Let's take our Bibles now and
turn with me to Matthew chapter 17. This is Matthew's account
of the transfiguration of Christ. Matthew 17. Let's read through
the first several verses. And after six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high
mountain apart, that is, apart from the crowds and the people
that were gathered, 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, that is, 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, 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." Now, you
can find two other accounts of this. You can find in Mark's
Gospel, chapter 9, verses 2 through 9, you can find the same account. and also in Luke 9, verses 29-36. I want to give you five things
that I believe ought to give us comfort and instruction in
these verses this morning, five things to encourage us and direct
us as His disciples. The first thing I want us to
see here is that Jesus Christ and Him crucified It was and
still is the subject of the Old Testament Scriptures. This is
very significant, these two men that they saw on the Mount talking
with Him. And they talked with Him, Luke
said, concerning His decease that He must accomplish at Jerusalem. That's the first thing I want
us to see here, is that Jesus Christ and Him crucified was
and still is the subject of the Old Testament Scriptures. Moses
stands here symbolic of the law. He tells us in John chapter 1,
the law came by Moses. In a lot of places in the Scripture,
it actually, instead of saying the law, uses the name Moses
instead of law, meaning law. We have Moses. That's what the
Jews said, meaning by that that they had the law. Moses is symbolic. And then so is Elijah. Elijah was such a prominent figure
in the Old Testament that he stood head and shoulders above
all the other prophets in the things that he did, in his boldness,
in his bravery, in the things that he did, and also in the
miraculous works that God did by his hand. Now you think about
this man sitting in a tent, totally surrounded. He was down in a
valley, totally surrounded by evil men, his enemies, and the
king that was going to come down and destroy him. And his servant,
you recall, went out and looked up and he was just trembling.
And he came in and told Elijah, he said, this is it. To put it in our language, we've
had it. We're surrounded. We don't have
a chance. Elijah said, Lord, open this
young man's eyes. He went back out and looked,
and there was an army of angels all the way encompassing that
army and encompassing all those hills round about. This man Elijah
stood before the 40 prophets of Baal, Elijah. Elijah stands
here for all the prophets. Moses stands for the law. And what he's telling us is this,
that the subject of the law and the prophets is the decease of
Christ. It's Christ and Him crucified. That's what the Old Testament
scriptures teach. And then you'll recall also,
and I think it's in Malachi chapter 4, where he talks about in the
end time, and he deals with that a little bit later on here in
Matthew 17, about Elijah coming. There was a prophecy there about
Elijah coming. And of course, we know now that
he was talking about John the Baptist who came in the character
of Elijah. You can read about that in Matthew
17, 10 through 13. But in Luke's account, we're
told that he talked with these two men, Moses and Elijah, who
appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem. Now turn with me over to Luke's
Gospel, chapter 24. What I want you to see this morning
is that I'm not trying to make a play on words here. I'm not
just trying to pick these two men out and teach you some doctrine
that I believe that the Scriptures don't really teach. This is the
plain teaching of the Scriptures, but here it's symbolic in these
two men who stood before him at his transfiguration. You recall
over in Luke 24, this is after his death and resurrection. And
the women had come and told the disciples that the stone had
been rolled away and that Jesus wasn't in the tomb. And that
they saw some angels and the angels said that he was risen.
And they felt like that this was some ploy of the Jews to
take away his body and to deny him and to deny all the things.
And now they're just totally confused. They're totally confused. And they're walking along the
way, and there Jesus appeared to them, but he didn't appear
in such a way as that they knew who he was. And he said, what's
the problem? And they said, where you been?
This man called Jesus that we thought was the Christ. We believed
that he was the Christ. And they began to tell him all
these things. And then finally down in verse
25, the Lord answers them and said, O fools and slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Now He is not talking
about the New Testament apostles here. He is talking about the
Old Testament prophets. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded unto them and all the Scriptures,
the things, concerning himself. And then a little bit further
on in this chapter, in chapter 24, he goes through these things
again and he includes the Psalms. And they showed them how these
things were concerning him and concerning his death and his
burial and his resurrection. Then it says he opened to them
the Scriptures, that they might understand the Scriptures. The
death and resurrection of Christ is the subject of the Old Testament
Scriptures. In the book of Acts, it said
to him, give all the prophets witness. And then the second
thing I want us to see here is a glimpse beyond the veil into
the glory of Christ. In Luke's account, it said they
appeared in glory. In glory. We talk a lot about
glory. What's it going to be in glory? Well, they got a glimpse, just
a glimpse at the glorified Christ. 1 John 3, verse 1. Now, this
is one of the men who was on that mount. He tells us that
right up into the beginning of this book. But in chapter 3,
he begins to talk about the love of God. And he said, Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear." In other words, they had walked
with one another and walked with Christ, but they had not yet
seen Christ glorified. They had not yet seen anybody
glorified to know how they shall appear. And that's what he's
telling them here. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, that is, in this flesh and at this time. But we know.
How do you know that? We know that when He shall appear,
we'll be like Him. How do you know that? Because
He was on the mount. And He saw Elijah and Moses.
And He saw them glorified. He saw them glorified. He saw
not only the glory of Christ, but the glorified saints of God,
and so much so that they could not distinguish in this earthly
flesh the difference, and was willing to build three tabernacles.
That's how much at one we are with Christ. And then thirdly, and along these
same lines, is a peek at the resurrected life of the believer.
Moses and Elijah had long since disappeared from the earth, and
yet here they're thousands of years later talking with the
Lord. And they knew who they were. That is astonishing to me. Thousands of years. They had
no pictures of them. They had no statues of them.
Strictly forbidden of God to make statues of saints and angels
and all that type of thing. And yet they saw these two men
talking with the Lord and knew who they were. Moses and Elijah. And then imagine this, that you
and I will one day have enough knowledge to stand and converse
with the Lord about profound things. Can you imagine? It says in that day we will know
as we are known, we'll be able to stand and see and converse
with one another and converse with him about profound things. You remember he told Nicodemus,
that master of theology who questioned the new birth and kind of poked
fun at him when he told him that he must be born again, and he
said, Nicodemus, I've talked to you in heavenly terms. What
would you do if I talked with you in heavenly terms? What would
you do? What would you do if I quit using
things that you can understand and start telling you in the
language of heaven what's going on? It would be so far over your
head, it would be like the wind blowing. It would just all go
right past you. These men were in glorified bodies
and they were still known by their earthly names. Alright, and then fourthly, concerning
this transfiguration, Peter tells us that we have in our possession
something more sure than what he saw on the mount. Something
more sure. Turn with me over to 2 Peter
chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Beginning down here in verse
16. Now Peter uses this experience
he had on the mount, and he uses other signs and wonders that
God did through him as evidences of his ministry, and that's why
they were given. That's why those things were
given. You can read about it over in Hebrews chapter 1 and
2. But here in 2 Peter 1 verse 16,
he said, 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 honor 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 mountain. Now watch this. We have also
a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto you do well that you
take heed is unto a light that shineth in a dark place until
the day dawns and the day star arises in your heart. The Bible
is full of miraculous events and visions and healings and
providence. It's full of it from front to
back. But above all these things is the plain and gracious testimony
of God concerning the salvation of His Son and of His elect for
the glory of His great name. and the wisest decision that
you'll ever make. I hesitate to even use that word
decision, but I'm going to tell you something. When the Holy
Spirit of God works in your heart, you will arrive and be able to
reason and be able to make decisions. It's not a decision that's saved,
but you'll never be saved apart from one. You're going to make
a decision that It's not a change that saves you, but you'll never
be saved apart from a change. He's going to change your direction
and change your ways and change your mind and change your will.
And the wisest decision you'll ever make is to shut yourself
up to the testimony of this book. Quit listening to yourself and
others and their testimonies and go into this book and see
what God says. what God says. Twice in the Holy
Scriptures concerning our hope set forth and the promises of
God in Christ, it says this, God who cannot lie. Now I'm going
to tell you something, you can lie to yourself and you can be
lied to and deceived. Peter was deceived and he walked
with Christ and he was deceived. And you can be deceived, and
I can be deceived, and we can lie to others, and we can lie
to ourselves. But God cannot lie. He tells
us that twice in the Scriptures. Listen to this. Titus chapter
1, verse 2. Paul said, In hope of eternal
life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began,
but hath in due times manifested His Word through preaching. which
is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our
Savior." And then over in Hebrews chapter 6, listen to this. Here's several verses. Hebrews
chapter 6, beginning with verse 16. He said, for men verily swear
by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end
of all strife. Man says, I take my oath. I'm
going to do this. Usually that's enough. That's
enough. Not in our day, but when I was
a kid, that was enough. A man give his word, that was
enough. Now they want your house, your car, everything you got,
because they know a little more about what we really are. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel,
confirmed it with an oath. And because he couldn't swear
by anything any greater, he swore by himself that by two immutable
things, God's promise and God's oath, now listen, in which it
was impossible for God to lie. Isn't that something? We might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. We have a more sure word of prophecy. More sure than that vision he
saw on the mountain. More sure than that experience
that we read about or heard about. We've got God's testimony. We've
got God's Word. Who cannot lie. Cannot lie. Alright, we've seen in the Transfiguration
that his death, this death he was to accomplish is the subject
of all the Law and the Prophets. Then we've got a glimpse into
our Lord's resurrected glory and we've looked at a the resurrected
state of the believer, and I've shown you what Peter has to say
here about God's testimony being even more sure than the vision
he saw on the mountain. Now let me show you something
here about the superiority of Christ. Old Peter said it's good
for us to be here, and it was. It was. Every one of those men
who stood on that mountain later on talked about that vision.
It was good for them to be there. I saw the multitude wasn't there. Those Jews, those self-righteous
Jews and the high priest and the high council, all these highly
privileged men, so they saw themselves, they weren't there. But these
men were there. And Peter said, oh, it's so good
for us to be here. And he was all right when he
said that. And then he got this idea. He said, let's build three
tabernacles. He didn't get the words out,
Nathan. Do you remember when I read that verse to you a while
ago? It said, while the words were still in his mouth, while
the thoughts still lingered in his mind, and the words still
lingered on his tongue, God shrouded that whole vision right there,
right there. Took it all away. Covered them
with a cloud. And then He spoke to them. He
spoke to them. And he said, let me tell you
something. This is my son. This is my son. This ain't about
Elijah. And this ain't about Moses. And
this ain't about Jeremiah. And it ain't about you. It's
about Him. Now you hear Him. And when the
cloud was lifted, and they turned after they heard the voice, they
fell on their faces in fear of God. The Lord came over and touched
them. And when they turned around,
all they could see was Him. All they could see was Him. Our great and gracious God is
seen fit to use many means in the salvation of His elect. His
apostles and prophets, we are told, are the very foundation
of our faith. Ephesians chapter 2. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe, 1 Corinthians 1. And there is a place for these
things, and these things are to be seen as was Moses and Elijah,
but not in the same light as Christ. There is a place for
them, but that place ain't the place of honor and glory. We
don't build tabernacles to Moses. We build tabernacles to Christ.
Jesus Christ is the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation
in any other. These men who saw this and heard
this voice of God, they were so strong on this point. Peter,
I'm almost quoting Peter now, he said, you builders, this is
the stone you threw aside. God has made him the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other. Jesus Christ must be seen in
his preeminence. He's not going to be seen along
beside all of our religious trinkets and ideas and gods that we build
in our imaginations. He's going to be seen in his
preeminence. Only begotten of the Father, firstborn of every
creature, first begotten from the dead. He's the head of the
body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
That's how you're going to see Him, or you're not going to see
Him at all. In His person, He's the brightness of the Father's
glory, the express image of His person. In his work, it says,
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he by himself
purged our sins. How did he do it? By himself.
By himself. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. And God gave him a more excellent
name than all the others. To which of the angels said he
at any time, thou art my son? fullness of righteousness, and
fullness of justice, fullness of mercy, and fullness of grace.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not meant to have a place with these
other things. His place is the place of preeminence. Christ said in Colossians 3,
11, Christ is all and in all. That's it. There is a place for commitment
and a place for dedication and a place for service and devotion.
But the chief thing is Christ. And it's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Christ in you. When Christ becomes
the answer to your fearful questions, that's it. That's it. He shuts
us up to Christ. And we believe Him, we trust
Him, and we rest in Him, Christ in you. That's the hope of glory.