Luke chapter 9 and this is a
lovely passage. We're going to be reading about
the Lord's transfiguration on the mountain and this is the
Word of God. Luke chapter 9 and verse 28. And it came to pass about an
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James
and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and
glistering. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elias. who appeared in glory,
and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were
with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake they
saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. and it came
to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master,
it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles,
one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias, not knowing
what he said. While he thus spake, there came
a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered
into the cloud. And there came a voice out of
the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, hear him. And when
the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it
close and told no man in those days any of those things which
they had seen. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading from his word to us. the transfiguration of the Lord
Jesus was a powerful manifestation and representation of Christ's
glory provided to three of the Lord's disciples, Peter, James,
and John. And we may thereby say, provided
to them and by their witness to the church. It is recorded
by the three synoptic writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke, and it
is referred to, perhaps obliquely a little bit, by John in his
Gospel. For example, when John says,
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, it may well be a direct reference to this occasion when
John saw the Lord's transfiguration on the mountain. It's also referred
later in the New Testament, it's referred to by Peter, this transfiguration
of the Lord. And in 2 Peter 1 and verse 16,
Peter writes, for we have not followed cunningly devised fables
when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. but were eyewitnesses of his
majesty, for 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 of which came from heaven we
heard when we were with him in the holy mount. So that's Peter's
testimony of this transfiguration of the Lord. And just what mountain
this was is not said. Peter calls it the Holy Mount. Different writers, Matthew, I
think it is, says that he led them up into a high mountain
to pray. And there are several references
to the mountain, but the name of it is not given. Several people
have speculated that it might be Mount Tabor, which is a relatively
small hill. It's not really very large. Others
have thought it might be Mount Hermon, which is the tallest
mountain in Israel, but it could be somewhere else entirely. The Holy Spirit probably for
very good reason, probably very wisely, has hidden the location
so as not to indulge our foolishness of thinking more highly of the
place than of the person of the Lord himself. In Matthew, the
Lord calls this transfiguration a vision. And that does not imply
any lack of actual reality in the experience, any lack of truth
as to what the disciples witnessed. It does, however, emphasize the
spiritual and the supernatural nature of this revelation. And we discover also that the
Lord requested Peter, James and John to say nothing of what they
observed, telling them as they were coming back down the mountain,
tell the vision to no man. until the Son of Man be risen
again from the dead. So it does appear that the Lord
from last week and the week before as we were thinking about some
verses previously in this chapter where the Lord had been explicit
about his coming death and here showing the disciples this glory
of the Lord and speaking about rising again that there is a
greater clarity being taken on by the Lord in his words as he
prepares his disciples for his own forthcoming ordeal at the
cross. The Lord often prayed in mountains. Usually he did it alone, but
here he purposely takes these three in order to provide the
church with a three-fold witness to the threefold witness of Moses,
Elijah, and the confirming voice of the Father. So, here was a
threefold witness, these two men and the voice of the Father,
to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are given, in
the persons of Peter, James, and John, a threefold witness
to this great act. Some writers have suggested that
the experience of the transfiguration and the company of the prophets
with the Lord, coming to him, as it were, as he was praying,
was granted to Christ to encourage him and confirm the success of
his obedience unto death. coming as it did hard on him
so clearly announcing it to his disciples. However, I don't much
like the implication or the suggestion that that insinuates because I'm very sure
that the Lord had No need to be shown, no need to be taught
or reminded about his own true nature or what was required of
him at the cross, what would be involved in his death. I'm
convinced instead that this was done, this transfiguration was
done, this demonstration of Christ's glory was given for the disciples'
sake. and it was granted to validate
the faith of the Church in all subsequent ages, including our
own. First of all, to show the true
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and his divinity. Secondly, to
bring forward the persons of Moses and Elijah, or Elias as
he's called in the New Testament, as both earthly witnesses and
heavenly witnesses to the person and work of the Lord Jesus. And thirdly, to grant the disciples
a most extraordinary corroborating testimony from the Father himself
as he spoke from the cloud. And perhaps fourth, we can say
this, to show us how closely intertwined the spiritual realm
and the physical realm is for believers. how closely united
we are as the body of Christ, whether that is the body of Christ
already in heaven or the body of Christ here upon earth. We are united and joined even
in this world with those who have gone before. And Peter,
James and John had heard the Lord say that he must suffer
and die. He had recently said, the son
of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders
and the chief priests and the scribes and be slain and be raised
the third day. Now that's what the Lord had
said. He couldn't be any clearer. He couldn't be any more precise
or emphatic in what he had openly declared. And then about a week
after this, One of the writers says six days, one of the writers
says eight days. Well, it depends whether you
count the days in which it was said or just the days in between. But after about a week, Peter,
James and John are taken with the Lord and shown his glory
in this wonderful demonstration of power and majesty. Where there
is conversation, And the topic of the conversation between those
who gather, the Lord and Moses and Elijah, is the very subject,
the very death and sacrifice at Jerusalem, which the Saviour
had foretold the week before. They were discussing the circumstances
of Christ's own personal exodus out of the world. and I'm sure
there's some interesting parallels to be drawn between the fact
that Moses was taken up into the mountain and nobody knew
where his body was buried, and also Elijah was taken up in the
fiery chariot. So these two men, the bodies
of these two men, in some interesting way, no doubt, had been particularly
preserved perhaps for this very incident here on the mountain. But let me return to these four
reasons that I gave earlier and just give you a quick thought
on each one of them, if I may. The first one I mentioned was
that the transfiguration, in the transfiguration of the Lord,
we see his true glory and divinity. And Luke describes the Lord's
appearance these terms. He says his countenance was altered
and his raiment was white and glistering. Matthew says his
face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the
light. Mark says, his raiment became
shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fooler on earth can
white them. Now a fuller's job was to clean
the fleeces and the sheep's wool in preparation for weaving that
wool into usable material. And so that was the fuller's
job, was to clean the wool. Well, no one could have made
the Lord's garments shine. No fooler could have made the
Lord's garments shine as brightly as they did. And by these descriptions,
it's clear that the person of the Lord was shining and dazzling,
brighter than the sun on a snow-covered hill. Something of the Son of
Righteousness was seen in Christ. Something of the divine nature
of Him who said, I am the light of the world. It may actually
have been night time when the disciples saw this vision. I say that because of the apparent
weariness of the disciples. They were asleep when this transfiguration
began to occur. And let me just say this, having
said what I said about no one knowing the location of this
transfiguration, if it was Mount Hermon, There may even have been
snow on the ground because Mount Hermon is sufficiently high for
there to be a covering of snow on it most of the year. So that
in the darkness, the brightness of Christ's appearance must have
illuminated the face and the body of the Lord in a remarkable
fashion and in a clearly supernatural way. And here, the Lord's appearance
suggested his true identity as the Son of God. And that, I am
sure, must have weighed upon the disciples' mind as they reflected
upon the reason for his coming into the world and his announcement
about his upcoming, his forthcoming death, and no doubt also began
to lay the foundation if not in the instant, if not at that
moment, certainly upon reflection as to the reasonableness of the
Lord's work in his sacrifice, in his death, in his atoning
work, and his subsequent resurrection. Remember what it was Peter said,
we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And I know that the disciples
struggled to understand what the Lord was doing. It seems
right up to the very, well, to the Passover feast and even after
Christ's death, they seemed to struggle with what it was that
was happening to them. But after Pentecost, these men
grew in their understanding, grew in that Holy Spirit revelation
that they received to know the true meaning of these things
that they had witnessed. And this is the apostolic foundation
of the doctrines and the truths and the writings that we have
in our scriptures. So the Lord showed, first of
all, his true nature and his divinity, his glory. But another
thing that we find here, I'm sure, is that the presence of
Moses and Elijah come from heaven expresses something of the testimony
of the law and the prophets in the coming of the Messiah and
the work of redemption. And we're told that Moses and
Elijah, Elias, appeared in glory as well. Now perhaps this was
their heavenly bodies that glowed in this moment, or perhaps better
it would be to understand that they reflected something of the
glory of Christ. But what it shows us is that
the Old Testament knew about the coming of Christ. in dreams
and in visions and types and in pictures. A very great weight
of detail had been built up over the centuries concerning the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One
and his work. And both Moses and Elijah testified
of Christ to their respective generations And now here they
are, as it were, confirming all that had been written regarding
the Messiah and also speaking about what he was about to do
because the subject of their discussion was the decease which
he should accomplish. Moses and Elijah talked of what
Christ's death would achieve. Isn't that remarkable? I think
it's remarkable. I think that the fact that of
all the subjects they could have addressed, this was of the greatest
moment and importance to them. They had seen Christ's coming
prophetically. It had been revealed to them.
They had seen it in the incarnation. And now they were eager to discover
what his achievements would be on the cross. And Peter, James
and John heard the conversation. And while it's true that they
struggled to comprehend Christ's dying, it showed them how the
subject of Christ's death was the topic of conversation amongst
the saints in heaven. And what a fine subject of conversation
it is. As I was reflecting upon this,
I thought to myself, I wish I wasn't so hesitant. I wish I was not
so timid to speak about the Lord's death as I am. I will spend eternity
marvelling and rejoicing with Peter, James and John, and Moses
and Elijah, about what the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross
and yet having so much information and so much understanding and
so much evidence granted to us, I am so slow and shy to talk
about it here on earth. May the Lord forgive me for that
and may the Lord forgive us all and I speak on behalf of the
Church of Jesus Christ. Here's another thing to think
about. Peter, James and John were understandably enthralled at
what they were seeing and noticing about these two men, Moses and
Elijah. But as they were about to leave,
Peter noticed and always quick to blurt something out, he suggested
that a tent or a tabernacle be made for all three personages. Probably his thinking was that
this might prolong their stay and prolong the disciples' experience. However, The next voice to be
heard was not Christ's, and it was not the two heavenly visitors,
but it was the voice of God the Father, speaking out of a thick
cloud that now covered the top of the mountain. And the Father's
words were direct. He said, this is my beloved son,
hear him. Moses' law had served its purpose. Elijah's ministry has passed
and gone. Christ is now the fullness of
the revelation of God. He is the beloved Son, and if
we would hear God speak to us today, we must hear Christ. Hear him say what? Well, all his words, no doubt.
Let us give ear to all Christ has taught us, for he has taught
us about God, about the God to whom we come as sinners. He says
in John 17, for I have given unto them the words which thou
gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that
I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send me. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
into this world to save sinners. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. And he has revealed the plan
of salvation. He has shown us the grace of
God. He has opened that door of access. He has brought us into the Father's
presence, atoned for and reconciled. And he mediates for us constantly
in the presence of our God. Here's my last point and then
I'm done. Perhaps we are all being allowed to see here in
this little incident, in this transfiguration, just how closely
intertwined the spiritual realm and the physical realm is for
believers. And I think it is not too big
a leap to say that these three disciples must have been strongly
confirmed in their faith as a result of this vision, this drawing
back of the curtain into the spiritual realm. And for us,
their testimony is true. What we understand of the Bible,
what we understand of inspiration, what we understand of the revelation
of the Holy Spirit, what we understand of the apostolic testimony, their
testimony is true. These are not cunningly devised
fables. They are the apostolic testimony
of the spiritual and eternal truths that undergird our faith. Listen, Moses and Elijah are
alive and well. They are interested, they are
interested in the unfolding events of time and eternity. They are
looking on and they are very close to us. And I don't want
to be overly mystical here. But does this not comfort those
who have lost a loved one? Does this not thrill those who
anticipate the soon entrance into glory? Does this not reinforce
our union with the already glorified and ascended body of Christ and
Christ our Head? and does it not confirm our hope
of eternal life and the promises of heavenly blessing that are
laid up for us? I think it does, and I think
rightly so. Being in the company of the Saviour
at the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ was granted
to these men and revealed to the Church through them in order
to thrill us and humble us in equal portion. It generated a
sense of awe in the hearts of the disciples. May it inspire
amazement and admiration in our hearts as well. May the Lord
bless these thoughts to us. Amen.