Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to Matthew
chapter 17, reading from text verse 8. Verse 8. And when they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Especially the words, they
saw no man. save Jesus only. The transfiguration of our Lord
is recorded by Matthew here, is also recorded by Mark and
by Luke. John does not mention it. Mark was Peter's scribe and so
no doubt from him he received what had happened on the mount
here. They were forbidden until the
Lord had risen from the dead to speak of what things that
they had seen and heard on the mount. We have three witnesses
that God chose to bring here, Peter, James and his brother
John. And those three witnesses, there's
three occasions and others with others around them as well, but
with these three, that the Lord chose to be witnesses of things
that he did. The raising of the ruler of the
synagogue's daughter from death was done, recorded in Mark 5,
verse 37. In fact, Mark, he records all
three of the times. The second time was the one that
we have before us. It's recorded in Matthew, but
Mark, it is chapter nine. And then we have the Garden of
Gethsemane, where the Lord chose these same three disciples to
witness his agony there, his prayer to the Father, the strengthening
of angels, the sweating of great drops of blood, as he was pressed
down with the weight of his people's sin. And we see the contrast
of what they were brought to witness, how the Lord was able
to raise the dead, how the Lord was shown such great majesty
and so exalted before them here in the Transfiguration, and then
so humbled and pressed down. with the weight of his people's
sin. Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. And in seeing the Lord Jesus
Christ in these different situations, the different experiences, is
a reminder to us, isn't it? With God's dear children, we
are told in the word, that have no changes fear not God. And our Lord Jesus Christ had
those changes, had those things that He passed through. We read
in Peter of those that if need be are now in heaviness through
manifold temptations. And maybe even expect to have
those changes in our experience. not always on the mount, sometimes
in the depths, sometimes in great trial, sometimes with blessings
in our souls, and sometimes feeling like Job, oh, that I knew where
I might find him. But the Lord chose these three
to be witnesses of these events, and now they are recorded before
us, and I specifically want to just dwell upon two main points. Firstly, the experience and Peter's
telling of it, especially in his epistle, his second epistle. And then secondly, the real words
of our text, no man, but Jesus only. And to look at several
points under that heading. But firstly, we have the experience
that is set before us here. As is usual, there are some things
that are left out in some accounts and then included in others. Luke tells us that they went
up the mountain to pray, and it was while the Lord was in
prayer that he was transfigured before them. We are told that
they went up into the mountain apart and then we have the chain
of events that is recorded. The transfiguration, his face
did shine as the sun, his raiment was white as the light. Then we have those that were
appearing with him and talking with him, Moses and Elias, Moses
representing the law and Elias representing the prophets. Luke
tells us what they were speaking of. They were speaking of his
decease that he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Then we have Peter's
proposal of making the three tabernacles, one for each of
them. That of course was spoken, he
did not know what to say, we were told that he knew not what
he said, but it's something we refer to later on because that
which is written, it is written for our learning and it highlights
things of which we should really take note. Then we have the Father's
voice in verse 5 from heaven, while he yet spake, that's why
Peter 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 the effect that
it had upon the disciples is a vital thing for us. Whenever
there is a revelation of God, whenever the Lord speaks, it
will have an effect upon the people of God. When we read in
the book of Daniel, wherever we have the godly and the Lord
appears to them, it has an effect. And with Daniel, he was prostrated
before the Lord, no strength, no comeliness left in him. Those
that think they can appear before God and be unaffected and not
be terrified, really, at the presence of Almighty God, have
these accounts to remind them of even with the Lord, when the
majesty was upon him. You think of when he rose from
the dead, they were terrified and affrighted, supposed that
they had seen a spirit. It is not a case of just a familiarity
and in the presence of God to do not have the fears. But our
Lord allayed those fears, and that is recorded in verse seven. Jesus came and touched them and
said, arise. and be not afraid. to no man until he rose from
the dead. Now what does Peter, when Peter
writes to the scattered tribes in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verses
16 to 21, Peter refers to what this happened and really these
are the things that remained with Peter and the lesson that
he would convey to us And we'll read those verses from verse
16 of 2 Peter chapter 1. For we, he says, from verse 16,
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 which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount."
And then he says this, we have also a more sure word of prophecy
where unto you do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star
arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation, for the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And so Peter conveys to
us here that vision upon the mount, it was a most blessed
vision. He is able to convey what they
saw and the majesty of our Lord. But he does not hold it up as
a standard that the people of God must attain to. He does not
say, if you are to be blessed, if you are to truly be the Lord's
people, you will see the Lord in such a vision and in such
a way. He's not setting it before us
in that way. He's putting as a more sure word
of prophecy, all the word of God, the whole scriptures of
truth, He says it's more sure than these visions and revelations. And in this word we have a very
similar account with the Apostle Paul when he was caught up into
the third heavens and he heard things that were unspeakable
to utter. And he says as well that the
Lord gave him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan offered
him, lest he be lifted up with the abundance of the revelations. And in that account he says that
the grace that the Lord gave him to bear that thorn in the
flesh, that was worth more to him than all the revelations. Much rather then will I glory
in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. When I am weak, then am I strong. And he's in a very similar vein. He's going and rehearsing what
had happened, what he'd seen, but he's not saying to the people
of God, now this is a standard. You aim for this, you ask for
this at all. He's contrasting that with grace. And here, Peter is contrasting
with the word of God. And it's very interesting with
our Lord on that first day of the week as he rose from the
dead and spoke to the two on the way to Emmaus, it was in
all the scriptures concerning himself and their heart burned
within them as he spoke to them by the way. the word that he
said to the rich man, in the case of rich man and Lazarus,
when he supposed that if one rose from the dead, if Lazarus
rose from the dead and appeared to his brethren, that they would
believe then. And the Lord said, no, they will
not believe that Moses and the prophets, if they believe not
them, neither will they believe though one rose from the dead.
And indeed the Lord did rise from the dead and it didn't bring
any to bleed but those that were convicted by the Spirit, those
that were brought to believe. As many as were ordained unto
eternal life believed. The Lord certainly giving it
is that abundant evidence that God has raised him from the dead. But many, many saw it and many
did not believe. In fact, conspired to hide what
they had been witnesses of. And so Peter tells us as well
of the Scriptures, no private interpretation. In other words,
it's not man putting his own construction on it. It is God's
word, God's message to man, and that is the one message. It's not going to be interpreted
by one as this and the other as something else. Comparing
scripture to scripture, we seek to know what God's message, God's
word is unto us. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. And so this then is how Peter
takes the vision that he had, and really he would say, here
is the Scriptures, and here is the majesty, the glory, the blessedness
of Christ running right through the pages of Scripture. And whether
he is seen in Isaiah 53 in all his sufferings, or in the Garden
of Gethsemane, whether he is being derided by the multitude,
whether they are mocking him as upon the cross, he is the
one that was so blessed by his father, so exalted, and so praised. And so the vision here for Peter,
it had the effect of lifting up Christ, making him most precious,
and in his word, Christ is precious. And maybe wherever we read in
the Word of God, where is he? Where is the Lord? And many times
we could read the Psalms and we read them and it's got David
over the top. But maybe as we read it, and
Mr. Hawker is one that some have
said, well, he'll find Christ, where even Christ is not, but
he loves to find Christ in the scriptures. And oft times he
says of the Psalms, this is not David, this is Christ from beginning
to end. Psalm 40, Psalm 22, Psalm 16,
Psalm 110, is all speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ in all
the scriptures. And so, maybe, true of what our thanks Jesus
only, as we look at the scriptures, that there are the types, there
are the shadows, there are those that speak of him, and we are
to look for him in all those types, in all the writings of
the scriptures of truth. But I want to then notice, secondly,
the no man but Jesus only. coming back to the passage where
our text is. And when they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. I want to first notice
the harmony of Christ with Moses and the prophets. There were many that accused
our Lord in his day that he came to destroy Moses. They viewed him as being at odds
with and contrary to Moses. Remember the Pharisees said to
the man that had been born blind and given his sight, thou art
his disciple, we are Moses' disciple. And they put a difference, would
run a wedge between Moses and the Lord, as if the Lord was
coming to take away their nation, to take away their law. But our
Lord testified that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil
it. And indeed, the law of God spoke
and made provision for our Lord, and it's very telling, especially
what Luke says, that which they were speaking of one to another. You know, if we had three people
speaking together on one subject, and it speaks here of complete
harmony, so they're all in agreement on this. They're speaking of
his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. he should accomplish. Why he
said, no man taketh my life 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. It is what he was accomplishing. Peter says in his sermon on the
day of Pentecost, he who was delivered by the determinate
counsel and full knowledge of God, Ye have taken and by wicked
hands crucified and slain. He charges the guilds of their
crucifying the Lord of life and glory upon them. But he points
out that it was by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of
God they did what was before determined to be done and what
was foretold to be done. And so when we have the one subject
that were spoken by Moses and by Elias and by our Lord, they're
all centering in one subject, in one place, in one place at
Calvary. It's not surprising as like this
evening and observing the Lord's Supper, we show forth the Lord's
death till he come. And it was at the death of our
Lord, in the offering of that sacrifice, that the sins of all
the people of God were put away, yet laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. From Abel, right to the last
one of God's children that shall be called, their sins were all
put away at the same time, in the same place, by the same precious
Jesus, by the same blood, in the same manner. When we sit
round the Lord's table, there's absolutely no difference between
any one of the people of God. Experience, yes, one might be
called when they're young, another might be called when they're
old, one in this manner, one in another manner, one a long
time under the law as a schoolmaster, another one quickly brought to
faith and assurance. Many, many different experiences
of the call of God by grace and of His quickening, but as to
where and when that sin was put away and the offering acceptable
unto God, they are united as one. All could join on that Mount
of Transfiguration and say that we bless God for what was accomplished
at Jerusalem. His decease, His laying down
His life, His obedience unto death, even the death of the
cross, Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow. And so when you think on the
mount here, here he is exalted, he is lifted up, he is magnified,
and his father says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. And the very subject what they
are speaking of as they're pointing to Calvary. and it is through
the cross that then he is exalted and lifted up. Paul in his preaching,
he says, I determine to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. People could understand the glory,
the majesty, the light, the voice that is spoken here in the mount
much more than they could when they look upon the suffering
Lamb of God. But the word says, they shall
look upon him whom they pierced. They shall mourn for him and
be in bitterness for him. But there he accomplished and
fulfilled their promise. The seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent's head and he shall bruise thy heel. And
that was what was being accomplished. And so with the three together,
there is a complete harmony. Maybe you always think about
that. As we read the scriptures, as we read the law and all the
laws of Israel, and as we read the prophets and all of the prophets,
may we think that there is always a complete harmony between them
all and the Lord and that which he was accomplished at Jerusalem. We look for that being pointed
to at every time. We mentioned it this morning
regarding Abraham and Isaac and we see it right through. We see him with David when David's
son must die. David had sinned in murder and
adultery and the Lord said his son should die and however much
he prostrated his Self on the ground, God would not change
that, that son died. And then when he died, David
rose up and he washed, cleansed, and he ate. And his servants,
they said, what is this? He says, he shall not come to
me, I shall go to him. That son never put away, David
said. But David, I believe, could see
past that to his greater son, And as the Lord said, David says
in the Psalms, that my Lord said unto thy Lord, sit thou at my
right hand till thine enemies be made thy footstool. And our Lord was set forth as
before David. The Jews, they couldn't answer
that. If David called him his son, how is he then his Lord? and they could not answer. But
we see and expect to see, those dear saints could see through
the things that happened to them. When David later on, he was told
of the kingdom of Solomon and what his should be, a peaceful
kingdom, a kingdom, a great kingdom. Things that are spoken of Solomon
that could never fully be ascribed or set forth to a man. And he
says, is this the manner of man, O Lord God? In other words, is
this the manner, is this a picture of the coming Messiah? Is this
the picture of the Christ? All the time they were looking.
When Solomon dedicated the temple, and he said, the heaven of heavens
cannot contain thee, much less this house that I builded. But
will God in very deed dwell upon the earth? and how he had an
eye all the time to these promises. The tabernacle, the temple, setting
forth the Lord. The Lord spoke of the temple
of his body, destroy this temple, and I'll raise it up again in
three days. And they thought he meant the
literal temple. They said, impossible. How long
it took to build that? Well, they'll raise it up in
three days. but he spake of the temple of his body. And we get
this picture again, right through the scriptures. We have it in
the law of God, the broken tables of the law because of the people's
sin, thrown to the bottom of the mount, and then the law is
rewritten. And the completed tables, they
are put in the ark, a beautiful type of Christ, fulfilling the
law and kept there for the children of Israel to always remember
The completed law is fulfilled by Christ and Christ alone. The Lord came not to destroy,
but to fulfill. And at the time of his death,
again and again, it is written that the scriptures might be
fulfilled. And of course, the scriptures
are the law and the prophets, and they are fulfilled in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus only. So then, when they
had seen that vision, the cloud was lifted up and after they'd
heard the Father's voice, this is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased, hear ye Him. Then we find with the words of
our text, they only see the Lord. Not to be three tabernacles,
not three, not even one on the earth. but the Lord Jesus only. We read in Hebrews, we see not
yet all things put under his feet, but we see Jesus made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor. And it's a blessed thing to see
by faith in these gospel days, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to
see how the scriptures point to him above the law, above the
prophets. And, you know, Paul, when he
spoke to the Galatians, and Galatians are wanting to go back under
the law, and he insists that they be circumcised and keep
the law if they were to be saved. And he realized the error, and
he was so adamant that if they were to keep the law then they
were not saved by grace. It was either Jesus only, it
wasn't Jesus and Moses and the prophets, it was Jesus only. And so this message is very clearly
put to us to centre our hopes, our affections, our fulfilling
of all the scriptures centering in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
this account also we have set forth in Jesus only the majesty
of Christ, how high he was lifted up. In Isaiah we read, by nature
there is no beauty in him, he is a root out of a dry ground,
And yet here we see Him so exalted and so lifted up. And I know
we said not to covet such a vision as this, but what we should desire
of the Lord and pray that the Lord would give us is those high
views of the majesty of Christ that we think highly of Him. Unto you which believe He is
precious. and He is high and lifted up.
And He will always be to those in the Spirit, receives the things
of Jesus and reveals them unto us. He will always be full of
majesty and greatness and power. Jesus, exalted at the Father's
right hand. Then we have the supremacy of
Christ. He is supreme in the Church of
God. And with Moses, with Elias, we
have Christ lifted up. Peter would put them all on one
level. So three tabernacles, made them all the same, as if
they're all the same. No, they're not the same, Peter.
Our Lord is supreme. He stands unique. He stands different
than Any, he is the fulfiller, he is those that they spake of,
those that they pointed to. It's hard for us perhaps to really
enter into how what a stumbling block this was for the Jews. They followed after Moses, they
held to the tradition of the fathers, adding much more to
it than what was in the law, teaching for commandments, the
traditions of men. But for them to lay aside that
and to cling to Christ and see Christ was supreme over all was
a very hard thing. A lot of the message of Paul
to the Hebrews is in this way, in which he is comparing the
Old Testament and Christ. He is setting forth of those
countless offerings of the blood of bulls and of goats which shall
never take away sin, but this man with one offering hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." And again and again he is doing
that comparison and lifting up our Lord as supreme above all
that had gone before. But this would have been hard
for those Jews He saw a man, a real man, a man with no beauty
that should desire him, a man that they could say that his
father and mother, we know, his brethren are with us. And we
read that even his brethren, at first, that they did not believe
him. And that must have been a real
stumbling block, a real difficult thing for them. And it is not
by nature we see a beauty in Christ. It is not by nature that
we see Him high and lifted up, but it is the Spirit's work to
do so. It is one mark that the Lord
gives for His people, that they see in the Lord Jesus Christ
through the Word. They see His majesty, they see
His supremacy, they see His preciousness. It makes them value the Word,
and it makes Christ precious to them. The other effect, and
I mentioned concerning this word, Jesus only, it counters the fear
of man. The fear of man bringeth a snare. And in our day, and really in
every generation, those that have followed after Christ have
suffered persecution. The Lord says in John 17, I've
given them thy word and the world hath hated them. If the word
of God was not containing Christ, the world wouldn't hate that
word and those that follow after the word. But where the people
of God have the word that sets forth our Lord and his sufferings,
The world hates that. Satan hates that. Our Lord used
the scriptures to rebuff Satan in his temptations. Satan tried
to imitate it and use scripture to tempt our Lord. But our Lord
rebuffed him by comparing scripture with scripture. It is written
again. And may we not be ashamed of
the word of God that liveth and abideth forever and that sets
forth our law, the written and incarnate Word in all things
are the same. And may it be then that if there
are those with us this evening who have the fear of man, you
see man, he's a stumbling block, he hinders you, he keeps you
back from walking in the Lord's ways, he keeps you in bondage. When we see no man but Jesus
only, then that takes away the fear What is man? The Lord Jesus Christ. He has
come. He is supreme. And what is poor
man? Our Lord has come to set his
dear people free, and free from the fear of man, free from that
snare, and to have those to follow him only. It may seem a strange
thing to us, this wonderful account, Peter, one of these witnesses,
he denied his Lord three times. You think, how can that happen?
And may that be a help to you and I. When we fear what we are,
how we can deny our Lord too. How we can fear man. That's what Peter did. You know,
he saw the maid, he saw those that were there, and he denied
the Lord. I never knew him. And that was
after this. But our Lord said, I prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not. The strength, the blessing is
in the Lord and not in ourselves. However much great blessings
we've had, great helps we've had, we have not got power to
retain them or to keep the blessing and savour of them. but the Lord
can keep it for us. And those blessings that come
from the Lord, he is the author and finisher of our faith. And
like with Peter, he restored him, he kept him. And that is
another reason of hope for us and help, that we might not fear
lest we cast away all, lest we make shipwrecks, because our
trust is not in ourselves, is not in keeping ourselves. Peter
thought it was. Though all men forsake thee,
yet will not I. But he had to prove that he needed
the Lord to keep his soul, and to keep the Lord Jesus Christ
precious to him, so he would not deny him. And of course,
Lord, he said to Peter, when thou art converted, when thou
art restored, strengthen thy brethren. And in Peter's epistles
and the portion we've read, that is just what he's doing, strengthening
the brethren. Well, may we be strengthened
and may we also have this blessed view of the Lord in all the scriptures. Jesus, I lay in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.