Naylor Community Christian Church
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Matthew 16:28-17:8
Matthew 16:28 “Truly
I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the
Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Matthew 17:1 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 covered 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.
-- when you
hear the name Michelangelo, probably the first thing that you think of is his
amazing fresco painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, just
north of St. Peter’s Basilica, that depicts God’s creation and the fall of man,
pointing us to Christ as our only Savior and Redeemer
-- it took Michelangelo four painstaking
years to create this masterpiece -- painting from the top of a high scaffold --
and either standing with his neck strained to see the ceiling or lying on his
back, depending on the biographer that you reference
-- when he completed this work in
1512, the world stood amazed at the expanse of the fresco and how the figures
and the colors seemed to be alive -- the one word that everyone used to express
their view of this masterpiece was glorious
-- but over
the intervening 450 years, the glory faded -- because of its location on the
ceiling of the chapel, the masterpiece became dulled and hidden by the grime of
life -- wax and soot from candles burned over the years and accumulated on the
ceiling -- crystalline accretions of salt leaked through the roof and outer
walls, covering portions of the masterpiece -- dust and dirt -- and oils and
animal fats and old cleaning solutions from years gone by -- all of these
obscured from vision the true picture that Michelangelo had painted
-- you
could still sort of see it -- you could make it out, but the details weren’t
visible -- it wasn't as clear or as vivid or as sharp as when Michelangelo
first painted it -- the glory of Michelangelo’s masterpiece had faded
-- so, in 1980,
the Vatican took steps to restore the painting to its former glory -- using
modern, professional techniques, experts took decades to painstakingly restore
and renew the original painting -- in the process, they revealed colors and
details -- hidden figures and creatures, such as angels and other spiritual
beings, that had been covered for years by grime and that no one knew was there
-- finally,
around 2010, the restoration was complete and for the first time in 450 years,
visitors to the Sistine Chapel can truly see what Michelangelo painted -- if
you go there now, the glory has been restored, and you can see the true
masterpiece that Michelangelo painted
-- for the
last couple of months, we have been discussing the story of Jesus -- beginning
with the announcement of His conception and the incarnation to Mary and Joseph and
continuing on through His birth, His baptism, and His ministry
-- our goal
was to see how Jesus was revealed to His disciples and to the world across the
span of His human existence -- and, as I hope you have noticed, every step
along the way of Jesus’ life has revealed another facet of who He is and why He
has come
-- we’ve
reached the point in our study where the disciples have finally started to
understand that this Jesus that they had been following for the past three
years was more than just a man -- more than just a good teacher -- more than
just a prophet
-- last
week, we looked at Peter’s confession of Jesus, where he boldly proclaimed what
no one else had dared to do -- that Jesus was the Christ -- He was the Messiah
-- He was God in the flesh -- Son of Man and Son of God
-- but
still, the disciples didn’t fully understand why Jesus had come and the true
extent of His ministry -- they assumed that He would fulfill the roles of the
Messiah they had been taught their whole lives -- someone who would be a political
and religious leader in the image of David -- who would restore the throne of
David in Jerusalem and set up the Kingdom of Israel once again
-- so, when
Jesus began to speak of His suffering and persecution -- of His impending
arrest and death on the cross and then of His resurrection -- the disciples
couldn’t understand -- and Jesus rebuked Peter for saying that this would not
happen -- that the disciples would not let it happen
-- you see,
the disciples still had not glimpsed the true glory of Jesus -- who Jesus was
and what He had come to do was hidden behind a veil of religion and tradition
that prevented the disciples from seeing the truth
-- so, this
morning, we are looking at this passage that we know as the Transfiguration of
Christ -- the moment when Jesus peeled back the veil -- when He removed the grime
of life that had hidden Him from the Israelites -- and when He reveals Himself
in His majesty and glory for them to see with their own eyes
-- the next step in their journey
of faith in the real Messiah -- not the false Messiah they had created in their
religious traditions
-- with
that, let us turn now to this passage and look at the Transfiguration event,
where the glory of Jesus is revealed
II. Scripture Lesson (Matthew 16:28-17:9)
-- look
back at Matthew 16:28
Matthew 16:28 “Truly
I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the
Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
-- have you ever wondered what this
verse is all about? -- here we are, two thousand years after the death and
resurrection of Jesus, still living on this fallen earth -- still experiencing
the consequences of sin and death -- still struggling with living in a world
held captive by Satan
-- we long for the kingdom of God --
we long for the return of Christ -- we long for the day when our faith will be
sight and when we will see Jesus in the clouds returning to set up His throne
and His kingdom on earth once and for all eternity
-- but it hasn’t happened yet
-- and while we like to talk about
how the kingdom of God is both here and in the future -- we don’t see it with
our human eyes right now -- we catch glimpses in Christ’s church of the kingdom
-- but we all know it’s not here right now -- not in the all-encompassing way
that the Bible tells us the Kingdom of Christ will be established
-- so, how can Jesus tell His
disciples that some of them will not taste death before they see the Son of Man
coming in His kingdom?
-- it could be a reference to the
resurrection and His ascension to Heaven, but that was Jesus leaving, not
coming in His kingdom
-- so, what does Jesus mean when He
tells His disciples that some of them are going to see the Son of Man coming in
His Kingdom?
-- that’s what we’re going to read about
in this next section
-- what Jesus is referring to is
that some of His disciples are going to see Jesus as He truly is -- as the Son
of Man and the Son of God -- as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords -- they’re
going to truly see Jesus for the first time in their lives
-- a lot of times we see paintings
and illustrations of Jesus with His disciples -- and it is common to see Him
enveloped in light with a halo around Him -- anyone looking at Him would know
immediately that this was God
-- but that’s not how the disciples knew Jesus -- He didn’t appear in a
flash of light when He called them to “Come and follow Me” -- Isaiah 53:2 says
that Jesus had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him -- nothing in his
appearance that we should desire him.
-- in other words, when Jesus' disciples looked at Him, they didn't see
God in physical form -- they just saw a man like themselves -- someone that
they lived with and followed and listened to because He had insights into God's
teachings that were new and had life
-- it wasn't until around this time
that they began to realize that there was more to Jesus than just another
gifted rabbi -- it wasn't until later -- after His resurrection and ascension
-- that all of the disciples began to see Jesus for who He was
-- but here in this passage, Jesus
is going to give three of His disciples a gift -- He is going to let them see
Him in a way that we won’t until His return -- they will see Him as the King,
as He reveals Himself for a moment to help the disciples grow in grace and in
their knowledge of Him
-- Chapter
17, verse 1
Matthew 17:1 After
six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and
led them up a high mountain by themselves
-- Jesus had 12 disciples there
with Him, but He only took three of them with Him to this mountain -- some
people wonder about that -- about 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 chosen 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
-- there's a lesson there for us --
we can all be in the presence of Jesus, but only those who come to Him with
eyes wide open -- only those who come to Him without preconceived notions --
will see Jesus as He truly is
-- to go with Jesus to the mountain
-- to put aside the filter and the cloud of life and religion and experience --
and to see Him in His glory
-- 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?"
-- 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 -- in all His
heavenly glory
-- at that
moment, all that they thought they knew about Jesus was stripped bare -- no
longer was this just the Galilean carpenter and rabbi and teacher that they
knew -- no longer was this just a fellow first century Jew who might be the
Messiah who would become their earthly king -- 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 as
He exists in His kingdom -- and this vision of Jesus would change what they knew
and believed about the Messiah and it would change their lives forever
-- 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 the Messiah and 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 and covered over and hidden 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 -- as affirmed by the Law and the Prophets
-- verse 5
5 While he was still
speaking, a bright cloud covered 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 just like we see Him doing in the presence
of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament -- as the cloud descends, the very
voice of God proclaims to the three terrified disciples, "This is My Son,
whom I love"
-- 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 reason Jesus brought them up to the mountaintop that day -- this vision of
Jesus was given to them so that they might know Him -- this vision of Jesus was
given to inspire and invigorate their lives -- this vision of the true Jesus was
what they were supposed to preach and proclaim to the world
-- 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.
-- verse 8 is
one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible -- it sums up why we are here this
morning -- it sums up our lives and our purpose and reason for being
-- “when they looked up, they saw
no one except Jesus"
-- how awesome is that? -- how
awesome would that be if that was our daily experience? -- if we went through
life and saw nothing and knew nothing but Jesus
-- what
happened on that mountaintop for Peter, James, and John was that all the layers
of life and religion and experience that had clouded their vision had been
removed -- their eyesight had been restored -- their purpose and meaning had
been realigned -- their hearts were set on Christ -- their eyes were fixed on
Jesus -- and from this moment on, they saw no one and nothing other than the real
Jesus
-- Peter,
James and John went up on that mountain with a partial faith -- a growing
faith, but not a mature faith -- as they walked up that mountain, they didn’t
really understand who Jesus was -- they didn’t really understand why He had
come -- but everything changed in a moment
-- and they
came down that mountain changed men -- they came down that mountain with a
vision of heaven and of Jesus glorified in His kingdom
-- it was that vision of Jesus in
all His glory that enabled them to endure hardship and persecution -- it was
that vision that empowered them to build His church on earth -- it was that
vision that gave their lives meaning and purpose
-- this is where I hope that all of
us are headed -- even today, we tend to make Jesus into our own image -- we
tend to see Him as something He is not -- as someone once said, “If the Jesus
that you are following agrees with everything that you believe and affirms
everything that you do, then you are probably not following the true Jesus”
-- the truth is that our vision can
be clouded by life -- and we start to see Jesus through the trappings of our
man-made religion -- or worse, through the lens of our particular cultural or
political persuasions
-- we see a Jesus of our own making
-- we don’t see Jesus as He truly is
-- Peter, James and John were given
the gift of seeing Jesus in His kingdom -- of seeing Jesus in all His glory --
and that changed them forever
-- our goal is to do the same by
using God’s word to remove the grime and the dirt that hide Him from our vision
-- to get back to the truth of God’s word so that we can see nothing except the
true and glorified Jesus, just like Peter, James, and John
-- for it is only in Him and
through Him that we find ourselves
III. Closing
-- 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 art
Thou 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 the true Christ in our hearts, then our lives find meaning and
purpose
-- 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 we might remove
the veil before our eyes and behold Jesus in all His majesty and glory
-- let us
pray
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