Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew 17. Matthew 17, we looked at verses
one to nine on the transfiguration of our Lord. for our message
this morning. And I want to look at the same
text for our message tonight. Same verses. We're not going
to look at the account of it like we did this morning, the
events that happened. What I want us to look at tonight
is all of the details that stood out to me while I was studying
this. that I felt were just too many
for the message this morning. I was seeing things and I wanted
to put it in there and it got to be too much and I also felt
like these details sidetracked us from what our message was.
So I just decided to have a separate message tonight
on all of these details. I'm calling this glorious tidbits. I don't know what a tidbit is,
but whatever it is, that's what I'm calling this. Just some things
to notice. This is a little different from
a normal message for me, but I
believe this will encourage us and enlighten us on Christ, on
his dealings with his people, and on glory with him. What glory
is gonna be like? These were some things that really
blessed me and I couldn't just bypass them and not pass them
along to you. So I see this message as being
the sprinkles on top. That's what I see this as being.
I can enjoy a bowl of ice cream just fine, but my girls love
sprinkles on top. And that's what I see this to
be. This morning was the bowl of ice cream, and tonight is
the sprinkles on top. I've titled this Some Things
for God's People to Enjoy. Now again, so you'll understand
where we're going with all this, we looked at the story this morning.
All right, that's what we looked at this morning. Tonight is just
some wonderful details from the story. And the first one is this. If you look with me at verse
one, Matthew 17, verse one says, and after six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into an
high mountain apart." Those three men, Peter, James, and John.
Those three men. Why did he select those three
men for this? And we again look this morning
at what they're about to see. This transfiguration, okay? Why did he select these three
men to see this? It's because those were the three
men who were going to see this. Turn with me if you would to
Mark 14. Mark chapter 14. Mark 14 verse 32 says, And they came to a place which
was named Gethsemane, the Garden of Gethsemane. And he saith to
his disciples, sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with
him Peter and James and John and began to be sore amazed and
to be very heavy. and saith unto them, he said
to those three men, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. Tarry ye here and watch. And he went forward a little
and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the
hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all
things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what thou wilt. Those three men saw him in all
of his agony. The agony of the garden, they
saw his suffering. They heard his cries to the father. Can you imagine what it would
have been like to witness that? All of this of the disciples
saw this, look at verse 46, they laid their hands on him and took
him. Verse 53, and they led Jesus
away to the high priest and with him were assembled all the chief
priest and the elders and the scribes. Verse 63, then the high
priest rent his clothes and said, what need we any further witnesses?
You have heard the blasphemy. What thank ye? And they all condemned
him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on him,
and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him,
prophesy. And the servants did strike him
with the palms of their hands. Can you imagine seeing all that?
Chapter 15, verse 24. And when they had crucified him,
they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man
should take. And it was the third hour, and
they crucified him. Verse 34 says, and at the ninth
hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani, which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Verse 37, and Jesus cried with
a loud voice and gave up the ghost. What stood out to me was the
fact that our Lord prepared those three men for specifically what
they were going to see. Specifically what they were going
to witness in the garden, even though they didn't understand
it at the time. All the way up to our Lord's death, even though
they were sorrowful. Our Lord, in His kindness and
in His tenderness toward them, before they saw the Lamb slain,
our Lord revealed God in all of His glory to them. He prepared
them. He told them over and over again. He told them over and over again.
He prepared them. He said, this is what's going
to happen. I'm going to allow them to take me, crucify me and
bury me. This is what's going to happen.
He said, but don't let your heart be troubled. Three days later,
I'm going to rise again. That's how our Lord deals with
all of us. He prepares us for the things that he brings us
through. We may not understand it at the time. They may bring
great sorrow to us. But in our Lord's tenderness
and kindness, He has told us the outcome of all of these things. He's already told us. He's already
told us the outcome of all of these things. And in time, we
will see it was proven to be true. He will prove to us when
He says, My grace is sufficient. And then he sends us something
that tries it. It will be proven. His grace is sufficient. In the
end, in that day, it's going to be proven. Everything he said
held true. So that's the first thing that
we can see is our Lord's kindness and tenderness in preparing us
for the things that he will bring us through. All right, go back
to Matthew 17. Here's the second thing that
stood out to me. Verse 1 says, 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. According to this account, this
is what it is like to look at the Lord Jesus Christ in his
glorified state. OK, according to this account,
this is what it's like to look at the Lord Jesus Christ in his
glorified state. His face did shine as the sun. And his raiment, his body was
white as the light. I believe it was John Gill or
one of the commentary writers said his his face glowed and his body glowed to
the point that you could see it through his clothes. His clothes
were just glowing. Let me show you a couple of other
eyewitness accounts here. Okay. Turn with me to Exodus
24. Exodus 24 verse 9 says, Then went up Moses
and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of
Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under
his feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone. And as it were, the body of heaven
in his clearness. The body of heaven in his clearness,
that sounds like light to me, not darkness. Clearness. Like when you say we have clear
skies, all you can see is light. They said we saw him. He wasn't
invisible. He was not light is invisible
until it reflects off of something, but they saw he wasn't invisible.
They saw him. They said he was standing on
sapphire pavers. And I can only imagine that that
was beautiful. And he looked like the body of heaven in his
clearness. That's interesting, isn't it?
Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter one. Ezekiel chapter one. The heading above, we're going to look at
verse 26, and the heading above that page says this is the vision
of God's glory, the four wheels and of God's glory. This is where we're reading,
the vision of God's glory. All right, verse 26. It says,
and above the firmament that was over their heads was the
likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone. Moses said
it looked like a sapphire stone. Ezekiel said it looked like a
sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was the
likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the color of amber,
as the appearance of fire round about within it from the appearance
of his loins even upward, And from the appearance of his loins
even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it
had brightness round about, as the appearance of the bow that
is in the cloud in the day of rain. So was the appearance of
the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell
on my face and I heard a voice of one that spoke. Ezekiel said to look at him was
to look at sapphire and amber and all of these colors of brightness. Turn with me to the next book,
Daniel chapter 10. The heading at the top of my
page here says, Daniel, having humbled himself, seeth a glorious
vision. Daniel sees a glorious vision
here. Daniel 10 verse 5. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and
looked, and behold a certain man, clothed in linen, whose
loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like
the barrel, that's a topaz stone, and his face as the appearance
of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and
his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words
like the voice of a multitude." Every time I see that polished
brass, I think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace. Turn with me to Revelation 1. This is why I think that Revelation
1. Revelation 1, verse 12, it says,
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks, one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment
down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle,
his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow,
and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto
fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. And his voice was
as the sound of many waters, and he had in his right hand
seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword,
and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."
Now, I know that every word in this book has spiritual significance. I know that. Believe me, I know
that. But our Lord may just be preparing
us for what we are very soon going to see. He prepares His
people for these things. He tells them beforehand, before
they experience these things. And I don't know. I know that
all has, that all points us to Jesus Christ crucified. Every
word in that is Jesus Christ crucified. But as I listened
to this man, said this is what he looked like, this is what
he looked like, this is what he looked like. They all sound
the same to me. And our Lord may just be preparing
us for what we're gonna see. All right, go back to our text.
Matthew 17. The next thing I noticed was
this. Verse 2 says, And he was transfigured before
them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was
white as the light, in the union of the Lord with his people.
The scripture calls him the head, and it calls his people the body. And in this image, as the head
was, so was the body. As he is, so are we. His raiment, his clothing represents
his righteousness that we get to wear. And because of that
righteousness on us, because his righteousness is on us, what
he looks like, we look like. Revelation 4 says he looks like
a jasper stone, a diamond. Revelation 21 says his bride
looks like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. As he is, so are
we. All right, here's the next tidbit,
verse 3. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Moses died 1,500 years
before this. Elijah was carried up into heaven
900 years before this. I don't understand how it all
works. I honestly don't. or how it's going to work with
the saints already being in glory. OK, there are saints already
in glory. And then on the day that the
Lord returns, those who have already gone. They are going
to come back and take up their body from the grave. OK, the
graves are going to open up. And the dead in Christ shall
rise first. Okay? They're gonna be here with the
saints that haven't gone up yet. And then we're all going up together.
And I don't understand that body and this body. I just don't understand
all that. I don't understand how that works.
But based on this account, I can tell you this. To be absent from
this body is to be present with the Lord. God's people are present. In glory. And what I mean by
that is they are a part of things. They're not just, you know, in
some holding position or they're a part of things. They are present
in glory. Moses and Elijah are both still
in the ministry right here in this moment, right here. They're
in glory. On earth, there was a very present awareness
of what was going on with them. Does that make sense? There was
a very present awareness of what was going on. They came and talked
with the Lord about the decease that He must accomplish. Is that
not amazing? All of us. That's amazing to
me. Peter, James, and John knew exactly
who they were. If there's any question in our
minds on whether or not we're going to know each other in glory,
I've wondered it and most all of you at some point have asked
me that question too. You think we'll know each other
in glory? We will. We will. We're going to know
each other. If there's any question in our
minds whether or not we're going to remember anything about this
earth, we will. I don't understand it. I don't. It'll be without sin. It'll all
be without sin. Won't be one speck of sin involved. But we will forever cry unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
Unto him that accomplished his own decease for us. We will know as we have been
known, we will actively take part in the things of God. We
will actively take part in the things of God. The angel in Revelation
22 that John fell down in worship, the angel came and told John
these things and he fell down and worshiped him and that angel
said, don't do it. He said, uh, Angel means messenger. When you look up the definition
of the word angel, it just means messenger. Apostle means messenger,
one cent. But he said, I'm your fellow
servant of your brethren, the prophets. I'm one of the prophets. And I was sent with a message
like I always was. So anyway, there will be a very
present awareness and involvement of God's people in the things
of God. All right, this is the last thing
that I'll point out tonight. Verse four says, Then answered
Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here.
If thou will, let us make here three tabernacles. one for thee,
and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 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 charged them saying, tell the vision to no
man until the son of man be risen again from the dead. Here's the
thing that struck me. The weakness of this flesh is
so amazing. It is so amazing that after seeing
the brightness of His glory and after experiencing the fearful
trembling from hearing the awful voice of God, the awful voice
of God, how amazing that it is that after seeing and experiencing
all of that, He would say and do this. After seeing and experiencing
that, how amazing is it that Peter would say and do this?
Go with me to Matthew 26. Matthew 26, verse 69, it says, Now Peter sat without in the
palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with
Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all,
saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone
out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that
were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again
he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a
while came unto him they that stood by and said to Peter, surely
thou also art one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to
swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock
crew. And Peter remembered the words
of Jesus, which said unto him before the cock crow thou shalt
deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. Here's our last tidbit. This
flesh is so weak. Can you imagine after seeing
what he saw? Can you imagine? This flesh is
so weak. Thank God his spirit is so strong
and so faithful and so loving and so merciful and so tender. Peter is the one who said with
absolute assurity, Peter is the one who said we're being kept
by the power of God. We're not keeping ourselves.
Our experiences are not keeping us. You know, everybody sees
salvation as an experience. How do you know you're saved?
Well, it's because back in 1983, I had a car wreck and I saw our
experiences don't save us. Peter can say firsthand, our
experiences don't save us. We're not saving ourselves. We're
not keeping ourselves. Our resolve is not keeping us. You know, we sing that song,
I am resolved no longer to linger. Well, great. Give me five minutes. If we're going to be kept, it's
only going to be by the power of God almighty. And Peter said,
I've seen his power. He's able to keep us. He is able. Thank God. Amen. I pray that the Lord will make
those things to be a blessing to us. All right.