Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. If you have the hymn sheets,
on the back of the sheet is the reading, which is from the Gospel
according to Matthew, and chapter 17, reading the first 13 verses. This is the account of the Transfiguration
of Christ. Matthew 17, from verse 1. And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an
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. 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 charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no
man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. And His disciples asked Him,
saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias
is come already. And they knew him not, but have
done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the
Son of Man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood
that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Thus far the reading
of God's holy word. The verse that I desire to speak
to you from is verse 8. The latter part of that verse,
they saw no man save Jesus only. They saw no man save Jesus only. Now I want to speak firstly of
the witnesses, and then of what we are to learn from the transfiguration
of Christ, and then lastly just some things to beware of. Firstly the witnesses, we are
told here that our Lord chose Peter, James and John from amongst
his disciples, the Apostles, to come and be witnesses here. Now it is clear that these three
When we have a list of the named apostles in Matthew 10 verse
2, then they are the first ones that are named. The Lord put
them first there, He chose them here to see His transfiguration,
and He also chose them to be with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane,
when He had the sins of His people laid on Him, when Christ was
in His agony there in Gethsemane. They saw Christ here transfigured,
they saw Him in Gethsemane, pressed down, sweating great drops of
blood, and in agony, a real contrast. Later on, when the Apostle Paul
was called then when he first came after his conversion to
Jerusalem and he saw the apostles he says of this that James Cephas
and John who seemed to be pillars. So there when Christ has risen
and ascended and the Church is established, then these three
in the Church of God were pillars. They were chosen by God, well
grounded, able to guide others, direct others. Men, sinful men,
men like Peter that had denied his Lord, but men that were given
grace, and given that help to really stand for the truths of
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as being true witnesses of what
they had seen. So those were the witnesses. We may ask ourselves, what have
we been called to be witnesses of in respect to the Gospel? What do we know personally of
Christ? What do we know personally of
our sin? of Christ the Saviour, of the
blessings of God, the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich,
and addeth no sorrow with it. Each one of God's dear people,
in their own way and in their own measure, are chosen that
they should show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out
of nature's darkness and into His marvellous light. Are we
then in our way witnesses of the saving power of Christ and
of the truth of the Gospel. Secondly then, what are we to
learn from the transfiguration of Christ? The first thing, obviously,
is the glory of Christ. Here is Jesus of Nazareth, God
made manifest in the flesh. And there were those times when
he was upon earth that the glory of his Godhead shone through
the man. For the most heart men saw him
and they saw but Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, the carpenter's
son. But when we have times like this,
when we have times like he was asleep in the boat and he arose
and rebuked the winds and the waves and there was a great calm
that we then see a glimpse and the disciples said then what
manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey
him so here was a little glimpse of the glory of Christ also is
a testimony to His true Sonship. It was a time when they heard
the voice of the Father from heaven, saying in verse 5, This
is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. It is vital that Jesus of Nazareth,
the Eternal Son of God, have the sanction of heaven and the
witness of the Father. He did at baptism when again
there was that voice from heaven. So we are to learn that from
this transfiguration. Then thirdly, the effect of a
true sight of Christ. We have in verse 6 and 7 that
when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, were
sore afraid, and Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise,
Be not afraid." And when we have to really do with eternal things,
with the Father, with the Son, then it will have that effect. It won't leave us trifling, careless,
mocking, but like Daniel who fell down as dead at the feet
of the Lord, those that see the glory of God, we read that God
is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, to be
heard in reverence of all them that are about Him. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is due that reverence and honour. They that honour
the Lord, they honour His Father. They that receive Him, receive
His Father. Then we have the harmony with
Moses, Elias or Elijah as is set forth here, and the Lord
Jesus Christ. We see them, all of them the
three, together in this transfiguration. Now the Jews, of course, they
felt really threatened by Jesus, they felt that he undermined
Moses, that he was against the prophets, and yet here we see
all three of them together in complete harmony, the Law and
Prophecy and Jesus. There is no jarring note, there
is no jar, there's no contradiction between the Old Testament and
the new. We must always remember that.
But then what do we learn as well? The law represented by
Moses is done away in Christ. We read here that Peter, he is
saying, let us build three tabernacles, let us have Moses, let us have
the prophets, let us have Jesus. No, says the Lord, it is Jesus
only. They saw no man save Jesus only. It's good for us to remember
that Moses, representing the Law, was forbidden to go into
the Promised Land. He could not lead them into the
Promised Land. Joshua must do that. The Law
can only condemn. The Law of God, by the Law, is
the knowledge of sin. And the Law of God can only bring
us to know and feel our sinnership. It cannot save. And by the deeds
of the law shall no man living be justified. The Lord Jesus
Christ was born under the law, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law. He hath borne
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, For cursed is
everyone that hangeth upon a tree. He fulfilled the law in his holy
life of obedience for his people. He suffered as the law demanded,
without the shedding of the blood is no remission. So our Lord
Jesus Christ provided what the law demanded, but what his people
could not provide. that blood that pardons and atones
for sin, that redeems those that are under the law's condemnation
and sets them free. And so that is why we find Moses,
and representing the law, not a tabernacle for him, look from
Moses to Christ. And Paul says, the law is our
schoolmaster unto Christ. It is necessary. We look at that
maybe in the last point. But may we realize this, that
Christ came to not destroy the law, but to magnify it, fulfill
it, and to satisfy its demands in the place of His people. Then
what about the prophets, as represented by Elias? All of the prophets,
they pointed to Christ. They pointed to Him that should
come. And here is Christ come. They
thought that Elias must first come. It was prophesied that
Elijah shall be sent before that great day of the Lord in Malachi. But here they were to understand
he had come. John the Baptist had come and
Herod had killed him. the prophets were ended in that
way. There was never to be more prophets
pointing to Christ's coming upon this earth. Yes, He shall come
again, the Lord spoke of that in power and great glory, but
the work that Christ did upon the earth fulfilled all of the
Old Testament types and shadows, ceremonial law, and fulfill the
prophecies that were prophesied of him. That's why in the death
of Christ again and again we find that the scriptures might
be fulfilled. So we see these lessons that
we have from this transfiguration. Our attention is drawn straight
unto Christ, Jesus only. They saw no man save Jesus only. And may our attention be drawn
to him as well. Yes, the law by Moses came, but
grace and truth by Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way of escape from
the wrath of God. due to a broken law, and may
we see in this beautiful account Jesus only. I want to just then
look in the last place of some things to be aware of, to be
aware. Beware that we do not profess
faith in Christ while we are still looking to good works to
save us. I always feel very, very sad
when you may speak to someone about their faith, and yes, they
may mention the name of the Lord, but then they immediately start
speaking of what in their eyes are good things that they've
done, and you think, where are you really trusting? In Christ,
or in your own works? The other thing to be aware of
is seeing sin in others, but never convinced of it ourselves. God's people have a constant
awareness of their sinnership. This account by no means says
to us there is no more sin, or that the law is done away so
that we just don't have to worry about the law at all. By the
law is the knowledge of sin. And you and I, if we are truly
made spiritual alive, we were saying with the Apostle Paul,
the good that I would, I do not, the evil that I would not, that
I do, a wretched man that I am. And John in his epistles is very
clear If we say that we have no sin, we lie and do not the
truth. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. It is a very sad thing to see
those professing Christ or saying that they are saved and attending
worship services, and they have no sense of their own sinnership. They never have to confess it,
mourn over it, pray about it, and yet very vocal about what
they see as sins in others or things that are being done round
about them. The hymn writer says, here on
my heart, The burden lies, past offences pain my eyes. And daily we will have cause
to bless the Lord for Christ and to realise if ever our poor
soul is saved, His Christ must be the way, that by the law we
have no peace and no comfort and no hope of heaven. The last
thing just to beware of is not to be looking for Visions like
this, great as it was, rather than God's word and God's work
in us. Peter, in his epistles, refers
to this time when they saw the glory of the Lord. And he says,
but we have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do
well to take heed, as unto a light that is in a dark place. That
is the word of God. And the apostle Paul, when he
had the vision caught up into the third heavens, He was to
learn that with the thorn in the flesh, the grace of God was
sufficient for him. And so Paul and Peter, though
they had wonderful visions and saw this transfiguration here,
their voice would be to point us to the Word of God and to
the faith in that Word, not looking for visions, revelations, wonderful
things like that. But when the Spirit shines on
the Word, and shines in our hearts, and gives us faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, that gives us that comfort and assurance of heaven,
when Jesus is all in all, and with us our testimony will be,
Jesus only.