Mark 9:1-13

So join me as I read to you Mark chapter 9 verses 1 through 13.

Mark 9:1–13

And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we are here.

Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.

For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud,

This is my beloved son. Listen to him.

And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen

until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.

And they asked him, Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?

And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things.

And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.

This is God's word to us.

It was written for his glory and for our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Let's pray together.

Father God, we are always at all times in desperate need of you.

But Father, it's in times like this that I feel that most.

And I need you.

I desperately need you to come and to help me preach the word of God accurately and poignantly this day.

And Father, we all need you to work by your Spirit to apply your word to us to our hearts,

that they might be changed from one degree of glory to another.

Father, this day do not neglect your people.

Make us in greater degrees into the image of Christ that we might glorify your name.

And we pray this in Jesus Christ's name.

Amen.

So, we've come to a rather exciting part of Mark's Gospel account.

In fact, the beginning of eight and a half chapters really kind of seem to be an introduction

to where we've arrived so far as we came to verse 29,

excuse me, yep, 29,

where Jesus asks the question of the disciples,

but who do you say that I am?

And Peter answers him with this massive proclamation,

you are the Christ, the anointed one of God,

the prophet, priest, and king who reigns forever.

But we see very quickly that he had a misunderstanding.

In fact, we're going to see a couple of other passion predictions on Jesus' part.

We find those in the following, verse 31 and verse 32.

And there's always a misunderstanding response on the behalf of the disciples.

But we begin the great teaching period as Jesus is making his journey toward Jerusalem.

We're about six months out from the crucifixion at this point,

and he's spent quite a few years now with the disciples.

And they're just now starting to grasp who he is and what the kingdom of God will look like.

We see the misunderstanding on Peter's part in verse 32 as he takes him aside and rebukes him

to say to him,

how could it possibly be that you are the Christ and that you will suffer and die?

May it never be.

Peter had yet to understand what the kingdom was really going to look like,

that was coming in spirit for now,

not in the physical realm,

but in the spiritual realm for this period of time.

And Jesus' response to him is a scathing one.

He says to him,

get behind me, Satan,

for you are not setting your mind on the things of God,

but on the things of man.

And he goes on, as we spoke last week,

to raise the bar for what discipleship would look like.

He says to them,

if anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself,

take up his cross,

and follow me.

That is,

deny himself,

set aside his self-governing,

his very being,

in order to follow Jesus.

Verse 35,

whoever would save his life,

will lose it.

Whatever loses his life for my sake and the gospels,

will save it.

He's beginning to explain to the disciples,

and I hope that we're seeing very clearly,

the way in which he came to serve the world.

This apparent paradox that seems to exist,

that he would come and reign by first becoming a servant,

by emptying himself,

and dying on behalf of the church.

It's incredible.

Absolutely incredible.

And we see on the heels of Peter's great proclamation,

you are the Christ.

We have not followed you in vain.

You are the anointed one.

You are going to come,

and you are going to reign.

And then Jesus says to him,

but first,

I'm going to die.

And if you want to follow me,

you're going to do the same.

You're also going to suffer and die.

Jesus,

in his great compassion,

brings along a beautiful encouragement to the disciples.

And he says this to them in verse 1 of chapter 9.

Truly I say to you,

there are some standing here,

those who he was speaking to,

who will not taste death

until they see the kingdom of God

after it has come with power.

And there's a lot of different opinions

about what Jesus meant.

All of them,

save the right opinion,

seem crazy to me.

Because then,

something happens.

Immediately following this statement,

six days later,

but after this,

the record is,

the transfiguration occurred.

So he's saying to the disciples,

some of you,

who are standing here,

are going to get to see me transfigured.

You're going to get to get a glimpse of my glory.

You're going to get to see the kingdom

in its power

before you die.

This was a great act of encouragement to them.

To take some of the disciples up onto the mountain

and say,

see,

it's worth following me.

I am God's visible glory.

Watch this.

He's said things to them now.

Now he's going to show them something.

Something that they can hold on to

and they can take

through the next six months

and the years that would follow

to their very own deaths

in pursuit of the gospel

of the kingdom of God.

It's a beautiful,

precious thing

that Jesus does for them there

in this

incredible miracle.

This is by far

the greatest miracle

he's performed so far

and you probably will never see this

in a list of

Jesus' miracles

but the transfiguration

is amazing.

Next to only maybe

the resurrection itself,

this is the greatest,

it could be argued,

of miracles.

But before we get into

the particulars

of the transfiguration itself,

I first want to deal with

verses 11,

12,

and 13.

So if you'll allow me,

we're going to jump to the end

of our text for the day,

look at 11,

12,

and 13

and we'll back back up

to verse 2.

So they're coming down the mountain

having seen this

miraculous transfiguration,

this conversation

that takes place

between Jesus,

Elijah,

and Moses,

having God cover them

with a cloud

and speak out of heaven

to them.

And they're coming down

the mountain

and they say,

why do the scribes say

that first Elijah must come?

And then Jesus gives

explanation to that.

He gives some explanation

to the fact that

Elijah has in fact come.

Rightly,

the scribes,

which were the religious elite,

the studious religious

of that day,

say that Elijah must come first

and they get this

from Malachi chapter 4,

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

the last of the prophets

before God goes silent

for 400 years.

Malachi said in chapter 4,

verse 5 and 6,

Behold,

I will send you Elijah,

the prophet,

before the great and awesome

day of the Lord comes.

And he will turn the hearts

of fathers to their children

and the hearts of children

to their fathers,

lest I come and strike the land

with the decree

of utter destruction.

So they believed

that Elijah was going to come

reincarnate.

He was going to come

back to life.

In fact,

one of the great differences

between the Pharisees

and the Sadducees

is that the Pharisees

believed in the resurrection

of the dead.

This was part of that reason.

They were waiting for Elijah

to be resurrected

and to come back

and do this,

be the heralder of Jesus,

the Lord who would come

and reign,

the Christ.

Mark records that a number

of people thought

that Jesus was Elijah,

that it was possible

that he was the forerunner

of the Christ.

We see that in Mark 6,

15 and 8,

28.

The prophecy that Elijah

would precede Jesus

is fulfilled by John the Baptizer.

Look at Mark's introductory statements

concerning John the Baptizer

in chapter 1, verse 2

from Isaiah.

They're incredibly similar

to a previous prophecy

of Malachi in chapter 3

where he says,

Behold, I send my messenger

and he will prepare the way

before me.

How do we know for sure

that Jesus was saying

that John the Baptizer

was the predicted Elijah?

How can we know that for sure?

The Bible tells us for sure.

In the same account,

Matthew chapter 17,

Matthew 17:13

verse 13,

Matthew records,

Then the disciples understood

that he was speaking to them

of John the Baptist.

So John the Baptist

is the Elijah

that they're speaking of.

He is the forerunner.

He is the fulfillment

of the Old Testament

prophecy of Malachi.

Therefore,

Jesus is

the Christ.

Isn't it incredible

as we look at the lives

of these disciples

that they have spent

all this time

with Jesus,

we see his words,

we read them,

and their response,

the faithlessness

on their part.

And I just want to remind you

as we walk through

these next couple of chapters together,

the reason that Mark records

the healing of the blind man

at Bethsaida,

we find that in verse 20 through to 26,

is to show us

that Jesus is the Lord

over spiritual,

excuse me,

physical sight

as well as spiritual sight.

So we saw a miracle

where he healed a man

of his physical blindness

in degrees,

and now we're seeing him

do the same

in degrees

with the disciples.

It's beyond me.

Sometimes you read this

and you go,

how could you not get this?

How can you not understand?

But the spiritual scales

were being lifted

from their eyes.

It was being unfolded for them.

They were getting it in part

and they would get it

more completely

as Jesus' death

and resurrection occurs.

So back to verse 2.

Jump back up there

to verse 2.

Now remember that they have

traveled from Bethsaida

to the region of Caesarea Philippi.

There's been some teaching

happening here

and then there's this statement,

truly I say to you,

there's some standing here

who will not taste death

until they see the kingdom of God

after it's come with power

and then six days.

Six days happens.

We don't know exactly

where they went to.

I'm going to tell you

a bit about the high mountain

and where I believe

they headed off to.

But we see a record

that six days has passed.

If you study this further later,

you also will note

that in Luke,

Luke records that eight days

have passed.

And I don't want you

to think at this point

that the scripture

has failed to be inerrant.

It was common in this day

to measure time

in two different ways.

Here we see in Matthew

and in Mark,

they started counting

on the next day

and they counted the days

up to the day prior

to the transfiguration.

Six days.

Luke instead

counted the day

he said it

as well as the day

the transfiguration happened.

Therefore,

eight days.

Very common.

And interchangeable

in that way.

So six or eight,

whichever way

you want to count it.

I might even count that

as seven personally.

Roughly a week later,

they take a bit

of a retreat.

And he goes away

with some closer buddies.

This was kind of

the inner circle

in Jesus' day.

In his humanity,

he had a limited capacity

for personal relationship.

He had his twelve

and within his twelve

he had three.

And we see this consistently.

These are the ones

that went and prayed

with him in the Garden

of Gethsemane

before his crucifixion.

Peter and James and John,

the brothers,

James and John,

the sons of Zebedee.

And he leads them up

onto a high mountain

by themselves.

Now the high mountain

tradition holds

that the mountain

is Mount Tabor,

which is down

on the western side

of the Sea of Galilee.

Could have been traveled to.

A lot of the speculation

is because of the days

that had passed.

They may have been

traveling in those days

and traveled to

Mount Tabor.

Although,

the record is that

it's a high mountain

and Mount Tabor

is not all that much taller

than the other mountains

in the region.

It's not really a high mountain.

It's just a mountain.

If you look at pictures of it,

it looks really more

like a hill.

It's 1,800 feet

above sea level.

More likely,

I would say to you,

that the high mountain

is Mount Hermon,

which is just north

of the region

of Caesarea Philippi.

In fact,

it would have taken

quite some time

to climb

because it's 9,200 feet

above sea level.

It has snow on it

much of the year

in this region.

Either way,

it doesn't really matter.

They're up on a high mountain

by themselves

and they go up there

in order

to pray.

Luke 9, 28

states that they went up

on the mountain

to pray.

And in verse 32,

it says that they were

heavy with sleep.

They were heavy

with sleep.

It's likely

in Luke's account

that as they went up

there to pray together,

just like they did

in the Garden of Gethsemane,

they fell asleep.

And in our Garden of Gethsemane

account,

they're asleep

with sorrow.

Have you ever been

in such a sorrowful situation,

lamenting something

that's happened

in your life

that all you want

to do

is go to sleep?

I have.

Seems to be a bit

of a salve

for the tender heart.

Forget about

the troubles

of the day

and just go to sleep.

And so it's likely

that as he takes them

up onto the mountain

that they're sorrowful.

They have followed him,

they have recognized him

to be the Christ,

but they have also seen

that he's going

to suffer and die

and that they're going

to as well

if they're going

to continue

to follow him.

And then we see

this miracle.

He was

transfigured

before them.

Mark, to this point,

has been so brief,

so punchy,

moved us along

so quickly,

and I believe

that he's doing so

to get us to this point,

to get us to the last

half of chapter 8

and get us into chapter 9.

This is kind of

the watershed moment.

He's pumped everything

up to this point.

Now everything flows away

from this point

in his record here,

and he says to us,

and he was

transfigured

before them.

It's a simple,

punchy statement.

Come on, Mark.

It's a little more.

What actually

happened here?

We don't really know.

In fact,

Matthew and Luke

don't give us

a lot more detail.

The word transfigured

in the Greek

is metamorpho.

It's where we get

metamorphosis from.

It means literally

changed in figure.

His character,

his essence,

his being didn't change,

but the way he looked

changed.

The account in Mark

is his clothes

became radiant,

intensely white,

as no one on earth

could bleach them.

There were people

in this day

that bleached clothing.

No one could have

accomplished this.

It was a supernatural thing.

His clothes,

radiant,

intensely white.

Matthew 17, 2

says his face

shone like the sun

and his clothes

became white,

as light.

And Luke 9, 22

says the appearance

of his face

was altered

and his clothing

became dazzling white.

And that's our explanation

of what the transfiguration

looked like.

But,

you have to note

these words,

radiant,

intensely white,

whiter than anybody

could bleat them,

face like the sun,

white as light.

Clothing became

dazzling white.

Jesus' radiance here

is very key.

The way in which

he was transfigured

was very key

to the encouragement

of the disciples

because

whenever God appears

to his people

in the Old Testament,

he appears in some sort

of light phenomenon,

some sort of appearance

of light.

His disciples were Jews.

They knew this.

They knew their Old Testament.

They knew that when God

showed up,

this was how

he showed up.

A couple of examples

of that.

At the initiation

of the priestly service

in Leviticus 9,

God appears as light.

In Exodus 24,

God appears to Moses

as light.

In Exodus 40,

Exodus 40:34

verses 34 and 35,

the tabernacle

is completed

and God begins

to dwell there

as light,

just above

the Ark of the Covenant.

We know this

as God's

Shekinah glory,

which just means

dwelling,

the Shekinah glory

of God.

It dwelt

in the tabernacle.

In Ezekiel,

we can see where

God's Shekinah glory

leaves the temple,

travels up to a hill

and departs

to heaven.

So it's very key

that Jesus showed up

in light.

He transfigures

in that way.

It was a message

to them that he is

in fact who he says

he was.

All the miracles,

all the things

that he's performed

up to this point

had yet to give them

the faith they needed

to persevere.

And here he shows up

as God himself.

He's radiant

with light.

Hebrews 1, 3a

says he is the radiance

of the glory

of God.

2 Corinthians 4, 6

Paul writes,

God who said

let light shine out

of darkness

has shown in our hearts

to give the light

of the knowledge

of the glory of God

in the face

of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ

is often called

the glory

of God.

The way that we

can witness

the glory

of God.

Moses asked

to see God's glory

as they were

in the desert

and God showed

him his back.

We get to behold

Jesus,

the Christ.

We get to see him

fully for who he is.

We have record

and account

and we get to hold

this in our hands.

They got to stand

on the mountain

with him

and see him

transfigured,

see him shine

as light.

As I said before,

the brief account

of this is a bit

frustrating to me.

I believe that

the word of God

is inspired

and therefore

it was told this way

for this reason.

I want more.

I want to know

a little bit more

of what was going on.

We've got a couple

of other clues to it.

Not much.

John in his gospel,

chapter 1,

verse 4 says,

in him was life

and the life

was the light

of men.

2 Peter,

2 Peter 1:16–18

chapter 1,

verses 16 through 18,

Peter records,

for we did not follow

cleverly devised myths

when we made known

to you the power

and coming

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But we were witnesses

of his majesty.

He's speaking here

of the transfiguration.

For when he received

honor and glory

from God the Father

and the voice

was born to him

by the majestic glory,

this is my beloved son

with whom I am well pleased,

we ourselves heard

this very voice

born from heaven

for we were with him

on the holy mountain.

And those are the accounts

that we get

of this amazing thing

that happened

in history.

And it seems to me

that they tend

to relegate

the miracle

in order to exalt

the person.

That they wanted

to set aside

the fact that he was

this shiny being,

that he becomes

something different

in vision

in order to exalt

him and the message

that he came

to preach.

Remember Mark,

Mark 1:15

chapter 1,

verse 15,

Jesus says,

the time is fulfilled

and the kingdom

of God is at hand.

Repent and believe

in the gospel.

And here we see,

rather than becoming

very mystical

and focusing on

this amazing thing,

it must have been

incredible to witness,

they want to drive us

back to the message.

Repent and believe

in the gospel.

Jesus is who he says he is.

He is the son of God,

the one who's come

to take away

the sins of the world,

the one who's come

to make remission

of sins for many.

Repent and believe

in the gospel.

So they relegate

the miracle

in order to exalt

the person

and the message.

In addition to

him transfiguring,

we see some other people

show up in glory.

They are Elijah

and Moses.

We see this in

verse 4.

And they were

talking with Jesus.

And why do you

suppose they showed up?

Why do we need

a couple of people

to show up?

Let me say to you

it's because,

consistently through

the scriptures,

two or three witnesses

were necessary

to give credence

to something,

to make something

final and true.

Deuteronomy 19.15,

the second half,

says only on the evidence

of two witnesses

or of three witnesses

shall a charge

be established.

Matthew 18.16

says that dealing

with sins

in the church,

that we should do so

with two or three witnesses.

Paul tells the church

at Corinth

in his second letter

that he will bring

charges by the evidence

of two or three witnesses.

1 Timothy 5.19

says,

Do not admit

to charge

against an elder

except on the evidence

of two or three witnesses.

This was very common

of the day.

This was the way

in which you brought

charges against

or for

an individual.

And so Jesus

is joined

by two great witnesses,

Moses and Elijah.

Moses was,

arguably,

I believe,

Israel's greatest leader.

Led them out of captivity,

away from this symbolic

captivity to sin,

out of Egypt,

and into,

eventually,

with all the obstacles

that came in the way,

at least to the border

of the promised land.

It was Moses

who gave the law.

He was the

arbiter of that.

God gave it to him

and he gave it to Israel.

Elijah,

again,

arguably,

but Elijah,

I think,

was Israel's

greatest prophet.

As Moses gave the law,

Elijah guarded the law.

Elijah said

to the people of God

over and over

and over again,

keep the commandments

of God.

And now they're

in a conversation

with Jesus

who came and fulfilled

the law.

They were talking

with Jesus.

What were they

talking about?

What were they

talking about?

They were talking

about the crucifixion.

Again,

how do we know this?

The Bible tells us

what they were talking about.

In a different account,

Luke chapter 9,

Luke 9:30

verse 30 and 31,

And behold,

two men were talking

with him,

Moses and Elijah,

who appeared in glory

and spoke

of his departure.

which he was about

to accomplish

at Jerusalem.

This is what

they were talking about.

They were talking

about the very thing

that Jesus had said

was going to happen.

They're giving witness

to the fact

that as he's appearing,

transfigured,

he is the visible

glory of God.

The disciples can see this.

They're having

a conversation

about the fact

that he was going

to suffer and die

at the hands

of the scribes

and the Pharisees.

They're giving

account to the fact

that what Jesus said

was going to happen

is going to happen.

Elijah and Moses

join with him

in affirming

this great reality.

And then Peter

butts in.

If Jesus and Elijah

and Moses

showed up today,

please don't interrupt

the conversation

that they're having.

Peter,

always the spokesman,

says to Jesus,

Rabbi,

it's good

that we are here.

Let us make

three tents,

one for you

and one for Moses,

one for Elijah,

for he did not know

what to say,

for they were terrified.

A good record

that you shouldn't

say anything at all.

At all.

However,

Peter was,

even though he was

a simple man,

he had his theology right.

He had his theology right.

The transfiguration

happened in the month

of Tishri,

which as I've said before,

was six months

before Passover.

And there was

something happening

at the very time

in Jerusalem

that they're up

on the mountain

and this is happening.

There was something

happening.

It's called the Feast

of Tabernacles.

And it was a feast

that came and happened

to commemorate

the Exodus.

Being led out of

one kingdom

to be free

in another kingdom.

This was the very thing

that they were doing.

But Peter's

desire to build

for them

Tabernacles

was to celebrate that.

He's now seeing

Christ

exalted,

transfigured,

shining in glory.

And Moses

and Elijah are there

and he's saying

it's time.

It's time to go.

It's time to get out

of this world

and go to the next world.

It's time for the kingdom

to come.

Can't you see

the misunderstanding

on this part?

It was not yet

the time.

Peter, James, and John

wanted to exit the world.

They wanted to

be spared the suffering

that Jesus had talked about.

They said,

we have the Christ,

we have Moses,

we have Elijah.

Let's get the glorious

kingdom started.

They wanted glory

without suffering.

They wanted exaltation

without humiliation.

They wanted Jesus

to be crowned king

without the cross.

This is not something

that could happen.

God's ordained plan

go all the way back

to the end of verse 33.

For you are not

setting your mind

on the things of God

but on the things of man.

The plan of God

was for Jesus

to go to the cross.

I'm glad he did it.

I hope you are too.

And as they say this,

a theologically informed

but wrong statement,

as they say this,

a third witness shows up.

Elijah and Moses,

one and two witnesses.

And now look who shows up.

A cloud overshadows them

and a voice came out

of the cloud.

This is my beloved son.

Listen to him.

The almighty shows up

and combines in chorus

with Elijah and with Moses

to give account

to the things that Jesus

has said.

I love the record of it

in Matthew chapter 17

Matthew 17:5

verses 5 and 6.

It says,

verse 5,

speaking of Peter,

he was still speaking.

So I love that

because Peter's still talking

and then God comes

and shuts him down.

He's interrupted

by the divine.

When, behold,

a bright cloud

overshadowed them.

Again, you see the bright cloud

overshadowed them.

Shows up in a light phenomenon.

And a voice from the cloud said,

this is my beloved son

with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him.

And I love verse 6.

When the disciples heard this,

they fell on their faces

and were terrified.

You better be

when you're interrupted

by the divine

and corrected.

The very thing that happened.

Jesus has spoken to you.

He has told you

what will come to pass.

And now you're trying

to establish a kingdom

by another way?

This is my beloved son.

Listen to him.

Right?

He knows the way of God.

Follow him in that way.

Even if it leads

to your own death.

Take up your cross.

Follow him.

And then suddenly,

verse 8,

suddenly,

looking around,

the whole scene vanished.

The kingdom preview,

this glimpse they got

of the coming glory of God

was gone.

And then plain old Jesus Christ

was standing before them

once again.

And he charged them

to tell no one

what they had seen,

verse 9,

until the Son of Man

had been risen from the dead.

And here we see again

they just don't seem to get it.

So they kept the matter

to themselves.

Until they recorded it later

for all of us to read.

Questioning what this

rising from the dead

might mean.

They just didn't get it.

The light is dawning

in their hearts and minds.

But it's yet to fully arrive.

They're starting to get it.

And they certainly would

one day.

We're going to see them

come to a greater realization

of this.

They would one day preach

Christ crucified and risen

in their messages.

Think of Peter's sermon

on the day of Pentecost

found in Acts chapter 2

Acts 2:23

verse 23 and 24.

He says,

This Jesus

delivered up according

to the definite plan

and foreknowledge of God,

you crucified and killed

by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up,

loosing the pangs of death

because it was not possible

for him to be held

by it.

Christ crucified

and risen.

John devotes all

of chapter 19

and the first half

of chapter 20

of his gospel account

to the death

and resurrection

of Christ.

Later stating in

chapter 20

verse 30 and 31,

Now Jesus did many

other signs in the presence

of the disciples

which are not written

in this book,

but these are written

so that you may believe

that Jesus is the Christ,

the Son of God,

and that by believing

you may have

life in his name.

They preached Christ,

crucified and risen.

What happened to James?

James was the first martyr.

He was martyred in 44 AD.

He was pierced with swords

for preaching Christ

crucifies and raised

by Herod.

These men would someday

come to fully understand

what the transfiguration

meant for them.

But what does it mean for us?

Three men privy to this vision.

We didn't get to see it.

We get a kind of

a paltry record of it.

Not a lot of detail

going on here.

What does it mean for us?

And so three lessons

for today quickly

as we close.

Number one,

life is found

in the power

of the cross.

Life is found

in the power

of the cross.

Mark 8.35,

For whoever would save

his life will lose it,

but whoever loses

his life for my sake

and the gospels

will save it.

And this is following

him talking about

his death and resurrection.

His death on the cross,

his resurrection

three days later.

This apparent paradox

that we must follow him

in the same way

in order to gain

our lives.

1 Corinthians 1.18-24,

Paul says,

For the word of the cross

is folly

to those who are perishing.

But to us

who are being saved,

it is the power of God.

For it is written,

this is Isaiah 29.14,

I will destroy

the wisdom of the wise

and the discernment

of the discerning

I will thwart.

Where is the one

who is wise?

Where is the scribe?

Where is the debater

of this age?

Has not God

made foolish

the wisdom

of the world?

For since

in the wisdom of God

the world did not know

God through wisdom,

it pleased God

through the folly

of what we preach

to save those

who believe.

The folly being

that a king came

to reign

by suffering

and dying.

Verse 22,

For Jews demand signs

and Greeks seek wisdom,

but we preach

Christ crucified,

a stumbling block

to Jews

and folly to Gentiles,

but to those

who are called

both Jews and Greeks,

Christ,

the power of God

and the wisdom

of God.

1 Corinthians 2,

1-2

Paul says,

And I,

when I came to you,

brothers,

did not come

proclaiming to you

the testimony of God

with lofty speech

or wisdom,

for I decided

to do nothing

among you

except Jesus Christ

and Him crucified.

Life is found

in the power

of the cross.

Secondly,

the power of the cross

is transmitted to us

by the Scriptures.

The power of the cross

is transmitted to us

by the Scriptures.

Beloved,

do you realize

how precious

the book you hold

in your laps is?

This language

inspired by God

translated for us

into our English language,

the one in which

we have so many

copies of,

both physical

and digital,

that we have

so many resources.

We can search it

and we can search it

and we can know it.

There is unending

resources at our

fingertips

to know

the Word of God

to us.

It is the way

in which the power

of the cross

comes to us.

2 Peter 1,

16-21,

I read to you

the first three verses.

I'm going to read

those again

and then read the rest

of what Peter

has to say.

This blows my mind.

First time I read this,

I just,

I wanted to fall down.

I didn't,

but I wanted to.

For we did not

follow cleverly

devised myths

when we made known

to you the power

and coming

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

but we were

eyewitnesses

of His majesty.

Would you like to

have been in their

shoes,

been there on the

mountain?

For when He received

honor and glory

from God the Father

and the voice

was born to Him

by the majestic glory,

this is my beloved

Son with whom

I am well pleased,

we ourselves

heard this very

voice born from

heaven,

for we were with

Him on the

holy mountain.

Oh,

to have been there.

How great that

would have been.

But listen to what

Peter says to us.

Verse 19,

And we have

the prophetic

word

more fully

confirmed.

Catch that?

It's better

to have this.

It's more

fully confirmed.

We have seen

the promises

of God

carried out

from the

scriptures.

We have it.

It's more sure.

It's a thing

that we can trust.

It's greater

than being present

at the

transfiguration.

To which you

will do well

to pay attention

as to a lamp

shining in a

dark place

that we see

light again

until the day

dawns and the

morning star

rises in your

hearts.

Knowing this

first of all,

that no prophecy

of scripture

comes from

someone's own

interpretation,

for no prophecy

was ever produced

by the will of man,

but men

spoke from God

as they were

carried along

by the Holy Spirit.

This book

is precious.

The power

of the cross

is transmitted

to us

by it.

Beloved,

we are a people

of words.

Words have

power.

Thirdly,

we are to be

transformed

by the power

of the cross.

We're not to

stay the same.

We're to be

transformed.

This is this

imagery he's

giving us.

If we would

follow him,

we have to

deny ourselves.

Stop being

you.

Pick up your

cross and

follow me.

Become me.

Look to me.

I'm your

example.

Paul writes,

Galatians 2.20,

I have been

crucified with

Christ.

It is no longer

I who live,

but Christ

who lives in me.

In the life

I now live in the

flesh,

I live by faith

in the Son of God

who loved me

and gave

himself for me.

We operate

from faith

to look like

Christ,

to pursue him

in all that we

are.

The derogatory

phrase given to

us,

Christian,

means little

Christ.

What a far

gap there is

between the way

we live and

the way Christ

lived.

Beloved,

pursue,

pursue the

example given

to us by him.

Hear me.

we hold the

sovereignty of

God so

precious here.

It's in our

closed fist.

Oh,

God is sovereign

over all things.

He ordains

all things.

He stands

over all

things.

But beloved,

grace is not

an enemy

of effort.

Grace fuels

our effort.

Grace is only

an enemy of

any merit

earned by

our effort.

We are to

work out

our salvation

with fear

and trembling

for it's God

who works

in us

to will

and to

work for

his good

pleasure.

Get busy

following

Christ.

You have

been given

the power

of the

cross

if you've

believed in

him.

This great

verse in

2 Corinthians

3.18

Paul says,

And we all

with unveiled

face,

beholding the

glory of the

Lord,

are being

transformed to

the same

image from

one degree

of glory

to another.

For this

comes from

the Lord

who is

the Spirit.

So what

do we

learn from

the

transfiguration,

from beholding

this?

Jesus is

the Christ

and we

must,

if he is,

if we believe

that he is,

we must

follow him.

We must

follow him

to the

point of

death as

all of

the

apostles

did,

all except

for John

who died

in exile

of old age.

They all

followed him

to the

point of

death.

Believe

the words,

follow him.

Life is

found in

the power

of the

cross.

The power

of the

cross is

transmitted to

us by the

scriptures and

we are to be

transformed by

the power

of the

cross.

Let's pray

together.

Amen.