AM Luke 9:18-36 The Transfiguration: what in meant for Jesus

[0:00] Now, we've got a couple of readings. First of all, in Luke's Gospel, chapter 9, and we'll read from verse 18. Luke, chapter 9, reading from verse 18 to verse 36.

[0:20] Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him, and he asked them, Who do the crowds say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist, but others say Elijah, and others that one of the prophets of old has risen.

[0:40] Then he said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, The Christ of God. And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

[1:06] And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

[1:23] For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father and of the Holy Angels.

[1:42] But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Now about eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.

[2:00] And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

[2:21] Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, But when they became fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good that we are here.

[2:37] Let us make three tents, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

[2:52] And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.

[3:05] And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. Then we'll also read in 2 Peter chapter 1 from verse 13.

[3:18] 2 Peter chapter 1 from verse 13. I think it is right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

[3:42] And I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:59] But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honour and glory 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.

[4:15] We ourselves heard this very voice, born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will 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.

[4:37] Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

[4:53] May God bless to us these readings. Take verse 29. Luke chapter 9 and verse 29. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.

[5:12] Now this story, which is called the Transfiguration, is really a story of two halves.

[5:24] In the first half, there is a message of encouragement for Jesus. And in the second half, there is a message of rebuke to the disciples. We're going to look at the first part of the story this morning, and all being well in the evening, we'll look at the second part.

[5:44] So here, we're tackling this theme of a message of encouragement for Jesus. And what we're going to do is, we're going to ask first of all, what actually happened here?

[5:56] And then we'll ask, why did this happen? What was the purpose of God in making this happen? And then we'll think briefly later on about how this relates to us in coming to the Lord's Supper.

[6:13] So, what happened here? Let's just see what's going on here and get the storyline right, we might see. I think there are two things that are happening here.

[6:26] First of all, what we have got here is a foretaste of future glory. A foretaste of future glory. Here is Jesus, and outwardly, he's an ordinary human being like ourselves.

[6:43] He's got a body that is subject to weakness and to hunger, and he's got feelings that express themselves from time to time.

[6:55] Apart from sin, he's thirdly human. And yet, something remarkable happens. That in the depths of his humanity, we might say, this amazing experience comes over him.

[7:10] And he experiences a taste of divine glory. So, what we've got here is brightness, light. The appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.

[7:25] Now, this is not the light of heaven shining on him. This is the light of heaven shining out from him. This is not a searchlight that comes from heaven to illuminate the scene, and to make it bright in the darkness of the night.

[7:43] This is a light from within, transforming his whole appearance, making him look thoroughly different, and so bright that his clothes are all lit up by it in a way that the Gospel writers found hard to describe.

[8:00] This is divine glory experienced in his time of humanity. This is the splendour of his divine nature shining through his human nature.

[8:13] And I don't think we can have any doubts about that, that that's what it's meant to be. Light, after all, is associated with the very being of God.

[8:26] You're clothed with splendour and majesty, says the psalmist, covering yourselves with light as with a garment. Here is Jesus, clothed with splendour and majesty, covering himself with light as with a garment, or being covered with light as with a garment.

[8:46] It's the way of describing God, and this is applicable here to Jesus. In the Old Testament again, when the temple was built, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

[8:59] Bright splendour, majestic light, that's a symbol of God's presence, and that is what came over Jesus at that time, making him look transfigured.

[9:10] transformed, and making his clothes shine like this. Now, that's divine glory. But why do I say that it's a foretaste of divine glory?

[9:24] A foretaste of future glory. Isn't this just Jesus experiencing what he knew before he came into this world? There he was God, enjoying all the attributes of God, and all the glory associated with them, and he laid that glory aside to come in amongst us.

[9:48] Is he not experiencing what he knew before? Is this not a taste reminiscent of the past, rather than a foretaste of something that is to be?

[10:00] Well, the various reasons for saying this is a foretaste of future glory. First of all, Jesus in his humanity has not experienced before this divine glory.

[10:14] He's come in amongst us and lived amongst us in his days of humiliation, we might say. And to experience his time of exaltation has never been his before.

[10:26] This is something new that points to the future, not something that is taking up past experience, because it's dealing with Jesus as God-man, not simply as God.

[10:39] But we can see other things to prove this point of view, that this is a foretaste of the future. This comes from the context.

[10:49] Now, here we've got something rather strange in the context here, because Jesus has been speaking to them, and he speaks about the Son of Man coming in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

[11:04] And then he says to them in verse 27, But I tell you the truth, there are some standing here which will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

[11:18] The other Gospels put it a wee bit differently. The Son of Man coming in his kingdom, says Matthew. And Mark speaks of the power of the kingdom. So he's saying, the kingdom in all its glory associated my coming with splendor.

[11:33] Some of you here aren't going to taste death until they've seen it. Now, what was he talking about? Because it's quite obvious that he hasn't come again yet. What he was talking about has not actually happened.

[11:48] We're still waiting for it. And all that generation are dead. So, what did Jesus mean? And of course, there are various explanations of this. I'm not going to deny it.

[12:00] There are different ways of looking at this. But one that appeals to me, I think, should be quite obvious, actually, that he's talking about his transfiguration.

[12:11] What did James and John and Peter see? The glory of his second coming. What did they see? His divine majesty. The glory that they have when he comes with his angels and the power of his kingdom.

[12:23] They saw that. They saw it with their own eyes. They experienced it there on the mountaintop. And what he said before in the previous verses is the background to what's happening here.

[12:37] It's the fulfillment of that strange saying, some of you aren't going to taste death until you see the Son of Man in the glory of his second coming. They saw it. The transfiguration was that.

[12:50] And if you've any doubt about that, this is what Peter himself says in his second letter. As we've read, Peter is talking about the future. And he's defending himself from the charge that he's simply recounting cleverly devised myths.

[13:06] when he's speaking about the second coming of Christ. And he says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. So he's saying, we know what we're talking about because we saw it with our own eyes.

[13:22] These aren't myths or legends that we've picked up that we've invented. This is reality that we've looked on with our very eyes. What's he talking about?

[13:34] Well he says, when he received honour and glory 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.

[13:45] That's what he's talking about. And what does that refer to? It's referring to the transfiguration. And there's no doubt about that because he says in 2 Peter, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain.

[14:02] No doubt at all. He's talking about the transfiguration. And he says, I know what the second coming is going to be like. I can imagine the splendour of it. I know what's involved in it because I've already seen it.

[14:15] We've already had a foretaste of divine glory. I saw it. I saw Jesus transfigured. I saw him in his glory. I saw him in his splendour. And that's why I can speak with such certainty about the second coming.

[14:28] So that's why I say this is a picture of Jesus. A foretaste of future glory. Now that's what happened. We'll go on in a minute to look at the meaning of that.

[14:41] But that's the first incident here. That's what's happened. It's a foretaste of divine, of future glory. This is also the provision of like-minded companions.

[14:54] We've got this here too. It's not just that he was transfigured in this way. But behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

[15:12] The provision of sympathetic companions. Now, this gospel account didn't take in the full incident that I'm going to refer to.

[15:24] But I think you know your Bibles well enough to know that Matthew's gospel deals with this story more fully. But this account did tell us that when Jesus asked him, who do you say I am?

[15:38] Peter was quick to say, you're the Messiah. And there is something quite remarkable. And Jesus acknowledges it. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.

[15:50] So there is Peter expressing something key that he's learned about who Jesus is. But Jesus then goes on to say that he's going to suffer and he's going to die and he's going to be erased from the dead.

[16:04] And that's something that neither Peter nor the other disciples appreciate. No one says, oh that's terrible. No one says, is there anything we can do to avoid this?

[16:17] Or anything that we can do to help? Nobody asks, what's the meaning of this? Showing a sympathetic interest in what's top of the agenda as regards Jesus' activity.

[16:30] Peter says, don't think about that Lord. Don't think. Put it out of your mind. There's a complete lack of sympathy amongst the disciples. They understand an important thing, namely that Jesus is the Messiah, but they don't yet understand that he's to suffer and die.

[16:49] And they don't even ask for an explanation. They tell him to forget it. To put out that item that's at the top of the agenda and forget it.

[17:01] A complete lack of sympathy and understanding. Now Jesus was human, as we've said. He was human so that the disciples that were chosen, the apostles that were chosen, were chosen partly to be with him.

[17:17] That's what Mark's Gospel tells us when they were appointed, to be with him, to be his companions. And here they've failed. They've ceased to be good companions for Jesus because they're unsympathetic in regard to the thing that was most important to him.

[17:34] So what does the Father do? He provides sympathetic companions for Jesus, who knows what's going on and can speak about it meaningfully and sympathetically.

[17:46] Now the question then is asked, Moses and Elijah, why them? And the answer that is usually given to that is Moses represented the law and Elijah represented the prophets.

[18:02] So these are men that knew what the law said and could apply it to the circumstances that are taking place and Elijah was a man that knew the prophecies and could apply these to what Jesus was going through at this time.

[18:19] They represented the law and the prophets. Well, I'm not saying that that's wrong, I just say that it doesn't seem very likely to me that Elijah was chosen to represent the prophets.

[18:30] He was not a writing prophet, therefore his influence was quite restricted to his own time in comparison to the prophets that wrote books. As far as I know, he didn't talk about Jesus at all, whereas a man like Isaiah, his prophecies are full of Jesus.

[18:48] I would have thought that if you're choosing a candidate to represent the prophets, you should be choosing Isaiah or maybe Jeremiah or one of the others. But Elijah, I would have thought, would come bottom of the list if you're going to ask for a representative man of the prophets.

[19:05] I would like to suggest that he chose these two to send to Jesus because they were readily available. They were glorified in heaven.

[19:17] Now, you may say, yes, Elijah, yes, he didn't die. He was taken up in a whirlwind to heaven. He never tasted death and we may assume he was glorified in bodily form immediately.

[19:30] But what about Moses? Well, nobody knows where he was buried. That was left to God. And the is a Jewish tradition that God actually did take his body up into heaven and therefore he was glorified there.

[19:48] And that tradition is actually referred to in parts of the New Testament. Not clearly, but there's an indication that that tradition is there. And if that's so, then this would certainly fit in.

[20:01] These two men were chosen because they were readily available. They were already in heaven in bodily form, glorified. And they better than anybody could talk about whatever it was they wanted to talk about.

[20:17] But that leads us on, whether you accept that or not, that leads us on to what actually they were talking about. What is it that they were referring to? What was the subject of their discourse?

[20:29] And we're told here, the departure that he is about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Jerusalem. And immediately you think, they're talking about his death.

[20:42] He's going to die on the cross. This is the big item on his agenda. The thing that the disciples haven't understood. So here is Moses saying, I killed all these sacrifices, I set up the sacrificial system with all these sacrifices, and now you've come and you're going to die as a fulfillment of these.

[21:01] and Elijah is going to say something similar about whatever the prophets said about Jesus' death. And for years I thought, that's what he's talking about.

[21:14] He's talking about his death. A sympathetic discussion of what his death is going to mean. But it doesn't say that he talked about his death. It says that he talked about his departure.

[21:27] And he didn't leave this world at his death. He left this world at his ascension to heaven. And I think that that is probably what is in mind here.

[21:39] They're not talking about, they're not only talking about his sufferings and death. They're concentrating on what's going to follow from that. The glory that's going to be.

[21:51] The ascension to heaven in splendor. That's what they're talking about. They're saying to Jesus, you die, you suffer that, yes, but you'll be raised from the dead, and you'll go up in bodily form into heaven, just as Elijah did.

[22:07] That's what Elijah might see. And he's stimulating with this picture of heavenly glory, so that it fits in well with what we've already said. I can't read the margins of these Bibles, they're far too small for me nowadays, but I think it says in the margin there that it spoke about the exodus, that he was going to accomplish at Jerusalem, and that's what it does say actually.

[22:34] And it makes you wonder, especially in mind, because Moses is there, and he was the one that accomplished an exodus from Egypt originally.

[22:46] Now, that exodus was the exodus of God's people from the bondage of sin, and we're not going to equate that with what's going on here, in that sense.

[22:58] But it was something triumphant. Here there are people going from bondage. Here they are, they're spoiling the Egyptians, enriching themselves at their expense.

[23:08] Here they are going out in triumph. God has proved himself superior to the gods of the Egyptians. It's a moment of triumph, that exodus. And as Moses then saying, just as I led people out of bondage, and it was a time of triumph, and glory.

[23:27] So you are going to lead your people out of bondage by dying on the cross. And you're going to leave this world in a splendid exodus, up into glory, received at the Father's right hand as a prince and a saviour.

[23:42] That's what they're talking about. The glory that is to follow on the death of Jesus. The splendour that is to be his at his ascension into heaven. And they can talk about it.

[23:54] The disciples can't. But these men know because they're the first fruits of it. Elijah certainly, clothed in splendour, they both appear in glory. Which makes me think that Moses certainly wasn't going to go back to the grave after this.

[24:09] He had to go to heaven after this, even if he hadn't been in heaven before this, because he's clothed in splendour, he appears in glory too. Anyway, that's what they're talking about.

[24:19] Men that understand and know what's going on, and they talk sympathetically to Jesus about it. That's what the second incident is. So this is a foretaste of future glory, and this is the provision of sympathetic companions.

[24:36] Now, why was this happening? Why did this come up in Jesus? And we're seeing that this was for his encouragement. This was something that supported him, and strengthened him, and stimulated him to go on with the task, and complete it fully.

[24:56] Now, some people have difficulties about that. They say he was God, okay, yes, he was man as well, but surely he was sinless, and he couldn't be discouraged.

[25:08] Well, yes, I see that, but he could feel the pressures on him, because he was human, and he must have felt disappointed when Peter said to him, take that off your agenda, the thing that was most important to Jesus.

[25:26] Surely, surely, in his human nature, he felt disappointed, and this was to strengthen him. If there's further doubts about that, just remember that in the garden of Gethsemane, when he was in terrible agony, an angel appeared to strengthen him.

[25:45] This is a similar occasion situation. These things happen to encourage Jesus, and to equip him, to encourage him in his human nature, so that he'll go on with the task, and complete it.

[25:59] It was for his encouragement. And so, you see, when these disciples have been blind to what Jesus is saying, deaf to what Jesus is saying, and blind to his purpose, Elijah and Moses understand.

[26:14] And Jesus appreciates this conversation, and feels the better for it. That's what human nature is like. If you've got a big thing ahead of you, and those closest to you, poo-poo it and say, don't do that, what against you, you feel awfully lonely.

[26:31] But if they say, yes, we're behind you, we're supporting you, you're strengthened by that. So, Jesus speaking to these men, he was strengthened by it. And he was strengthened by this display of what was yet to be, a foretaste of divine glory.

[26:48] This was set before him as the goal of what he was doing, the final outcome of what he was doing. And for a moment he tastes glory in the depths of his humiliation, a moment of exultation in the depths of his humiliation.

[27:03] I've got a couple examples and a text from the Bible to develop this. this is a dress rehearsal for a coronation.

[27:15] The king comes to the abbey and he dresses himself up in the robes and he's got a few folks there, not the big crowds that there were, but a few folks there and they go through the proceedings.

[27:27] And he's there dressed in his royal robes and he gets the orb and he gets the scepter and so on. And they go through it as a dress rehearsal of the real thing.

[27:38] And I'm not saying that the king would have been greatly encouraged by that, but at least everybody would be assured everything's ready for the big day. It's all in order.

[27:50] Here's a dress rehearsal for the big day, for the coronation. Everything's ready. Everything's in order. That's what's happening here. Or another secular example.

[28:04] It's the day before the cup final. And one of the teams is visiting, let's say Hamden. Obviously we say Hamden. Okay. They haven't been very much there before.

[28:16] And they're shown round the ground. They go on the pitch and they look at the terraces and they imagine what's going to be the next day. and they're taken to the trophy room. And there's the cup.

[28:28] The cup that they're going to win tomorrow they hope. And the cup is taken out of its cabinet and the captain takes it and he holds the loft and all the team cheer. And they think that's what's going to happen tomorrow.

[28:41] And the captain says come on now we're going to get this cup tomorrow. It's a foretaste of future victory. That's the way they look at it. And what does that do for them? it encourages them.

[28:53] We're going to win because they've already tasted what victory would feel like. Lifting the cup. That's what's happening here. The taste of victory is given to Jesus to encourage him for the task.

[29:08] And if you have any doubt about that I do have a verse from the scriptures that speak about Jesus in that sort of a way. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.

[29:19] cross. Why did he endure the cross? Because the joy that was to be his was set before him. When was it set before him? I'm sure it was often set before him.

[29:32] But here's one occasion when certainly it was set before him. Here is Jesus experiencing what is to be. The joy that was set before him. The joy that was to be his was here set before him.

[29:46] And because of that through the strength and encouragement that gave he endured the cross and despised the shame. This is a foretaste of glory that encouraged Jesus.

[29:58] That's what this incident is all about. Now we're going to say something before we begin the Lord's Supper. We're going to say something about how this can apply to us at the Lord's table. But here is the Saviour that we hope to meet.

[30:13] This is the salvation that we want to be reminded of. Here is the Saviour that is one of us. Truly human. We see it quite clearly in what was said.

[30:23] A truly human Saviour. Truly God as well. Not denying that for a moment. But truly human. And that means thoroughly equipped to help us. He's one of us.

[30:35] And he represented us. And he acted for us. And that's the sort of Saviour we've got here. Who's clearly one of us. That needed the encouragement of the future glory set before him that needed the encouragement of like-minded people around him.

[30:51] One of us. That's the Saviour that we're meeting at the Lord's table. And this is the sort of salvation that we're going to commemorate. A salvation that comes from the Son's work and the Father's support behind them.

[31:08] Sometimes we say God was angry with us until Christ died for our sins. And I'm not going to deny that there's a certain truth in that.

[31:19] But you can get the wrong picture if you just put it in these terms. God does not love us because Jesus died for us. Jesus died for us because God loved us.

[31:33] That's where it starts. Not with Jesus dying so that God changes his mind about us and receives us as his friends. it all started with God's love.

[31:44] And he sent his Son to die for us. That's where it originates. And that's what we see here. The Father standing behind the Son upholding him and supporting him and giving everything necessary that he would accomplish that great task.

[32:00] And the salvation that we remember is a salvation that comes from heaven. From the work of Jesus from the work of the Father sending him supporting him upholding him strengthening him encouraging him and from the work of the Spirit too which applies that to our lives.

[32:17] That's the salvation that we're thinking about. A salvation that comes through Jesus with the support of the Father behind them. Now we'll leave it there and we'll come back to this later.

[32:29] But I want to read some verses from Matthew's Gospel chapter 26 which is the account of the institution of the Lord's Supper it says here.

[32:40] Matthew chapter 26 and from verse 26. Now as they were eating Jesus took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body.

[32:55] And he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

[33:09] I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Now how does the story of the transfiguration impinge upon us as we take part in the Lord's Supper?

[33:28] Just in this way that what the Father did for the Son there Jesus does for us too. And he does it in various ways but he does it in part at the Lord's Supper.

[33:43] What does he do? He gives us a foretaste of future glory and he provides us with sympathetic companions. And as I say that comes to us in various ways at different times but it's what we can potentially find in the Lord's Supper when we take part in it.

[34:04] this is the provision of suitable of sympathetic companions. Now what are we doing? We are taking the bread and we are eating it and that bread is a symbol of Christ crucified and by taking it we are saying I need Christ I take him as my own.

[34:25] By eating it and making it ours and feeding upon it we are saying I take Christ and I feed upon him from day to day. I draw my strength from him. I draw my nourishment from him.

[34:36] I draw everything I need from him. And that's what we are all saying together those who are going to participate in the Lord's Supper. And that brings a sense of fellowship.

[34:48] Here is one individual and another saying the same thing and that brings us together. We have got a united confession that we make of Christ. I need him. I am resting upon him.

[34:59] I draw everything I need from him. I recognise that he's the source of life for me at least. We're imperfect in doing that but at least that's what we're expressing. He's the one that I look to as the source of my life.

[35:13] And we're doing it together. Others who can't talk of that experience are not doing it. We are doing it and that gives us a sense of fellowship together.

[35:26] Here we are being provided with sympathetic companions. And this of course is something that was quite big in Scottish tradition. This is why we call this the communion.

[35:37] Now it could be called the Eucharist. It's quite proper to call it the Eucharist and we can call it other things as well. But we can call it the communion because it speaks of communion with Jesus and communion with one another.

[35:51] And especially when we were able to do so and we sat together and took of one loaf there was the idea of unity. It was very much fellowship that was uppermost in our thinking then and that's quite right and proper because as Jesus was supplied with sympathetic companions at the Transfiguration so we are supplied with sympathetic companions at the Lord's Supper.

[36:17] Let's appreciate that fellowship. This is a foretaste of future glory. Now obviously we are going to look to the past and we are not denying that at all.

[36:29] The main thing of this is a commemoration. We look back to the crucifixion and remember the saving events of Christ's last days, last moments on earth. That's the main thing.

[36:41] But even in Jesus thinking the future had a place at that last Passover as we have read. Truly I say to you, oops that's wrong, let me see.

[36:53] I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it with you in my father's kingdom. I'm not going to do this again until the day when I do it in my kingdom.

[37:08] He's looking to the future and he's seeing that occasion as a picture of what is to be. It's a foretaste of future glory for him.

[37:20] And that's the way it can well be for us. To sit down at a table is a common picture of future splendour. Many shall come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

[37:35] And that sitting down means sitting down at a table, reclining at a table as they did in those days. And it's got the picture of a meal, the picture of a feast. That's heaven depicted in that way.

[37:47] And that's the way that Jesus sees it here. Just as I am participating in this festive occasion here below. I'll not do it again until we do it at a higher level above.

[37:59] And so his mind goes from that first Lord's Supper if you like to call it that, to the last Lord's Supper if you like to call it that. It goes from this occasion on earth to the great occasion in heaven when all God's people are gathered round a table as it were enjoying table fellowship together in the glory and splendour of the Lord present with them.

[38:22] A foretaste of future glory. That's what this can be for us. We hope that you'll see it in that way at least to some extent. There's all lots of things you can think of that were appropriate.

[38:33] But I hope that you'll see it in that way and that this will be an encouragement to you as the transfiguration was to Jesus. And that because we've had a sense of fellowship with sympathetic companions and because we've seen this as a pale shadow of something wonderful that is to come, we'll go away from here encouraged and strengthened and more ready than ever to do God's will.

[38:59] May God bless to us his word. Now here's the words of institution of the Lord's Supper from 1 Corinthians 11. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.

[39:12] The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

[39:24] In the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

[39:42] So the Lord Jesus took bread and gave thanks. So let us give thanks. We thank you for everything that has brought us here.

[39:53] For your grace from all eternity that sent your son amongst us on our behalf. We thank you for the way that gospel message has been made real to us through different people's witness.

[40:07] Through the teaching of different preachers. Through the reading of the scriptures. others and in different ways we have been brought to knowledge of the Lord. We thank you that although we have to confess our sin and acknowledge how far short we have come from what we ought to be.

[40:25] Nonetheless we do acknowledge that if we are going to grow and prosper we need to feed upon Christ. Christ. And that's what we seek to express at this time. We pray then that you would be with us in this short ceremony.

[40:40] May it not simply be a ceremony to us but something meaningful that brings us closer to Christ. That makes us more aware of our sympathetic companions and of the future glory that awaits us.

[40:55] May we therefore go away from here encouraged. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Now you've got your bread and wine.

[41:05] Those that are taking part in the Lord's Supper. So the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread and he broke it. And he said take eat.

[41:16] This is my body which is for you. Let us take and eat. Amen. Amen. Amen. In the same way he took the cup saying this cup is a new testament in my blood.

[41:54] Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. This cup is a new testament in my blood. Let's drink together. Amen. Amen. We're going to conclude our service by singing in Psalm 72 in the Scottish Psalter.

[42:50] Psalm 72 from verse 17. Psalm 72 and page 314.

[43:08] Page 314 verses 17 to 19. Let's stand to sing and remain standing for the benediction. Paul. Thank you.