I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Matthew 16:28-17:8
Matthew 16:28-17:8 (NIV)
28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not
taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John
the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like
the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah,
talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be
here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and
one for Elijah."
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped
them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with
him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the
ground, terrified.
7 But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he
said. "Don't be afraid."
8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
-- you know that I've been planning this for some time -- you've had to sit through my ramblings about backpacking for quite a while now -- as I first started to formulate this idea of hiking the trail until I actually started to gather up equipment
-- but, I can tell you -- something changed the day we actually set the date -- it's like all the time before, it was just something in the future -- something I was going to do -- not anything concrete -- not anything real
-- but now, it's real -- I can tell you to the moment when we will be pulling out of Valdosta and heading to north Georgia -- Kim pulling the camper up to Amicalola Falls State Park and me tagging along with a backpack filled with enough supplies and food to keep me alive for at least a week
-- it's like I've had a vision -- a glimpse of the goal -- and it's filled me with a sense of urgency -- a sense of purpose -- a need to make sure that I'm ready for what lies ahead
-- just to give you an example, before we set the date, I would read articles about preparing food for backpacking trips -- how to dehydrate and store food and get it ready for the trail -- back then, it was just something I was trying to learn about -- now, it's something that I am getting ready to do -- knowing that the goal is real and that it lays just ahead has moved me from being a spectator and casual observer to someone who is actively beginning to get food ready and get it put aside
-- there's
something about glimpsing the goal that makes a person come alive -- do you
remember what it was like when you first got saved? -- when you first received
Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
-- remember
how excited you were? -- how ready to tell others about Jesus?-- when you get saved and get your first glimpse of the goal -- when you realize what Jesus has in store for us at the end, you can't help but get excited -- you're anxious to get there and you want to take everyone with you
-- you've got a sense of purpose and urgency and you just want to love everyone into heaven because it's such a wonderful place and because you want them to know Jesus just like you do
-- but then, religion happens -- and life happens -- and that initial flush of energy and excitement drains away and your relationship with Christ turns into just another part of your daily routine
-- you forget what used to excite you -- you forget what used to inspire you -- and you lose the sense of purpose and urgency that you once had -- church just becomes something we do on Sunday and not something that gives our life meaning
-- and we know it, don't we? -- why do you think churches are always scheduling revivals? -- it's because they know that something's missing -- it's because they know that they have lost the fire -- they've lost the desire -- they've lost their first love -- and they want it back
-- but we can schedule revivals until the cows come home, and nothing is ever going to change -- there's just one thing that can truly revive our hearts and reignite the passion within -- we have to get another glimpse of the goal
II. Scripture Lesson (Matthew 16:28-17:9)
-- that's
exactly what's going on here in this passage in Matthew that we call, "The
Transfiguration" -- Jesus is giving the leaders of the disciples a glimpse
of the goal -- a vision of the future -- to inspire them and revive them and to
give them hope and purpose
-- look
back at Matthew 16:28
28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not
taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
-- the
transfiguration occurs some time before Jesus' final entry into Jerusalem on
Palm Sunday -- and it's a time of confusion for His disciples -- even though
they've been with Jesus for three years, they really don't understand who He is
-- Peter
has a little bit more understanding than the rest -- earlier in Chapter 16
Peter offers his great confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living
God -- but Peter's still thinking of a Christ -- of a Messiah -- that the Jews
had envisioned and not the reality that was before him-- when Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die at the hands of the chief priests, Peter exclaims, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you" -- what Jesus was saying just didn't fit with the image that Peter and the Jew's had of who the Messiah was going to be
-- so Jesus is about to give Peter, James, and John a glimpse of the goal -- a glimpse of the real Messiah -- of the Son of Man coming in his kingdom -- to correct their misunderstandings of who He was and to prepare them to lead His church after His death and resurrection
-- Chapter
17, verse 1
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John
the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
-- some
people wonder why Jesus didn't carry all of the disciples with Him to the top
of the mountain to experience what Peter, James, and John did
-- we don't
know for sure -- the Bible doesn't tell us -- we do know that these three
became the leaders of the early church, and Jesus may have chose them to
experience this special moment because they needed to see Him in His glory in
order to lead the church through the initial sufferings and persecutions that
they would face-- I do believe one reason He chose only them is that they were the only ones out of the twelve who were ready to see Him as He was -- these were the three that truly believed that He was the Son of God -- they may not have understood completely, but they believed -- they were seeking the truth -- they were looking for God in their midst -- and their faith was rewarded
-- the question then for us is, "Are we truly seeking God as He is? -- Do we desire to see His glory and His kingdom? -- Is our focus on Christ and His glory or is our focus on the world around us?"
-- Chuck Swindoll writes about vertical perception -- in order to see Christ -- in order to envision who He is and to get a glimpse of the goal that He has set before us, we have to look up -- we have to believe -- and we have to act on our beliefs, just like Peter, James and John did
-- verse 2
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like
the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
-- Matthew
tells us here that Jesus was "transfigured" -- the Greek word that is
translated here literally means "metamorphosis" -- a change in form
-- while we
read that Jesus' face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light,
there's obviously a lot more going on here than Jesus just changing His clothes-- what happened on this mountain was that Jesus was transformed -- He took on another form -- He changed from being just a man in appearance to appearing in His glorified form
-- Peter, James, and John witnessed this man that they knew becoming something else -- for the first time in their lives, they saw Him as He truly was
-- at that moment, all that they thought they knew about Jesus was stripped bare -- no longer was this just the Galilean carpenter and rabbi that they knew -- no longer was this just a fellow first century Jew -- no longer was this just the man who shared their fire
-- everything about Him was changed -- His clothes -- His features -- His appearance -- His very being -- they no longer looked at Jesus the man -- they looked at Jesus the God
-- their vision had been cleared and they would never look at Him the same way again -- they had been given a glimpse of Jesus as He truly was -- they had seen Him in His kingdom -- and they knew that this was the goal -- their reason for living and their purpose in life
-- verse 3
3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah,
talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be
here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and
one for Elijah."
-- Matthew
tells us that Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the mountain and that
Peter, James, and John saw them standing there talking with Him -- the question
is, "Why?" -- Isn't the real issue the fact that Jesus was now
standing before them in His transfigured, glorified form -- who cares about
Moses and Elijah?
-- they're
there for a reason -- Moses represents the law and Elijah represents the
prophets-- for Peter, James, and John, their former vision of God was based on these two things -- their idea of who God was and what God was supposed to do and how God was supposed to act was based on the law of Moses and the revelations revealed to God's prophets
-- over the years, the true image of God revealed in the law and the prophets had gotten blurred as life and experience and religion changed who the people saw
-- why do you think the Pharisees missed seeing Jesus as Messiah when He was on earth?
-- because the Jesus they saw was not the Messiah they were looking for -- they had made up in their minds who the Messiah was and how He would look and what He would do, and when Jesus showed up, He didn't fit their image -- He wasn't who the Pharisees were looking for, and so they rejected Him
-- the significance of Moses and Elijah appearing with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration is to demonstrate to the disciples that who they are seeing now -- this Jesus who is standing before them glorified as King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- is the real Messiah -- the real Jesus -- the real God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
-- verse 5
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the
ground, terrified.
-- as if to
punctuate the lesson here for the disciples, God the Father descends upon the
mountain, enveloping it in a cloud like familiar passages in the Old Testament,
as He pronounces to the three terrified disciples -- "This is My Son"
-- in other
words, the Father was making sure Peter, James, and John got the message --
this Jesus who was standing before them was the real Jesus -- the true Jesus --
the Jesus stripped of all worldly affectations -- this was the goal that they were supposed to follow -- this was what they were supposed to preach
-- this was the Jesus that they were supposed to worship -- not the man they thought they knew -- not the image of the Messiah they had been taught to look for
-- this was the real deal -- and this was who they were to see when they looked on the face of Jesus from now on
-- verse 7
7 But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he
said. "Don't be afraid."
8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
-- for us,
this morning, the heart of this passage comes at the end of verse 8 --
"they saw no one except Jesus"
-- all the
layers of life and religion and experience that had clouded their vision had
been removed -- their eyesight had been restored -- and they saw no one and
nothing other than the real Jesus-- if you know what you are seeking -- if you know what you are striving for -- then it becomes real to you
-- that is what has happened to Peter, James and John -- they went up on that mountain confused -- not knowing what was real -- not knowing where they were headed -- not understanding what Jesus was about to do
-- but they came down that mountain with a vision of heaven and of Jesus glorified in His kingdom -- it was that vision that led them to endure hardship and persecution -- it was that vision that led them to build His church on earth -- it was that vision that gave their lives meaning and purpose
III. Closing
-- a few
years ago I saw the IMAX movie "Everest" -- now available on DVD --
great movie about a team that was making an expedition to the top of Everest in
1996-- the movie covered aspects of their expedition -- from their training and preparation to their initial ascents up Everest
-- one thing I found really interesting was how their determination to make it to the peak changed depending on the weather
-- on the days when the weather was clear and beautiful -- when they could see the summit up above them -- they were reinvigoration and made good progress
-- but on days when the weather was bad -- when fog and snow laid around them and kept them from seeing the top of the mountain -- they didn't feel like moving and they got discouraged
-- several people quit along the way -- they said they were happy with how far they had come and were going to go back home where they would be recognized for their efforts and rewarded with endorsements and fame
-- the rest persevered -- the vision of the summit -- the glimpses of their goal inspired them to continue despite the difficulties -- despite the odds -- and they finally made it to stand at the highest point on earth
-- there's a hymn that you may be familiar with called, "Be Thou My Vision" -- it's an old Irish hymn that we sometimes sing in church
-- let me share with you a couple of stanzas from that hymn:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my
heart;
Naught be all else to me, save
that Thou artThou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty
praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and
always:Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
-- this
hymn speaks to what we have been looking at today in this passage of the
transfiguration -- when we know whom it is that we serve -- when we have a
vision of Christ in our hearts -- a glimpse of the goal before us -- then
nothing else matters
-- He is
our all in all -- our inheritance -- our goal -- our reason and purpose and
meaning -- our treasure that we seek
-- as we
close today, I want to encourage you to go to the mount of transfiguration this
week -- spend some time alone with Christ -- renew your heart -- refresh your
vision -- revive your life
-- spend
some time in the Psalms this week, reflecting on the passages that praise God
in all of His glory and splendor -- ask Jesus to show you His glory -- to give
you a vision of who He is and what He has in store for us -- so that you will
persevere and continue on until you reach the goal
-- let us
pray
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