Peeking at the End

Now, have any of you ever flipped to the end of a book and read the last page?

I know some people who do this religiously.

They pick a book off the shelf, they read the first page, and then they flip to the last page.

And that's rather controversial among people who read books, but some people swear by it.

Now, I've confessed I have sometimes read something at the end of a book.

About a year ago, I was reading Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose.

And I was absolutely engrossed by this murder mystery set in 14th century and how it was set in this ostensibly idyllic monastery.

But this monastery was filled with murders, intrigue, history, hidden labyrinths, conspiracies.

And I greatly enjoyed this book, and I really savored it.

And I was slowly trying to figure out who, which one of these monks was responsible for all of these murders.

But one day, I was flipping through the book, and my eyes accidentally landed on the first line of the final chapter.

And I couldn't help but read it.

And it was this, the abbey burned for three days and three nights.

Now, I didn't know how the rest of the book was precisely going to turn out.

But I knew something was going to happen.

I knew that this ostensibly peaceful monastery was going to burn to the ground.

And even though I wanted to forget that line, I couldn't.

And I enjoyed the rest of the book.

It's one of my favorite books.

But I did have something in the story slightly spoiled for me.

I read with new eyes.

I couldn't help but read each page in light of what was coming.

And while this passage that we've just read is in many ways like we have just skipped to the end of our Bibles.

Like we have read a chapter from the book of Revelation.

And all of a sudden, we see Jesus in new light.

We see Him in His own glorious light.

And from this point on, we cannot help but read Luke's gospel with this passage in mind.

But this is a vision of the end that we don't have to cheat to get.

It's not that we flip to the end of our Bibles and we read things out of order.

Luke is putting this deliberately right here in his gospel.

Right before Jesus travels to Jerusalem.

He wants us to see Jesus clothed in His majesty.

You know, we would be doing Luke's gospel an injustice if we tried to forget this vision took place

and just read the rest of his gospel like there was no transfiguration.

From this point on, we are supposed to read Luke's gospel with a sense of who Jesus really is.

And so what I want us to do is as we look at this passage today, I want us to see this vision of Jesus.

I want us to see this vision of Jesus because it's not simply what we need as we read the rest of Luke's gospel.

It's what we need to have in mind whenever we think about our Savior.

And so what we're going to be doing is we're going to be looking through this passage

to see three things it shows us about Jesus Christ.

Three things it reveals about our Savior.

These are truths that should forever change the way we read Scripture and the way we see Jesus.

And the first thing I want you to see, and most basically,

is that here we see Jesus as God incarnate.

We see Jesus as God in the flesh.

Now up to this point, Luke has spent a great deal of time telling us that Jesus is human.

He gives us one of the longest accounts of Jesus' birth.

He even mentions his circumcision.

He talks about how Jesus is baptized.

He presents him constantly having face-to-face conversations.

He's eating.

He's sleeping.

He's praying.

And all of these things are physical.

They involve Jesus' human body.

No one can read Luke's gospel and think that this is some sort of ghost or apparition.

He was really and truly human.

And certainly, Luke has also been telling us that Jesus is more than human.

Both we as readers and the disciples themselves,

they have heard Jesus say divine words and speak with divine authority and power.

In Luke's gospel, when Jesus says things, things happen.

Things that only God can do.

That only God does in Scripture.

Things like still, the winds, and the waves.

He says things that only God can say.

He forgives sins.

But in the transfiguration, we have something different.

Hear the disciples not only hear with their ears, but see with their eyes.

Jesus being divine.

Suddenly, Jesus' disciples wake up from their dozing prayers.

And they discover his face and his clothing are changed.

They have now become dazzling white.

So it's hard to look at.

This is a divine glory.

Jesus is blazing with uncreated light like a beacon.

He does not have a flashlight in his pocket.

There is no special light show here.

This is simply Jesus' face radiating.

His clothes radiating.

This cloud comes and engulfs Jesus and his light so that his disciples are too terrified to really draw close to him.

This is a glory that we see described throughout the Old Testament as only belonging to God.

It's the same glory that Moses glimpsed in Exodus 33 when he asked to see a portion of God's glory.

He saw the back of God on Mount Sinai.

And this glory cloud is the same, shining with the same light as what entered into the tabernacle

and what entered into the temple and dwelt above the mercy seat.

This is a light that only the high priest would see once per year and only after filling the entire room with incense

lest he capture just too much of a glimpse of this glory.

And Peter here, he instinctively understands that this is a divine glory, which is why he responds the way he does.

If you look at verse 33,

Master, it is good that we come here.

Let's make three shelters.

One for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for you.

His reaction is precisely what you would expect from a young Jewish boy who has really mastered his Old Testament catechism.

He knows what to do when he sees divine glory.

What do you do with divine glory in the Old Testament?

You put it in a tabernacle.

And the word you have in your Bible is either tent or shelter, depending on the version.

That is the Greek word for tabernacle.

He is proposing building a tabernacle like the Old Testament tabernacle and putting Jesus inside it.

Peter wants simultaneously for this glory to dwell with him, but also to keep it slightly far away so that it doesn't destroy him, like in the tabernacle.

And yet Peter's reaction, as much as we can say it's rooted in a sort of standard Jewish understanding of things from the Old Testament,

this is a pretty good answer when you're waking up sleep deprived, and if you're going to give a wrong answer, this is a good one.

But he's misunderstood things.

They don't need to build a tabernacle for Jesus.

He has been tabernacling with them the entire time.

As it says in John 1, 14,

And the word became flesh, or literally tabernacled, among us.

And we have seen his glory full of grace and truth.

Jesus is tabernacling.

His tabernacling is his taking on of flesh.

He is dwelling among us.

As Paul says in Philippians 2, 6, and 7,

Though he was in the form of God,

Jesus took the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

In other words, hiding his glory.

In just a few moments, or a few minutes,

this tabernacling is going to continue.

The glory is going to be concealed once again.

Jesus is going to walk down the mountain with feet that are clothed,

not with glory, but with dust.

With calloused feet, one foot in front of another,

like any other man in his day.

But just because that glory is gone from sight,

doesn't mean that it's not there.

From this point on, Peter, James, and John

know what is behind the veil, so to speak.

They have a glimpse of who Jesus is.

They have seen him as both God and man.

From this point on, Jesus is going to go to Jerusalem.

He's going to be crucified, die, and be buried.

Outwardly, these three disciples are going to see

everything the other disciples are going to be seeing.

They're going to see Jesus put one foot in front of another.

They're going to see Jesus be nailed to a cross.

They're going to see his body carried to a tomb.

But for these three, it has new significance.

Jesus is going to suffer as the King of glory.

He's going to be crowned not with light,

but with a crown of thorns.

And they understand that the Lord of life

is about to be nailed to the cross

and suffer the pains of death.

What we are called to do is read the gospel story

like Peter, James, and John who experienced it.

When you see Christ suffering on the cross,

you need to know who is there suffering on your behalf.

No matter how much the glory may be obscured

by the wormwood and the gall,

the one who is nailed there

is the one who is upholding the universe

by the word of his power.

The one that the Bible says

is the one for whom and by whom all things exist.

And someone like that

is only on the cross

because he wants to be.

The second person of the Trinity

is suffering for you

as a Jewish peasant

mocked and jeered to his dying breath for you.

You are called to behold Jesus there

in his suffering glory

filled with love and wonder

because of the glory that lies beneath that suffering.

And if you see that,

then you will be changed.

It is a vision that changed Peter.

It stuck with him throughout the rest of his life.

He says this in 2 Peter 1, 16-18

which he wrote as an old man.

For we do 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.

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.

When you're walking through a forest

it's actually quite difficult

to walk in a straight line.

It takes a fair amount of skill

to figure out how to walk in a straight line

in the forest.

If you're all on your own

you often end up veering to one side or another

and if you're

it's a really thick forest

and it's really obscure

and you're really unskilled

you can even end up

wandering in an entire circle.

And that's because people go through forests

and they usually go from tree to tree

and they just say well I'm going to go

from that point to that point to that point.

And they lose all sense of perspective.

The way you get through a forest

is you focus on a single tree

or a landmark way off in the distance

and you pick that point

and you walk straight towards it.

When you get there

you pick another point

lined up just the same way

and you have to be very careful.

You need something in the distance

to focus on

in order to not become lost.

Well what we're supposed to focus on

in the Christian life

is our love of Christ.

It's that which makes sense of everything

everything we do

everything we experience.

And if you want to grow

in your love of Christ

then you need to focus your eyes

upon His glory

and upon His suffering in glory.

Because when you behold

Christ's suffering in glory

then you will understand

that the reason Christ was there

on that cross

was because of His love for you.

You see in Him a love

that as the Apostle says

bears all things

believes all things

hopes all things

and endures all things.

And seeing that

will change you.

It will stick with you

just like it did with Peter.

The gospel story

will take on

new significance

new power.

Your love for your Savior

will grow

it will get into your bones

it will begin to pour out

of you.

You will naturally seek

to love your neighbor

because of your love for Christ.

You will love your spouse

as Christ loved the church

and you will love the church

because the church

is the apple of His eye.

But if you want those things

and you want to be loving

to those around you

you need to see

His glory first.

You need to focus

on that

and everything else

falls into place.

But the second thing

I want you to see

in this passage

is not simply

Jesus as God incarnate.

I want you to see

that in this passage

Jesus

comes as the greater

Moses and Elijah.

Jesus is not simply

there on the mountaintop

by Himself

blazing with light

like a lighthouse.

No, there are two other figures

who appear there

as well.

There's Moses

and Elijah.

Now, why those two?

This is a question

that's debated a lot

and perhaps it's because

Jesus is the fulfillment

of the law

of Moses

and He's also the fulfillment

of the prophets.

Elijah symbolizes

the prophets.

That's possible.

It's also possible

that Moses

is the premier example

of a prophet

and Elijah

he is the example

of someone

who turns the hearts

back to God

and He brings in

the new heavens

and the new earth

and He brings in

the Messiah.

That's also possible.

I think those are

perfectly reasonable

explanations.

I don't want to get lost

in those details though.

What I want you to see

is that Jesus came

to fulfill the work

of Moses and Elijah.

He came to be

a better prophet,

be the ultimate prophet.

Now what do prophets do?

Well they reveal

the will of God

to His people.

They tell the people

who God is

and what He wants.

Prophets are the one

they commune with God.

They come back

and they tell people

what He said

and what they need to know.

They have God's ear

and they listen to Him.

They listen to every word.

But the great irony

of Moses and Elijah

is that even though

they are prophets,

even though they are

great legendary prophets

who reveal the will of God

on a daily basis,

they still longed

to have a greater revelation

of Him

than they possessed.

Their ministry,

as great as it was,

left them wanting more.

Both wanted God

to reveal Himself to them

more clearly.

Now this mountaintop

transfiguration

is what Moses and Elijah

have been looking for

their entire earthly lives.

They have been longing

and hoping

for this moment.

Both are men

who wanted to meet God

more fully.

Now Moses seems

to have been interested

very much in seeing God.

God.

Hebrews 11, 27

says this,

By faith he left Egypt

not being afraid

of the anger of the king

for he endured

as seeing Him

who is invisible.

His eyes were focused

on the invisible God.

And then in Exodus 33,

as we read,

Moses takes his shot

and he asks,

Can I see you?

Can I see your glory?

Can I have a glimpse

of the glory

of this invisible God?

Now Elijah

is very similar.

At the lowest point

of his life,

when he is despairing

of Israel,

ever turning back

to God,

he goes into the wilderness,

he travels

to Mount Horeb

and he wants

to meet with God

and to speak with Him.

They both hid in caves

on the same mountain.

They may have even hidden

in the same cave.

And Moses saw

the glory of God

pass by obliquely

and in part.

Elijah heard God

come in a low whisper,

not in thunder

and lightning.

Both of them

came out of the cave

with their faces covered

to make sure

that they don't get

too much of a glimpse

of this glory.

And so both of them

can say partially

their wish

has been granted.

Moses is able

to go away

saying that he has seen

the back of God.

Elijah is able

to go away

saying that he has heard

God whisper.

But as wonderful

and powerful

as both of those

experiences were,

this passage is greater.

And it's really

the true fulfillment

of all of their hopes

and prayers.

On this mountain,

in this transfiguration,

Moses is able to say,

not only have I seen

God's back,

but I have seen

God's face.

I have seen

the face of Jesus Christ,

the Son of God,

God of God,

light of light,

very God

of very God.

And Elijah,

he is now able

to say,

not only have I heard

God in a low whisper,

but I have heard him

with a clear voice.

For I have spoken

and had a face-to-face

conversation

with the Word

of God himself.

Jesus is what

both of them

have been hoping

to see and hear

all this time.

And it's finally

fulfilled on this mountain.

And this is because

Jesus is our true prophet.

He reveals the will

of God to us.

Indeed, he reveals

God himself to us

in a way that is

far superior

than any other prophet

and leaves no one

wanting anything.

He reveals the will

of the Father

as the Son

who has dwelt with him

in perfect communion

from eternity past.

And he comes

with a greater recommendation

than any other prophet.

Moses and Elijah,

they both had,

they came with signs.

And Jesus comes

with signs too.

He has great signs,

wonderful signs,

more than Moses

and Elijah

put together.

But,

Jesus comes not only

with signs

but with the very words

of God the Father

blasting from heaven,

this is my Son,

my chosen one,

listen to him.

In Deuteronomy 18.15

it describes

what a prophet does.

God says he will

send a prophet

and says you will

listen to him.

This is the fulfillment

of that as well.

Because whenever you hear

anything Jesus say,

you can take that

as definitionally,

literally,

the word of God.

Because he is God.

Unlike any other prophet.

And so Jesus,

God in the flesh,

he came to reveal God

to us as the prophet

to whom all other prophets

pointed to and longed for.

And you can see this

in one other thing

I want you to see

in the passage.

It's how he's described

as performing

Moses' work.

There's one other word

besides tabernacle

which is kind of hidden

under the Greek

and it's in verse 31.

It says that

Moses and Elijah

spoke with Jesus

about his departure.

Most of your Bibles

are going to have

a little footnote there

and at the bottom

it's going to say

that's the word Exodus.

That's the word Exodus

in the Greek.

Moses and Elijah

are speaking to Jesus

about how he will perform

the greater Exodus.

How much more important

and magnificent

his work is

than their small,

feeble foreshadowings.

The Exodus

was never about

simply moving

the people of Israel

from one location

to another

and all the logistical

challenges

that that involved.

The Exodus

is about more

than logistics.

It pointed forward

to a greater

new Exodus

performed by Christ himself.

And Jesus

is going to come down

from that mountain,

he is going to enter

into the land of death,

and then go into

the land of life

in his death,

burial,

resurrection,

and ascension.

And it is through

that work

that we are saved

from our slavery

to sin

and we are brought

into a new

promised land

of the kingdom

of God.

And when we are saved

and when we are baptized,

we follow him

as through

the Red Sea.

We are baptized

into his death

and we are raised

with him into life.

And all of this

was foreshadowed

by Moses.

And there are

so many other

glimpses

that you can get

of Christ's work

in the Old Testament.

Seeing Jesus

as the greater

Moses and Elijah

should make us

read our Bibles

more carefully.

You know,

particularly

the Old Testament.

When we open up

our Bibles

and we turn

to Genesis,

Exodus,

Leviticus,

Numbers,

and Deuteronomy

or whatever

obscure Old Testament

book we do,

we need to realize

we are not entering

into hostile territory.

We're not even

entering into

alien territory.

We are not

uncomfortable

houseguests

in a foreign land.

We are reading

Christian books.

And these are books

that are about Christ,

written by people

who longed to see Christ

and hoped

that he would come soon.

Jesus comes

fulfilling everything

that has come before.

And so we should

listen to him.

We are called

to listen to

his words

in the Gospels

knowing that it is

the fulfillment

of God's plan

from eternity past

and that has been

performed

from Adam

all the way

through the Old Testament.

And Jesus comes

fulfilling it all.

There's nowhere else

we should go

except to Jesus.

He has the words

of eternal life.

To whom else

shall we go?

But there's the final thing

that I want us to see

in this passage.

It's that Jesus comes

as he,

we can see Jesus

as he will come again.

This is Jesus

as he will appear

on the final day

when he shall come

riding on the clouds.

The first time he came

he took the form

of a servant

hiding his glory,

putting it aside

so to speak.

But now

he has been exalted

above all others.

The Father

has declared

that the Son

is the Son

and he is worthy

of all praise

and honor

and glory

forever

and ever.

He now appears

in glory

and splendor.

A glory

that was his

from eternity past

and yet it is given

to him by the Father

after he has performed

his mediatorial work.

No one

can mistake

Jesus anymore

for a poor

Jewish peasant.

Because now

you will notice him

on the final day

and he shall come

to judge the world

and rescue his people

as he is

in this passage.

On that day

he shall appear

clothed in majesty.

Every knee will bow,

every tongue will confess

that Jesus

is Lord.

And Christian,

what we have

in this passage

is Jesus

how you will worship him

for the rest

of eternity.

This is who you will

stand before.

This is who you will

worship.

This is who you will

seek to glorify

every single day

for the rest of your life.

This is who you will

give an account to.

Now what does a vision

like that entail?

Well, this is either

a wonderful vision

or a terrifying vision.

You look to Revelation.

The book of Revelation

is a kind of scary book

for some people.

My grandmother was blind

and she was actually

scared of the book

of Revelation

because she would hear this

and she had no idea

what any of this involved.

She was kind of scared

by the book.

That's a sort of typical

reaction in many ways.

Many of us,

if we saw the glory of Jesus

and he just was right here

at this moment,

we would fall down

and we would be quite

literally terrified.

This is the reaction

of Isaiah.

He falls down

when he has the vision

of God in the temple.

He says,

Woe is me.

I am a man of unclean lips

because he understands

he is a sinner

in the sight of God.

He is just

and deserving

of his displeasure.

But,

if you are in Jesus Christ,

if you are clothed

in his blood,

if you are washed in him,

this sight

is no longer terrifying.

It becomes the most

wonderful sight

in the world.

This is the sight

of your Savior.

This is the sight

of your Savior

who has come

to save you

here on earth.

It is the sight

of your Savior

who bled

and died for you.

The glory

of the Lamb

now blazing

in all

of its fullness.

One of the great

ways that

the church

has talked about

our future hope

as Christians

is saying

that we hope

to see something.

The $10 word

is the beatific vision.

But what it really is

is we see

Jesus Christ

and we see

him in his glory

and we behold

him to which

for whom

we have been made

and to which

our hearts

are constantly drawn

and we find

our fullness

in beholding him,

praising him,

and worshipping him

forevermore.

In heaven,

what do you expect

to find?

I expect we're going

to find many

wonderful things.

But the Lamb,

he is the glory

of Emmanuel's land.

He is the chief

and greatest pleasure.

He is the one

to whom we are

to direct our entire lives,

the one to whom

we desire to go.

And we are this day

operating as pilgrims.

But we're pilgrims

heading home,

desiring to see

this vision.

And we need to have it.

Because when everything

else seems to get

grim and dark,

we become like

the psalmist

in Psalm 73,

where the psalmist

confesses that

I was envious

of the arrogant

when I saw

the prosperity

of the wicked.

Because the arrogant

and the wicked,

they seem not to suffer.

They seem to be able

to get away

with anything.

What solves

the psalmist's problem

though in that psalm?

It's that he goes

into the sanctuary.

And he goes

into the sanctuary

and then he says,

until I went

into the sanctuary

of God,

then I discerned

their ends.

But what we are

called to do

is we are called

to come into church,

to gather together

and to focus our eyes

upon Jesus Christ.

To have a longer view

as we walk

through the forest

of this world

and to focus

on Jesus Christ.

And once we see him,

everything else

falls into place.

The troubles

that we face

year after year

seem to melt away

because the glory

of Christ

is so bright.

It doesn't always mean

that it makes it easier.

But it does

give us comfort

in the midst

of suffering.

And we are called

to go through this life

as pilgrims

focusing upon

the glory

of our Savior

to come.

I want to close.

I want you just

to consider for a moment

that do you want

to see Jesus?

Do you want

to see

his glory?

And if you do,

then you must

behold his glory

first

by faith.

You know,

we have seen

the glory of Jesus Christ.

As it says

in John 1, 14,

we have seen Jesus

full of grace

and truth.

faith.

We have seen

him by faith.

And a day

is coming

when faith

shall be sight.

But you need

the faith

first.

A day

is coming

when we will

know him

not in part

but in full.

And if you

desire Jesus Christ,

you will know

true joy

and lasting pleasure.

You will know

the joy

of Jesus Christ.

He is the fountain

of fountains.

Everything good

is in him.

So we are called

not to look

anywhere else

in this life.

Be careful

where your eyes go.

Don't have them

go to the right

or to the left.

Be careful

what you find

drawing your eyes.

And when you

find your eyes

moving to the

things of this world,

focus them back

upon Jesus

and upon the

conviction

that his glory

is better

and it is

more wonderful

and it is

what we

truly need.

And we shall

one day see him

and we shall

see our Savior

face to face.

Amen.

Let us pray.