“The Glory of Jesus”
Notes
Transcript
As we’re all aware, this past Monday was April 1st, otherwise known as April Fools Day. I don’t know about you, but I avoided falling to any attempts at being pranked, but I did see some really good attempts out there. The best I saw came from a high school classmate and current school board member at my alma mater, who has developed an online profile as a promoter of all things Natalia. He posted that the Promised Land just north of here had struck something better than black gold… What might be better than striking oil in Texas? Buccee’s. He posted that Buccee’s was coming. They’re not, but the thought of clean potties and beaver nuggets got some folks worked up.
Things like that are why another person posted a word of caution Monday morning: “Today is April Fools' Day, so believe no one and trust nothing. Just like every other day of the year!” April Fool’s jokes aside, I know that people throughout history have taken advantage of others. Many have made huge claims about themselves that didn’t hold up. They were frauds. They were imposters. They just weren’t who they said they were and they hurt countless people along the way.
This morning we’ve arrived at the midpoint in a series of messages we’ve called “Discipleship 101.” Our goal has been to recognize that if we are going to be Christian disciples, the basics of being a disciple has everything to do with who Jesus is. We’ve got to come to terms with who Jesus is. And along the way in this series we’ve seen Jesus identified as the Messiah of God. He’s been identified as the King of all that is seen and unseen. And as King, at this point in Luke, he’s announcing his coronation plans…in other words, he’s sharing about what’s to come for him that will make him King. This King will be like no other king you can fathom because this King will suffer, be killed, and then be raised. Then we saw King Jesus invite others like you and me to belong to his kingdom, to subject ourselves to his rule and in so doing, we came to see that belonging to Jesus involves you needing a new priority, a new identity, and a new direction.
But yet, maybe the sentiment of that April Fools caution is planted so deeply for you that the one thing you know is that you can’t trust anyone, so you remain suspicious of this Jesus of whom I speak. This Jesus who is God himself in human flesh. And to be fair, recent history has its list of people who have claimed to be God. Just on the surface, those people have similarities to what you may know about Jesus. They each had people following them. Many of them taught from the Bible. Many of them have died. And so you ask yourself, “What makes Jesus so different?”
That’s a valid question that I want to honor by inviting us to set our course to answer this question:
How can we understand who Jesus is?
How can we understand who Jesus is?
If we can arrive at an answer to this, then you’ll find the answer to your first question about what makes Jesus so different. Thankfully, our passage today will guide us towards an answer to these questions that we have. Our text invites us to join in on a moment of great significance in the ministry of King Jesus. We’re called to join an event in history that is known as the Transfiguration of Jesus. And it’s in the transfiguration where so much is communicated about Jesus the Messiah. The first thing we’re invited to do is to
Know Who Jesus Is
Know Who Jesus Is
I’ve never been to the Promised Land, so I can only read accounts from people who have been to the top of Mount Tabor, where this took place. I’ve read that there is a winding road leading to the top with switchbacks too sharp for a tour bus to negotiate. So, there are Mercedes taxis to make the 10 minute drive to the top. Some of the taxi drivers have been driving the route for over 30 years, and some of the cars have over 600,000 miles on them. The drivers know the route so well they spend most of the time with their heads turned talking to the passengers. My favorite story about those taxi drivers is that there is one guy who drives really fast and every time he screeches around a turn he goes, “Oh hallelujah!”
Well, Jesus and his three closest buddies walked to the top and Jesus began to pray. The most significant experiences of his earthly life occurred when he was praying; that ought to teach us something. As Jesus was praying, he was transfigured. The Greek word is the verb metamorphoo. We get our word metamorphosis from it. It means “a change on the outside which comes from within.” When a caterpillar changes into a butterfly, metamorphosis has occurred. Jesus was changed from an ordinary looking man into a figure of light with brilliant beams radiating from his body. The reason his clothes became white was from the light emanating from his body. I can just imagine Peter rubbing his eyes, wondering if he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing.
This is a very important event in Jesus’ life, because it confirms he was not merely a man. He was God in the flesh. For most of his 33 years of human existence, his human flesh obscured and veiled his Deity. But at this time, his true divine nature was revealed.
The writer of Hebrews pulls back the veil and lets us know who Jesus really is.
Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
A respected theologian, Dr. Kent Hughes writes in his commentary:
“For a brief moment the veil of Jesus’ humanity was lifted and His true essence was allowed to shine through. The glory which was always in the depths of His being rose to the surface for that one time in His earthly life. Or, put another way, He slipped back into eternity to His pre-human glory. It was a glance back and a look forward into His future glory!”
The word “glory” carries with it the idea of glowing brilliance. When the angels visited the shepherds outside Bethlehem, the “glory of the Lord shone all around them.” There is a brilliant light associated with the character and nature of God. There are three Biblical statements summarizing the nature of God. We are told (1) God is holy; (2) God is love; and (3) God is light. Sometimes people refer to the Shekinah glory of God. The word Shekinah is a Hebrew word that never appears in the Bible. However it appears in other Jewish writings, and it literally means, “that which dwells.” It came to be used to describe the glowing presence of the Lord that dwelt between the cherubim covering the Ark of the Covenant.
Peter, James and John saw this Shekinah glory in Jesus. Have you glimpsed that glory? What do you think Jesus looks like now? What is your mental image of him? Is it similar to the stained glass that is in my backdrop? Whatever your mental image of what he may have looked like in the flesh, remember that was only a disguise he wore for 33 years. That picture of Jesus has prevented many folks for seeing him in all his glory.
There are three true stories about holy images:
Some years ago a woman in New Mexico was frying tortillas. One of the tortillas burned and the result was an image that looked like a face; she thought it looked like Jesus. She took the tortilla to her priest and he agreed it looked like Jesus, so he blessed it. The woman and her husband took the blessed tortilla back home and placed it in a box surrounded by cotton to make it appear as if it was floating on air. They built an altar around it and started praying there. Word began to spread about the holy tortilla and soon thousands of people visited their home to pray before the holy tortilla. People are desperate to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
Some years ago in Poland, a man discovered a tree with a strange shape in its bark. He thought it looked like the face of Jesus. He claimed he was healed there. Sixty miles away another similar tree was found, and it, too, had the face of Jesus in its bark. Soon people from all over Poland began buying train tickets to visit these two trees. Thousands of worshippers have knelt before the two trees and have left money and other offerings there. People desperately want to be able to see and feel the power of God.
Some years ago, a lady in Arkansas turned on the kitchen light in her mobile home. The reflection of the light on the mobile home beside her looked like a man’s face. She turned the light off and the image disappeared. When she turned the light back on, the image reappeared. She was certain it was a miracle—she could see the face of Jesus! News soon spread and hundreds of people were visiting her trailer to walk into her kitchen and flip on the light. Because of the crowds, she started charging a dollar a person. A local television station interviewed one of the men who had paid his dollar to see the image. He was pretty skeptical. He said, “I want my dollar back, it looked more like Willie Nelson to me.”
Do you want to see Jesus? Don’t go to a tortilla, a tree, or a trailer—go to the Word of God. Go home and read Revelation 1 and you will see what Jesus looks like now. John saw him and he wrote Revelation 1:14 “The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,” Revelation 1:16 “…and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” Sound familiar? That’s how Jesus appeared on the mountain. In Exodus 33, Moses asked God directly to let him see his glory. God told Moses if he looked at God’s face, he would die instantly. So, the Lord placed Moses in a cleft in the rock and his glory “passed by.” Moses was allowed to glimpse the “afterglow” of God’s glory but that was enough. Moses came down the mountain with his face shining and glowing as if he had gotten the sunburn to end all sunburns. My friend, you don’t have to see the glory of God with your eyes—in fact, it would blind you. But you do have to see Jesus in his glory with your eyes of faith. Have you had the vision of his glory? Once you do, you will never again doubt Jesus is God in the flesh.
Now let’s:
Know What He Came to Do
Know What He Came to Do
Two visitors appear on the mountain and they are talking with Jesus. One is identified as Moses and the other as Elijah.
Scholars debate the significance of Moses and Elijah appearing with Christ, but it seems to me that the natural connection is that Moses represents the Law and Elijah the Prophets. This prefigures that the entire Old Testament is pointing us to Jesus as Lord and Christ. Beyond this association, after his mountain top experience, Moses led the people of God out of bondage. Luke 9:31 states that Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about the exodus (literal Greek transliteration of “departure”) that he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Elijah is associated with the future coming of Messiah, when he would appear to turn the hearts of the people back to God and to prepare the way of the Lord.
It is also interesting that both Moses and Elijah had unique departures from this earth. Moses died on the mountain and God buried him. Elijah was carried to heaven without dying in a chariot of fire. Jesus also had a unique departure: angels guarded his tomb and then, after his resurrection, he ascended bodily into heaven.
But even though Moses and Elijah were two of the greatest men of God in the Old Testament, Jesus is far superior to them. We see this in Peter’s inept comment and the response from the heavenly voice. Peter, probably trying to prolong the glorious occasion, suggests celebrating an event known as the Feast of Tabernacles by building three booths, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he meant well, Peter’s comment was off because it put Jesus on the same footing as Moses and Elijah. The voice from heaven corrects this by removing Moses and Elijah and by stating emphatically, Luke 9:35 “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” These words also fulfill Deuteronomy 18:15, where Moses predicts that God will raise up another prophet and commands, “You shall listen to him.” In one aspect, Jesus came to show his superiority to and fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.
But, we cannot neglect the conversation about Jesus’ “departure.” This conversation among Jesus, Moses, and Elijah probably included Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. Moses and Elijah were discussing these foreordained events with Jesus as they stood on the mountain. Wouldn’t it have been something to hear their actual words! Moses and Elijah both had an interest in Jesus’ approaching death and resurrection because their salvation depended on it! Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, those who hope in God had looked forward to the promised seed of the woman who would redeem them from their sins. The sacrificial system, pictured by God in clothing Adam and Eve with animal skins and instituted formally in the sacrificial system under the Law, pointed ahead to the Lamb of God who would offer himself in the place of sinners.
Our hope of salvation from the penalty of our sins rests entirely on the shed blood of the sinless Son of God who took on human flesh to be our substitute. His mighty resurrection from the dead verifies that the Father accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. His bodily ascension into heaven was coupled with the angelic promise that Jesus will return in the same manner to reign in glory.
Jesus also came to reveal what is perfect humanity that does not diminish his deity. It is a glory of his superiority to the law and the prophets. It is a glory of his atoning death and his bodily resurrection and ascension. And one last thing:
Know How to Connect to Him
Know How to Connect to Him
The three disciples were in such awe at the scene it seemed almost like a dream; they were even sleepy. But Luke 9:32 says they came fully awake and saw Jesus and the two other men. And I know Peter was supposedly a good fisherman, but if he was better at anything than fishing, you can count on Peter saying the wrong thing. He was the kind of guy who felt it was his job to fill every moment of silence with some verbal observation. The only time Peter ever opened his mouth was to change feet. He does it again saying, “Lord it is good for us to be here.” Peter really had a grasp for the obvious! But like the rest of us, he kept on talking and got deeper in trouble. He said, “Let’s build three tabernacles here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He was going to be the chairman of the building committee and they were going to have their very own multi-phase project to raise three buildings! These were to be shrines to commemorate this occasion. He made a big mistake when he put Jesus on the same level as Moses and Elijah. But God is about to correct his misunderstanding.
At that moment a cloud enveloped them. But this was a cloud of glory. The Shekinah glory of God was present. Just as the cloud had led Moses through the wilderness, this cloud settled on top of the mountain. Then the disciples heard the voice of the Father. It was gentle rebuke to Peter because the Father didn’t say anything about Moses or Elijah. He said, Luke 9:35 “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” Then the disciples saw Jesus alone. What a lesson! Peter was so influenced by that mountaintop experience, he wrote about it in one of his letters years later:
2 Peter 1:16 (ESV)
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2 Peter 1:17 (ESV)
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,”
2 Peter 1:18 (ESV)
we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
There are two lessons about how to connect with Jesus. The first is to visit the mountaintop, or in other words, worship Jesus.
There is a great lesson about worship here. Worship is not a place; it is a person. You don’t need a building and you don’t even need a mountaintop. It’s not about a place; it’s focusing on the glory of Jesus. It’s meeting Jesus and listening to him. Did you notice the Father didn’t say, “This is my Son, talk to him?” Sometimes worship is just being still and quiet and listening for that still small voice. Remember when God called little Samuel’s name? Samuel said, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” Most of us rush into the presence of the Lord with a shopping list of needs and say, “Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking.” Jesus is speaking—are you really listening?
His players held legendary Green Bay Packers coach, Vince Lombardi, in such regards that whenever he spoke, nobody else would talk. Quarterback Bart Starr once said, “Coach Lombardi spoke with such authority that when he said ‘sit down’ you didn’t even bother to look and see if there was a chair, you just sat down where ever you were.” Oh, that we would listen and obey like that!
Every experience of encountering Jesus could be called a mountaintop experience. Can you remember some experience of worship rating as a mountaintop experience? It might have been a camp, a retreat, a revival or some other special worship experience. You don’t have to literally be on a mountain, but that leads to the second lesson. We need to leave the mountaintop to serve Jesus.
Peter wanted to stay on the mountain and build three shrines. When I have those mountaintop experiences, I so badly want to stay there. That’s the danger of mountaintop experiences. We want to linger there. We don’t want to leave. Next week we are going to see while Jesus and the three disciples were on the mountain, the other nine disciples were in the valley trying to help a boy who was demon-controlled. Jesus is going to leave the mountaintop and go into the valley to resume touching, loving, healing and forgiving people. That’s a great lesson for us. It’s great to spend time on the mountain but you’ve got to go into the valley to serve the Lord by helping hurting people.
A man once told evangelist D.L. Moody, “I’ve been on the mount of Transfiguration with Jesus for the past five years!” Moody asked, “During that time, how many people have you won to Christ?” “None,” he answered. Moody replied, “We don’t need that kind of mountaintop experience! When a man gets so high he can’t reach down and help sinners, there is something wrong!”
In my experience as a pastor, I’ve known folks who never leave the valley. They work, work, work for Jesus but they never visit the mountaintop and enjoy sweet intimacy with him. Worship is almost a waste of time for them. Or they say, “The way I worship is by working for Jesus.” They look with disdain at mountaintop worshipers and wonder when they are going to come down and get to work!
I’ve also known some who only want to spend time in worship on the mountaintop. They enjoy the feeling of security and serenity that comes from being alone with the Lord. They look at the “workers” and shake their head at their toil and efforts.
In the very next chapter, we are going to see this beautifully illustrated in the two sisters Mary and Martha. The mountain-toppers are like Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet. The valley-workers are like Martha, banging pots and pans together in the kitchen. Jesus is teaching that we must maintain a healthy balance of worship and work.
With what this spectacular transfiguration of Jesus teaches us, we know better who he is, what he came to do, and how we can connect to him. We should ultimately recognize that
Jesus is the Glory of God
Jesus is the Glory of God
And because he is, let me offer you three things about the glory of God.
The glory of God creates wonder and awe and even terror.
God is transcendent. He is beyond us and greater than us in every way imaginable. Think about how you might try to describe the grandness and majesty and transcendence of God. In our smallness, we think God might be like us… but only a little better. We think it would be a cool experience to see God, perhaps like meeting a famous athlete or musician. If that is our view, we are badly, badly mistaken.
Perhaps an analogy to explain this is that to see a bolt of lightning strike the earth a mile away and to hear the rumbling thunder is one experience. A cool one. One you try to capture with a camera.
But it’s a whole other experience to have that same bolt of lightning strike the tree in your backyard when you’re standing in the window 30 feet away. You fall to the ground trembling, your hair standing straight up. And you’re hoping you’re still alive.
When we see God in all his glory, we will be shaken to the core. He is glorious in power and light and majesty and holiness. His brilliance and majesty is so beyond us that we won’t know what to do when confronted with him, and we will fall apart. This is simply the contrast of the smallness of our humanity before the might and power and glory of Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth. God is not our Cosmic Buddy to whom we give the “Bro handshake and hug.” There is something so glorious about God and his kingdom that we will melt when confronted with it.
We should read the Scriptures and be in prayer with a hungry sense of wonder. With a thirst to know God. To be confronted by him. To glimpse his majesty and power. To be amazed, even to tremble. As the years of our Christian life go on, our understanding of God’s majesty and glory and power and brilliance should grow, so that more and more we love him….yet we tremble in awe and fear before him.
And here’s a warning: If any of us have not believed in Jesus Christ, we should tremble. We do not want to meet him still in our sinful state. We do not want to face him without having our sins paid for by him. The Book of Hebrews says, Hebrews 10:31 “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” It is a fearful, terrifying thing to meet God in judgment. If we do not know Jesus, we should turn to him. Cry out for mercy. For though he is glorious and transcendent, he is tender and merciful, and he longs to save our souls through his Son, Jesus.
The Transfiguration increases our convictions of all that Christ did and has yet to do.
Luke wrote this Gospel with this purpose in mind. Luke 1:4 “…that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” We looked earlier at Peter’s words in his second letter. This moment had a huge impact on his faith, strengthening his confidence that Jesus truly was the Christ sent from heaven.
This moment gave great assurance to all that the apostles spoke and lived for. And likewise, we can have greater assurance that the words of the New Testament are from firsthand eyewitnesses. Our confidence in Christ is strengthened by this testimony.
May we meditate on the reality of this passage. The wonder of it. This was a real and astonishing moment in history. And it speaks to us what Christ did a few months later in his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. And it also testifies to us of what Jesus Christ will do soon when he returns.
The Transfiguration gives us hope in the life to come.
We see Moses and Elijah, and we are strengthened to know there is life after the grave. For Moses died 1400 years earlier, and Elijah was taken into heaven 800 years earlier, and here they are now in front of Peter, James, and John alive and in glory. A week ago, I was reading in 1 Corinthians 15. That chapter is all about the resurrection.
The glorified Christ in Luke 9 is a taste of the glorified Christ after the resurrection. And his resurrection… guarantees our resurrection. And we must be resurrected, for 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Our bodies must be transformed. They must be metamorphosed.
Paul says that at the resurrection, we who know Jesus will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:42–44“So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” Perishable –> imperishable. Dishonor –> glory. Weakness –> power. Natural –> spiritual.
Perishable means it has an “expiration date.” The can of beans in our kitchen cabinet has an expiration date on it.
You and I in these bodies….we have an “expiration date.” That date is not stamped on us like on the can of beans, but it’s there. But when we are resurrected, we will be imperishable… we will never again have an expiration date!
Our bodies will be glorious. Powerful. Spiritual.
In an excellent book called The Incomparable Christ, author Oswald Sanders said, “The presence of Moses and Elijah would be to them the pledge of their own immortality. There was tangible evidence that the grave is not the end.”
This moment on the mountain with Jesus, Moses and Elijah tells us that yes, there truly is life beyond the grave.
Let’s bring this to a close.
Though this story in Luke 9 is quite unusual, even strange, it is a story that builds hope in us. Hope that Jesus is who he claims to be.
It builds faith, that all we’ve been taught is absolutely true. It increases our motivation to work for Jesus, for everything we do matters. It is useful. It is not in vain.
At the conclusion of his splendid chapter on the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of our bodies, Paul magnificently concludes: 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
We can go home today and live for Jesus and work for him because it’s all true. It’s real. And it matters.