Well, by now I trust that you've turned to Luke chapter 9, and I want to read verses 28 through 36, which is Luke's account of the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 9 and verse 28 through 36, remembering that this is the word of the Lord.
Scripture Reading: Luke 9:28–36
And it came to pass about eight days after these things that he took with him Peter and John and James and went up into the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment became white and dazzling. And behold, there talked with him two men who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which he was about to accomplish. Jerusalem.
Now Peter and they that were with him were very heavy with sleep, but when they were fully awake they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass as they were parting with him Peter said unto Jesus, Master it is good for us to be here and let us make three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elijah and not knowing what he said. While he said these things, there came a cloud and overshadowed them. And they feared as they entered into the cloud.
And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my son, my chosen, hear ye him. And when the voice came, Jesus was found alone and they held their peace. and told no man in those days any of the things which they had seen." Thus far the reading of God's word.
Introduction
There is a legend which comes out of Greek mythology and it's just that, nothing more than a legend, but it illustrates something I want to say from the text. And the legend has to do with a man, or it's about a man who grew tired and weary of life in this fallen world. All of the struggles and the trials and even some of what we might call the nonsense of interacting with people who are not always easy to get along with. So he devised a plan by which he could escape the world.
And the plan was this, that he asked his friends, to place him in a basket and then to hoist the basket up into the clouds. Now it's pure myth, I'm not sure how they would do that anyway. But anyway, it happened, or at least according to the legend. And there he is, he's living in the clouds.
And he was a philosopher, so from time to time he'd lean over the edge of the basket and he would pronounce words of perceived wisdom. And then he would climb back into the basket and hunker down and live, as it were, separated and separate from the world. Somehow his friends would get to him food and other articles that he would need. But he lived in the clouds, away from everything, away from the problems of the world, even from the people of this world.
Now, it's a myth. It's not true, never happened. But I can't help but think that perhaps Peter, James and John were thinking along the same lines as they find themselves on the mountain with Jesus. And all of the people and all of the problems, in fact, Mark tells us that when they descended the mountain after this transfiguration that they immediately encountered a problem and a healing that the disciples could not perform and Jesus himself must perform it.
So I can't help but think in the midst of trial and difficulty and tension and all of the rest, that the three are happy to be on the mountain and their suggestion to build three tabernacles three temporary shelters fits with my argument. Jesus, this is a good place to be. Let's stay here a while. If we leave the mountain and go down to the bottom of the mountain, all we're going to face once again is all of the trial and the difficulty and the problems of life.
Just as this man thought it was best to live in a basket in the clouds, So Peter, James, and John are just as happy to stay on the mountain with Jesus. And yet Jesus has something altogether different in mind for them and for us as well. It's interesting that as we begin to look at the text,
Context of the Eight Days
the very first words read something like this, and it came to pass about eight days after these sayings. And that suggests to us that we really can't understand the Transfiguration account unless we have some appreciation, if not also understanding, of what Jesus had said previous to this experience. And there are at least three things that we need to notice by way of introduction and by way of some understanding of the context in which the transfiguration takes place, or at least as Luke gathers together his information and the information having to do with the life of Christ, He arranges it in such a way that just prior to this event, certain significant and important things are said. What are they?
Well, first of all, in verses 18 through 20, Jesus elicits a confession from Peter. Who do men say that I am? Well, some say that you're this one and some say someone else. Some say something else again, but who do you say that I am?
And Peter answered and probably really answers for all of the disciples. He says, the Christ of God. Now the answer in other gospels is a little fuller than that, but you get the point. Who do men say that I am?
Well, John the Baptist, Elijah. But who do you say you are? The Christ, the Messiah, the one who is to come to deliver us, the one promised long time ago. And now you've arrived to do God's will for us.
And so Peter makes this great confession of faith in the Lord Jesus. There's a second thing that takes place. Jesus responds to all of that. In verse 21, he charged them and commanded them to tell this to no man.
Verse 22, saying, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and the third day be raised again. Jesus elicits a confession from Peter. Secondly, Jesus predicts his passion, his death, his work of mediation in Jerusalem. There's detail here.
And then the resurrection. And then thirdly, in verses 23 through 27, Jesus explains the conditions of discipleship. And he said, verse 23, if any man would come after me, Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." And then we read in verse 28, and it came to pass about eight days after these sayings. Now that gives to us a hint.
It points us in the right direction of understanding the account or the transfiguration account. It cannot be understood apart from Peter's confession, Jesus' prediction, and thirdly, Jesus explaining the conditions of discipleship. The point of all of this is to say that the transfiguration was intentional. It serves a purpose.
It's orchestrated by the Lord Jesus as he takes three disciples, these three disciples, these chosen ones, those closest to Jesus. He takes them with him to the Mount of Transfiguration in order that certain things might be said and certain things occur, which fit with what Jesus has already said and already taught. Furthermore, He takes them with him in order to encourage them and to strengthen them. Not only is this event intentional, it's also pastoral.
It's Jesus at his best, if you will, Jesus loving his disciples and helping them to understand further something of what it is that he came to do. And then thirdly, The text or the event is also eschatological. It has far less to do with Moses and Elijah than it does about the Lord Jesus Christ. The transfiguration of Jesus Christ then is a significant event, a signal event, pointing us in the direction of the person and the work of Jesus Christ.
Here is the glory of the Son of God, but the glory of the Son of God in its connection with the cross of Jesus Christ. Here is Jesus' testimony about himself, followed by divine communication, that the communication from heaven, Moses and Elijah, but also the Father speaking from heaven, underscoring and reinforcing the importance of and the nature and character of our Lord's ministry. One writer has put it this way, in the transfiguration, we see heaven's answer to Herod's question. Remember Herod's question?
Who is this man? So here is divine communication answering for us the very question that an unbeliever asked, perhaps that you're asking, who is this man? Well, I want us to look at the transfiguration then from Luke's account, and I want us to notice it under four headings.
The Son's Transformation
First of all, notice the sons, transformation. Something happens to Jesus Christ. Again, it's eight days after these significant statements. Jesus takes the inner circle with him up onto the mountain and to a mountain.
And in the Bible, significant things happen on a mountain. The law is delivered from a mountain. Elijah does his best work on a mountain. Jesus preaches his famous sermon, and we call it what?
The Sermon on the Mount. It's a sermon that he preaches on a mountain. So everything about the opening verses, everything here is significant, laying out for us the importance and the significance of what is to take place. Notice as well that Jesus is engaged in prayer.
Every significant event in the life of Jesus takes place in the context of prayer. According to Luke, when Jesus is baptized, he was engaged in prayer. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before his death, is engaged in prayer. And at the transfiguration in this vision of our Lord's passion and exaltation, Jesus is engaged in prayer.
Brothers and sisters, prayer was important to Jesus. Should it not be important to us? And even though the disciples, and this isn't the only time that this occurs, disappoint the Lord Jesus, and fall asleep when he is engaged in prayer. Jesus not only believed in what we might call private prayer, but also public prayer.
Jesus takes his disciples with him and wants them to pray with him, they fall asleep. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus takes his disciples with him and seeks for them to pray with him, and they fall asleep. Private prayer is important, but so is public prayer. Can we afford, as the people of God, to have a cavalier attitude toward public prayer?
I'm not sure what the schedule, the weekly schedule of this church is, but if you have a prayer meeting, do you find yourself frequently absenting yourself from that meeting. I'm too tired, too far to drive. And perhaps it is too far for you to drive. Some of you perhaps live some distance from the church.
But if public prayer, that is the gatherings of Jesus with his disciples, if that kind of prayer was important to him, shouldn't it be important to us? And should we have, and do we have any right to have a cavalier attitude toward public prayer? Someone once said, prayer is always the best preparation without which we are never truly prepared.
Prayer and the Transfiguration
Jesus is engaged in prayer. And in the midst of this context, and as he's engaged in prayer, something takes place. And Jesus is transfigured. Something takes place.
His features change, and his clothing change, and that's significant. Suddenly he's bathed in heavenly light, and he appears as someone altogether different than what he was before. Now, we need to be careful. We must not conclude that Jesus actually changes. or that he becomes something other than what he once was.
The incarnation of Jesus Christ never means the loss of anything. It means the addition of something. It means the addition of humanity. And what I think we see here is sort of the veil torn aside or the veil moved aside just for a moment.
And what the disciples see is something of that glory which Jesus had before the incarnation. He doesn't change in the sense that he becomes something other than what he was before. They merely see now something of that pre-incarnate glory. And his clothes change as well, and they're white.
And again, a symbol of angelic Raymond. And it's even a symbol and a sign of the saints in glory, according to what we read in Revelation chapter three. He shows us what he was, or he showed the disciples what he was. And in a sense, he shows the disciples what he will be or what they will see.
And he actually shows us something of what we will be as well. One writer in a book of sermons says, the disciples had only seen Jesus in the limitations of his flesh, which was part of the humiliation of his incarnation. As they walked up the mountain, they saw him as they always had. In other words, they're walking up the mountain and they see Jesus as they had always seen him, under the veil of his ordinary humanity.
But then, the writer goes on to say, in a single instant, a flash of time, Jesus was revealed to them in all his divine splendor. Jesus elicits a confession from Peter, you are the Christ. Jesus speaks of his passion. Jesus also speaks of what it means to follow him.
And then now on the Mount of Transfiguration, between the conclusion of his Galilean ministry and the beginning of his Judean ministry, they see something of what Jesus was before he became flesh. altogether different in what they see. Now that's significant. As we move to the second point in the outline and what we see next in the unfolding of this account,
The Son's Expectation
from the sun's transformation or transfiguration, we now see something of the sun's expectation. And we see something of what it is that Jesus anticipates, perhaps that's the better word, the anticipation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before glory, again, there's passion. Before glory, there's expiation.
Before glory, there's the shame of the cross and his death. Now, it's worth noting in verse 30, after the actual transfiguration, or in that context, we read these words, and behold. That's an important Greek word. Pay attention to this.
Look at this. This is something now extremely significant is before us. Here is the force of the text and the force and the explanation, if you will, of the transfiguration. And what the disciples see is Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus.
They too appear in glory. And in verse 31, they speak of his decease. More on that in just a moment. But why Moses and Elijah?
What's significant about Moses and Elijah appearing with the Lord Jesus? Well, we could say the significance at a certain level is the number two. Remember that events are proven to be true in the presence of two or more witnesses. So you have two witnesses, Moses and Elijah testifying to uniqueness and the glory of Jesus Christ as they appear in glory as well.
And I think there's a certain importance to that. But there's more here. Again,
Moses, Elijah, and the Exodus
why Moses and Elijah? Why not Adam? Why not Abraham? After all, Abraham is the father of the faithful and Peter has made this great confession of faith.
What's significant about Moses and Elijah? Well, actually, there are a number of things, and I have four or five things in my notes, and I'll not mention all of them, but the most significant thing, I think, is what they represent. Moses represents the law. Moses is the great lawgiver.
The law of God came through Moses. And you have the accounts in Exodus and Deuteronomy of the giving of the law. And when we think of the law, we think of Moses. In fact, the scriptures even refer to it as the law of Moses.
It's actually God's law, but it's the law of Moses. He was the mediator, if you will, of the law. And then when you think of the prophets, Who is the greatest of all of the prophets? Well, at some level, it's Elijah, and he's even referred to in similar language.
There are other things about the two of them make them significant, but it would seem to me at least, especially in the context in which we're told they were engaged in conversation with Jesus. You notice that? And the tense is, imperfect, which means they were continuing to talk. That is, this took place over a few moments, I'm not sure how long, but it wasn't just a word or two, they were engaged in conversation with Jesus.
Moses, again, the mediator of the law, the one through whom the law came in which God spoke, and prophets preach. They predict, but they also proclaim, they're preachers as well. Both law givers and prophets preach and proclaim and communicate. Here are Moses and Elijah communicating with Jesus about what?
Now think about that for a moment. If Moses and Elijah appeared, I suspect most of us would have a whole host of questions. You know, what's heaven like? Or we might say, you know, in this particular text in the Old Testament, what really took place?
Why did that happen the way that it is? Give us some insight into something that took place on such and such occasion. Or we might say, who else is in heaven? What does God look like?
I mean, think of all of the things that we might like to ask Moses and Elijah. But Moses and Elijah are not revealing any of those things. Notice what it says, that
Talking About the Cross
they are speaking with him, that is Jesus, about his decease. That's the word that's in my translation. Literally, the word is exodus. The Greek word is exodus.
About the exodus of the Lord Jesus. About the exodus that he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. What is being discussed is very specific. It has a very narrow focus.
It had a theme, and the theme had to do with the death of Jesus. And how do we know that? Well, Peter uses this same word. We might think of the exodus out of Egypt into the promised land.
But Peter, in 2 Peter 1, also uses this word to refer to his own death, that he is about that is about to take place. That is, he's leaving that epistle so that after he is gone, after his decease, after his exodus, they will have the truth of God in their hands to read and to hear preached. So they're talking about the death of Christ. That's the theme that he is about to accomplish.
There's the time. And in Jerusalem, there's the place. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are all talking about the same thing. One writer has said, when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the mountain, it was as if the whole Old Testament was standing up to say that everything was coming together in Christ.
Think of that. Here is biblical theology at its best. Here is Moses. And in the words of Moses, there is typology pointing to Jesus.
Here is prophetic ministry, Elijah, again, words pointing to the coming of Jesus. And now Jesus is present. And in the midst of this glorious and splendid display, Here are two men from the past and Jesus talking about the same thing. And they're talking about the cross.
Think of that. Again, all of the things and all that glory means for Jesus and all the glory means for Moses and Elijah and all the glory will mean for us in the future. They're talking about none of that. They're talking about the cross.
Now, the third thing I want you to see. We've seen his transfiguration. We've seen something of his expectation, his anticipation. They're talking about the cross.
The Son's Marginalization
Thirdly, notice the son's marginalization. Now, if there was ever a time to say absolutely nothing, This was now the time. But Peter's not good at that any more than perhaps some of us preachers are good at that. I know I'm not.
There's a time to be quiet. Here's a time to be quiet. It's absolutely nothing. But that's not Peter.
No, he speaks up immediately and he says, Lord, it's good to be here. Master, it's good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah, not knowing what he said. Notice how in this great context, the Lord Jesus is actually marginalized by those who witness this transfiguration.
And there are several problems here.
Indolence, Equivalence, and Interference
First of all, there's the problem of indifference or indolence. Peter, James, and John, first of all, have fallen asleep. Now you could say, well, they're tired. They're on a mountain, they've walked, perhaps it's night, they've walked all day to get up to the top of the mountain.
This splendid event would be more glorious if it took place at night, so perhaps it's night. They're tired, they fall asleep. We get tired and we fall asleep. But it seems to me that at some level this points us in the direction, their physical drowsiness points us in the direction of spiritual dullness.
They're dull. Jesus takes them up to the mountain. He expects them to be attentive. He wants to pray with them, and immediately they fall asleep.
Brothers and sisters, the sun is marginalized when we grow spiritually dull. I mean, here are disciples who witnessed this incredible event. And yet they're marked by drowsiness, by sleepiness, in effect by indifference. Secondly, the problem, and the son is marginalized here by the problem of equivalence.
Notice they don't see the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus in all of this. They say rather, Lord, it's good to be here. Let's prolong this by building these tabernacles and let's build one for each of you. And yet Moses and Elijah are talking about Christ, and they're talking about the cross of Christ.
And the disciples witness this, and the disciples hear this, and they still don't get something of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, especially as it relates to the cross. And Jesus is marginalized because of their insensitivity. There is an egalitarianism here, a kind of flattening. And the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus is lost.
And yet just a week before, Jesus says, who do men say that I am? Well, some say this, some say that, some say someone else. Some were even saying he was Elijah. Now Elijah's here.
Who do you say that I am? Well, you are the Christ. You're unique. You're the Messiah, the one sent uniquely and for a unique task.
And now Peter has lost all of that and marginalizes the Lord Jesus with this flattening statement. He did not see the supremacy of Jesus Christ. The two are not there to testify of his equality with them, but of his supremacy over them. And in fact, that their words had spoken of him.
He's not just one of the prophets, but he's greater than all of the prophets. And the perspective of our age is often this same perspective. Jesus is important. He had something to say.
He came to do something, but there's this kind of flattening, and there are others equal to him, and the superiority of Jesus Christ is lost. There's a third problem here that marginalizes Jesus, and that's the problem of interference. They're talking about his decease. They're talking about his Acts in Jerusalem that are to take place shortly and Peter wants to hold him back.
Do you see that? Peter wants to hold him back. Let's stay on the mountain and we'll build these booths. Perhaps reflecting the Feast of Booths.
One of the feasts or festivals which spoke of the provision of God. Here's the provision of God. God has brought you to us and Moses and Elijah. Let's camp out a while.
Just sort of enjoy this experience. It's as if Jesus was held back. Now he wasn't, but certainly that is embedded in the text. Peter is saying, let's stay here.
Again, he does not hear, does not pay attention, does not make sense to him that Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are talking about something altogether different. Peter is saying, Jesus is saying, I must go to the cross. Peter is saying, let us prolong this experience by manmade means. Let's prolong this experience.
This is glorious. And we'll do it by manmade means. We'll build these temporary shelters out of sticks and keep you here. Whereas Jesus wants to go to Jerusalem. to experience something for them.
And then there's fourthly, the problem of ignorance. You notice in verse 33, it's rather stark. Peter did not know, or Peter did not know what he was saying.
The Son's Commendation
Fourthly, and finally, I want you to notice with me the son's commendation. We've had this transformation, this transfiguration. We've noted Peter, excuse me, Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus about what he is anticipating, his death. We've seen Peter marginalizing this great event by his statements.
Now notice the son's a commendation that comes from the Father himself, the Father's sanction, the Father's endorsement. We've heard from a disciple, but what does God have to say about the Lord Jesus Christ? And you'll see from the text, of course, there is this cloud that overshadows him. Significant, if you think again of the Old Testament, The presence of God often was signaled by a cloud.
A cloud descended upon the mountain when God spoke and gave the law to his people. In the tabernacle in the wilderness as the tabernacle was moved from place to place and God indicated that the tabernacle was to move during the day, a cloud would descend. as a signal that they were to move and that God was present with them. Throughout their desert wanderings then, the cloud led the way, the presence of God led the way. And then even at the dedication of the temple under Solomon's reign, as the temple is dedicated, God descends in the midst of this cloud.
God is present. is the point. And notice what happens.
The Cloud and the Father's Voice
The cloud descends and even before God speaks, the disciples are filled with fear. Now that's significant. That's significant. Because Peter and James and John have wanted to build these booths and to keep Jesus there.
They see Jesus in his humanity, but they do not yet know Jesus as their mediator. And so they enter into the presence of God or God comes into their presence and they have no mediator. And they're terrified. And my friend, if you are an unbeliever and still haven't come to faith in Jesus Christ, and you think of standing in the presence of God, and you come to understand something of the nature and character of the true God, and you are afraid, so you should be.
And that's a good thing. It's a good thing to be terrified right now if you do not have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter needed a mediator. and he's given a mediator, and you and I need a mediator, and we're given a mediator, and it's the same mediator. There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And if you have a mediator, there's no reason to be afraid. You have no good reason, no cause to be afraid, but without one, you ought to be. And Peter, rightly so, is filled with fear. And while he said these things, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared.
Because you see, they're entering into the very presence of God. And as of yet, there is no mediator. Fear is not a bad thing. I hope you don't remain in that state, and there's no reason for you to remain in that state.
As you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and embrace him through repentance and faith, there's no reason to be terrified. But without him, again, you ought to be and have every good reason to be terrified. But a voice speaks out of the cloud, and it is the voice of God. And therefore, it comes to the disciples with authority.
And he says, this is my son. pointing us in the direction of the eternal generation of the Son and the unique character of the Lord Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God. This is my Son, my chosen one, again. reminding us of the mediation of Jesus Christ, of the words of Isaiah, the servant of the Lord who comes to do the bidding of the Lord. Here is divine authority, here is deity, here is activity, the servant of the Lord, the appointed mediator, the prophet, priest, and king for his people. Notice here that God wanted to talk about the very same thing, that Moses and Elijah wanted to talk about, and that Jesus wanted to talk about.
Isn't that significant? Again, all of the things that God could have communicated, all of the things that could be said, all of the questions that could have been answered, all of our curiosity satisfied, and yet the Father wants to talk about the same thing as Moses, Elijah, and the Lord Jesus. And it has to do with Christ himself. And then as the cloud disappears, they're left with Jesus, and only Jesus, and the word of the Father.
Hear ye Him. J.C. Ryle writes, The voice was the voice of God the Father, conveying both reproof and instruction. That voice proclaimed to Peter's ear that however great Moses and Elijah might be, there stood one before him far greater than they.
They were but servants, he was the king's son. They were but stars, he was the sun. Sun now spelled differently, S-U-N. They were but witnesses, he was the truth.
And another writer says, to be heard not over and against Moses and the prophets, but as the proper interpreter and fulfillment of what had been preserved in the scriptures. Now, this is a significant text. And it's significant by way of what it introduces and what it introduces by way of contrast. There's a series of contrasts that are set up here, and we don't have time to explore all of them.
But there are some interesting contrasts here that we need to speak to our age and to our generation.
Application
First of all, notice the contrast between the visual and the verbal. We live in a very visual age. And postmodernism tells us that we ought to distrust words. and that words are capable of multiple meanings. And then words typically are used to exercise power and control over people.
And so away with words, and we ought to be preoccupied with the visual. And of course, we're a very visual-oriented culture in society anyway, because of computers and movies and television and all of the rest. There's a contrast here between what we see and what we hear. Peter was impressed with sight, with what he saw, with glory, dazzling display.
But it ended. It didn't last. It came and it went. And then the father speaks.
And he doesn't say, wait for another vision, wait for another visual demonstration. But what he says is, this is my son, hear. That has to do with words. Hear ye him.
Language may be suspect, according to the postmodern, but language is central to our understanding of God and are learning about Him. The world in which we live today in so many churches, even evangelical churches, is that preaching is either abandoned or marginalized and relativized. It's replaced with something else, with dance and mime and music and all sorts of things. Or people speak of visions that they have had. instructions from the Spirit himself.
Or in a Bible study, a person often might say, well, this is how I see the text, as if that really means anything or matters at all. It's not how you see the text, it's what the text actually says. And so man's experience replaces Christ's experience. You see, Peter on the mount is is focusing upon his experience of this wonderful vision, but Christ must go to Jerusalem and have an experience for him.
And so there's the contrast between the visual and the verbal, the contrast between the experience of Peter, the experiential and the saving experience of Christ for Peter. There's a contrast here between what we might call, or what Luther called, a theology of glory and a theology of the cross. Luther said the problem with Rome was that it focused upon a theology of glory. You could bypass the cross and almost ascend into heaven through mystical experiences of one kind or another.
And Luther said, no, no, it's Christ's experience for us and the cross. Not a theology of glory, that comes later, but a theology of the cross. And then you have a contrast as well between using very specific theological language, a covenant of works and the covenant of grace. Peter says, let us build.
We're going to build something and we're going to keep you here. Here's the activity of Peter, James, and John, and Jesus says no, and the Father says no. It's not your works that matter. What really matters is my work for you.
And they're discussing and speaking, and the Father as well points in the same direction having to do with the Son. Well, as we try to pull all of this together by way of some application or further application, there are two or three things that I'd like to leave you with. First of all, notice this, that a theology of glory is never a substitute for the theology of the cross. A theology of glory is never the substitute for the theology of the cross.
Jesus will always be misunderstood without the cross. Ecstasy Experiences that we might have are not better than the Word, or an exposition of the Word. Mysticism is not better than what we might call the mystery of the faith. Hearing the Word is always better than prolonging a specific spiritual experience.
Now we have them. And we enjoy communion with God in private prayer. And there are things that occur in the Christian life that are meaningful to us. But God does not intend for us to prolong them, to hold on to them at the expense of biblical truth.
Furthermore, they come and they go. You have them and then they disappear. But Christ is always present. Whether you feel Him or experience Him in some mystical way perhaps or not, He's always there.
And what is most important then is not your experience of Him from time to time, these mountaintop experiences. We have them, enjoy them when they come. But what is central is not those experiences, but rather His experience for you at the cross. One writer says, this is a mountaintop experience but not the kind about which persons write glowingly of sunrises, soft breezes, warm friends, music, and quiet time.
On this mountain, the subject is death, and the frightening presence of God reduces those present to silence. The experiences that we have are never marked by permanence. But the experience of Christ for us is marked by lasting and final permanence. It is a mark of unstable piety to prolong experiences by artificial agencies.
It is not a mark of maturity. Secondly, notice from the text that the fulfilled exodus of Jesus Christ, remember, he's speaking about his decease, about his death, about his exodus, the fulfilled exodus of Jesus Christ ought to be a source of endless fascination for us. Notice that Moses and Elijah are talking about Christ and the cross. Jesus is talking about his own cross, and the Father from heaven as well is talking about the cross, and he says, this is my son, pay attention and listen to him.
The most important event in the universe, the most important event in all of human history is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that ought to be, and indeed must be, the focus of his people's life here, and it certainly will be hereafter. We gather, how often for the Lord's Supper? Well, maybe monthly, maybe weekly.
Different churches do it differently. But what is it that we remember? Why do we come together? Why do we gather? 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we remember his death until he comes.
What happens when we get to heaven? And we sing the song of the lamb, the song that's recorded in Revelation chapter five. What is that song? Worthy is the lamb who was slain.
Had a young man come to me one time. raised in a very reformed context, struggled with assurance. And he came to me and he'd been attending a church in which the focus, though Calvinistic, was not reformed. And the focus was upon sort of mystical kinds of experiences. And he was telling me that he just could not find assurance at all, could not find assurance.
And I struggle with that. ways to help him and to answer the question without giving him a false sense of assurance. And every time I said something, he said, yeah, but he said, my pastor would say you're wrong because you don't have a PhD. And the guys he's listening to have a PhD, as if, I guess that somehow matters. The more degrees you have, the more you know the Bible.
But at any rate, and I just, I was struggling to help him. And finally it occurred to me what I just said to you. And I said, wait a minute, how often do you come to the Lord's table? Well, in that church once a month.
So what's the purpose of coming to the Lord's table? to remember his death, because his pastor was telling him, you need to get beyond the cross. And you need to find a way to love God for his own sake, for the sake of his glory. Again, this theology of glory, that's really what you need to do. If you do not have a self, a disinterested love for God, you really haven't gone all the way.
And I said, I don't know that that's even possible. A disinterested love for God? And away from the cross, the Lord's Supper says no, and the Song of the Lamb tells us no. The fulfilled exodus of Jesus Christ ought to be and must be the source of endless fascination for us.
One preacher has said, what Jesus accomplished in his exodus is worth a lifetime of careful study, and after that, an eternity of joyful praise. And then the third and final thing, and then we'll be finished. The third and the final thing, and in some ways perhaps the most important thing and something that gathers together virtually everything I've said in the sermon, and it's this. When Christ speaks, you must listen.
Or to put it differently, Christ has spoken. Are you listening to Him? And I'm not asking you if you have out-of-body mystical kinds of experiences. But are you listening to Christ and have you heard him?
Have you listened to Moses and Elijah and what they have to say about his exodus? Have you heard the words of Jesus? Are you paying attention? And if you heard the word of the father who says, this is my son, he's my anointed one.
He's my servant. Listen to him, hear him. and go on listening to him. He is our mediator. He is the one appointed by the Father.
He is the one who serves us faithfully as prophet, priest, and king. What more could we want? You know, it's as simple as all of that, and it's as complex and as glorious as all of that. What more could we want?
Someone has said, in the spiritual life of a believer, the most wonderful spiritual experiences are the exception and of short duration. Those mountaintop experiences is what he's talking about. But God be thanked. Our Redeemer and Lord is and always remains close to us.
This is my son. Hear him."
Closing Prayer
Father in heaven, we do thank you for the gospel. We thank you for this glorious text, which, if we didn't have all of the words, we might be tempted to think that Peter was right and we ought to aim after all kinds of mystical experiences, retaining Jesus here and there in whatever way that we could. And yet, here is a text that reminds us that Christ Jesus has come among us to stay and to remain close to us in the gospel. So we would pray, oh God, that our thoughts and contemplation today and beyond might be upon Christ and upon this great gospel.
We pray as well for those who may still be in their sins, never having repented for one reason or another, perhaps thinking that their temporary shelters of sticks might be good enough. We pray that they will hear the voice of the Father in the gospel and come to faith in the Lord Jesus. We pray all of these things then in Christ's name. Amen.