these disciples. You see it, don’t you? You see that they’re starting to get it. You saw it last week when the question was asked, “Who do you say that I am over the last couple of weeks?” And the miracles lead up to that. They’re all pointing us to who Jesus is.

Do we acknowledge who He is? And the answer finally comes from Peter, so crystal clear. You are the Christ, the Deliverer, the One that has come to set us free. You’re the Christ, the Son of God. So, we see now they turned a corner in their christology, their study or their thoughts about who Christ is. And they’re going to undulate a little because, yes, when Jesus is arrested, they’re going to run like whipped rabbits and puppies. They’re going to be afraid. Just like you and me, they’re going to undulate in their faith. So, here’s what I want you to say. Get out of this last point. The progressing transformation in your life and in my life, okay? God is working on you. He’s working on me. He continues to do so. The husbands. God is working on you. And guess what? God is working on your wife as well. Be patient with what God is doing, both in you and in your spouse. Single people, people who are at work, people who have roommates. Whatever your station or state in life is. The people you encounter, God is working on you in the context of those people.

So, whether you’re here today and you in some way feel the victim in some experience with somebody else, or even if… let me say this might shock some of you, even if you’re the villain, okay? God is so eager to work on transforming you and me. He’s really eager to do that. Will we believe that He can lead us to our true home, help us become more wise about life? Put a new heart inside of us and even give us the courage to follow Jesus? Will you trust Him to do all of that? Will you believe and hope in Jesus? Saint Ephrem from the fourth century, the Syrian: “At the Transfiguration, the prophets rejoiced because they had seen Christ’s humanity.” Moses and Elijah on the mountain of transfiguration look and there’s the human Jesus that they only dreamt about back in their day. They never thought they’d ever see it, actually realize that here it is, realize they’re standing, talking to the human that God has become. “And the apostles rejoice because they had seen the glory of His Divinity, which they had not known.” But they’re starting to get it.

Paul Tripp says, “The scene (the Transfiguration) has been preserved for us because God loves us. He knows that we are often troubled by doubt and fear, and He wants us to rest, assured that Jesus is worthy of our trust. He’s God in the flesh, the one through who satisfied God’s requirements on our behalf. The one through whom God’s promises are delivered.” That’s so true. That’s Jesus. Will you believe? Will you turn to Him and trust in Him? It’s so interesting to me that Peter, James and John, these three up on the Mount of Transfiguration, they also will be with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. They’ll fall asleep there too. They’ll fall asleep during their prayers. Raise your hand if you’ve ever fallen asleep during your prayers …or during my prayers or my preaching? Oh, a lot more hands now. That’s great. Thanks. At least confession is good for the soul.

I love it that Peter, one of the three that’s up on the mountain, writes a couple decades later, “We didn’t follow cleverly devised tales when we made known the power of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty for… Remember, I told you verse 43.? “They were all amazed at the majesty of God.” Right? For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance says. This was made to Him by the majestic glory. “’This is My beloved Son with whom I’m well pleased.’ And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. Why was that mountain holy? Not because that’s anything. The mountain was holy. Why? Because Jesus was on it. The church is holy. Why? Because Jesus is in it. Again, it’s all about Jesus. It’s not about us. It’s about what He does and can do in our hearts and so he writes on. “We have the prophetic word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your heart.” You need that. Do you need more of that in this dark world that we live in?

I can’t explain to you why the tragedies that have happened this past couple of weeks have happened. I can’t do it. I don’t have all the answers to that stuff. I ask some of the questions myself, but I do know where to turn because I don’t want to go through those alone myself. And the atheist or the naturalistic person that believes that there’s nothing but the physical realm has got the same tough questions to answer that I do. What’s your explanation for that? See? So don’t go there. Just ask yourself the question, do you want to do this alone, or do you want to do it with the God who will rip heaven open and reach in and offer you salvation as a free gift? That’s who I want. That’s who I want to place my hope and confidence and belief in.

Michael Reeves, a great theologian from over in the UK: “The fear of God as a strong biblical theme thus stands as a superb theological guard dog. It stops us from thinking that we were made for either passionless performance [just religious acts] or a detached knowledge of abstract truths [just intellectual stuff]. It backs us into the acknowledgement that we are made to know God in such a way that our hearts tremble at His beauty and splendor [like up on a mountain with these guys] that we are remade at the deepest level [new heart, new mind, courage that overflows with compassion for others. Okay?] It shows us that entering the life of Christ involves a transformation of our very affections [our love] so that we begin actually to despise – and not merely renounce – but despise the sins we once cherished [men and women both] and treasure the God we once abhorred.”

And whether you abhorred Him… I know this is language we may not use all the time, but whether you abhorred Him because you just were feeling shame and guilt, or whether you are angry at Him for something that happened or didn’t happen, whatever. You were at odds with God. Jesus has made it possible. Jesus rips open Heaven and has made it possible for you and for me to know Him, to know God, to receive His salvation. And I invite you to do that if you have not done that. We’ll  close with this from Philip Yancey: “Human beings do not readily admit desperation. When they do, the kingdom of heaven draws near.” The kingdom of heaven draw near to you and to me this morning.

Let’s pray: Thank you, Lord, for this amazing mind-blowing, eye-popping, heart thumping account of what happened up on the mountain when You ripped open Heaven like that. And thank You too for the account of Your tenderness with a father. You went from something that was global, historic, the kind of news that should be spread throughout the universe and yet at the same time showed us how You really care for each and every individual, each and every young child, each and every father whose heart is broken for what’s going on with their child or parent. And so, we ask You, Lord, come, move in our hearts. Apply this Holy Spirit in any way that You would. There are so many here or watching online, and their stories, while I don’t know them, You do. You’re watching us. You care for us. You have made the first move to reach out to us and offer us this gift of salvation. In Your name I pray, Lord, turn our hearts toward Jesus as You did with those disciples on the mountain that day. We love You, bless You, and thank You for the gift of grace in Christ’s name, amen and amen.

This is the time we come to say thank you to the Lord. Eucharist is a term that is often used when describing partaking of communion or the Lord’s supper, another way people refer to this all the time. And Eucharist means thanksgiving. And so, we’re acknowledging that we need a savior, that Jesus is our savior. And when we come forward, we’re in response to Jesus’ command that we remember that and celebrate that and offer Him thanks for that. The fact that His body was broken, His blood was shed for us, and that that’s the price He paid for our salvation. We come and say thank you in response to Jesus’ command for us to do that. So, I want to encourage you. If that’s the disposition of your heart toward yourself and toward Jesus, toward your sin, toward receiving His grace. Please, please come and receive a fresh measure of His grace this morning.

We invite you to come in just a moment down the side aisles, if you will. Go to the cross wall, turn around and come to one of the stations where you just take a piece of the cracker there and dip it in the juice and then receive both into your mouth as a sign and symbol of the fact that you have received and depend on Christ as your savior and as your Lord. And you want to offer Him thanks for His kindness to you and His grace toward you. Before we do come, we would like to just together have this confession of our sin. Would you join me in that? Most merciful God, we confess that we’ve sinned against You this day in thought, in word, in deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole hearts. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your name. Grant to your people pardon and peace that in Your great mercy, we may be forgiven all our sins and serve You with a quiet and contrite heart. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“Come People Of The Risen King“ by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend
“Almost Home“ by Matt Boswell Matt Papa and Lauren Papa Choir & Orch. Arr. by Paul Campbell (Strings adapted from Ben Shive)
“He Will Hold Me Fast“ by Ada Ruth Habershon and Matthew Merker
“Before the Throne of God Above“ by Cook; Smith arr. Nathan Mickle
“O Praise The Name (Anástasis)“by Benjamin Hastings, Dean Ussher, and Marty Sampson 
 “Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois

All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: At The Cross

Most merciful God, thank You for sending to us Your Son, Jesus. We remember this day His redeeming death, that we might stand forgiven at the cross. Thank You for sending to us Your Son, Jesus, to whom we belong, in life and in death. He bore our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Most holy God, thank You for sending to us Your Son, Jesus, who became sin for us and suffered the punishment due to us, that we might stand forgiven at the cross. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.

Confession:

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You this day, in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole hearts; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Grant to Your people pardon and peace, that in Your great mercy, we may be forgiven all our sins, and serve You with a quiet and contrite heart. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Classic Prayer: Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, be thou our guide while life shall last, And our eternal home.

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