Good morning, everyone. It's great to gather with you to worship. Please turn with me in your
! Bibles to Matthew chapter 17. If you're visiting, my name is Sean. I'm one of the pastors of Trinity
! Cambridge Church. It's my great joy and honor to preach God's Word to you this morning. If you don't
have a Bible, you can raise your hand. We'll give you a copy that you can have. We need one over here.
David, thank you for getting that. I was texting with Pastor Kyle Huber, who preached at one of
our retreats a couple years ago. He told me that I think they're not meeting because they're in New
Jersey. They're snowed out and they canceled. He said, you're probably the only Sovereign Grace
Church that's having service this morning east of New Mexico and north of Florida.
But hey, they canceled our rental permit, but we didn't know. We showed up this morning. The
custodian wasn't there. And we called him and he came and opened the door for us. He didn't know
that it was canceled either. So praise God. So he's letting us meet. They changed at last minute
because the first email was saying that only after 1 p.m. permits are canceled, but now everything is
canceled. But here we are. So they're letting us meet graciously. I'm so grateful to God for that.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word. Heavenly Father, we are here
because you have the words of eternal life and there is no one else to whom we can turn.
Lord, we are here because salvation is found in Christ, in Jesus alone. And we are here to behold
him. So Lord, exalt your name and exalt your son. Fix our eyes on him as we pay attention and listen
to your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please stand if you are able to honor God as I read from
Matthew 17, 1 through 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 God's holy and
authoritative word. Please be seated. There's a popular class of YouTube videos that often go viral.
And it's the kind where someone who is very famous and talented in something goes undercover to surprise
people. Do you know the, I mean, sure you know the kind of videos I'm talking about. The all NBA,
all-star point guard, you know, gets professional makeup done to look like an 80-year-old grandpa.
And then he goes to some basketball court in Chicago and then jukes and dunks on all the street
ballers, you know. And a Grammy-winning singer disguises herself as a homey accountant.
And then she goes into a karaoke bar and starts singing all of her own songs to the amazement of
all the people at the bar, you know. Or an elite power lifter who, I was talking about with this
Aubrey the other day, an elite power lifter who goes undercover as a janitor at a gym.
And then, and then proceeds to outlift every hulking gym bro in the gym.
And at the end, there's a great reveal and cheers all around as people stand in awe and get autographs
and take selfies with these people. I think this kind of video appeals to people for a number of
reasons, but a main one certainly is that, that element of surprise and satisfaction that you get
when a celebrity's true talent and identity is recognized in a genuine unscripted encounter.
There's a sense of validation and vindication.
The transfiguration of Jesus we see in Matthew 17 is kind of like that.
Jesus walked this earth as a son of man.
Isaiah 53 said that there is no beauty or majesty to attract us to him in his earthly appearance.
And that wasn't a disguise, of course. Jesus really took on human flesh.
But nonetheless, by emptying himself and taking the form of a servant, being found in human form,
as it says in Philippians 2, Jesus' divine glory was veiled from those around him.
This is why shortly before his death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus prays in John 17, verse 5,
Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
That eternal glory of the Son of God was veiled during his life and ministry here on earth.
And that's partly why so many people did not recognize him.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
John 1, 10.
In the preceding passage, Jesus declared to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed,
and on the third day be raised.
And that prediction flew in the face of all Jewish first century messianic expectations.
The Messiah was supposed to come and conquer.
He was supposed to come and judge.
He was supposed to come and rule.
He was supposed to overthrow the Roman oppressors and restore Israel to its dynastic glory.
Trying to get Jesus' disciples to understand this aspect of Christ's mission was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
They couldn't wrap their minds right.
So much so, as we saw in last week's passage that Ed preached on, Peter even rebuked Jesus.
Jesus, stop with this nonsense.
Far be from you.
This will never happen to you.
What are you talking about?
You're the Christ.
You just told me I was right.
You're the Christ, the son of the living God.
How can you go suffer at the hands of the chief priests and the scribes?
And how can you die?
Remember what you told me?
On this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
You and me, that's us.
We're going all the way.
Nothing can stop us.
And then Jesus splashes cold water in Peter's face, proverbially speaking, to wake him up from his Satan-inspired delusions.
Get behind me, Satan.
You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
This would have caused much confusion and consternation.
How can the glorious son of God suffer and die?
It's impossible.
It's not supposed to happen.
A suffering son of man cannot be the glorious son of God.
Or can he?
As doubt and insecurity creep into the minds of the disciples, God peels back the veil
and reveals the radiance of Christ's divine glory.
And as Christ is transfigured before the eyes of Peter, James, and John,
he is validated and he is vindicated as the son of God.
This is who he is, no matter what happens to him in the coming days.
And that's the main point of this passage.
The suffering son of man is the glorious son of God to whom we should listen.
I'm going to first talk about the glorious son of God in verses 1 to 8.
And then secondly, I'll talk about the suffering son of man in verses 9 to 13.
But I'm going to give most of my time to that first eight verses.
Verse 1 begins,
As Ed noted last week, in all three of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
the transfiguration of Jesus occurs right on the heels of Peter's confession
and Jesus' prediction of his suffering and death and resurrection.
So the phrase, after six days, intentionally ties the transfiguration
back to that pronouncement by Jesus.
The transfiguration in this way serves as a foretaste of,
foretaste of the fulfillment of the coming of the kingdom of God in power
after Jesus' death and resurrection and ascension.
In Luke 19, 12, Jesus tells a parable that's meant to be a corrective to people
who suppose that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
Jesus says to them,
A noble man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.
Jesus speaking of himself.
He's going to go into a far country.
He's going to die.
He's going to be raised.
He's going to ascend to the right hand of the Father.
And he's going to be that son of man in Daniel 7, 13, 14,
approach to God, the ancient of days,
and receive from him eternal dominion and authority and a kingdom.
That's when the son of man comes into his kingdom
and the kingdom comes in power.
And this is why immediately before he is crucified,
Jesus says this in Matthew 26, 64,
from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power
and coming on the clouds of heaven.
So that's the fulfillment,
but the transfiguration is a foretaste and a preview of that coming reality.
It's like a movie trailer.
It's not the full thing,
but it's made up of the real thing.
It's a glimpse of the real thing.
Verse 1 continues,
And after six days,
Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Jesus usually travels everywhere with his 12 apostles,
but there are especially intimate occasions
when he takes only his inner circle of Peter, James, and John.
For example, three occasions are noted in the Synoptic Gospels
when he is raising up Jairus' daughter from the dead.
He only has with him Peter, James, and John.
When he goes into the Garden of Gethsemane
and leaves the rest of the apostles there to go in further
to pray and agonize before God,
he only takes with him Peter, James, and John.
And so likewise, here at the transfiguration,
it's only Peter, James, and John who get to behold this vision.
And why these three in particular?
It doesn't say,
but they are each crucial foundational building blocks
of the church of Christ.
Peter, as we talked about a few weeks ago,
is the leader among the apostles.
He's the tip of the spear.
He's the one, he's the rock on whom Jesus said,
I will build my church.
James is the first of the 12 apostles
to be martyred in Acts chapter 12, verse 1.
And John is the beloved disciple
who wrote the last gospel, the gospel of John,
and the last book of the Bible, the Revelation.
He is known as the apostle of love and light
because those themes of love and light
dominate his letters and all of his writings.
And they're prominent themes,
more prominent in John's writings
than any other New Testament authors.
It's these three that go along with Jesus
up a high mountain by themselves.
And I think having three of them is no accident
because according to biblical Old Testament criteria,
a charge may be established only on the testimony
of two or three witnesses, Deuteronomy 17, 6.
So three is in one sense the minimal number
of witnesses that is required
to give credible testimony regarding the transfiguration
of Jesus and his identity as the son of God.
So recounting this event later in 2 Peter 1, 16 to 18,
Peter writes,
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths
when we made known to you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father
and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory,
this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.
We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven
for we were with him on the holy mountain.
So there needed to be three
to bear witness to who Jesus is, his identity.
And what is this holy mountain
where the transfiguration takes place?
Mountains are often the place of divine revelation,
divine encounter in scripture.
The high mountains function in some ways
as a halfway point, a bridge between heaven and earth.
In fact, you could write and trace
almost the entire redemptive history
from just looking at what happens on mountains in scripture.
The first creation, the Garden of Eden,
was on a mountain.
Genesis doesn't tell us that,
but Ezekiel 28, 13 to 14 does.
It says that Eden, the Garden of God,
was on the holy mountain of God.
And then after humanity's fall
and after their utter depravity,
God judges the earth with a flood covering it.
And after the floodwaters subside
and new creation is born,
and where is that new creation born?
On the mountain,
mountain of Ararat.
And of course, one of the most famous mountains,
Mount Horeb,
which is frequently called the Mountain of God
and known, better known as Mount Sinai,
the two probably just refer to the same.
Sinai might refer to the region
because there is also called Wilderness of Sinai.
And maybe Horeb is the peak in a similar way.
Mount Everest is the peak within the Himalayas.
It was at Horeb that God appeared to Moses
in the burning bush in Exodus 3.
It was in Horeb that God,
that descended in the cloud of smoke
and fire and thunder and lightning and earthquake
in Exodus 19 to 24
to give to Israelites the Ten Commandments.
It was at Horeb that Moses, Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu,
and the 70 elders of Israel
ascended at least partway up Mount Horeb in Exodus
to behold God
and to eat with Him.
It was from Horeb that God declared His name
and passed before Moses
declaiming the Lord, the Lord,
the compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger and abounding
in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Exodus 34.
Similarly, it was at Horeb in 1 Kings 19
when after confronting the prophets of Baal
and defeating them in a spectacular showdown,
Elijah flees Jezebel,
who is trying to kill him.
He ends up at Mount Horeb
where the Lord God meets with Elijah
and speaks to him.
And similar to how Moses took up Aaron,
and Nadab, and Abihu up Mount Horeb
to see God,
here Jesus takes Peter, James, and John
up a high mountain
to behold the divine glory of the Son.
And it says in verse 2
that Jesus was transfigured before them
and His face shone like the sun
and His clothes became white as light.
Only heavenly beings are described
in such a manner.
Only those who are in the presence of God Himself
in His throne room.
At Jesus' resurrection and ascension,
angelic beings appear
and they are described in Matthew 28 verse 3
as having an appearance like lightning
and His clothing white as snow.
This is the glory that prophet Daniel saw
in his vision of the Son of Man.
In Daniel chapter 10 verse 5 to 6,
This man was clothed in linen.
His body was like beryl.
His face like the appearance of lightning.
His eyes like flaming torches.
Try to imagine that for a moment.
Jesus is transfigured before your very eyes.
His face shines like the sun.
Imagine that brilliance.
People say that a tiny piece of the sun
the size of a thumbnail
is brighter,
is as bright as a million candles
shining at once.
We can't even stare at the sun
without its brilliant light
burning our retina.
The sun is the brightest thing
people see day after day.
The only thing brighter than the sun
is lightning.
The face of Jesus
when it shines with divine glory
is compared to both the sun
and the lightning
in the scriptures
because they're the brightest things
known to human experience.
And what is this supposed to reveal
about Jesus?
What Peter declared earlier on?
That he is the Christ,
the Son of God.
Because God is described
in Psalm 104 verse 2
as covering himself with light,
as with a garment.
Because as 1 Timothy 6.16 says,
God dwells in unapproachable light.
1 John 1.5,
God is light
and in him is no darkness at all.
These descriptions capture
the perfect holiness
and radiance of God.
In God there is no imperfection,
no blemish,
no evil,
no sin.
Even in the brightest
and sunniest places on earth
in the world
there are lurking shadows.
There are dark,
there's darkness everywhere we go
but in God there is no such thing.
He is the Father of lights
with whom there is no variation
or shadow due to change.
Can you imagine such perfection?
Can you imagine such beauty?
All that is good
and beautiful in this world
are but dim reflections
of the glory of God.
Even the most transcendent
of arts and music
do not attain perfection.
Perfection eludes
all of our human endeavors.
But God is perfection.
What is it like
to behold such beauty?
Jonathan Edwards
reflecting on God's glory
and beauty wrote this.
For as God
is infinitely
the greatest being
so he is allowed
to be infinitely
the most beautiful
and excellent.
And all the beauty
to be found
throughout the whole creation
is but the reflection
of the diffused beams
of that being
who hath an infinite fullness
of brightness and glory.
God is the foundation
and fountain
of all being
and all beauty.
Isn't this our
dearest hope?
Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God.
Now
it says in 1 Corinthians 13
we see in a mirror dimly
but then
face to face
now I know in part
but then
I shall know fully
even as I have
been fully known.
Imagine that.
Knowing God
fully
as you have been
fully known
by God himself.
One day
we shall be
like him
because we shall
see him
as he
is.
It says in
1 John 3
2.
Isn't that
our dearest hope?
Isn't the dearest hope
of the beloved
to behold
the lover?
One thing
have I asked
of the Lord
and this
I will seek
after
to dwell
in the house
of the Lord
all the days
of my life
and to gaze
upon the beauty
of the Lord
and to inquire
in his temple.
Peter,
James,
and John
have the privilege
of beholding
Jesus face
to face
in his
divine glory.
But as they
behold Jesus
they are
distracted
by the presence
of two
prominent
individuals
from the Old Testament.
Moses and Elijah
who are talking
with Jesus.
I think there are
several reasons
why Moses and Elijah
in particular
show up here.
Many people have said
Moses represents
the law.
Elijah represents
the prophets
and that together
the law
and the prophets
and therefore
their coming down
now is a visual
representation
of what Jesus
taught in Matthew
5.17
that he is the one
who fulfills
the law
and the prophets.
That's certainly
possible.
I think there's
maybe even more
immediate reasons
contextually.
First,
both Moses
and Elijah
were closely
associated
with Jewish
messianic
expectations.
We already know
from Matthew 16.14
that the crowds
were speculating
that Jesus
might be Elijah
or he might be
one of the prophets.
Since Malachi 4.5
prophesied
that Elijah
would come
before the coming
of God,
they expected,
they waited
for an Elijah.
Similarly,
Deuteronomy 18.15
prophesied
that God
would raise up
for his people
a prophet
like Moses.
So again,
they were expecting
someone like Moses
to come again.
And the fact
that both
Moses and Elijah
met supernatural
ends
fueled this
messianic
fervor
because Elijah,
as you remember,
did not die.
He was carried
up to heaven
in a whirlwind
in chariots
of fire,
2 Kings 2.11.
And Moses,
likewise,
even though he did
die,
it says in Deuteronomy
34.6,
it says that
God himself
buried him
so that no man
knows where he
was buried.
So it is no
coincidence that
these two figures
in particular
appear in light
of these messianic
expectations.
And secondly,
both Moses
and Elijah
are individuals
in the Old Testament
who came
tantalizingly close
to seeing God
in the Old Testament.
They are the only
two individuals
of whom it is said
in the Old Testament
that the Lord
God personally
passed by
in front of them
to reveal himself.
In Exodus 33-34
at Mount Horeb,
God put Moses
in the cleft
of a rock
and then covered
him so that
he cannot see
his face
lest he die.
And then he
passed before him
so that Moses
could see his back.
And then when
Moses saw
God's back,
he fell face
down on the ground
and worshipped him.
Similarly,
in 1 Kings 19,
again,
at Mount Horeb,
God told Elijah
to stand
on the mount
before the Lord
and then God
proceeded to pass
by him.
But he says repeatedly
that Elijah did not
see God.
He only heard
his voice.
And when he hears
God's voice,
Elijah's response
is similar to Moses.
He wraps his face
with his cloak
so as not to see
God.
And God,
in his grace,
reveals to Moses
and Elijah
in this instance
at the transfiguration
what they did not
get to behold
during their life
on earth.
Again,
on a holy mountain,
they get to behold
the glory of God
in the face
of Jesus Christ.
Christ.
But Peter,
as he has a tendency
to do,
puts his foot
in his mouth.
Verse 4,
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.
In their accounts
of the transfiguration,
Mark and Luke
explicitly comment
that Peter
did not know
what he was saying.
He's confused.
He says in Mark 9, 6,
he did not know
what to say
for they were terrified.
Awestruck,
flat-footed,
Peter awkwardly tries
to make himself useful.
It's a simple,
hospitable gesture
to extend
the stay of the guests.
Whoa,
some really important
people are here.
How can we extend
this a little longer?
It's good for us
to be here.
Let's linger a little while.
Let's make some tents.
I could do that.
I'm a fisherman,
but I know how to do that.
The import of
what he's saying
escapes him
because the word tent
is the same word
that is translated
in the Greek translation
of the Old Testament
as tabernacle.
So Peter,
Peter's offer,
he recalls
the feast
of the tabernacle,
which recalls
how God's people
dwelled in tents
during their time
in the wilderness
and how they built
for God himself
a tabernacle
to dwell in,
the tent of meeting
where they met
with God.
So Peter is trying
to honor these
esteemed guests
by making three tents.
However,
this well-meaning gesture
is very misguided.
It's so misguided
that while Peter
is still talking,
he says,
in verse five,
God interrupts him.
Hold it.
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.
While Peter
is entertaining
the thought
of honoring
the three esteemed men
with tents,
God the Father
stops him
right in his tracks
and then with his voice
puts a bright
neon sign arrow
pointing to Jesus
only and says,
this is my beloved son
with whom I am well pleased.
Listen to him.
This is reminiscent
of Jesus' baptism
when he was baptized
in chapter three.
The spirit of God
descends upon him
like a dove
and the father
cries out from heaven
saying,
this is my beloved son
with whom I am well pleased.
We saw all three persons
of the Trinity
there at Jesus' baptism
and we see the same thing
in our passage this morning.
God the Father speaks
from the cloud of glory,
his delight over his son.
God the son
is transfigured
to reveal his divine glory
and God the spirit
appears in the form
of this numinous cloud.
Look at how this cloud
is described in verse six.
Behold,
a bright cloud
overshadowed them.
That's a rare word
in the New Testament,
overshadow.
It's used in the gospels
to describe the transfiguration
only with one exception,
Luke 135,
where the angel Gabriel
announces to Mary,
the Holy Spirit
shall come upon you
and the power
of the Most High
will overshadow you.
Therefore,
the child to be born
will be called
the Son of God.
Overshadowing
in the gospels
is what the Holy Spirit does.
It is no surprise
in that the ancient
Greek translation
of Exodus 40, 35,
which describes
the cloud of God's presence,
the glory of God
filling the tabernacle,
the tenth of meeting,
it uses the exact same
Greek word
to say that the cloud
overshadowed the temple,
the tabernacle.
This is what
later Jewish theology
called the Shekinah glory,
the dwelling
of the visible glory of God.
This is the Holy Spirit.
And the Spirit of God
manifests the glory of God
as a bright cloud.
It's the same great cloud
with brightness around it
that Ezekiel saw
in his vision
of the glory of God
in Ezekiel 1, 4.
But if you think about it,
a bright cloud
is an oxymoron.
If you look up
a thesaurus
for the word cloud,
it will suggest
words like darkness,
shadow,
shroud,
not things
that you would describe
as radiant or bright.
When something is clouded,
it is hidden.
But this is a bright,
radiant cloud
that gives forth light.
This paradoxical description
captures
how the incomprehensible,
unknowable God
reveals himself
and makes himself known.
Isaiah 45, 15 says,
truly,
you are a God
who hides himself,
O God of Israel,
the Savior.
There is knowledge of God
that is hidden from us.
We can never fully
wrap our minds
around who God is.
We are too puny for that.
And yet,
throughout history,
we see that God
graciously condescends,
comes down to our level,
to reveal himself
to us time and time again.
And we read earlier
from our call to worship,
it says in Hebrews 1, 1-2,
long ago,
at many times
and in many ways,
God spoke to our fathers
by the prophets.
But in these last days,
he has spoken to us
by his Son,
whom he appointed
the heir of all things,
through whom also
he created the world.
He is the radiance
of the glory of God
and the exact imprint
of his nature.
God has revealed
himself to us
in his Son.
No one has seen God.
God,
the only Son
who is at the Father's side,
he has made him known,
John 1, 18.
This is why Jesus can say
in John 14, 9,
whoever has seen me
has seen the Father.
And in John 14,
John 10, 30,
I and the Father are one.
All the fullness of God
is pleased to dwell
in Jesus,
the Son.
So do you see
what's happening here?
The triune God
is revealing himself
in Jesus
in a way
that he has never
revealed himself before.
Here is Jesus Christ,
God's Son,
the radiance of the glory
of God
and the exact imprint
of his nature,
radiating the very
glory of God.
What I would give
to see that.
And one day soon,
we shall all see that,
all those who belong
to Christ.
So God,
the Father,
is rebuking Peter here.
Peter's
poor guy, right?
He just got rebuked
by Jesus.
Now he gets rebuked
by God,
the Father.
No, no,
there is no need
for three tents.
Moses and Elijah
have not appeared
to you,
James and John,
so that you can
gawk at them.
No,
they are fans.
They're here
to see Jesus.
And what they could
not do previously
during their lives
on earth,
their greatest desire
that did not bear fruit
in their life
on earth,
now comes to
glorious fruition
as they behold
Jesus Christ
whom they have
been waiting for.
Listen to him.
Don't worry about
these other guys.
The days of the tabernacle
and the temple
are no more
because John 1, 14
says,
the word became
flesh and dwelt
among us
and we have
seen his glory.
Glory is of the only
son from the father.
And that word,
dwelt among us,
is literally
he pitched a tent
among us.
He tabernacled
among us.
Jesus is himself
the very dwelling
place of God.
He is the new
temple,
it says in John 2,
19 to 20.
And all who are
united to
Jesus Christ
by faith,
God is building
into his dwelling
place.
You all are
the dwelling
place of God.
The house
of his spirit.
You don't need
tents anymore.
You don't need
tabernacles anymore.
Imagine how shocking
this revelation
would have been
for these good Jews,
Peter, James, and John.
John 9, 28 to 29,
a man born blind
from,
a man who was born blind
is healed by Jesus
and he starts to
bear witness to Jesus
and tells people
about Jesus.
I once was blind
but now I see
and then the Pharisees
sneer at him
and they revile him
saying,
you are his disciple
but we are disciples
of Moses.
We know that God
has spoken to Moses
but as for this man,
we do not know
where he comes from.
That's how much
the Jews revered
and trusted in Moses
but in the transfiguration,
God the Father
draws his lines
very, very clearly.
As Hebrews 3,
3 to 6 says,
for Jesus has been counted
worthy of more glory
than Moses.
As much more glory
as the builder
of a house
has more honor
than the house itself.
For every house
is built by someone
but the builder
of all things
is God.
He's saying Jesus
is God.
Now Moses was faithful
in all God's house
as a servant
to testify
to the things
that were to be spoken later
but Christ is faithful
over God's house
as a son.
Moses is merely
a servant.
Christ is God's son.
When Moses came down
from Mount Sinai
after talking with God,
the skin of his face
shone, it says.
But this glory
as we see
in 2 Corinthians 3,
13 and 15
is a fading glory.
It's merely
an external reflection
of the glory of God
that he had just been
in the presence of.
But in the case of Jesus,
his glory
shines from his essence,
from his very being,
from the inside out.
This is an essential glory,
the unveiling
of the divine glory
that Jesus,
earlier we saw from John,
that he said
he had before
with the Father
in eternity past.
Moses' light
was the light
of the moon,
merely reflecting
the light of the sun.
Jesus' light
is the light
of the sun.
So the Father says,
this is my beloved son.
Yeah, sure,
Moses' beloved servant,
great.
Elijah,
this is my beloved son
with whom I am well pleased.
Listen to him.
This is why in verse 8,
I love this,
when they lifted up
their eyes,
they saw no one
but Jesus only.
all three transfiguration accounts
in Matthew,
Mark,
and Luke
emphasize this,
that at the end,
Moses and Elijah
were gone.
No one
but Jesus
only
remained.
Why?
Because
Jesus
only
is the Christ,
the son
of the living God.
Because
Jesus
only,
there's salvation
in no one else,
for there is no other name
under heaven
given to mankind
by which we must be saved,
but the name of Jesus
only.
Because
there is one God
and one mediator
between God and man,
and that's the man,
Christ Jesus.
It says in 1 Timothy 2, 5.
Because
Jesus says
in John 14, 6,
I am the way,
the truth,
and the life,
and no one
comes to the Father
except through me.
because
Jesus
is the only one.
So no,
I don't mean
to be rude,
but Jesus
and Moses
and Elijah
are not in the same category.
No civic
or religious leader,
no wise man
or guru
or monk
or prophet
in all of human history
is in the same category
as Jesus.
Jesus
we're talking about this
in our CG.
It upsets me
that his name
gets mentioned
alongside all these people
as if he's just one of them.
One of many.
He's not one of many.
There's only one.
I pray,
this is my prayer for you
that whenever you come
to worship here,
you gather
with Trinity Cambridge Church
that you leave
with an eye full
of Jesus
only.
No one
but Jesus
only.
It's quite the privilege
for Peter,
James,
and John,
isn't it?
But this glorious vision
is predictably
terrifying
for the disciples.
It says in verse 6,
when the disciples
heard this,
heard the Father speak,
they fell on their faces
and were terrified.
This was the response
of Moses
when he fell upon his face
on the ground
and worshiped God.
This is what Elijah did
when he wrapped his face
to cover himself
from the presence of God.
This is what Isaiah did
when he was called
and saw,
Woe is me,
for I am lost,
for I am a man
of unclean lips
and I dwell in the midst
of a people
of unclean lips,
for my eyes
have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts.
This is how
every sinful human being
reacts
when they are faced
with the light
of the glory of God
in the face
of Jesus Christ.
He is pure light
and there is no darkness
in him at all.
God,
it says,
is of purer eyes
than to see evil.
So,
in Habakkuk 1.13,
so holy is he
that the priests
and the Levites
were allowed
to enter the tabernacle,
only the priests
and the Levites,
so that it says
in Numbers 18,
21 to 22,
the people of Israel
do not come near
the tent of meeting
lest they bear sin
and die.
How can a sinful man
like me
with overweening pride
self-sufficient arrogance
and self-focused insecurity
and selfish impatience
and sinful anger?
How can a man like me
enter into the cloud
of divine glory
and behold the face of God?
I will bear my sin and die.
My sinfulness alone
is disqualifying enough,
but to make this point
even clearer,
when he gives the requirements
for the priests
in Leviticus 21,
16 to 21,
he says,
it's not enough
that you're a descendant
of Aaron,
of the priestly class.
No,
any,
any Levite
that has any blemish
is not allowed
in the presence of God.
And these so-called blemishes
get quite specific.
No hunchback
or a dwarf
or a man
with a defect
in his sight
or an itching disease
or scabs
to list just a few.
This is not because
God is an,
what do you call it,
an ableist
or whatever.
Is that right?
But because,
it's not because
that because he's,
it's because he's trying
to teach us
that God is holy.
Approaching the living God
is no casual thing.
It is a fearful thing.
And no man
with any blemish,
any sin,
any imperfection
can approach him.
I'm not a hunchback
or a dwarf,
but I do have
ugly hunched shoulders.
I'm diminutive
in stature.
And I have all kinds
of scabs
and scars
and blemishes
that only Hannah
has ever seen.
Right?
How am I supposed
to approach God?
Soon our city
is going to be
blanketed with snow,
pristine snow,
if the weather
focus is right.
And I love
that part
of our city,
our area.
I would miss
seeing the snow
if I were to move
away from here
to a place
that has no snow.
It's so beautiful.
Pure.
But soon thereafter,
probably within hours,
the white snow
is going to be
soiled
by our muddy shoes,
blue salt,
and dog urine
and feces.
Have you ever felt
hesitant
to step on
virgin snow?
Wake up early
in the morning,
go out to Gore Park,
which I've done
in the past,
not a single footstep
on the field.
Like,
you feel hesitant.
I don't want to be
the first person
to ruin that.
Have you ever wished
that snow could stay
unsullied
like they are
when they first
freshly fall?
What sinner
dares to approach
the pure
and holy God
with their
dirty hands
and unclean lips
and impure hearts?
What sinner
dares to do that?
We must be cleansed.
We must be purified.
But how?
This is why
the glorious
Son of God
must be,
it is necessary
that he be
the suffering
Son of Man.
Jesus must die
as the atoning
sacrifice for sin
to cleanse us
of all unrighteousness.
This is why
Jesus again
returns to this
unpopular topic
of his impending death
in verses 10 to 13.
He tells them
the prophesied
Elijah already
has come.
That was John the Baptist.
He's already prepared
the way.
And these Jewish leaders
and these Gentiles
did to him
whatever they wanted.
They beheaded him
and killed him.
And you know what?
The Son of Man
is going to suffer
in the same way.
This is why
Jesus commands them
in verse 9,
tell no one the vision
until the Son of Man
is raised from the dead.
Because if the other
disciples find out
about what happened
on the mountain
and what the
transfiguration
that took place,
it will hinder
his mission
to seek and save
the lost
by dying on the cross
for their sin.
They will not allow it.
No, no, no.
You are the glorious
Son of God.
That's not the path
for you.
But Jesus knew
that was the path
for him.
Notice how
this whole experience
was intended
to prepare
Peter,
James,
and John
as witnesses
in verse 2.
It says,
He was transfigured
before them.
Verse 3,
Behold,
there appeared
to them
Moses and Elijah
talking with Jesus.
Verse 5,
Behold,
a bright cloud
overshadowed them
and God the Father
speaks to them
saying,
listen to him.
This whole experience
is designed
to help Peter,
James,
and John
to see
and never forget
that Jesus
is the glorious
Son of God
because their faith
will be tested.
They will see
this glorious
Son of God
get flogged
and sped on
and stripped naked
and crucified
as a suffering
Son of Man.
But they must
remember this vision
that the death
and the resurrection
of the Messiah
is God's salvation
plan after all.
Just because
Jesus was born
of Mary,
just because
he was a baby
like us
we all once were,
just because
Jesus walked
the dusty roads
of the Middle East
like millions
before him
and since,
just because
Jesus died
a shameful
death on the cross,
do not be tempted
to disbelieve
that he is
the glorious
Son of God.
Jesus needed
to die
on the cross.
It is there
he dies
and he spills
his blood
because blood
is what atones
for sin
and as the glorious
Son of God
his blood
is sufficient
to atone
for all of our sins
so that when we
put our trust
in Jesus
and when we
confess our sins
and all of our
soiled snow
and repent of it,
as Brittany read
from Isaiah
1.18
this morning
in her prophecy,
though your sins
are as red
as scarlet,
it shall be
as white
as snow.
When I was
giving you guys
earlier
a biblical
theology
of mountains,
I left out
one very,
very important
mountain,
perhaps the most
important mountain,
it's Mount Zion
where Solomon
builds his temple
where atoning
sacrifices
for sin
are made
and that mountain
has another name,
we find this out
in 2 Chronicles 3.1
this mountain,
Mount Zion
is also called
in earlier era
Mount Moriah
where Abraham
first offered
his only son,
his beloved son,
Isaac,
as a sacrifice
and God
provided a substitute,
a ram,
to die
in the place
of his son
so that he might
live
do you think
God's been
planning this
all along?
Yeah.
From Mount Moriah,
the place
of sacrifice
that's substitute
to Mount Zion
where sacrifices
offered,
lamb is offered
on the day
of atonement
and then
to the
Mount
of crucifixion
where we all
deserve to die
and God
gives instead
his only son.
If Mount Horeb
is the place
where we receive
God's law,
Mount Zion,
Mount Moriah
is where we receive
the mercy
and grace
of God.
So,
all you,
my brothers and sisters
who long
for that
Mount
of Transfiguration,
remember,
that path
to Mount
Transfiguration
leads through
the Mount
of crucifixion.
It is when we
behold
the light
of the knowledge
of the gospel
of Jesus Christ,
the glory of God
revealed in the face
of Jesus Christ
who died for us
on that cross.
that's when we
are redeemed,
forgiven,
united with Christ
and
sanctified
to be more
and more like him.
And this is why
Jesus gives
that main
exhortion,
anyone who would
come after me
must carry his
cross and follow me.
yes,
we long
for that
glory,
the divine glory
of the Son of God
and we will see it
one day.
We will be
transported
into heavenly
eternal ecstasy
and when we
behold that
beatific vision,
that blessed
vision of God
seeing him
face to face
and we long
for it
and we wait
for it,
we pine for it
but as we do that
we live this life
knowing that
we must carry
our cross
through the
mount of
crucifixion
and then
we will get
there.
Let's pray
together.
Heavenly
Father,
please,
please
enlarge our
vision of
your Son
Jesus Christ.
oh,
Father,
if we could
see
his beauty,
oh,
all these
trifling
temptations
of this world
would lose
all their
luster.
open up
the eyes
of our
hearts
so that
by eyes
of faith,
Lord,
we might
behold
Jesus
more clearly
today than
we ever
have before.
In his
precious name
we pray.
Amen.