Thank you, Chris. Do keep your Bibles open on that page 844. And we will flip a little bit over to chapter 16 as well, but we'll focus on chapter 9.
!
And this concert was a royal gala, which meant that the Queen was there, I think Prince Philip was there, Prince Charles was there, Camilla was there, and possibly some others.
And we knew they were coming because we had all these security checks in advance. We were very aware that she was there.
But it wasn't until we actually got on stage, we were all in formation, they put us into this big formation to look like we were a big mountain.
And then the curtain went up, and we were sort of singing this new piece that had been written for it.
And we could just see just in the distance, off in the circle, we could just about make out that there was the Queen just there, that's Prince Philip there.
You could just about make the shapes of their heads because you'd seen them on TV.
But you were just only just aware of them.
And that was about as close as we got to her. We were very aware she was around, and the closest we got to her was just seeing her up there in the distance.
Well, last week from Matthew's Gospel, we saw that Jesus is the resurrected King.
We're doing a short series over four weeks, looking at what I'm calling Resurrection Colours.
What does each Gospel tell us about the Resurrection?
And we're taking out just some of the shades that we get from different Gospels about Jesus.
And in Matthew we see Jesus is a risen King.
The Bible's message is that there is a man who has not only gone into death and come back, but actually he has gone into death and come out the other end.
And Matthew's telling us, if you want to understand who this man is, you need to know that he is King.
He has all authority, whether or not you realise it, whether or not you acknowledge it.
This is a man who has all authority and therefore your life is about him, whether or not you realise it.
And I left you with a question, who are you living for, if not for him?
But it's really important to note that this is not a King who is distant, like the Queen was that one day, that one day in my life where I saw her in real life.
The King is not like our Queen in that way.
Now this is a King who relates to his people, because he speaks to his people.
Jesus, the risen King, is also Jesus, the risen prophet.
And that is the emphasis we're going to see in Mark's Gospel.
Just as Matthew's Gospel begins with a list of kings and then ends with talking about his authority,
we've got Mark's Gospel beginning talking about prophets.
Immediately at the beginning of Mark's Gospel, he quotes prophets talking about the one who is to come.
And then we have a focus on Jesus' teaching ministry,
to such an extent that we're not told anything about Jesus' life before he starts teaching,
in Mark's Gospel.
And just as Matthew's Gospel ends talking about Jesus' authority,
Mark's Gospel ends,
well, actually it's quite tricky where Mark's Gospel ends.
You might have seen when we read it,
Chris read up until verse 8,
and everything else had double square brackets around it,
with a footnote saying,
early manuscripts don't contain this bit.
And so,
there's been debate over whether or not that should be included.
And the more research people have done,
the more people have looked at the many, many, many manuscripts available,
it's become clear that Mark's Gospel really should end at verse 8.
So, I was working at the British Library yesterday, just doing some studying,
and if you were to go into their sort of treasures section,
you could go and see something called the Codex Anaiticus,
which is from the 4th century,
and it's under glass and it's stuck on one page.
But if you were to manage to persuade somebody to show you the page that has Mark's Gospel in it,
or you could just go online and look at it,
because they scanned it all online,
you'll see that it ends at verse 8.
Now, this doesn't mean,
if this is new to you and this is worrying,
it doesn't mean that the Bible's authenticity is in any way questionable.
It's actually the opposite.
It's precisely because we have so many manuscripts,
so much data,
that we can be pretty sure that Mark did end at chapter 16,
verse 8.
If you disagree, that's okay,
or if you want me to clarify or give more details,
I can afterwards if you want.
But I'm going to proceed on the basis that it ends at verse 8 of chapter 16,
which means that we don't actually see the risen Jesus in Mark's Gospel.
We just hear about the risen Jesus,
which is significant in itself,
and we'll come to why later.
But it means that the transfiguration account
is what will really help us to understand more about
Jesus as the risen prophet.
Because that is actually the point of the transfiguration.
Straight after the first time Jesus predicted his death and resurrection,
he takes three friends up the mountain,
and he is transfigured.
And the point of the transfiguration,
or at least one of the purposes of it,
is to give them a preview
of what Jesus will be like after the resurrection.
It's a preview of his resurrection glory.
It actually makes it to the end of verse 10.
So they kept the message to themselves,
questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.
It makes that quite ironic,
because they literally just saw what it means.
So what do these two passages,
in Mark chapter 9 and in chapter 16,
tell us about Jesus, the risen prophet?
Well, four things briefly.
First thing, he is the original word.
Jesus is the original word.
Now I am far from being an art expert,
but one thing I have learned,
just in the little I do know,
is that one important thing
when you're looking at a piece of art
is the light.
What does the artist do with the light?
It's partly the genius of the Impressionists.
They do really amazing things with light.
And there's a painting I really enjoy
in the Louvre Museum in Paris
by an artist called De Vitter.
He's a Dutch artist from the 17th century.
And it's the inside of a church.
There are people milling about.
I think there's a dog somewhere.
There's a man digging a tomb
to bury someone inside.
But it's actually, it's an imaginary church.
But the only way you know it's imaginary
is the light.
Because the light is coming in
from the side of the church,
not from either end of the church.
The whole point of the painting
is him saying,
what if we just weren't so much
dictated about tradition
that says churches should face east
and just got on with the job?
The Bible never says
to face a church east.
So why are we bothering doing it?
Now that's partly the point of it.
But the only way you know that
is the light.
And we should look at
where the light is coming from
in this passage.
The light is coming from Jesus.
He is the radiant one.
He is the one who is glowing.
He is the one who is transfigured.
Moses, who was standing right next to him,
he had shone himself as well.
His face had shone.
But his face was reflecting glory.
Jesus is the one whose glory
Moses had reflected.
He is the original word.
He is the original glory.
The original one they were speaking about
all these years.
He is the basis of all the prophecy
that had come before him.
So he's the original word.
He's also the ultimate message.
He is the one all the prophets
were promising
over all those centuries.
So secondly,
he's the ultimate message.
Look at verse 3 of chapter 9.
And his clothes became radiant,
intensely white.
And then he just adds this comment.
As no one on earth
could bleach them.
And if you jump down
to the bottom of the page
to the footnote,
which is even tinier,
it says,
Greek launderer,
or it's literally a fuller.
So no fuller on earth
or no fuller in the land
could make them any whiter.
That's literally what Mark is saying.
Why would he add that comment?
The more I thought about it,
the more I'm convinced
that he is deliberately
just giving little echoes
to other prophets
who had spoken
of the one who was to come.
Isaiah the prophet
had said that God
would make Israel's crimson sin
as white as snow,
as white as wool.
And here,
beyond death,
lies one who is
as dazzling white
as it can possibly get.
Not in racial terms,
obviously.
He's talking about
the purity of his holiness.
Here is a promise
of what lies beyond death
in the resurrection.
You can't get purer
than what lies there.
Also,
the prophet Malachi,
he said that
when the Lord came,
it would be like
a refiner's fire
and a fuller's soap
and who can abide
the day of his coming.
And now,
he stands one who,
as the Lord,
is as awesome in purity
as you can get.
And he is a man
who doesn't need
to be purified
at all.
He is the one
who can stand,
he can abide
the day of the Lord's coming
because he is so
pure and perfect.
He is the one
the prophet
had been speaking of,
both as the Lord
and the man
who can stand
before the Lord.
Moses as well,
who was standing
right there next to him,
supernaturally,
he had spoken
of a prophet
who would be
greater than he,
one who would come
and be greater.
Which leads me
to a third thing
we can learn.
He is the final prophet.
Jesus is the final prophet.
Moses had predicted
a greater prophet
than he who was to come.
So Moses wasn't saying,
I am the greatest prophet
and then somebody else
comes and said,
no, actually I am.
Moses himself said,
somebody greater than I
is coming.
And later on,
we see another
remarkable prophet,
Elijah,
who is also standing
right there next to Jesus.
And he had a remarkable
ministry.
But he also faced
great opposition
from the authorities
at the time.
After a great event
on Mount Carmel,
Queen Jezebel says,
go and kill him.
And he falls
into a depression.
I wonder whether
maybe he had suspected
that he might have
been the greater prophet.
And he goes
to the same mountain
that Moses had gone up
to hear those words
from God.
And Elijah sees
much of what
Moses saw.
He saw fire
and earthquake
and wind.
And after the fire
came a still,
small voice
or basically
nothing,
nothing new
was said.
Elijah is told,
no, you keep
preaching the message
that you've had
the whole time.
You're not getting
a greater message.
You are not
the greater prophet.
You're getting
nothing.
You keep the message
you've had
because the greater prophet
is still to come.
And one day,
I'll show you
who he is.
And here he is
seeing who this
greater prophet
is.
And if we think
about the end
of the Gospel of Mark,
we don't see Jesus.
We see the women
going to hear
from an angel
that Jesus is risen.
And they are told,
go and tell the apostles.
And the last thing
we see is
they go off,
they're full of fear,
and they don't tell
anything to anyone.
And you could read
that in different ways.
Is that possibly
that actually
they disobey
the command
because they're
too scared?
Or might it be,
probably to fit
better with
what we see
in the other Gospels,
is that they are
so in awe
of what has happened
and so committed
to the task
they've been given
that they don't
tell anyone
on their way
to tell the disciples.
They know
their focus now,
tell the disciples
that Jesus has risen.
And they are not
at all distracted
from the people
they might see
on the street.
They go straight
to the disciples.
Because Jesus
is the final prophet
and the apostles
are his messengers.
They are the ones
who then go
and spread the news.
These disciples
would be the ones
not to add
to the prophecy,
but to be
the final interpreters,
the final communicators
of this message.
Which is why
we have the Bible,
the New Testament.
The apostles
recorded
their teaching
here in the
New Testament.
And so this is
what the women
have to do.
They have to go
and get the message
to them
so that we can
then have them
have the message
recorded.
The message
of this final prophet
recorded.
And here is
God's voice
to Peter
and James
and John.
Hear him.
Hear this
final prophet.
Yes,
hear Moses
insofar as
he is pointing
to this final prophet.
Yes,
hear Elijah
insofar as
he is pointing
to this final prophet,
Jesus.
And then
everyone was
to hear
the apostles
who would
communicate
the message.
Insofar as
you hear
anyone
preaching
faithfully
what the
apostles
passed on,
you are
hearing the
voice of
Jesus.
Mark was
most likely
a friend
of Peter
and a disciple
of Peter
and he
heard Peter.
And so
through Peter
he heard
Christ
and he
recorded
that for us.
He is
saying hear
him.
He is
making it
very clear
that this
is the
final
word.
This
is the
final
prophet.
That
Muhammad
is not
the
final
prophet.
And it's
not Joseph
Smith.
And it's
not Charles
Russell.
And it's
not Oprah
Winfrey.
And it's
not Barack
Obama.
It's nobody
else.
There is
no final
prophet
after Jesus.
God is
making it
absolutely
clear with
this great
voice coming
out of
heaven.
Yes,
you see
Moses and
Elijah.
And Peter
might think
this is
wonderful.
Let's
keep Moses
and Elijah
with us.
Let's
keep you
in the
tent as
well.
And we'll
have everyone
maybe come
and visit.
Or we can
just stay
here on our
own.
We don't
quite know
why he
said it.
And we're
told he
doesn't
really know
why he
said it.
But he
thought this
is just
so wonderful
that we've
got Moses
and Elijah
here.
And the
voice says,
no,
this is my
beloved son.
Hear him.
And only
Jesus is
left.
We're
saying hear
him.
If you're
hearing anything
that contradicts
with Jesus,
you're hearing
the wrong
thing.
Hear him.
So we've
seen that he
is the
original word.
We've seen
he's the
ultimate
message.
He's the
final prophet.
And then
finally,
he's the
greatest voice.
He is the
greatest voice.
We live in a
world where we
are surrounded
by voices.
You'll look
around and
you'll see
adverts
everywhere.
You'll switch
on the TV
or just go
online.
And whether
it's on the
BBC or on
Netflix or
anything,
you will be
invited to hear
all kinds of
different
messages.
You will be
invited into
worlds where
there are
different gods.
You might be
invited into a
world through
a TV program
where the
god there is
power or
maybe money or
sex or
anything or
maybe there's
just no god
and it's all
hopeless and
it just brings
you into
despair.
But here we
have the
real world
where God
is king and
we are told
hear him.
The whole
world wants
to tell you
don't listen
to him,
listen to
me.
And God
is saying
don't listen
to anyone
else,
hear him.
That is the
one you should
listen to.
Don't believe
that the
world's
created in
the books
you read
or in the
TV shows
you watch
as entertaining
as they can
be and as
interesting as
they can be
and as far
as they
contradict what
Jesus is
saying and
present to
your world
where there
is no god
or there
is another
god.
Don't hear
them,
hear him.
You might
think I
can't hear
him.
I read
this and I
just can't
hear him
at all.
Do trust
that it's
possible to
hear him.
All kinds
of people
heard Jesus.
A deaf
man heard
Jesus when
he said
open up to
his ears.
A dead
girl heard
Jesus when
he said
honey it's
time to
get up.
She heard
him.
A dead
man in
a tomb
had been
there for
days.
He heard
Jesus and
got up
when Jesus
spoke.
It's
possible to
hear him
if you're
listening for
his voice.
So hear
him.
So last
week I
asked you
who are
you living
for if
not for
him?
And so
consider who
are you
listening to?
What are
you listening
to?
If not
Jesus.
So that's
more of
what we
can see
from the
resurrection.
Here's
another
resurrection
colour.
Jesus is
the risen
prophet.
And we
hear him
as we
hear the
words of
scripture.
As the
apostles handed
down those
words to
us.
And here
we can
hear him
and come
to life
and share
this glory
ultimately
in the
resurrection
that he
promises
himself
to bring
us to.