Turn with me if you would now
to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17, let's read
the first nine verses together. 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, or Elijah, 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 charged them saying, tell the vision to no
man until the son of man be risen again from the dead. This is
one of the most glorious accounts in all the scripture. And the
reason I say that is because our Lord right here gave us a
glimpse into glory, an actual glimpse into glory. The three disciples who were
standing there that day physically saw glory, physically looked into glory.
In Luke's account, It says Moses and Elijah appeared unto them
in glory. When they saw Moses and Elijah,
Moses and Elijah were standing in glory. They physically saw glory. The rest of us, with eyes of
faith, Through these words, we're also able to see straight into
glory. That's what makes this account
so glorious. Alright? Let's look at this together. Verse 1 says, And after six days,
Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth
them up into an high mountain apart." Mark's account says,
by themselves. We just read that a moment ago
in our Bible study. By themselves. They were alone.
They were alone. It was not time for our Lord
to reveal his glory to this world yet, but he revealed it to his
disciples. And that's how it is with God.
Everything with him is secret. Man thinks that he has God figured
out. He thinks he can know God and
understand God. Everything with God is secret
until he reveals it. And he only reveals his true
glory to his people. And we'll see what His true glory
is in just a moment. 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. He was transfigured. His figure
didn't change. He was still in the form of a
man. But God in that man shined forth. The whole time that Christ was
on this earth, and this is important to realize, the whole time that
Christ was on this earth, God was in Him. Father, Son, and
Spirit. When He came as an infant, the
angel said, call His name Emmanuel. Why? Because God is inside Him. God. God has come to this earth. That is God with us. Veiled in the likeness of human
flesh. The whole time from the beginning
of the Lord Jesus Christ being on this earth to the end of the
Lord Jesus Christ being on this earth. When from the cross of
Calvary, he bowed his head and gave up his ghost. The whole
time the scripture says God was in Christ reconciling the world
to himself. And right here at this brief
moment, God in Christ showed himself. God showed the brightness
of his glory. 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. Peter, James, and John. were
allowed to see and they were made able to see. We need to understand this very
clearly. God's glory is so bright. His glory is so bright. No man can see it and live. That's how bright it is. No man
can see it and live. It's so bright. It's consuming. That's how bright it is. Moses right here. OK, Moses,
Moses and Elijah appeared. Moses is the one God told that
to back in Exodus 33. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. And the Lord said, I can't. I
can't show it to you because you won't survive it. No man can see me and live unless,
unless you are in Christ. There is a place that I can put
you. The cliff of the rock. unless you're in Christ. That's
the only way that any soul can see the glory of God and live. That soul has to be in Christ. That glory has to be seen in
Christ. That's the only way. If a soul
tries to approach God's glory outside of Christ, that soul
will never make it. But thank God, Peter, James,
and John were allowed to see the glory of God, and they were
made able to see the glory of God in Christ. And thank God,
so are we. So are we in Christ. Now this
right here is a wonderful physical illustration. Okay, I'm going
to give us an illustration. This is a physical illustration
of a spiritual truth and this is wonderful. I did not come
up with it and that's why I can say it's wonderful because this
really is. I pray the Lord will let us enter into this and see
this. When there are no clouds and
it's in the middle of the day. When the sun, the S-U-N, sun,
is revealed in all of its brightness, you got that pictured in your
mind, there's no clouds, it's the middle, absolute middle of
the day, and the sun is revealed in all of its brightness, you
cannot look up and stare at it. You can't. And that doesn't mean
you're not allowed to, that means you're not able to, you can't. You just physically can't. It
would damage us if we did that. But when the glory of that sun
comes all the way down and touches the horizon of the earth. Same sun. Same brightness. Same glory. The brightness hasn't
diminished. The glory hasn't diminished.
The power hasn't diminished. Same sun. But when the glory
of that sun comes all the way down and touches the horizon
of the earth in that brief moment, just that because of that one
brief moment right there. In that one moment, it's as though
righteousness and peace kiss each other. In that one moment right there,
all of that blazing fury is appeased and it's calm And you can look
straight into the glory and behold all of its beauty. Same sun,
same brightness, same glory. But in that one moment, you can
behold, you can look straight into the glory of the sun itself. And that's what we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we have because God
came down. and touched this earth in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without being consumed, just
immediately consumed, we can behold the glory of God. Same God. Same glory. But we can behold all of it in
all of His beauty. All of His beauty. What happened
right here was the Lord reminded them and He reminded us that
in this beauty of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, I know
to the world there was no beauty in him that this world should
desire him, but to us he's beautiful. And in the beauty of this person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, all of God's glory and all of God's
holiness is contained there. It's there. He revealed just a glimpse of
it to remind us of that. You think about Saul of Tarsus
saw it, didn't he? The brightness of God's glory
just appeared to him. It blinded him. He said, who are you? He said,
I'm Jesus Christ. So it's there, it's a reminder
to us. Verse one 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. And behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. In the
scripture, Moses represents the law. God gave the law to us through
Moses. And when he is mentioned, he
is a reminder of, and he's a picture of the law. And Elijah represents
the prophets, the prophets in the Old Testament that foretold
the things that would come. Prophets said he's coming, Christ
is coming. Both the law and all the prophets
pointed to Christ. Everything pointed to Christ.
They all spoke of Christ. Here's what that means. Everything
in this Word is speaking of Jesus Christ, pointing us to Jesus
Christ, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. All of it. Let
me show you that in Romans 3. Turn over to Romans chapter 3. Romans 3 verse 21 says, But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. Manifested, that's Christ, that's
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God without
the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets. That's what was happening on
the Mount of Transfiguration. The law and the prophets were
witnessing Christ. In Luke 24, the Lord said, all
things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. And when
our Lord met with Moses and Elijah on that Mount, he met with them
to discuss the fulfillment of something concerning Christ.
They met to discuss what the law and the prophets were pointing
to. What everything is all about.
They discussed what all of this is about. And Luke's account
plainly tells us what it is. Go with me if you would to Luke
9. Luke chapter 9, 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 glistening. 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."
His decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. That
doesn't sound like a defeat. That sounds like a victory, doesn't
it? It was a victory. It is our victory which He won
for us and gave to us. His decease which He should accomplish. Notice that it doesn't say which
they should accomplish. The redemption of God's people
was accomplished by Christ alone. It was declared by the prophets.
It was demanded by the law. It was accomplished by Christ
alone. His decease which he should accomplish. Why did Christ have
to accomplish death? Why did Christ have to die in
order to save his people? Why did he have to die? Here's
the reason why. It's because God is holy. That's
the reason why. God is holy and His people had
sinned against Him. We have sinned against Him. And
His holiness demands death. His holy law demands death. The wages of sin is death. Therefore Christ came and died
in the place of His people. It was the only way that God's
holy justice could be satisfied. Our Lord told the disciples that
time and time again. He said, for this cause came
I into the world. He said, I came for one reason
only to die for you. I came to die for you. So you
don't have to die. I must do this for you. It's
the only hope you have. And he said, rest assured, I'm
going to do this for you. I'm going to accomplish it. Turn
back to Matthew, this time chapter 16, the chapter just before our
text, Matthew 16, verse 21. From that time forth, began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must, 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. He said, I must suffer this for
you. I must be killed. I must be killed. Why? Because I'm gonna bear your
sin, that's why. I'm gonna bear your sin in my
body on the tree. And the holy justice of God is
gonna strike me down because of it. And they're gonna lay
me in a grave while I satisfy the payment of separation from
God for you. I must endure, depart from me. I must endure that for you, depart
from me. And then three days later, he
said, I'm going to be raised back up again. Why? Because everything concerning
you and your redemption will be accomplished. That's the reason
why. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's
wonderful. Look at chapter 17, verse four. Peter thought that was wonderful.
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
Elijah. Peter didn't realize it at the
moment, but that was the wrong thing to say. And the other accounts
say he said it because he was so afraid he didn't know what
to say. And you know, if I would have been there, I would have
been so afraid I wouldn't have known what to say. It's easy
to judge, but This is another example of how
Peter of his own self couldn't bind anything on this earth.
You know, whatever you bind on the earth, the Lord said, he
said, okay, I tell you what, let's make three tabernacles. He saw the glory of this event
and the glory of this declaration. He said, let's build three tabernacles
so that we can worship Christ and the prophets and the law.
And God the Father moved in. Verse five says, 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'm well pleased. Hear ye him. Peter said, let's
build three tabernacles. God said, no. It's Christ alone. is Christ
alone. And I'll tell you this, the error
that Peter made is the error of all false religion. It's the error of all false religion.
False religion says, let's share his glory with someone or something
else. And God Almighty said, no, it's
Christ alone. It is Christ alone. It's not
going to happen. That is not going to happen.
Your authority is Christ alone. Your glory is Christ alone. If
any man glory, let him glory in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Verse six, and when the disciples heard it, they fell on their
face and were sore afraid. Oh, the fear of the Lord. That's
what's missing in false religion today. The fear of the Lord. When there is no fear, there
is no reverence. When there's no reverence, there's
no bowing. There's no begging. There's no
pleading. When there's no fear in reverence, there's just arrogant
assumption. And that's never a good thing
with God, never. This is the truth right here.
Where there is no fear in sinful men and women, they have everything
to fear. But when there is fear, when
there is God created, if there is fear, it's God created. in
mercy, in goodness, in kindness. You want to know the goodness
and kindness of God Almighty? That He would create fear in
us. If there is God-created reverence
and fear in sinners toward the Almighty, when there is bowing
and begging and pleading and worshiping, sinners have nothing
to fear. Nothing to fear. Verse six, when
the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore
afraid. And Jesus came and touched them. Oh, the touch of the master's
hand. So calming. So soothing, the grace, the peace,
the mercy that's in that touch. Verse 7 says, Jesus came and
touched them and said, arise and be not afraid. All he has
to do is say, it is I. And all our fears are relieved,
aren't they? All of our fears are relieved.
We need that so badly. We have brethren. who are going
through difficult things right now. And you know what I pray
for them? I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ, our high, holy
King and Savior, would, in His goodness and kindness, touch
them and say, it is I. Be not afraid. I pray God would
do that for us as we worry over our sin against Him. As we worry
in standing before the judgment throne, as we worry about approaching
all of this wrath and all of this glory outside of Christ,
I pray the Master would touch us so you don't have anything
to fear. I put that in you. You feeling
that way, that's me. It is I. Verse 7 says, 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. If God ever opens a sinner's
eyes, that sinner will see Christ alone. When a sinner has his
eyes and his heart open to the truth, open to salvation, when
God does a work and reveals these things, everything gets stripped
away. Everything is removed but Christ
alone. It is Christ alone. If it's Christ
plus someone or something else, blindness is still there. If it's what Christ does plus
what I have to do, blindness is still there. If it's Christ
plus one of the ordinances, if it's Christ plus perfect obedience
to the law, if it's Christ plus anything or anyone, blindness
is still there. When God opens a sinner's eyes
to truly see salvation, it is Christ alone. Christ alone. After the wrath is appeased,
the law is satisfied, the prophecy is fulfilled, all that's left
is Christ alone. That's it. Verse eight says,
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. I love this thought, this statement,
and this truth. After they saw all of that, they
came down. They came down. All of God's
people do. John the Baptist cried, I must
decrease. I say amen by his grace. All of God's people say amen.
Let him increase. He must increase. I must decrease. To him be all the glory. Amen. All right.