was altered. Our Lord's inner
glory came out, and His face shone like the sun, and even
His garments, His raiment was white and glistering, became
white as the snow. Mark, writing about this, said,
whiter than any fuller could make them. And it says in verse 30, There talked with him two men,
which were Moses and Elijah. As he prayed, as his glory was
manifested, as his face took on the brightness of the sun,
and his garments glistering white, two men appeared with him. It
was Moses and Elijah. I note something interesting
here. Both of these men, Moses had been dead a long time and
Elijah had gone to heaven a long time before this. Centuries.
These men had been gone for centuries. And yet both were living. Both were living. Both had their own personalities.
This was Moses. He was Moses when he lived here
on the earth, and he died. Scripture said that God took
him up on a mountain and buried him. And yet here he is, Moses. Same name, same person, same
personality. Here's Elijah. He went to heaven
a different way. He was translated that he should
not see death. He was taken up in the glory.
Charity of fire while Elisha looked on. But here he is. Hundreds of years later, still
Elijah. Same person, same personality,
and the Word of God calls them by their names, Moses and Elijah. People ask the question, will
we know each other in heaven? Will we retain our identity?
All these questions about our loved ones who are dead, they're
still our loved ones. They're still.
Same person, same people, same personality in glory. And will be forever. Will be
forever. That's what this is teaching
here, one of the things. Secondly, it says that there
appeared with him two men, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in his
glory, in this glorious experience, in this state of revelation of
Christ's glory. Not Moses' glory, not Elijah's
glory, Christ's glory. They appeared with him here in
this glorification. Now, why Moses and Elijah? Well,
Moses and Elijah are representative. Moses represents the law, and
Elijah represents the prophets. All the way through the Scriptures
there is talk about the Law and the Prophets, the Law and the
Prophets. The New Testament refers back to the Law and the Prophets.
The Law and the Prophets. Let me show you that in Luke
chapter 24. When our Lord had been crucified
and arose from the grave, and He walked with two of His disciples
on the road to Emmaus, and then He went into a a dwelling place
with them and sat down to teach them, to teach them about himself
and about his ministry, his work, what he came to do. And he says
in verse 25 of Luke 24, and he said to them, O fools, and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." These
prophets. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses..."
Oh, how highly esteemed was Moses to these people. Moses. God gave
the law through Moses. The Levitical law. The moral
law. The ceremonial law through Moses.
"...And He began at Moses, and all the prophets..." All the
prophets. And he expounded unto them in
all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." The things
concerning himself written in the Law and the Prophets. Moses
and Elijah. Moses represents the Law. The
Law came through Moses. Elijah represents the Prophets.
Look down at verse 44 of Luke 24. And he said to them, These
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you.
that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law
of Moses and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. And then opened he their understanding, that they might
understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written,
thus it behooved Christ to suffer to rise from the dead the third
day, that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Now, turn back
to my text in Luke 9. In verse 30 and 31, let's read
it again. And behold, there talked with
him two men, Moses and Elijah. Here is the Messiah. Here is
the Christ. While ago he asked them, now
whom do you say I am? The Christ. Here is the Christ. With Moses the law, Elijah the
prophets. The Law and the Prophets. Now
what did they talk about? Alright, verse 31. "...who appeared
in glory, and they spake of his decease, of his death, which
he should accomplish at Jerusalem." This is what they're talking
about. This is just a most unusual, indescribable event. Here's the
God-man, the Lord of glory, the Messiah, the Christ. And the
Heavenly Father calls from glory, from rest, from that state of
glory, Moses again. Brings him down here to this
earth where he preached, where he ministered, where he led the
people. And Elijah the prophet. And Hebrews
says, God spake to our fathers by the prophets. And here's Moses,
the law, and the prophets, with Christ the Messiah, and they're
talking. And what they're talking about is the crucifixion. That's
what they're talking about. Christ's death on the cross.
This was their message on earth. This is what Moses wrote about.
Turn to Deuteronomy 18. This is a summary of Moses' writings
right here in Deuteronomy 18. While you're finding Deuteronomy
18, remember our Lord said, Moses wrote of Me. These people said,
we have Moses. He said, if you'd believe Moses,
you'd believe Me. Moses wrote of Me. That's what
Moses wrote. And here in Deuteronomy 18, verse 17, Moses says, And the
Lord said to me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like
unto you, Moses, and I'll put my words in his mouth. He shall
speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come
to pass that whosoever will not hearken to my words, which he
shall speak in my name, I'll require of him." That's what
Moses wrote about Christ. Let me turn to a Scripture, if
you want to, you may. Acts 10, verse 43. But listen to this. Talking about
the prophets, Moses and the prophets. Acts 10, verse 43. Give all the prophets witness
that through his name, whosoever believeth in him should receive
remission of sin. In Acts 3, in Acts 3, verse 18,
listen to this. Acts 3, verse 18. But those things
which God before had shewed by the mouth of all the prophets,
that Christ should suffer, he hath fulfilled. So here is Moses,
the Law, the Ceremonies, the Priesthood, the Sacrifices, the
Holy Days, the Sabbath Days, all of it came through Moses.
Here is the Prophet Elijah. All the Prophets represented
by Elijah. Isaiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Samuel. They are with Christ and they
are talking about His death, His cross. You see, that's what
these men preached. That's what they wrote. This
was their hope. When our Lord talked about Abraham,
they said, Abraham is our father. He said, Abraham saw my day. The day of the cross. And he
rejoiced. He saw the cross. All of these things point to
Christ. I want you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews. The
book of Hebrews. I want to show you something.
Just take a few minutes, but it's so important. You see, the
book of Hebrews is a book that brings together
the Old Testament and the New Testament. There's no book in
the New Testament that so identifies the message of the Old Testament
like the book of Hebrews. And this word is the key to the
book of Hebrews. Christ is better. Now this word
is used seven times in the book of Hebrews in relation to Christ
and the Old Testament. Christ is better. Now let me
show you. In Hebrews 1 verse 4, look at
this verse. Hebrews 1 verse 4. Being made
so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than that." He's better than the angels.
Christ is better. Now, Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7, verse
19. Hebrews 7, 19. It says, For the
law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope
did. By the witch we draw nigh unto
God to bring in of a better hope. A better hope. On down verse
22 tells you what that hope is. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament, a better covenant. Better than the angels?
Better than the Old Testament covenant with Abraham, the hope
that He gave them? Better than the covenant that
He made with David? Better? Look at chapter 8, verse
6. Chapter 8 of Hebrews, verse 6.
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, established on better
promises. Better promises. Take every promise
of the Old Testament. Christ is better. Every promise,
better, precious promises. Hebrews 9.23, look at this. It was talking about shedding
the blood. In other words, in the Old Testament,
everything was sprinkled with blood. Let's go back a little
bit. Verse 19, when Moses had spoken
every precept to all the people according to the law, he took
the blood of calves, of goats with water, scarlet wool, hyssop,
and sprinkled the book and all the people saying, this is the
blood of the New Testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover,
he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle, all the vessels of the ministry,
and almost all things are by the law purged with blood. Without
the shedding of blood, there was no remission. All right,
now watch this. It was therefore necessary that
the pattern of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are figures of the truth,
but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God
for us. His blood, His sacrifice, better
And all those. A better sacrifice. Alright,
Hebrews 11. See, this is the key all the
way through this book. And Moses and Elijah here is
talking to our Lord about His death, about the fulfillment
of all that they wrote. About the fulfillment of all
of their hopes. Must have been an exciting time
as they sat there and talked to Him. It's finally going to
be all fulfilled. That day is here. That day is
here. Hebrews 11 verse 16. Talking
about Abraham and those peoples. But now they desire a better
country. Heaven is better than Canaan.
It's a better country. That is a heavenly country. Wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God. He hath prepared for
them a city. One more. Hebrews 12. Hebrews
12, verse 24. Oh, we've come, verse 23, said
to a general assembly, church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just
men made perfect, and to Jesus, our Savior, our Lord, the mediator
of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better
things than that of Abel. See that you refuse not Him that
speaketh, for if they escape not who refused Him that spake
on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from
Him that speaketh from heaven." Alright, let's go back to our
text. In Luke 9, Moses and Elijah appeared with our Lord and they
talked to Him. about the fulfillment of all
of which they wrote, sacrifices and covenants, types and pictures,
all fulfilled. They talked about His death. All accomplished through His
sacrifice. All right. But the disciples,
verse 32, let's look at this a moment. But Peter and they
that were with him were heavy with sleep. And when they were awake, Oh,
that's an interesting statement. When they were awake. When they
were awake, they saw His glory. And the two men that stood with
Him. Notice it didn't say they saw the glory of Christ and the
glory of Moses and the glory of Elijah. Great is Moses and
great is Elijah. But in the presence of the Lord,
only His glory is seen. They saw the glory of Christ.
And they saw these two men, Moses and Elijah, but they saw His
glory. You know, the stars are out now, but you don't see them
because the sun's out. And even so, God has some great
men. Angels, Moses, the prophets,
the priests, Aaron, Samuel, David, all of these are great men, greatly
used of God. But when He's present, You don't
see them. You see His glory. Now, when
did they see His glory? You might feel like I'm making
a play on words right here, but I want to emphasize something
here. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with
sleep. They were asleep. And when they were awake, when their eyes were open, they
saw the glory of Christ. The glory was there. They didn't
see it. until they were awakened. They didn't see it until they
were awakened. When God opened their eyes. Turn to Genesis chapter
21. Genesis 21. Here's the story
of Hagar and Ishmael. And Ishmael was about to perish
and Hagar praying to God. And it says in Genesis 21, verse
17, And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God
called Ahagar out of heaven, and said to her, What aileth
thee, Hagar? Fear not. God hath heard the
voice of the lad, where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, hold
him in your hand. I make of him a great nation.
And God opened her eyes. And she saw a well of water. God opened her eyes. That's when
she saw it. When did these disciples see
the glory of Christ? When they were awake. When their
eyes were open. Let me show you another illustration.
2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 6. This is Elisha. And he was causing the king of
Syria Great problems. Every time the king of Syria
would make a move toward Israel, Elijah knew it ahead of time
and he warned the people of Israel. Finally, the king of Syria went
to one of his trusted men. He said, who among us is a traitor? And the servant said, none of
our men are traitors. He said, well, somebody, somebody
knows what I do before I do it. And the man said, that's Elisha,
the prophet of God. He said, he tells what you speak
in your bedroom. He knows what you speak in your
bedroom. He tells it to the king of Israel.
And this king of Syria said, well, get all of our men together.
We'll go after this man. Where is he? They said he's down
in Dothan. And we'll go after him. And that night, they came
after Elisha, the servant of God, and surrounded him. the valley where he was, surrounded
it with chariots and horsemen and men and soldiers. And the
servant of Elisha came out of the little house and looked up
and saw this army. And in 2 Kings 6, verse 15, And
when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone
forth, behold, a host compassed the city. with horses and chariots. And his servants said unto him,
Alas, Master, what are we going to do? And Elisha answered and said,
Fear not. Now here is the key. For they
that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha
prayed and said, Lord, now listen, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. Lord, Elisha saw him. This young
man didn't. Elisha saw the glory of God.
This young man didn't see it. But Elisha did. And he prayed,
God, open his eyes. And he did. And God opened his
eyes and he saw, and behold, the mountains. were full of horses
and chariots of fire round about Elisha. You can read the rest
of that some other time. It's an interesting story. Open
his eyes. And here's what I'm saying. When
God opens the eyes of a sinner, when God's pleased to visit us
in grace and open our eyes, we'll see what's been there all the
time, the glory of Christ. Who He is, what He did in His incarnation
and birth and life and death and resurrection and intercession.
Why He did it? That God may be just and justify. And where He is now. But there's
got to be a miracle performed. There's got to be the opening
of the eyes. And here our Lord stood before these disciples.
Moses and Elijah were here. And they were sitting there asleep. The most marvelous, wonderful,
tremendous occurrence that's happened up to this point on
the earth. God in human flesh in conversation with the Law
and the Prophets. And they were asleep. But in
a moment, their eyes were opened and they saw His glory. And I
say when a natural man, God opens his eyes. You who were dead had
to be quickened. to see. Secondly, and I have
people tell me about preachers, well, this man, he preaches a little
grace. If he ever has his eyes open
and sees the glory of Christ, he won't preach a little grace,
he'll preach much grace. I hear them talk about folks,
preachers, who tiptoe about on various things, trying to keep
them offending. Let me tell you something. When
God opens a preacher's eyes, and he sees the glory of Christ,
he won't see any glory in Moses, and any glory in Elijah, and
any glory in anybody else. He'll be taken up with the glory
of Christ. And he'll preach it. Whatever
it costs. Whatever the consequences. Whatever
the... whatever. You're preaching. But
you've got to see it. You can't tell what you don't
know. Any more than you can come back where you hadn't been. You
can't come back where you hadn't been. And you can't tell what
you haven't seen. You can't preach what you don't
know. But when your eyes are open, And when a sinner's eyes
are open, he sees the glory of Christ, he'll preach Christ. And I'll tell you, when a religious
fellow, you talk about, I've heard people say, well, I know
you're preaching the grace of God, but I've always been in
this little church, and my mother and father were brought up here,
and so and so, and I got an attachment to the building and all that.
If you ever see the glory of Christ, you lose your attachment
to buildings, traditions, Heritage. Ancestry. Your works. Saul of Tarsus was pretty attached
to the Jewish way of life. But when he met Christ, he said,
I count it but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him.
I count it but lost. I count all things but lost.
For the excellency, I've seen the excellency of Christ Jesus. So there's no use Quibbling and
quarreling and debating and arguing with folks about any of these
glorious things. It's a waste of time. Blind men can't see no matter
how vividly you describe it. No matter how vividly. No matter
how vividly you see it, how plain it is to you, No matter how eloquently
you may picture it, blind men cannot see. But when God opens
their eyes, they'll be telling you about it. That's all there is to it. And
that takes the struggle out, that takes the fight out. It
doesn't take the determination out, but it takes the fight out. Preach it. Lift him up. And he that hath eyes to see,
he'll see. And he that hath ears to hear, he'll hear. And he that
hath a heart given by God, he'll embrace Him. And when a man sees
His glory, you move out of his way, because he wants to get
to Christ. He doesn't want to deal with you. He kind
of loses his interest in you, and he's interested in Christ.
When they were awake. It didn't take all the flesh
out of Peter, did it? Listen to this. This is so common. Listen. Came to pass when, verse
33, as they departed from him, Moses and Elijah, Peter said,
Master, it's good to be here. I like it better up here than
I do down there where all those enemies are. I like it better
on this mountain where the glory is than down there. It's good to be here. And you
sitting right, it's good to be here, isn't it? But tomorrow
morning, you've got to go back out there. You've got to go back
out there. You've got to go back where they
are. Where the bitterness and the quarreling and the worldliness
and the sensuality and all. You've got to go back. You've
got to come down off that mountain. Peter said, let's just stay right
here. They've got to come down. One of these days we'll stay
there. But now, we've got to come down. You're the salt of
the earth. You're the light of the world. You've got to come
down. You've got to live among them, work among them, dwell
among them, help them, pray for them, encourage them, be friends. This is this world. The Lord didn't pray that the
Father would take us out of the world, but He'd keep us from
the world. We've got to come down. That's right. Well, let's
just stay here, that's what he said, and let's make three tabernacles. You know, I wonder, I wonder
what Peter thought that Moses and Elijah, glorified heavenly
spiritual beings, would want a tabernacle down here on this
earth. Isn't that strange? Moses, it was in glory, and Peter
wants to build him a house down here. That's just the way we
think. Bring him back and build him a tabernacle. down here on
the earth so he can be down here with us. David said about his
son, he said, he can't come back to me but I can go to him. That's
my plan. I'll tell you another thing where
Peter was messed up on this thing. He wanted to put Moses and Elijah
on equal footing with Christ. That's the law. You know, fellas
try to do that now. You hear what he's saying? Let's
build your tabernacle, and Moses' tabernacle, and the prophets'
tabernacle. No. There's one kingdom, and
that's Christ. They're not on equal footing.
And I'll tell you another thing, Moses wanted to keep them separated.
He wanted to keep the law, and Christ, and the prophets. But
the law and the prophets are unto Christ. They preach Christ. They exalt Christ. And that's
when the Father, and I'm going to let you go here, that's when
the Father spoke. That's when the Father spoke.
Verse 34, And while Peter was still talking, and you know,
I wrote down a little note here. Peter, he just spoke so often when he
should have been listening. I know something about that.
speaking when he should have been listening, but he kept talking.
And the Father, here in verse 34, while He yet spake, there
came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they were afraid. If you call God Father past the
time of your sojourning here in fear, reverence, silence,
listening, If my days get longer and I get older, I spend more
time in this than I do the writings of men. If I read any writings
of men at all, it's just something they say about what this says.
I don't have any time just to read all this sentimentality
and emotionalism that folks are writing today. I'm interested
in what he says. And Peter, you be quiet a while
now. Just be still. And the father spake." Listen
to what he said. And there came a voice out of the clouds saying,
this is my beloved Son. This is my beloved Son. Not by
creation like the angels in you. Not a servant like Moses and
Elijah. This is the Son. Not by adoption
as all believers, but this is my only begotten Son. Not by birth and incarnation
and resurrection. That didn't make Him the Son
of God. Unto us a child is born, a son was given. This is. This is. Not one of my sons. This is my son. This is my beloved
son. This is the image and essence
of the Father. I want to read Hebrews 1 now. Let's go to Hebrews 1. This is
my Son. This is my Son. Now listen to
Hebrews 1. God, who at sundry times and in different
manners spake in time past to the fathers by the prophets.
And we know what they spake about. He hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son. Now here is His Son, whom He
has appointed heir of all things, by whom He made the worlds, who
being the brightness of His glory, who is the exact image of His
person, who upholds all things by the word of His power, who
by Himself purged our sins, who sat down at the right hand of
God. This is my Son. Now listen to the last two words. Hear Him. That's it. Hear Him. This is my Son. Hear Him. And when the voice was passed,
Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close and told
no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. marvelous miracle of grace.