Now, the scripture reading this morning, which covers that episode that we were just hearing about, is Matthew 17, verses 1-13.
If you're like me, retention is enhanced if the eye gate is engaged, as well as the ear gate, so I hope you'll read along with me.
Matthew 17, verses 1-13.
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.
And the disciples asked him, Then why do 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.
This is the word of the Lord.
Amen.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Dave.
I'm one of the pastors, if I haven't met you before.
A kind of cold, but hopefully warm welcome to you.
Why don't we pray as we come to God's word?
Let's pray.
Lord, coming out of another week, or going into another one as well,
I'm assuming that we're all coming from different places,
from living in a broken world.
Lord, some of us will just be weighed down with a sense of guilt and failure.
Others will just be overwhelmed, not sure what's going on.
Lord, others will be just so in love with something in this world
that even as we come to your word, not expecting to get anything out of it.
Lord, some of us, our sight of Jesus has grown cold.
For some of us, we're just feeling shame.
Lord, please speak to each one of us.
Send your Holy Spirit to speak through your word
so that we might see the Lord Jesus as our life.
In his name I pray.
Amen.
Well, a friend once asked me what my favourite song about heaven was.
And the song that came to my mind was I Know by King's Kaleidoscope.
I don't know if you know it.
I'll read a bit of the lyrics.
I won't sing it to you.
I've been given a taste for something that nothing in this world can satisfy.
But I know that a time is coming when I will be in glorious delight.
I know I will run through heaven's streets of gold shouting hallelujah, Christ alone.
I know I will dance and sing and bow before the throne.
This, yeah, this I know.
Oh.
But how do I know?
How can you know?
Especially when life is just not working out how you hoped for,
which I'm assuming that's all of us in this room.
How can you know when the anxious thoughts aren't taken away,
no matter how much you pray?
How can you know you're going to be in glorious delight one day?
When you gradually lose all things in your older years,
how can you know when you're surrounded by that kind of sense of darkness,
when you commit the same sin this week as you did last week?
How can we know when others who don't follow Jesus seem happier and healthier,
when you try and speak Jesus' truth out of love into people's heart,
but then the ones you love distance themselves from you because you're trying to do that.
It seems far from glorious.
How can we know that one day we're going to be dancing and singing
and bowing before the throne?
I think this passage we're coming to, what we call the transfiguration,
is just one gracious, God-given reason to help us know.
Someone described this passage as like the whole gospel in a microcosm,
so I feel a bit intimidated by that.
We can't unpack everything here.
There's just so much in here.
But amidst the darkness of living in a sinful world,
we are given this glimpse into heaven.
I think first, we can have no doubt about who Jesus is.
And second, we see that we can know that suffering is God's appointed pathway to glory.
We can have no doubt about who Jesus is.
And we can know that this is the pathway to glory.
So let's get into the story.
It's really uncommon in the Gospels to find a specific time reference.
So six days later in verse 1.
So six days after he has been confessed to be the Christ,
after he has made plain his plan to suffer and die,
and after he has called all who would follow him to die to self and die to the world,
we're given this six days later.
These are dark days.
There's been wonderful things that have happened in the past three years of his ministry,
all the healing and everything that has happened.
But he's now talking about his death.
He's now saying you need to die to self and the world.
There's a lot of gloom.
These are the last few weeks of his life.
But for a brief moment, we get to look into his nature before he entered this world.
For a brief moment, we get to see what Jesus is like this very moment in heaven.
For a brief moment, we get a glimpse of what all people are going to see one day when he returns,
when every knee will bow when they see him like this.
They will confess he is Lord.
We get this glimpse.
You don't need to wait for a dream or a vision by the Holy Spirit to see into heaven
if you realise that this is recorded for you.
This is recorded for our sake.
So Jesus takes with him Peter, James and John up a high mountain.
These three were something of the inner circle of the twelve,
but I first wondered why only three?
Why not the rest of the disciples?
But I think a better question is, why did he take anyone with him at all?
There's other really significant events that happened to Jesus that no one was with him for,
and the Holy Spirit records it for us, like his temptation in the wilderness,
or him praying in the Garden of Gethsemane when the disciples are asleep.
Why did he take three with him?
I think he took three.
The fact that he takes three of the disciples with him suggests that what happens here isn't primarily for his sake.
He didn't need confirmation.
It's primarily for their sake and for our sake, reading the Gospel today.
There are plenty of people who claim to have had visions of heaven,
but the problem with that is Scripture tells us the adversary, Satan can appear as an angel of light.
Can you really trust that, what one person says?
Can you even trust your own experience?
You've got to test it with a grain of salt, according to Scripture.
But here we have three witnesses.
This isn't happening in their minds.
Three witnesses are saying,
this is what happened.
This phenomenon happened.
The word vision is used in verse 9,
but that doesn't mean that this was some out-of-body experience.
That word vision can just mean what they saw with their eyes.
Here we can have three eyewitnesses saying,
this happened.
You can have confidence in this.
He was transfigured before them,
and his face shone like the sun,
and his clothes became white as light.
How are you going to make sense of that?
Where does that fit in your categories of reality?
When we say a lady is,
a girl is glowing and radiant,
we are not meaning that we're scared
that if we keep looking,
our retinas are going to be burnt.
We're not meaning that.
But they are.
I just had a go.
Preparing this week,
I just had a go.
I'm not encouraging this,
especially children,
but I had a go at staring at the sun for a second.
One second, I was like,
no, I'm out.
I don't want to go blind.
His face shone like the sun.
What is that?
Where are you going to fit that in your category of Jesus,
of reality?
I think there could be two barriers to knowing what to do with this.
I think one barrier is to make a joke of it,
like the memes,
and people say,
like, oh, who does his laundry?
That's a pretty poor joke.
Thanks, Matt.
But why make a joke about this?
I wonder if it's very similar to why we call the top student in our class a nerd.
Like, oh, we try and make fun of them.
I think because they're a threat.
Because their brilliance shines on our inadequacy,
and they're a threat.
So I think if you make a joke about this,
really,
it's just you're trying to avoid the threat of what is going on here.
Can I encourage you?
Don't do that.
Just take a look.
Take a long, hard look.
The second barrier may be simply we don't know the Old Testament imagery
that is just packed into this passage.
And maybe we don't want to know,
because it is threatening,
but maybe we just don't know.
That could be another barrier.
Because when the Israelites were set free from Egypt,
the Lord travelled with them in a bright cloud,
the glory cloud,
that looked like a cloud by day,
but fire by night.
And this cloud destroyed Egypt's army.
When they arrived at Mount Sinai,
when this cloud descended on the mountain,
it turned into like a volcano,
and it was shaking,
and no one was to go up that mountain.
If they did,
God would break out against them.
Even Moses said,
let me have a look.
And God says,
no,
you will die.
He only saw the back of God,
and he came back glowing,
his face glowing,
which dimmed over time.
Something like the moon reflecting the light.
Then we've also got the prophet Elijah.
In 1 Kings 19,
he had an encounter with God up on Mount Horeb.
He heard powerful phenomena,
and heard his voice,
and here we are going up a high mountain again
with these two men who encountered God.
Here we have the bright cloud,
the glory cloud,
that produces terror when you hear his voice.
But what's different?
What's different here to Moses and Elijah's day?
The divine splendour
is now radiating out of a person.
The Apostle Paul met this same blinding light
during the middle of the day.
He was blinded by it when Jesus showed himself.
Psalm 104 says,
you are clothed with splendour and majesty,
covering yourself with light
as with a garment.
This guy bursts any category of angel.
He bursts any category of prophet.
What we see here is what Hebrews 1
puts in a statement form.
He is the radiance of the glory of God.
The exact imprint of his nature.
He is not like a Moses and Elijah
who point to ultimate reality.
He is ultimate reality.
I found what historian N.T. Wright said,
I found it helpful.
How can you live with the terrifying thought
that the hurricane has become human,
that fire has become flesh,
that life, capital L, life itself,
became life and walked in our midst?
Christianity either means that
or it means nothing.
It is either the most devastating disclosure
of the deepest reality of the world
or it is a sham, a nonsense,
a bit of deceitful play acting.
Most of us, unable to cope with saying
either of those things,
condemn ourselves to live in the shadow world
in between.
How are you going to make sense of this Jesus?
Why is it so threatening?
I think it's threatening because it displaces self
or anything else from the centre of your world,
of my world.
To know him, to live for him
is what life is all about.
He's a threat because he displaces self and the world.
I think he's also a threat because
it exposes any impurity in us.
And Peter, true to form,
puts his foot in his mouth
just to demonstrate for us.
But verse 4,
he offers to build three tents,
three tabernacles can be the word.
One for Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
And he might be thinking of the Jewish Feast of Booths,
which was to remember the wilderness period
before getting to the Promised Land.
And so that was,
to live in tents was to look forward
to the kingdom coming.
So his offer to build tents was actually,
it wasn't a bad one.
It's not what he said
in terms of building tents
that he was rebuked for.
Mark's Gospel adds an interesting detail.
Peter said this because he did not know what to say
for they were terrified.
They were terrified of the glory
that they saw in this Jesus.
And do you remember what the tabernacle was for?
What was the temple for?
It was so that God could live with his people,
but not too close.
You had to keep distance from this holy God.
Otherwise, he will break out and consume sinful people.
Now, that might sound a bit yuck and offensive
that God would,
that such brilliance would kill sinful people,
but just like staring into the sun.
Like, my physical eyes just can't cope
with the brilliance of that.
So too spiritually,
we were made to be in God's presence.
We were made for that,
to be able to handle it.
But because of our sinful nature,
because of our sin,
we just can't cope.
The good news is that Jesus has come
so that we can cope again,
to restore us.
So Peter's saying,
let's build three tents,
three tabernacles.
I think what he's saying is,
we want to stay and enjoy this,
but we need protection.
We need a bit of a barrier here.
There's too much glory for us to handle.
And if they felt unworthy
seeing Jesus' face shine like the sun,
they must have been terrified
when that cloud came towards them.
Like, they're with Moses and Elijah.
They would know what,
I assume they knew who was coming.
And then they hear God's voice
and they fell on their faces,
filled with terror.
Stop speaking, Peter.
You think you're being respectful,
but you're uttering blasphemy
to put Jesus alongside Moses and Elijah.
This is my beloved son,
with whom I am well pleased.
Listen to him.
And then they only saw Jesus.
His error was to try and reduce Jesus
to lawgiver or prophet.
No.
They were servants.
He is the son of God.
They experienced the glory of God.
He is the glory of God.
So how did these finite,
sinful disciples survive this encounter with God?
I think we get a little glimpse of it
with Jesus coming and touching
and restoring them
and offering them a word of peace.
I think the opening to John's gospel
helps us understand
from his fullness
we have all received grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses,
but grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ.
A better mediator than Moses is here.
A better mediator.
One who in his own being
combines God and man.
A better mediator than the law.
Because when the law comes close to you,
it exposes all the ways
that I've broken the law.
It condemns.
But this mediator,
when he comes close,
we're terrified of him getting close.
But what we find,
if we let him,
is he says,
have no fear.
Rise,
have no fear.
You're in the presence of God.
Have no fear.
How is that possible?
You are accepted.
It's possible because of what his mission is.
The father's soul delights in his son
and that includes his son's mission
so that you and I can have no fear
in the presence of God.
And that brings us to
verses 9 to 13,
which
I'm not sure I fully understand it.
I'm going to admit that.
I don't know.
I think overall,
we can understand what's going on.
But they're complex verses.
These disciples have no doubt
of who Jesus is.
But what is clear,
they can't comprehend yet
how God's pathway to glory
includes suffering.
So on the way back down the mountain,
the lights have gone off,
so to speak.
They're entering the gloom again.
Jesus again talks about his death.
Now how much they understood about Elijah,
I'm not sure.
But
Jesus answers the deeper question.
Even if they weren't asking the deep question,
he answers the question,
at least they should have been asking.
Because the last thing we read
in the Old Testament
is a promise that Elijah will come
and restore all things.
He will turn the hearts back.
Whereas the first Elijah
who was sent,
even though he was
an awesome prophet,
Israel didn't turn
from idolatry
to serve God again.
Now there was some,
there was a remnant who did,
but overall
it was a failure.
But the last promise we get
in the Old Testament is
when Elijah comes,
he will restore all things.
So the question is,
how,
if all Israel
are restored back to God,
how could then
people
cause God's king
to suffer?
If they're worshipping God,
how could they reject his king?
I think,
stepping back,
they're kind of asking,
how can success
and suffering
go together?
They seem mutually exclusive.
So,
trying to paraphrase
Jesus' answer,
yes,
Elijah comes first,
John the Baptist.
And yes,
his mission
was a success.
People did repent.
But,
just like the prophets
of old,
God's will
was for his mission
not to
avoid
suffering and rejection,
his mission
was accomplished
in the midst of,
even because of
suffering and rejection.
So you should think
of my mission.
Don't think success
and suffering
can't go together.
It is God's
appointed pathway
to glory.
If we compare
how people
in this world
see suffering
to success
to what
God does,
we have totally
different two
points of view.
In the play,
Jesus Christ Superstar,
apparently,
I haven't seen it,
but I've heard
this is the case.
I watched the little
clip on YouTube
for this scene
and when Jesus
comes to Pilate,
Pilate says
these words,
who is this
broken man
cluttering up
my hallways.
So this is
Jesus Christ.
I'm really
quite surprised.
You look so small.
Not a king at all.
It's powerful.
You look so small.
You're not a king at all.
I've got the power
to crucify.
That's how the world
sees suffering
and success.
But when the
father looks at
his son
choosing to go
to the cross,
he is pleased
with his son.
It's not in spite
of suffering.
It's because
he chose to suffer
that his mission
is his success.
I think the big
point we should
take away from this
is we can be
sure that God's
appointed pathway
to glory
is through
suffering.
It's always
been the case
for the prophets
before.
Our life depends
on the fact
that Jesus
died for us
and his call
for us to follow
him and take up
our cross,
we should be
sure it really
is the pathway
to glory.
So how
should we
respond to
what we've
seen in this
event?
I'm going to
suggest three
ways.
First,
we should
marvel at his
self-humiliation
for your sake.
Like for a
brief moment,
we see
who he is,
like his
nature,
his face
shone like
the sun.
Not only
does he
become an
ordinary human
being,
not only
does he
associate with
nobodies and
sinful people,
he became so
small,
not a king
at all.
The light
was extinguished
for our
sake,
so that he
could say to
us,
rise and have
no fear.
I've dealt
with your
sin,
I've dealt
with your
impurity.
You don't
have to be
afraid of
God.
You can
have full
access to
him and
have joy
in his
presence,
no fear,
all because
this blazing
sun emptied
himself.
even though
we once
loved the
darkness,
this
son of
God
gave it
all up
so that
he could
unite us
to himself.
This is
something I've
been blown
away with.
We're told
elsewhere in
scripture,
we're united
to Jesus
closer than
marriage,
closer than
one body.
this is the
Jesus we're
united to.
I can't
quite get my
head around
that.
He lost
it all to
bring us
that far
into glory.
He's already
told us in
Matthew 13,
the parable
of the
wheat and
the chaff,
is it?
That sounds
right.
The end of
that parable
is when the
kingdom comes,
the righteous
will shine
like the
sun.
That's
incredible.
We're going
to share
in this
glory.
So the
first thing
is we
need to
marvel at
his self
humiliation
for our
sake.
And if
we marvel
at him,
if we see
that he is
ultimate
reality,
he is
life,
capital
L
life,
then we
must listen
to him
to find
life,
to obey
him.
Listen
also means
obey.
To obey
him is
always
choosing
life.
You
never have
to choose
between
life and
following
Jesus.
They're the
same choice.
In
comparison
to his
light,
everything
else is
just like
tinsel in
Christmas.
We think
it's gold.
It's not.
Look at
his light.
Now,
it doesn't
feel that
way,
does it?
It doesn't
feel that
way when
we just
don't want
to let
go of
what we
know Jesus
is calling
us to.
It doesn't
feel like
that.
But looking
at him,
we should
trust that
choosing to
listen to
him is
always
choosing
life.
And so
I suggest
invite him
in.
Where don't
you want
him to
speak
into?
Where's
the last
place you
would want
him to
speak
into?
Why don't
you go
command me?
Because I
know what
you say is
life.
So we
should marvel
at his
self-humiliation.
We should
listen to him
because it's
always choosing
the path to
glory.
It's always
choosing life.
And finally,
I think we
ought to
trust that
when we
follow him,
no matter
how dark
it is,
glory is
at work.
Not giving
up the
struggle with
our sins,
even with
sickness and
anxious thoughts
aren't taken
away.
When the
relational cost
of following
Jesus is
real and
high,
it will
feel very
dark.
work,
but we
can be
sure it's
the pathway
to glory.
Glory is
at work.
In us,
but also
more than
just in
us.
If he
is our
life,
if he is
our joy,
then we
want others
to see his
life through
us.
And some
of the best
opportunities to
do that is
when we're
in the
darkness.
And people
say,
what is
the hope
that you
have?
So amidst
the darkness,
here in this
passage, we've
been given
this glimpse
of heaven.
I've been
given a
taste for
something that
nothing in
this world
can satisfy.
But I
know,
I know
that a time
is coming
when I will
be in
glorious
delight.
let's
marvel at
his
self-humiliation.
Let's
listen to
him because
it's always
choosing life
and let's
trust him
that as
painful as
it is,
glory is at
work in
us and
through us
to bring
others into
the life of
knowing him.
Let's pray.
Lord, in
the splendour of
how you've
shown yourself
in your
word today,
I pray
particularly for
those who
are really
afraid that
their sin is
too great and
too constant
to really have
no fear in
your presence.
I pray that
your word
would pierce
through that
and reassure
that you
really have
paid it all
and that
we can
call on you
as father.
Lord, give
that deep
assurance so
that we
can let
go of
what we
cling to
so much
in this
world so
that others
might see
the light
that we
have through
us.
I pray
this in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.