Amen. Please be seated. And if you have a Bible, let me invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew 17, last week we looked closely at the extraordinary events which Jesus experienced when he went up on the high mountain in verses two to eight.
His disciples with him, some of them, we saw the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus, we saw the appearance of, well, Moses and Elijah, and we heard the voice of the heavenly Father from the cloud. Today we look again, considering this time those who went up the mountain with him and those who came down and the conversation that transpired. Let's pick up the reading though for the whole context at verse one. This is God's holy and inspired word.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them saying, rise and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.
The disciples asked him, then why did the scribes say that first Elijah must come? He answered, Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.
Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. Amen. This is God's word. May he write it on our hearts.
Let's pray, Father, grant that the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts would be acceptable in your sight, speak, Lord, and grant your servants to listen in Jesus name. Amen. Before us for a second week now is one of the most extraordinary events in the life of Jesus. Up there I think arguably with the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension.
That is this transfiguration, this metamorphosis of our Lord Jesus here on the mountain, transformed before the eyes of Moses and Elijah and Peter and James and John. What did they see? They saw the unveiling of the glory of God in human flesh. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory.
And for a few moments his glory was no longer hidden from their eyes under the veil of the skin of the true human body of his humanity. But from within and radiating out his face, shown like the Son in all its brilliance, his clothes became intensely dazzlingly white, brilliant as white as light, whiter than any man could bleach. And as we noticed last week, Moses and Elijah appeared with them. Luke says they spoke of the Exodus he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.
We spoke of that a bit last week. You remember that just as Moses had once led the people of God out of bondage in Egypt and into freedom, Jesus will accomplish on the cross the Exodus, the Exodus of Moses and Elijah and Peter and James and John and all who are united to him through faith. In Exodus out of the bondage of sin and death and hell and into the glorious freedom of the children of light in life and righteousness and eternal life in heaven. You may remember that the defining event of the Exodus was the blood of the Passover Lamb smeared on the lentil in the doorposts of each home rescuing those who sheltered inside the home from the death which they deserved.
Well in the new Exodus upon the cross which Jesus spoke of with Elijah and Moses, this new Exodus here, our Passover Lamb, Jesus will be sacrificed. They're speaking of his death to come upon the cross in Jerusalem and as John the Baptist said of him, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So here are Moses and Elijah appeared in his presence on the cusp of his sacrifice to visit with the one in whom they had placed their hopes looking for the Messiah to come, looking for the true Passover Lamb and he's come. Moses of course here isn't the Savior of God's people.
Elijah isn't the Savior of God's people. Jesus alone is the true Savior and they put their trust in him long ago as even as you and I might and Lord willing have put our trust in him in our day. And then on this mountain as we saw even God the Father bore witness to his son. The thick cloud enveloped them.
Peter was babbling on and while he's still talking the cloud interrupts and the voice interrupts the voice of the Father which says of Jesus, this is my Son, my beloved with him I am well pleased. Listen to him. Jesus is the unique and eternal Son of the Father, God of God, lights of lights, the well loved, beloved Son and whom the Father delights and rejoices finding no fault in him and and he's the Lord to whom we are commanded to listen so that God the Father speaks and tells Peter and James and John to listen to God the Son when he speaks. And so likewise us are we listening?
Well today then having reviewed just briefly this extraordinary event. What else might we glean from those who went up the mountain and those who came down and their conversation with our Lord? Well five or six things I think and I'll simply give them to you as I go. First I want you to see the sovereign choice of God in the experiences of his disciples.
Verse one and after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother and led them up a high mountain by themselves. Why did Jesus take these three disciples and not others or all twelve? We don't know for sure. We do know that Jesus had a large group of what are called the 72 disciples and within the 72 of course famously he had the 12 disciples and these three are an inner circle within that 12.
They've been invited onto the mountain of transfiguration and later they'll be invited onto the Mount of Olives to witness Jesus sweating great drops of blood and agony as he contemplates the cross in that garden of Gethsemane and all that reminds us I think that we well obviously don't all share the same experiences do we? Jesus doesn't disciple us in a cookie cutter way plopping down upon each of us in some predictable way how he will deal with our souls and his providence or how he will manifest to us his grace. I mean my experience is different than yours yours is different from one another and all of us from Peter and James and John we might pause there and reflect it certainly possible that we might then envy the spiritual experience of others and even resent the Lord's dealings with us. Maybe we feel our experiences inadequate while others have had what we can only long for.
For instance, you know some of us we sometimes meet believers who've grown up in the church and never known a time when they haven't known of the grace and love of Jesus and as best they recall they've always looked to him and they've never been a prodigal in public and scandalous ways and sometimes those folks hear the testimony of those who've well Jesus rescued from a far country wandering in the muck and they think to themselves well my salvation isn't so dramatic or interesting or worthwhile. You know I'll tell you many of those prodigals banged up as they are by the filth of that far country would likewise say I had their experience and yet God in his loving fatherly providence has led us and sustained us in different ways with different experiences. It's the same grace that saves but how it came to us and what condition it found to us how much of it we've tasted is well it's different it's as different as there are believers by God's sovereign choice. Let's then content ourselves under his providence and rejoice if we've tasted his grace at all but don't imagine that what you yourself really need is the same experience as Peter and James and John and some people tell themselves that they'll even say you know I would be willing to listen to Jesus if only God would speak to me in an audible voice.
They want what Peter and the others heard on the mountain Peter himself wrote about this in his second letter he says we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for when he received glory and honor from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased Peter says we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain and we might say well that's great for Peter well that's wonderful for Peter but what about us and Peter is right there waiting for us under the inspirational holy spirit of the very next verse he doesn't say just take my word for it that these things really happened no Peter makes a remarkable comment in second Peter chapter 119 he says and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed 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 rises in your hearts what Peter is saying is that what the scripture says about Jesus is even more certain than what he saw and heard on the mountain the gospel is more complete it contains everything we need to know about Jesus and not just the glorious glimpse that these disciples were given it's also permanent what Peter experienced on the moment on the mountain lasted but a moment but God's word is eternal so that whenever we have a question about Jesus or the true way of salvation or how God would have us to live we can go back to what his word the Bible again and again and again a prophetic word more fully confirmed and that is God says that is better for us it's a more helpful gift to us than a bare moment on a mountain would be for any of us so we see the sovereign choice of God in our spiritual experiences they're very different but it's the same grace and then you see the clarity of Jesus concerning the future notice as they then come off the mountain verse nine as they were coming down the mountain Jesus commanded them tell no one the vision until the son of man is raised from the dead he's clear in his own mind that he will be raised from the dead he knows exactly what the future holds and he gives a clear command to his disciples don't tell anybody now why well can you imagine if they did they come off that mountain hey folks let me tell you what we just saw and heard up there well I might put them in an awkward spot frankly in the sense that their veracity might easily be doubted I mean that is an extraordinary event but after the resurrection when others had seen Jesus risen their story would make more sense it'd be more believable but also think of this if they told others well it might also put Jesus in some awkward spots I think we can imagine the other nine disciples saying come on Jesus show us your glory too let's take a let's take a hike up the mountain together and and do that glowing thing Peter keeps battling about but of course it would have been also a wrong emphasis on the messianic expectations of the crowd I mean he had come not first for glory but first for humiliation he came first for suffering and only later for glory but if the crowds got stirred up by Peter and James and John about what they had seen and heard they might have sought to make Jesus their king by force you can imagine some believing it wholeheartedly it was true rising up against Herod and Rome and then figuring well I mean we're weak and puny and those are Roman soldiers but surely Jesus who we just heard about will come with some unearthly power and rescue the whole of us so Jesus is no don't tell anybody yet he knows after all the fallen flesh the fallen heart or the heart of the fallen flesh when we get ahold of some truth about him we're all tempted to use that truth for our own agenda use him for our own agenda without God's greater agenda in mind so he's clear tell no one until the Son of Man is risen then thirdly you see Christ's help in answering our questions in verses 10 through 12 the disciples are to remain silent about the event but that doesn't mean they can't ask their questions on the way down the mountain and they do verse 10 they ask him then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come that is they've listened to the scribes their Bible teachers their whole life up until we suppose when Jesus became their chief Bible teacher and they've heard the word of prophecy by Malachi which the scribes had rightly brought to their attention Malachi chapter four verse five last book of the Old Testament almost the very last words in the English ordering of the books behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and so they're expecting the promised Elijah before the Lord comes in Elijah we learn in chapter three verse one of Malachi will be the messenger the herald and forerunner who will prepare the way of the coming of the Lord and they seem then to be saying to Jesus well your words don't match what we've been taught by the scribes Elijah out there on the mountain didn't hang around he hasn't come down off that mountain with us we don't understand the order of events here Jesus and I think it's not so much a challenge to Jesus but confusion seeking clarification Jesus help us understand we've heard this but what about this and I'll just pause there and say that's a good model for us to be in the posture of a learner like Peter and James and John to be saying to him teach me Lord you wrote the book the story is your story help help me to understand your word and your plan and Jesus did he answered their inquiry here verse 11 he answered Elijah does come and will restore all things that language seems to be Jesus taking up the language of Malachi himself and reiterating it and first he then intimates that the scribes well they're not completely wrong Elijah does come and he will restore all things as Malachi says but then second he says you know the scribes well they are wrong they're looking in the wrong direction verse 12 but I tell you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him but they did to him whatever they pleased so the scribes interpretation is right Elijah must precede the Messiah but their grasp of recent history is wrong for Elijah who's already come so Jesus answered their question Jesus invites their questions and then Jesus answers their questions to give them greater clarity of God's purpose and plan and let's just pause there and remind ourselves that this is what even the spirit of Christ does the holy spirit does for us he's not only the spirit who gives us revelation he's the spirit who gives us illumination that is he's not only the spirit who carried along the prophets of old like wind in a sail so that what they wrote was exactly what God wanted them to write revelation but he is the spirit who enlightens our eyes in the knowledge of Christ he helps us to understand what we're reading and seeing in the scripture and he points us to Jesus 1 Corinthians 2 says for who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him so also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God how would you ever know plumb the depths or even have access to the the thoughts of the heart of God but the spirit of God knows and Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 2 now we have received out the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given to us by God that is it's good to ask questions we think it's important to ask questions when we scratch our heads and say I don't understand let's take those questions to the Lord Jesus I'm not your Bible answer ma'am I can't give you an answer for every question you've got I've got some resources I've done a little bit of study your elders have likewise some things we don't know but the things that have been revealed the things that have been given to us freely in the gospel this is what the spirit of Christ does and so we ought all to ask Lord teach me and so they did and he did and then fourthly notice in verse 13 God's servant the second Elijah in the plan of redemption that is okay so the scribes expected a literal return of the prophet Elijah who you remember back in first kings second kings Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind and with chariots and horses on fire and Jesus says that well the other prophet said to Elijah Elisha who received the mantle of Elijah he was kind of the protege who was there when Elijah was taken up well they said to Elisha you know where to go and and Jesus says the scribes about this missed that that Jesus was talking about John the Baptist verse 13 the disciples understood that then that he was speaking to them about John that is John came in the spirit and power of Elijah as we might say a second Elijah or a new Elijah like the prophet of old just as Elijah wore garments in the wilderness so John the Baptist wore camel's hair and ate locusts and wild honey out the wilderness and and as Elijah called people to repentance so John the Baptist did and as Elijah had the Holy Spirit and power from God so John the Baptist did and as Elijah came to soften hearts to convict people for sure of sin and righteousness and judgment but to call them to repentance that they might put their faith in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world well John the Baptist did too but what did they do to John verse 12 well Jesus says middle verse 12 they did to him whatever they pleased and you remember what they did to John the Baptist they imprisoned him they tried to shut him up they tried to lock him away and worse than that Herodias the wife of Herod conspired with their daughter during a dinner party to have the head of John the Baptist brought out to them on a platter they did do him whatever they pleased Jesus says and to verse 12 and so also the son of man will certainly suffer at their hands as John was mistreated so also will the son of man be mistreated then verse 13 they understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist it dawned on them it came home to them right you see the disciples were slow to learn especially when their expectations didn't meet reality but they do get it slow to learn but able to grow right we all can come to better understand God and his plan Paul pranks for this and Colossians that we would increase in the knowledge of God you may be here and you're very young and you know week after week you may say to yourself I don't really know what's going on around here I don't understand what the preacher is saying I don't know why we gather and do what we do I just I really don't know what's happening yet or you may be well you may be older but you may be very new to Christianity having never been raised and you're still asking questions I mean who is this Jesus and what is this thing called salvation and why are we so interested in this book and what does it really say all these kinds of questions and I would just say to you ask the Lord and he will teach you open his book and read his word and say help me and he delights to do so and and so with these disciples they get it they understood that he was talking about John the Baptist well they get it sort of at least in part they do understand he's being of John the Baptist it's not at all clear that they understood that that like what happened to John so it would also be for the Son of Man and I say that because when you finally get to the passion narratives the disciples are befuddled and bewildered by what's happening to Jesus but what about you you understand if John the Baptist is the Elijah to come and he is and the Elijah to come is the one who will prepare for the way of the coming of the Lord and what does that make Jesus it makes Jesus the Lord who has come have you looked to him to be your Messiah and Savior just a couple more things here another lesson consider in this passage God's care for his saints the first Elijah as we said was taken up in a whirlwind with chariots of fire and people wondered where did he go and the prophets came to Elijah the successor who was there and and they speculated and they said it may be that the Spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain and so for three days they sought him but did not find him for God of course took Elijah to heaven alive but now centuries later God took Elijah and put him on a high mountain and had him speak with the Messiah about the Messiah's work of redeeming people so here's Elijah still alive hundreds of years later as we said last week and here's Moses alive after death a thousand years later and so we can conclude that God cares as much for the saints who have already passed on as he cares for the saints who now live he cares as much for the saints in heaven and glory as he cares for us we ought to let that comfort our hearts as we remember brothers and sisters in Christ loved ones who've gone on ahead of us in death remember Christ's care as we sang in a debt of mercy alone my name from the palms of his hands eternity will not erase impressed on his heart it remains in marks of indelible grace the names of the people of God cannot be removed from him he bears them on the nail pierced hands he bears them on his heart like the high priest of old had the names of the tribes of Israel on his chest and brought them into the most holy place and so the writer goes on yes I to the end shall endure as sure as the earnest is given that earnest he's speaking obvious the Holy Spirit that the down payment guaranteeing our everlasting enjoyment of the fullness of the blessing of God and then listen to that last phrase more happy but not more secure the glorified spirits in heaven the saints in heaven glorified spirits he says and he's right they are more happy than we are of course they are I mean they're done with sin and misery they've beheld the lover of their souls face to face they're more happy than us to be sure but they are not more secure than us because they who believe are secure and we who believe are secure because Christ lives in us and he is the hope of glory how then the Lord cares for his people those who've gone on not less than ourselves and so you see these five lessons the sovereign choice of God and the spiritual experiences of his people the clarity of Jesus concerning the future Christ's help in answering our questions God's servant the new Elijah in the plans of redemption and God's care for his saints and so let's close with this what else do we see in the transfiguration well two things one of the things we see is a bunch of failures you think of all these who are with Jesus on that mount Moses who was barred by the Lord from entering the promised land with the people of God why because when the people were parched and thirsty they grumbled against Moses Moses took their complaint to the Lord and the Lord said tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water but Moses in anger against the people did not obey the Lord he didn't speak to the rock he struck the rock two times he failed in obeying the voice of the Lord and for that was barred from going with the people into Canaan and there's Elijah Elijah who despaired of the Lord and of the Lord's preservation of his people Elijah who wanted to give up and die not carry on the ministry then there's James and John well these two remember them they're the sons of thunder who well we're eager to call down fire on the people in a city who didn't listen to Jesus but were so full of themselves that they dared to go to Jesus and ask Jesus put one of us on your right and the other on your left when you come into your glory and then there's Peter well Peter's faults are well known Peter who said never Lord you're never going to go suffer and then Peter said well these all may deny you but I will stand with you and then he denied Jesus to his face three times around Jesus on the mountain there are all failures and none of us is ever better than that bunch of failures but Jesus is not a failure with him the Lord is well pleased and Jesus the well-pleased one is not ashamed of his disciples who have failed them he doesn't reject them he doesn't turn his face away from them ashamed of them no he owns them as his brothers his sisters his beloved children who he came to bring pardon and peace by the blood of the cross he gives them his grace and he shows us his glory and so we see failures but we see the faithful Savior let's pray father thank you for him thank you for your beloved son he prays you thank you for the delight that you we are clothed in Christ believing in him we're united and bound to him and what's his his hours our sin goes to him but his righteousness covers us that we might be welcomed in your eyes thank you we need to teach every heart how badly we do in his name I pray amen amen let's stand together and sing