[0:00] Mark chapter 8, I'll begin reading at verse 34, and I'll read through chapter 9, verse 13. This is God's Word.
[0:18] Then he called the crowd to him, along with his disciples, and said, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[0:32] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
[0:49] Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.
[1:11] He said to them, After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone.
[1:38] There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
[1:51] And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.
[2:05] Let us put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He didn't know what to say because they were so frightened.
[2:17] Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud. This is my Son whom I love.
[2:29] Listen to him. Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
[2:41] As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
[2:53] They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what rising from the dead meant. And they asked him, Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?
[3:11] Jesus replied, To be sure, Elijah does come first and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?
[3:29] But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.
[3:47] It's been a tough day for Peter and the Twelve. Jesus has been doing some deconstruction work upon them, knocking to bits their expectations for the Messiah.
[4:02] Yes, they were correct about Jesus' identity. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. But their views of Messiah's agenda were way off base.
[4:13] They were expecting him to exert his glory and power to crush the Romans and bring in the predicted glory days for Israel. And he shattered those expectations with very plain language that he must suffer many things, be rejected by Israel's religious leaders, be killed, and after three days, rise again.
[4:35] So, Messiah's agenda is clear. It's suffering before glory. It's the cross and then the crown. But you remember, Peter wasn't having it, was he?
[4:49] And so he rebuked Jesus. You can't die. You're the Messiah. This will never happen to you. For which he got rebuked. For being the voice of Satan, issuing a temptation to keep Christ from the cross, get behind me, Satan.
[5:10] And so then, we saw that not only were their expectations of Messiah warped, they're seeing men like trees walking, but their views of Messiah's followers were also warped.
[5:23] They were expecting glory for them without suffering. And Jesus shatters this as well. Not only for them, but he calls the crowd in as well as he says, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
[5:44] There's a cost of discipleship to Jesus Christ. And it's that you must follow in his footsteps of suffering before glory, cross before the crown.
[5:57] Deny yourself, your desires, your will, your thoughts, whenever it conflicts with Christ and his word.
[6:07] And that denial of self really is a death to self. And that's why you need a cross if you're following Jesus. Take up your cross even daily, as Luke's account records.
[6:19] And we do this, taking up of a cross, not just at conversion when we first start following Christ.
[6:30] Yes, we then must die to ourselves and follow Christ initially, but all through our lives, as we follow Jesus, it's a constant death to self and life to Christ.
[6:45] And that's why we are told to take up our cross daily. So to take up your cross means to carry that cross, so that you're ready at any time during the day when you should need to crawl up and die on it.
[6:59] You have it right there. That's the idea. So every day, pick up the cross, be carrying it, and when for Jesus' sake and for his word's sake, it calls you to die, you'll have it ready at hand to die upon.
[7:16] So consider the cost of not following me, he tells the crowd. Because if you're ashamed of me and this adulterous and sinful generation, I will be ashamed of you when I come back in my Father's glory.
[7:30] And it was then that Jesus spoke these words that are part of chapter 9, but really belong to chapter 8, that he said to them, I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.
[7:50] So I'm coming again in power, and I'll deny you if you deny me now. And some standing here will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God come with power.
[8:04] Now what did Jesus mean? Well, that's the big question. Let me just state first what it did not mean. It did not mean that some were standing there that they would still be alive when Jesus comes back at the end of the age to judge the world.
[8:21] You say, how do you know he didn't mean that? Because they all died, and he still hasn't come back. So that's the very easy thing of what it can't mean. Well, then what does it mean?
[8:32] Well, there's two basic views. The first is to see his kingdom, they will see his kingdom come with power in his glorious resurrection from the dead when he will be declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, Romans 1, 4.
[8:51] followed by his ascension into heaven where seated on the throne of God. He will then reign with all authority of heaven and earth and powerfully govern and advance his kingdom on earth.
[9:07] And by pouring out his Holy Spirit upon the church on the day of Pentecost with his kingdom power manifested and 3,000 people saved at that one day in Jerusalem, none other.
[9:21] And through those disciples of Christ then, turning the world upside down by the gospel, which is the power of God's kingdom to everyone who believes.
[9:33] And so all of this was surely the kingdom of God coming with power. And many of those standing there that day would live to see it and indeed did.
[9:44] So that's point number one, or explanation number one. Others say no, Jesus was only referring to what is about to happen next, to the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain in which his power and glory were seen for these three disciples and seen as a preview of his kingdom's power when he returns in his Father's glory at the end of the age.
[10:15] Now, which is it? Well, both are true. Both are, yes, that was a demonstration of the kingdom of God's coming in power, whichever one you want to say.
[10:26] Which one did Jesus mean? I'm not sure I know. Could have he been referring to both of them? Possibly so. But what follows is indeed an amazing sight of the glory and power of Jesus Christ.
[10:40] So I have four points this morning. Jesus' divine glory revealed, two visitors from heaven, the voice from heaven, and Messiah's death again foretold.
[10:51] So we start with Jesus' divine glory revealed, verses two and three. And here we see the connection with what has gone before. After six days, six days from when Jesus said, what goes before?
[11:06] Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him, led them up a high mountain. They climbed that mountain where they were all alone.
[11:17] And there he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. Jesus was transfigured.
[11:30] The word, in at least two other places in the New Testament, is translated transformed. The word means a change of form.
[11:43] And so we who know Christ are being transformed by the renewing of our mind. We're being transformed into the image of Christ. And we get our word metamorphosis from this Greek word.
[11:56] There's a change of form in that caterpillar, from caterpillar stage to the beautiful butterfly. There's a change of form, a metamorphosis, a translation, a transfiguration.
[12:10] Same creature, but in a different form. So to understand what happened on the mountain, we need to understand the two natures of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is absolutely, utterly unique.
[12:25] Unique. There's no one like him because he has two natures. He's fully God and he's fully man at the same time without mixture. He's as much God as the Father is God, as the Holy Spirit is God, infinite, eternal, unchangeable.
[12:46] There are no attributes true of the Father that is not true of Jesus of Nazareth. As to his essence, he is one with God. They share the one divine essence.
[12:58] But he also has a human nature, as much human as you and I are human, as dependent, as needy, as finite as we are, not lacking any attributes of humanity.
[13:17] The only way he's different from us is that he's without sin. But sin is not of the essence of what it means to be human. Contrary to what people say, well, to err is human, to sin is human.
[13:31] No, it isn't. That's not human. All we have to do is go back to Genesis, right, to find two humans of which sin was not a part. They were human and they were without sin.
[13:45] And every one of you who know Jesus Christ will one day be without sin and you will still be human. It is not human to be sinful. That's what happened when sin entered the world.
[13:58] And yes, now, every human being is sinful. But it's not of the essence of humanity. That's why Jesus could take on our humanity without becoming a sinner. So two natures in one person.
[14:12] In the incarnation. So from all eternity, God the Son was with God the Father. They share the one divine essence and glory.
[14:22] The uncreated creator of all that exists. But in the incarnation 2,000 years ago, the Lord Jesus took another nature upon him. Without divesting his divine nature, he never set his divine nature aside.
[14:40] He set aside the expressions and maybe privileges of it. But he did not cease to be God when he became man. He now has two natures in one person.
[14:53] But his divine glory, his divine nature is now hidden in a human nature, in a human body and soul. And that's why people didn't know that he was God.
[15:06] Because when they looked at him, he looked like any other human baby. He looked like any other human teenager. He looked like any other 30-year-old Jewish man.
[15:18] You couldn't tell by looking at him because he was so human that that's all people saw. But that humanity was like a veil that hid another reality.
[15:28] Yes, he's human, but he is God, the eternal God. So Charles Wesley writes, veiled in flesh the Godhead see.
[15:39] Hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man, with man to dwell. Jesus, our Emmanuel, God with us.
[15:51] No one ever fully lived up to the name of Emmanuel like Jesus did because he is God. The eternal God with us in the humanity.
[16:02] Took our flesh. And John, who was there on the mountain that day, writes in chapter 1 of his gospel that this word, he's called the word, he was with God and he is God and he became flesh and dwelled among us.
[16:18] And we have seen his glory. The glory is of the one and only full of grace and truth. They saw something of his divine nature in the miracles he did because he did things that only God could do.
[16:32] And so after turning the water to wine in Cana, we read in John 2 and verse 11, thus Jesus revealed his glory, his deity, and his disciples put their trust in him.
[16:45] So yes, each one of those miracles revealed to us his deity, his glory. But these three got to see that glory in an even greater way on the mount of transfiguration when the veil hiding that divine glory was pulled back for just a little while so these three could see it and be witnesses of it so that every matter could be established by two or three witnesses.
[17:17] He has the same glory as his father for they share for they share the one divine nature. Now in the Old Testament, God's glory was most often seen as brilliant light.
[17:32] Psalm 104.2 says, He wraps himself in light as with a garment. And so we sing, tis only the splendor of light that hideth thee.
[17:44] The glory of God shining out in brilliant light. So here on the mountain, the glory of God is shining out of Jesus Christ in a sparkling display of light.
[17:56] Matthew says, His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as the light. Mark says, dazzling white.
[18:06] Luke says, as bright as a flash of lightning. Kids, you seen a flash of lightning? How bright it is? It's pitch dark at night and suddenly the whole world's lit up. That was the way it looked for Jesus when Jesus was there on the mountain.
[18:20] Suddenly, it's bright, brilliant light like the sun, like lightning. They saw His divine glory. Now when Moses went up the mountain and met with God, when He came down, you remember His face was shining too, wasn't it?
[18:39] But that was a reflected glory because He had been in the presence of God who is the glory. He came down and His face is shining, a fading and reflecting glory.
[18:51] So He wore a covering so that it would not be seen that His face was coming back down from the shine down to the normal thing. But with Jesus, this glory was His own unreflected glory coming from within Him and such a glory that His clothing couldn't keep it in.
[19:12] It turned His clothing bright as the sun as well, you see. It's coming from within Him because He is the radiance of God's glory, Hebrews 1, 3 says.
[19:23] So they saw the glory of God there on the mountain in the face of Jesus. Now the question is why? Why the transfiguration?
[19:36] Why was Jesus' Godhead made visible and unmistakable to these three disciples? Well, let's remember, they were soon to see their Messiah impaled on a Roman cross in weakness, in shame, in suffering, and then taken down dead.
[19:58] that will soon be the landscape for these men. But the Lord doesn't want them to think for a moment that He could not have prevented it.
[20:13] He is Almighty God, the uncreated Creator with whom nothing is impossible. So if you see me on a cross, you must know that I wanted to be there or I wouldn't be there.
[20:31] Calvin puts it this way, Christ is intended to show that He was not dragged unwillingly to the cross. That's the reason for the transfiguration. Not dragged unwillingly against His will as if He's a helpless victim, killed, unable to save Himself because that's what it's going to look like.
[20:54] And that's the stumbling block of the cross, His weakness. It looks like He's just a man and He can't do anything about it. But by seeing His divine glory, they should know that His suffering and death were voluntary and not forced against His will.
[21:12] As Jesus Himself said in John 10, I am the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. The reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again.
[21:24] no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.
[21:37] He's letting them know for sure that He's God and He could have freed Himself at any point, but that He actually wanted to lay down His life that He might save us from endless woe.
[21:55] Rabbi Duncan was a Scottish seminary professor. They called him Rabbi Duncan because he knew his Hebrew so well. And he said to his students as they were contemplating Jesus on the cross, because you know what it was?
[22:11] It was damnation. And he took it willingly. Willingly. Damned in our place. You know, he died during Passover.
[22:25] It celebrated God's wrath passing over the Israelites and entering the Egyptian homes. And the sword of God's wrath that passed over me was dripping with the blood of the Lamb of God that suffered it for me and instead of me.
[22:44] And Jesus wants us to know that. He did it willingly. He's God. And if He's found on the cross looking weak, just remember who I am as the glory of God shines out from Him on the mountain.
[23:01] He's found in the cross. He's found in the cross. It was not it was love that held Him to the cross then. It wasn't some forces that were just too powerful for Him.
[23:13] There are none. So behold my glory and amazing display. In Revelation 1 when John saw the glorified Lord Jesus he was overwhelmed and His face he says was like the sun shining in all its brilliance and when I saw Him I fell at His feet as though dead.
[23:31] So this was no small demonstration of glory that these men saw. And so as if the sight of Christ's radiant glory wasn't breathtaking enough next they see in the second place two visitors from heaven.
[23:45] Verse 4 there appeared before them Elijah and Moses and they were talking with Jesus. Now this doesn't happen every day either. What happened? If all of a sudden this light starts shining out from me you'd be shocked wouldn't you?
[23:59] And if all of a sudden as I'm preaching then here's two men it's Moses and Elijah. What a shocking and amazing thing this was. Moses had died 1500 years earlier.
[24:13] Elijah had gone to heaven in a chariot of fire 850 years earlier yet here they are both very much alive and well. Interesting that Moses and Elijah both saw the glory of God on a mountain on Mount Sinai.
[24:31] A long time between 700 years between them but they both saw the glory of God on Mount Sinai Mount Horeb and here on another mountain the two of them are seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[24:47] Moses represents the law perhaps and Elijah the prophets but Jesus is the fulfillment of them both. don't think I've come to abolish the law and the prophets no I've come to fulfill them Matthew 5 17.
[25:01] So here is Jesus the fulfillment of all that the the law said and the fulfillment of all that the prophets spoke of and were pointing to oh how the Jews boasted of their their Moses you see you find that throughout the gospels and Jesus says if you believe Moses you would believe me because he wrote about me.
[25:25] Acts 3 18 says all the prophets spoke about the sufferings of the Messiah. So here here they are alive and well and they're talking to Jesus they know him he knows them wouldn't you love to know what they were talking about?
[25:44] Some of you have read your Bibles and you know what they were talking about because Luke tells us doesn't he in his account Luke 9 31 they spoke about his departure which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
[26:01] Think of it talking with the one they had talked about centuries earlier and talking about the greatest event that has ever happened in human history and will be the theme of eternity forever and ever and ever the death of God's son on the cross outside of Jerusalem the Lord of life dying for sinners they spoke about his departure as those who are familiar with it this is what they wrote about 1500 years earlier Moses remember what happened on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 Jesus first day risen from the dead two men disciples going to the city of Emmaus and Jesus comes up and their faces are sullen and Jesus says what's wrong well haven't you heard what happened Jesus says no what what are you talking about he's incognito they don't realize it's Jesus and so they assume he's an ignorant stranger that's just come into town and so they tell him all the things that had happened during those days how Jesus of
[27:09] Nazareth had been handed over by the religious leaders to be sentenced to death and they crucified him but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel and then Jesus said to them how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter into his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself so here's Peter James and John they have no room in their theology of Messiah for suffering and death but Moses and the prophets had spoken about it and here there are two representatives talking with Jesus about his suffering and his death to come at Jerusalem now the
[28:10] Greek word for his departure is interesting it's his exodus his exodon is the Greek they were talking about his exodus that was to take place in Jerusalem so here's Moses remember who he was the mediator and the prophet that God had chosen by God that God had chosen to lead Israel out of bondage in Egypt in the first exodus but now here's a greater than Moses a true mediator and redeemer who's come to lead his people out of bondage to sin and Satan and self in the greater exodus and that's what they're talking about with Jesus amazing Moses the first one to lead Israel out of Egypt in the exodus talking with Jesus about a greater exodus what reinforcement of the certainty of Messiah's death to have
[29:12] Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus about it that's the thing that these men could not fathom and now they have another two witnesses from the Old Testament well Peter's response to this is really Peterish it says verse 5 Peter said to Jesus Rabbi it's good for us to be here let us put up three shelters one for you one for Moses one for Elijah and Mark who got most of his material we believe original material from Peter since they spent much time together puts this little note in so we could understand he did not know what to say they were so frightened not knowing what to say never seemed to stop Peter from saying it anyway and so he blurts out his foolish thoughts that are so far beneath
[30:14] God's thoughts and that brings not a rebuke from Jesus as it did six days earlier but it brings a voice out of heaven and that's our third point the voice from heaven verses 7 and 8 then a cloud appeared and enveloped them and a voice came from the cloud now that doesn't happen every day either clouds talking or a voice from the cloud these are amazing things one on top of another the Shekinah cloud of God's presence was drawing near remember at Mount Sinai a cloud came over the mountain and God's voice spoke the ten commandments the summary of his moral law and it left the people trembling with fear in Exodus 20 and they said to Moses you speak to us yourself and will listen but do not have God speak to us or we will die you go hear what he has to say and then come and tell us that was the beginning of prophetism that whole idea of prophets in Israel the prophet hearing the voice of
[31:26] God and speaking it to the people well the disciples they're already frightened by Jesus dazzling glory they're frightened by seeing his two visitors suddenly appear and now the voice Matthew tells us that when the disciples heard this they fell face down to the ground terrified so it's not only the voice itself but it's what the voice said this is my son now that right away identifies the voice as being his father doesn't it this is none other than the voice of God the father this is my son whom I love listen to him now I think that's a polite way to say stop talking and start listening listen to my son there are perhaps three reasons for the father's rebuke first of all for putting the Lord on the same level as
[32:36] Moses and Elijah we'll build a shelter for each one of you one for you Jesus one for Moses and one for Elijah and Moses and Elijah we're servants of God but the voice says this is my son not just a servant but my son yes the servant the suffering servant of the Lord but my son don't treat him on par with my servants Moses and Elijah and that seems to be reinforced by the fact that verse 8 says suddenly when they looked around they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus so it's like the two visitors who are perhaps a stumbling block to Peter here and we're going to put them on equal part they're taken away and now it's only Jesus John 1 1 Jesus is the only one ever called the word of
[33:38] God who was with God and is God Hebrews 1 says he's God's final word in the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets and at many times and in various ways but in these last days he's spoken to us by his son he's God's final word Moses and Elijah are gone it's Jesus only with the words ringing in their ears listen to him are you listening to him this is where he's speaking to you and if it's your your Bible's like that you're not listening to him and if you're not following what he says you're not listening to him and God the father says listen to him he's my son my son they needed to see the absolute uniqueness of Jesus there's none like him he's God he's greater than Moses and Elijah who spoke of him he's the fulfillment of all they said and he's not here on his own he comes with my authority
[34:46] I'm the one who sent him he's my beloved son and God verbally authorized him as his final word that they are to listen to but a second reason why our Lord rebukes may have been because Peter's just wanting to stay on the mountain let's just camp out up here it's pretty nice up here we see wonderful things the glory of Jesus and Moses and Elijah and Jesus is talking about suffering and death down there at the bottom well let's just stay up here perhaps he thought we can avoid the suffering that he's talking about not sure what all was going to through Peter's eye or mine but if that was part of it thinking this isn't just a temporary preview of the glory that Jesus is bringing but this is the glory days for us let's stay here the father was not happy with that thought if that was his thought no they must go down
[35:54] Jesus must suffer and die before glory but I think thirdly it's especially a rebuke for not listening to Jesus about his necessary death that's the big issue in this whole section isn't it that Peter and the disciples are seeing men like trees walking they don't get it of Messiah's mission his agenda just six days earlier Jesus had told them he must suffer and die and rise again Peter was not listening to Jesus he was correcting Jesus he was telling him off never Lord it will never happen to you and now as Peter still doesn't seem to get it the voice from the majestic glory calls him out he's my beloved son you listen to him stop talking and start listening he's speaking just be quiet and hear what he says you know Moses had prophesied in Deuteronomy 18 the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers you must listen to him for this is what you asked of the
[37:01] Lord your God on Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore or we will die the Lord said to me what they say is good I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers I will put my words in his mouth and he will tell them everything I command him if anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name I myself will call him to account that's what God says about the prophet that he's going to raise up and yes it had application to Moses successor and all the prophets of the Old Testament they came with the word of God and God will hold them accountable for what they've done with that word but it was pointing forward to the great prophet Jesus Christ how do we know that because in Acts chapter 3 Peter is preaching in the temple and he quotes this very passage of Moses saying the Lord said to me I'm going to raise up another prophet and you must listen to everything he tells you
[38:09] Peter says anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people and that's exactly what happened to all the Jews who would not believe in Messiah they were cut off they were pruned out of the Israel of God out of the people of God it's Jesus who is this great prophet of whom God said you must listen to him and here's Peter rebuking him you've got it wrong Lord you can't die you're the Messiah well that leads us to the last point the Messiah's death again foretold again because as they were coming down the mountain verse 9 Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the son of man had risen from the dead you can see why Jesus wanted them spreading their mistaken ideas about Messiah but Peter and the disciples would understand it all after his death and resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy
[39:18] Spirit then they would tell of the glory that they saw on the mountain and that's exactly what they did and you can read it in 2 Peter chapter 1 he tells us all about how the voice from the majestic glory honored his son that day by speaking of his beloved son so here's the second time Jesus tells his disciples of his suffering death and resurrection told them before now again don't tell anyone till the son of man is risen from the dead and verse 10 says they kept the matter to themselves discussing what rising from the dead meant now there's no trick trick words here you children from Sunday school you know what he means what does it mean rising from the dead it means that Jesus is going to die and then he's going to come alive again doesn't it but they didn't understand what these words meant why they couldn't get past the word death they could not conceive of Messiah dying so they have no clue what it means to be risen from the dead completely befuddled and so they asked him why did the teachers of the law say that
[40:36] Elijah must come first verse 11 well the reason was because some of the last words of our old testament Malachi 4 verses 5 and 6 say see I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes and he'll turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and they're thinking well we've just seen Elijah haven't we so doesn't that mean that the days of the Lord the day of the Lord is now here the glory days have come and Jesus replied verse 12 to be sure Elijah does come first and restores all things and by the way man that prophecy was fulfilled not today by seeing Elijah but was fulfilled by John the Baptist who came in the spirit and power of Elijah Luke 1 17 and in Matthew 11 Jesus speaking of John the Baptist says he is Elijah who is to come he fulfills that prophecy in made in
[41:37] Malachi 4 but now I've got a question for you Jesus says why then is it written that the son of man must suffer much and be rejected you see that too is revealed in scripture and cannot be avoided verse 13 he says but I tell you Elijah has come and they've done to him everything that they wished just as it is written about him what did they do to the Elijah John the Baptist they beheaded him and Jesus point is saying if the forerunner of Messiah was beheaded and suffered and was beheaded don't expect the Messiah himself to receive different treatment from the same world that beheaded my forerunner so what patience in our Lord as he keeps bringing this truth that they don't want to hear I'm going to die here he is again he hasn't just given them up
[42:39] I'm done with you no he keeps coming back what a what a gentle teacher he is how we need to listen to Jesus as he meets us and speaks to us in his word the Bible it's only in his light that we see light only here well just two applications these glorious events in the transfiguration were for the disciples they were for us they told us about it they could do that after the resurrection and they have told us that we might know that we have a divine savior at the right hand of the father no less God than the father is God because we all had a God sized problem we had offended this infinite God and the only way for an infinite offense against an infinite God to be removed is for an infinite God to take the punishment we deserved and make us right with that God it's his deity that gave merit to the cross work of Jesus
[43:42] Christ to cover a multitude of sinners Martin Luther says there was enough merit in one drop of Jesus blood to save a thousand worlds and we need to know he is Jesus who hangs on the tree he is God in the flesh there hangs our salvation and as Calvin says we need to know that if he is God then he wasn't dragged there against his will he's there because he wants to be there for us what love but though this event was for the disciples and for us I believe it was also for Jesus we little realize the loneliness of the man Jesus as he comes into Gethsemane and Golgotha the whole world of enemies has rejected him his own disciples and even his best of friends don't understand him who can he talk to that knows what he's about to face at
[44:53] Golgotha God the father sends two visitors from heaven to encourage the savior who talk to him about his departure that is soon to be fulfilled at Jerusalem no nobody here on earth can relate to you Jesus but here let Moses and Elijah talk to you about it there's two that understand what you're facing and then there's the father's voice that's heard approving of his son placing honor on his son for undertaking such a mission and not avoiding the cross as he was just tempted six days earlier by Peter the only other time we hear these words from the heavenly father were at Jesus baptism that was meant to be an encouragement for him as he's heading into his public ministry of three years he's going to be rejected by man and before he goes the father says I want you to listen to me son
[46:01] I love you you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased Jesus goes into those three years oh how those words rang in his ears as the religious leaders hated him and were seeking to kill him all but my father his father's smile was worth a thousand frowns from the world and the father smiles upon him at his baptism and immediately he's gone and he goes driven by the spirit into the desert and what is the pinpoint the point of the temptations of Satan if you are the son of God turn these stones into bread if you are the son of God jump down from the tower and see if he saves you and it was the third temptation bow to me and I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world and he resisted them all now six days after Jesus has rejected the temptation again coming through
[47:03] Peter once again the father booms his approving voice you're my son I love you he's honoring his son sending two prophets to speak about his soon coming exodus at Jerusalem he's encouraging his son along the way sometimes he sends angels to minister to him here he speaks encouragement to him because when Jesus mounts the cross on Mount Calvary there'll be no approving voice from heaven there'll rather be silence from heaven and into the silence what will he hear he'll hear the hissing sound of Satan from those who are mocking him if you are the son of God then come down from the cross save yourself and we'll believe you he trusts in God let God deliver him if he even wants him because he claimed to be the son of
[48:08] God and he will feel utterly forsaken of man and God and cry my God my God why have you forsaken me when God will be treating him more like sin that he hates than the son that he loves but here the father speaks of his love because in that moment God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God yes he did treat him as sin that he hated and crushed him but it was for us and our Lord took it willingly and three days later the father did show his delight in his son by raising him from the dead even as he suffers on the cross he was never more pleasing to the father because he was doing exactly what the father sent him to do and he shows it by raising him from the dead and then raising him right up to his right hand saying son sit here till
[49:25] I make all your enemies a footstool for your feet let's pray thank you Lord father for giving us the scriptures that we could read about this amazing event series of events that took place on the mount of transfiguration for assuring us again that Jesus is God and if he's on the cross it's because there's a plan an eternal plan and there's a heart that's full and beating with love and wants to be there in our place oh teach us then to make a fitting response to love him who first loved us we ask in Jesus name amen amen amen amen amen amen amen