The Transfiguration
Luke 9:28-36
November 11, 2018
If you’ve been with us the last few weeks
Then you know we’ve been covering
An especially difficult portion of Scripture.
Jesus has taken the disciples to Caesarea Philippi and there He revealed to them exactly who He was.
• He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the disciples acknowledged their understanding of that truth by making a public confession to that extent.
However, as soon as the disciples solidified that truth, Jesus immediately warned them not to tell anyone what they knew.
• Instead of going out and proclaiming Him as the Messiah and Reigning King, the disciples were instead told to embrace His suffering, His rejection, His death, and His resurrection.
To men who expected Him to rule immediately
That was a shocking message.
Matthew’s gospel even tells us that
Peter pulled Jesus aside and rebuked Him for saying it.
But Jesus was sincere. His death was a certainty.
• And that meant that anyone who was following Him should also brace themselves for that reality.
Which is why Jesus went on to say:
Luke 9:23 “And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
Perhaps this is why the disciples struggled so much with Jesus announcement of His own death…THEY WERE FOLLOWING HIM.
• It’s one thing to follow someone who says they are going to glory.
• It’s quite another to sign up to follow someone who is headed for death.
But that is exactly what those who follow Jesus must understand.
And so in order to follow Him Jesus outlined some realities that all of His would-be followers must accept.
1) SELF-DENIAL – You can’t follow Christ for selfish reasons, and you can’t follow Christ banking on your own goodness. To follow Him you must totally disown yourself.
As Martin Luther wrote in his famous hymn:
“Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.”
2) SUFFERING DAILY – Anyone following Him would take upon themselves the suffering and shame of the cross.
3) SACRIFICIAL DESTINATION – the call to follow Jesus was a call to death. Jesus was headed to glory, but He was headed there by way of crucifixion. Anyone who followed Him had to understand that.
Those are difficult realities.
And Jesus understood the difficulty of making such a decision
So He continued with His reasons as to why a person should follow Him to self-denial, suffering and death.
Luke 9:24-26 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
• You should follow Jesus even with the cost because otherwise you go to hell. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it”
• You should follow Jesus even with the cost because keeping this life won’t be worth it in hell. “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”
• You should follow Jesus even with the cost because He will return and will judge those who don’t, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Song of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory.”
Following Jesus is a difficult concept
A person must indeed count the cost of following.
However, Jesus gave ONE MORE REASON to follow Him despite the cost.
Luke 9:27 “But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus said that you should follow Him despite the cost
Because the kingdom He is leading you to is real.
In fact, He promised to show it
To some of these very disciples before they died.
It is true that they were facing
Hardship and suffering and death for following Christ,
But they were gaining the kingdom of heaven,
And Jesus promised to let them see it.
And that is precisely what we see in our text this morning.
Jesus is about to show some of His disciples
The glory that awaits on the other side of suffering.
• Certainly it is meant to encourage them
• Certainly it is meant to persuade them to follow
• Certainly it is meant to solidify their hope
• But it is also meant to settle in their hearts the necessity of His death.
And you’ll see that as we get into it.
4 things
#1 GLORY REVEALED
Luke 9:28-29
“Some eight days after these things, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.”
I don’t really know why Jesus picked these three,
Except that it was evident that these three had a more personal
And intimate relationship with Jesus than the rest did.
These were the same three that accompanied Him further in the garden.
• It could very well have been that these three were the leaders.
• Most certainly He needed three to fulfill the O.T. requirement of witnesses.
• Deuteronomy teaches that on the testimony of two or three witnesses a matter is to be confirmed.
So Jesus takes these 3 with Him up the mountain.
(29) “And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.”
We are all aware of what took place when Jesus came to this earth.
Philippians 2:5-7 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
From eternity past Jesus “existed in the form of God”,
But for the last 30 or so years He existed “in the likeness of men.”
Jesus did not cease to be God when He came to earth,
But He did cease to receive the glory that God deserves.
He relinquished His glory, and He came in the form of a humble servant.
But on this day, the real Jesus stepped out.
All this world had ever seen was the costume He was wearing.
Isaiah 53 described the costume:
Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
Isaiah depicted the costume Jesus had been wearing.
• It was not stately…
• It was not majestic…
• It was not attractive…
• It was full of sorrows and woe…
• It was not esteemed, in fact it was despised…
But on this day the costume was removed.
On this day, for just a few moments the real Jesus stepped out.
And the result?
“the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.”
What tremendous glory He has!
In fact, the world has never seen anything like it.
You may remember that Moses took on himself the glory of God, but do you remember what Moses did?
Moses hid it behind a veil.
But no veil could hide this glory, for even “His clothing became white and gleaming”
It is certain that Jesus was a beacon on this mountain top.
He had a glory no garment could cover.
And we are reminded of a very important fact,
And that is that his suffering and humiliation is only temporary.
We tend to think more of Jesus as the suffering servant
Than we do as the glorified king.
(Namely because so much of Scripture deals with His suffering)
But rest assured His humiliation is the strange part.
His glory is the norm.
Hebrews 1:3 “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. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”
THE NEXT TIME this world sees Jesus, it will be in this type of glory.
Remember how John saw Him?
Revelation 1:12-16 “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”
Remember the vision of the 2nd Coming?
Revelation 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
This is the normal Jesus.
This is the expected Jesus.
The veil of flesh was temporary, it was the costume.
And on this day, for just a moment, the real Jesus shined through.
He was transfigured and His glory shown forth!
That is why John was able to say when he wrote His gospel:
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John said, we saw His flesh, but rest assured He was full of glory.
John knew, because on this day he saw it.
So the glory of Jesus was revealed.
Glory as bright as the sun, glory that no garment could contain.
This is the real Jesus!
Glory Revealed
#2 CROSS REINFORCED
Luke 9:30-35
“And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah.”
We know who they are, and in a moment you’ll see why they are here.
(And this was not a vision, these men were really there)
Together they are representative of the Law and the Prophets.
And so here on the mountain we have the Written Word,
The Spoken Word, and the Incarnate Word
WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT is that when this representative of the Law
And this representative of the prophets and this Incarnate Word
Get together; notice the subject they are talking about.
“speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem”
“departure” there does not indicate His ascension.
It speaks of His death.
Peter uses the same word in his epistle to speak of his own death.
2 Peter 1:15 “And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.”
Furthermore the term “accomplish” speaks of victory
Over and through a suffering.
1 Peter 5:9 “But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”
Jesus, Moses, and Elijah had convened on this mountain top in their glory
And were speaking about the coming crucifixion of our Lord.
This was not a “nice to have you back conversation”
This was a conversation about what He was about to endure.
And so Jesus, even though temporarily out of his shell,
Is still looking to the cross,
It was the message of the Law, it was the message of the prophets
And it is obvious all of heaven anticipates it with Him.
When they speak with Jesus, it is NOT that He should avoid the cross
As Satan suggested in the wilderness and as Peter suggested earlier.
They are speaking of all that He will “accomplish” through the cross.
• On the cross, He will fully satisfy all of God’s wrath against all of those who would ever believe.
• On the cross, He will purchase the remnant, the elect, the children of God
• On the cross, He will purify His bride
• Through death He would conquer the grave and put an end to the power of the enemy
Hebrews 2:14-17 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Moses and Elijah show up to give Him the encouragement that He needs.
Moses and Elijah are already glorying in the cross.
This is certainly the song of Heaven:
Revelation 5:8-10 “When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
Moses and Elijah are the first to sing it!
They are rejoicing in all that Christ will “accomplish”
But it is at this point that Peter jumps in.
(32) “Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.”
NOW LET THE SCENE SINK IN.
• Jesus took them up to pray and they had no idea what was coming.
• During the prayer time they fell asleep (not the only time we see that)
It doesn’t mean they were bored or disinterested,
The Scripture says they “had been overcome with sleep”.
Their weak flesh couldn’t fight it any longer.
• They had fallen asleep.
• But something woke them up.
You and I both know what it was, it was the light of His glory!
And “when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.”
SO LET ALL THIS SINK IN.
The last week has been a difficult week for the disciples.
• They just learned definitively that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the
Savior of the World.
• But they were told not to tell this to anyone.
• And then Jesus immediately started introducing them to the reality of His
suffering and death, and calling them to follow Him to the same fate.
Don’t assume that this was an easy week for the disciples.
There was a lot of soul searching going on.
I would imagine that even the prayer time Jesus had led them to
Had much to do with facing the promised suffering.
But now, after they wake up,
They see something they most certainly had not expected.
“they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.”
They see Jesus glorified, and He is standing there with Moses and Elijah.
(No doubt Jesus had to introduce them)
And they were talking about Jesus death on the cross.
• And I’m sure that while the conversation was taking place the disciples were just quiet bystanders.
BUT SOMETHING HAPPENS.
(33) “As these were leaving Him…”
NOW THINK ABOUT IT.
For the first time Peter is finally seeing what he really wanted to see
Remember it was Peter who actually rebuked Jesus
For even insinuating that death on a cross was necessary.
• Peter wanted to see the glorified King!
• Peter wanted to see the glorified Son of God!
• AND HERE IT IS!
But now, Moses and Elijah are leaving
After reconfirming that Jesus is going to die on the cross.
AND PETER INTERVENES
“Peter said to Jesus, “Master it is good for us to be here;”
IN OTHER WORDS,
• “This is good; now we’re talking; this is what I’m talking about!”
• “Glad to see we’re past all of that suffering talk, this is the way You need to present Yourself to the masses!”
Could you imagine if Jesus revealed Himself to the Jews in glory
And with Moses and Elijah standing on either side of Him?
Wow! What a message that would be!
But now Moses and Elijah are leaving.
And Peter, in a fleshly impulse speaks up.
“let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”
A tabernacle was a tent or house of sorts.
• Peter wanted them to stay.
• Peter wanted this to be permanent.
• Peter wanted Jesus to remain in glory and for Moses and Elijah to stay with Him.
To which Luke adds that Peter was “not realizing what he was saying”
I mean, imagine the implications here if Jesus takes Peter’s advice.
(Incidentally, this was the same advice of Satan in the wilderness;
Skip the cross, go straight to glory)
If Jesus takes Peter’s advice then every single human dies
And goes to hell because we have no one to atone for our sin.
Peter didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
My dad has said, “Peter was always broadcasting when he should have been tuning in.”
Man is that ever true.
(34) “While he was saying this…”
• That means that Peter had more to say, but God interrupted him.
“While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!”
So while Peter is still in the middle of telling Jesus
What He ought to do next, God intervenes.
He reminds Peter of 2 things.
1) “This is My Son, My Chosen One”
That is to remind Peter of Jesus’ status.
Jesus, not Peter, is the Son of God. Jesus, not Peter is God’s Chosen One.
And Jesus, not Peter will make the plans.
2) “listen to Him!”
God told Peter it was time for him to stop talking and start listening.
For the past week Peter has had this idea
That Jesus didn’t need to go to the cross,
And despite the messages of Jesus
It is apparent that Peter still wanted to get his point across.
At this point, God from heaven intervenes and says, “Peter, enough is enough, quit talking and start listening.”
I don’t know if God has ever told you to shut your mouth,
But He did here to Peter.
Jesus was here for one purpose, and that was the cross.
Peter didn’t like it, Peter chose to argue with it,
And God finally put a stop to it.
On this mountain, not only was the glory of Jesus revealed,
But His cross was reinforced.
Jesus was here to suffer and die.
Glory Revealed, Cross Reinforced
#3 HUMILITY RESUMED
Luke 9:36a
“And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.”
Now here Matthew’s gospel adds:
“When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.”
I can picture James and John holding their hands over Peter’s mouth.
“Quit talking Peter before He kills us all!”
These men don’t know what is about to happen.
“And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” And lifting their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.”
That’s what Luke says as well, namely that “Jesus was found alone”
• It was a nice moment.
• It must have felt good to wear the glory for a few more minutes.
• But now, it is back to the focus.
The glory is once again concealed it is normal Jesus.
Once again Jesus tells His glory “good-bye”.
Once again He veils Himself in human flesh.
And that is a very dramatic point to be made to those who are watching.
There is no doubt they saw His glory
And there is no doubt they wanted it to remain.
But after a stern rebuke from heaven that the cross comes first,
They now see Jesus back in humble form.
It should have really sunk in at this moment what He was here to do.
No more arguing, no more manipulating, no more discouraging.
This is the plan of God and it is time to get back to it.
Glory Revealed, Cross Reinforced, Humility Resumed
#4 TRUTH REALIZED
Luke 9:36b
So the event has occurred,
Jesus has done just as He said He would back in verse 27.
These men saw His glory before they tasted death.
And finally it appears that they are starting to get it.
“And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.”
What you see there is that the disciples finally beginning to understand the point Jesus had made back up in verse 21.
Remember it?
Luke 9:20-22 “And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
That seemed so strange, it is apparent that they hadn’t fully agreed.
They hadn’t fully understood…UNTIL NOW.
Now they are beginning to get it.
• The cross is the plan of God.
• The cross is the means of atonement.
• I’m not sending you out to preach glory, I’m sending you out to preach My suffering and rejection and death and resurrection.
“They kept silent, and reported to no one in those days”
The purpose of this event
Had certainly been to confirm the hope of glory,
But it had also been to solidify in the disciples minds that
The cross was the means of glory.
They had never seen it that way before.
• All that Jesus said about suffering and death seemed wrong.
• But now they are starting to understand.
The question is: DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
• Do you understand why the Son of Man must suffer and die?
• Do you understand why we follow Him there?
• Do you understand why we go out and preach the cross?
• Do you understand why our focus is not on proclaiming some prosperity gospel message?
• The central them of all Scripture is the cross of Jesus.
• The focus of heaven is the cross of Jesus.
• The calling we accept is to embrace the cross of Jesus.
• The message we preach is the cross of Jesus
And we embrace this message because through the cross glory is certain.
And that is an encouraging truth!
In fact, at the end of his life,
• Peter wrote an epistle to suffering believers.
• He wanted them to stand fast, he wanted them to endure.
And do you know what story he told them to encourage their faith?
2 Peter 1:12-18 “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind. 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.”
Peter said that this is for you.
• And it was not a cleverly devised tale.
• This glory is real, Peter says, I saw it.
The death of Christ was necessary.
Following Christ is costly.
You will be required to deny yourself to follow.
BUT…
• Glory awaits!
• Heaven awaits!
• Salvation is real!
Jesus showed it to the disciples to encourage you to look past the suffering to the glory that follows.
Incidentally, He would do the same with Paul.
Remember?
2 Corinthians 12:1-4 “Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago — whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows — such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man — whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows — was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.”
Paul says that he saw great things that he can’t even speak about.
How does that help us?
Well listen to the encouragement Paul is able to give because of that:
Romans 8:18 “For 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.”
Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
It was the encouragement that we can embrace the suffering that is required because the glory that follows is real and so worth it.
And so as the reality is sinking in to the disciples,
Let it sink in to you as well.
We are called to deny self, take up the cross and follow Jesus.
No, it won’t always be pleasant, yes some of it will be hard.
But it is the call none the less.
We must choose to follow anyway,
Knowing that the glory that follows will be worth it.
Luke 9:24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”
