Well, let us turn again to God's Word, turning to the Gospel according to St. Matthew in chapter 17. And I'll read the opening nine verses. Matthew 17, and reading the first nine verses.

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus jod them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead, the transfiguration.

And this is a theme then that I want us to consider for a while, the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus as we have it recorded, of course, in the synoptic Gospels. That remarkable display of his deity, of his favoured three, Peter, James and John, were blessed to see beyond all his humiliation, in his human nature and to see something of the glories of the divine nature and as we look at this passage for a little while dividing what I say into three parts first of all to take account of the context here the connection with what has gone before in chapter 16 and then to look at the conversation that the Lord has not so much with these men but with those two that also appear in the mount, Moses and Elijah. And then finally to say something with regards to the confirmation of the Lord Jesus with regards to that work that he was about to accomplish.

First of all then to look at the connection, the context with what has been said previously the chapter begins and after six days Jesus taketh Peter James and Johnny's brother and brings them up into a high mountain apart.

Well it's six days then after what is recorded there in chapter 16 and of course it's that chapter that records the events at Caesarea Philippi. where Simon Peter makes that remarkable confession concerning Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 16, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And then, after Peter has recognized who this person is, made this remarkable statement, and the Lord has declared him to be so blessed because the Father had revealed it to him. then the Lord begins to speak of the work. His person is recognized as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and he begins to speak more plainly with regards to the work. that he was going to accomplish, verse 21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day.

But this is so offensive to Peter, the one who had just made the great confession. And he turns to the Lord there at verse 22, saying, Be ye far from me, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But then the Lord turns and says to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

And so, really here we see three things. There's the purpose of God that the Lord is telling them. We must go to Jerusalem. This is God's purpose. the very reason why he was incarnate, that he might make that great sacrifice for sins. But then there's the provocation, the temptation of Satan, and it comes through Simon Peter. How strange, the very man who had made the confession concerning Christ's person as the eternal Son of God, when he says, Be ye far from me, ye shall not be unto me.

Well, this is the work of Satan. And Peter, of course, he's speaking very much as a mere man. He's speaking of the things that are pleasing to man. He has a view of Christ's work and his kingdom, which is too carnal. He doesn't understand what the nature of the Lord's kingdom is. It's a spiritual kingdom. But before Christ can accomplish this great work and make that sacrifice, that one sacrifice for sins forever, these men must be brought to see something of His glory. When He comes to die, we're told, aren't we, how He was crucified through weakness, or the reality of the human nature. He's crucified through weakness and yet here they're having revealed to them that this one who will die in that manner is none other than the eternal Son of God.

They're going to see something of His glory. He was transfigured before them. and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." Here is the design then of the Transfiguration. It marks out the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is indeed the very Son of God. we read in the Old Testament of the shining of the face of Moses when he had been in the mount conversing with the Lord God there in Exodus 34 at verse 29 following and furthermore we read of the Shekinah glory at the end of the book of Exodus when in chapter 40 the The tabernacle is finished and erected, and Moses cannot enter therein because of the glory of the Lord that appears there, the Shekinah glory, the bright clouds. And then also, of course, we have that statement in the Psalms, Psalm 104 and verse 2, concerning God himself, Thou coverest thyself with light as with a garment.

And here is the Lord Jesus Christ, how His raiment was white as the light. Surely it is indicated that this One before whom these men stand and look upon, this Man, is none other than what Peter had confessed, He is the Son of the Living God, equal to the Father.

And then, in the second place here, we see something of what transpires. The things that are being spoken of there in the Mount, verse 3, Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Moses and Elijah. These two men, they are representative of all the Old Testament scripture.

Moses, of course, is that one who we associate with the law, the mediator of the law. The law was given by Moses. And, well, the prophet Isaiah reminds us how that the prophets will appeal to that law, to the law and to the testimony. If a man speak not according to this word, there's no light in him.

But it is Elijah who is the great type, really, of the prophetic office. in all its glories in the Old Testament. So, Moses and Elijah represent to us the Old Testament Scriptures. And Christ has come to fulfill all those Scriptures.

Remember the words that He speaks there in the Sermon on the Mount, back in chapter 5? In verses 17 and 18, think not that I am come to destroy the Lord or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, he said, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the Lord till all be fulfilled. And has He not come to fulfill these very Scriptures?

The language that we find Christ having again with those two disciples whom he meets after his resurrection as they're walking to Emmaus, that event that's recorded at the end of Luke's Gospel in Luke 24 and verse 26 as Christ speaks to these two who couldn't understand what had happened He says in verse 25, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And then verse 26, Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory and beginning at Moses and all the prophets? He expanded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

These are the fulfillments of the Old Testament Scriptures. Then later as he vanishes out of their sight and they hurry away back to Jerusalem and then they find the others gathered together and the Lord appears to them all and so verse 44 of that final chapter in Luke he says to all the disciples these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Lord of Moses and in the prophets Moses and Elijah, and in the Psalms concerning me, then opened thee their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures."

The significance then of these things that the Lord is speaking of with these men there on the mount, and then what happens? Verse 8, they lift up their eyes and they see no man save Jesus only. Suddenly Moses and Elijah have gone. And the remark that Calvin makes here is striking, I think. He says, he absorbed in the brightness of his gospel those sparks which glimmered in the Old Testament. All we have in the Old Testament is sparks, but now you see all that is absorbed in the brightness of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And of course this is what Paul says really in the opening verses there in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a remarkable opening chapter of of Hebrews, God who at sundry times and in diverse manner spake in time passed on to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power. I think in that opening chapter 14 verses he quotes nine texts from the Old Testament concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ remarkable passage really the word was made clear says John and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth no wonder then that After no time at all these men have gone and all that's there is the Lord Jesus Christ.

God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shines in our hearts says the Apostle to the Corinthians to give his glory in the face, in the person, the margin says. His glory in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. or this person, you see. This is what is the subject matter of their conversation. But not only that, it's his work also, isn't it? And Luke says that quite specifically in Luke 9.31, they speak of his decease which he would accomplish at Jerusalem. His decease which he would accomplish at Jerusalem. He would accomplish it. No man was able to take his life. He had power to lay it down. He had power to take it again. But that's what they spoke of. And of course, it even goes back to Abraham, as the Lord himself says in John 8. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Referring to Genesis 22. And the Lord had commanded Abram to offer up his son, his only son, Isaac. And Abram is obedient, although the Lord will provide a ram for a sacrifice. And he'll receive Isaac as it were from the dead.

But Abram, your father Abram rejoiced as he might die. and saw it and was glad, and in that 8th chapter doesn't the Lord go on to say that before Abraham was, I am? Or that one who would die, crucified through weakness, none other than the great I am that I am. And how Old Testament saints looked to Christ's death upon the cross. They were those, the true Israel of God, who were looking for it. Abraham saw it. All those many centuries before and rejoiced in it. The father of all them that believe. And how even the angels in heaven delight to look into these things. We read those words, didn't we, in 1 Peter 1 verse 12, which things the angels desire to look into.

And of course it's all given in remarkable type with the mercy seat and the cherubim one on each end of the mercy seat and their faces towards the mercy seat, the very place where The blood was sprinkled on the great day of atonement. The angels desire to look into these things. And the language also of Paul in Ephesians 3.10, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. Those glorious beings who are in the very presence of God. Oh, they see what God has done here in this fallen world, even in His church, in the salvation of a multitude of sinners through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a work is this! Much we talk of Jesus' blood, but how little is understood the wonder of it, because of who this glorious person is.

And Peter, Peter's overwhelmed. What does he say here at verse 4? Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Oh, it's good for us to be here. He wanted to make three tabernacles, one for the Lord, one for Moses, one for Elias, but he could not do it. The Lord must go on and accomplish his great work. Those things then that were being spoken of, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. But then finally here to say something with regards to the confirmation of those things that the Lord had spoken of.

The context is all important really. those things that the Lord had been saying in the previous chapter just six days previous those words after Peter's confession verse 21 from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. What do we see? His prayer. His prayer was to be answered. He knew his time was come, and when he knew that the time was come, he sets his face to go to Jerusalem. And we have those words in John 12, 27. Now he is most all troubled. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I to this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And the voice comes again from heaven. I have glorified it. And I will glorify it again.

But he goes up into the mount really, the mount of transfiguration. He goes up there in order to pray. we see that in Luke's account there in Luke 9, 28 and 29 he goes into the mount to pray and as he prays so the father hears and the father answers behold a voice from heaven And what is it that the father says? This is my beloved son. This is my beloved son. The father is claiming a peculiar and a special relationship with him in this title son. His beloved son, the son of the father in truth and in love. It denotes that they are the same in substance they are the same in substance but they are distinct in person and yet they are equal in power and in glory that's the wonder of what the father says

he acknowledges the son, he owns the son the father acquiesces in what Christ himself had been teaching his disciples that he must needs go to Jerusalem there he must die therefore does my father love me he says because I lay down my life that I might take it again no man taketh it from me I lay it down of myself I have power to lay it down I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my father

And so, in John 16, one of those chapters where he's preparing the disciples for his going away, it's expedient that he goes away. If he doesn't go away, the comforter will not come, but if he departs, he'll send him to them. He must need to go away. And how will he go away when he makes that great sacrifice, when he dies? But he says there in John 16, 32, I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

And so the words, the words that we read, the significant words really, of that portion at the end of 2 Peter chapter 1, Verse 17, "...he received from God the Father honour and glory. When there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount." We have also a more sure word of prophecy, he says. It's interesting, isn't it, what he says here. The words that he speaks because it indicates to us that what we actually see is just a really symbol. It's a symbol of His glory. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him.

And the wonderful thing is of course that We have a more sure word. What is a more sure word? Well, it's the word of scripture. That's what he says at the end of that opening chapter in 2nd Peter. The glories of the transfiguration. His face shining as the sun, his raiment white as the light. It is simply symbolic. but all to have that sure and certain Word of God in Holy Scripture.

And what does God go on to do here? He goes on to announce His authority. This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He says, Hear ye Him. And the pronoun Him is so emphatic here. hear ye him the voice always comes for their sakes we refer to those words just now in in John 12 27 where he says now is my soul troubled and he wants to be saved from this hour but for the He comes to this house for the glory of God and the voice comes from heaven. I have glorified it, I will glorify it again. And then the Lord goes on to say to them quite clearly, the voice came for your sakes. The voice came for your sakes. To establish them.

Hear ye Him. Or do we desire to hear His voice? That's the mark of His sheep, they hear His voice. He knows them, He gives them eternal life, they shall never perish. And what happens when His voice is heard? Well, here we see how they fall down, prostrate before Him. As the Father speaks from heaven, verse 6, the disciples heard it. They fell on their faces and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise and be not afraid. It's much the same as what the glorified Christ says to John there in Revelation 1. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Feenight I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. which was and which is and which is to come. He's that one who was dead and is alive and is alive forevermore. How he assures his people. Oh, the glorious end that belonged unto the Lord Jesus Christ, so wonderfully set forth.

And so soon after that great confession and all that follows, Peter, yes, confesses his Then the Lord speaks of the great work, His obedience must be unto death, even the death of the cross. And then Peter protests, as it were, the instrument of Satan, trying to deflect the Lord in Christ's determination.

After six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Oh, that we might be favoured to see and know something of the glorious end that belonged to this one, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Well we're going to come to the Lord in prayer but before we pray let us sing our second praise it's the hymn number 18. The tune is Williams 436.

Now to the Lord a noble song,
awake my soul, awake my tongue,
Hosanna to the Eternal Name
and all His boundless love proclaim.

See where it shines, in Jesus' face,
the brightest image of His grace,
God in the person of His Son,
as all His mightiest works outdone.

Number 18, June 436. Bye!