Moses & Elijah

Good morning. All right. I like that attitude.

All right. Today we are continuing our series Conversations Jesus Had.

This is Conversations Jesus Had, part 10.

Today's conversation is a very interesting one.

If I were to have asked you before today, is Moses an Old Testament character

or a New Testament character, what would you have said?

Yeah, he's an Old Testament character. If you would have asked me,

you know, I don't know, several months ago, hey, is Moses is an Old Testament

character, I think I would have said, yes, he's referred to in the New Testament.

Like the New Testament talks about him quite a bit, like in the past tense,

referring back to Moses, but he's not like a character in the New Testament.

And if I would have said that, I would have been wrong.

He is. The story I'm about to read to you, I think it's crazy if you want,

the story I'm about to read to you is about Jesus Christ in the Roman Empire, in the first century,

and Moses and Elijah are there, and he has a conversation with them.

So let me go ahead and read it to you. This is Luke chapter 9, starting in verse 28.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

This story that I'm about to read to you is commonly called the Transfiguration.

I'm going to read it to you. This is Luke 9, starting in verse 28.

About eight days after these words, he took along Peter, John,

and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.

As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.

Suddenly, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah.

They appeared in glory and were speaking of his death, which he was about to

accomplish in Jerusalem.

Peter and those with him were in a deep sleep, and when they became fully awake,

they saw his glory and the two men who were standing with him.

As the two men were departing from him, Peter said to Jesus,

Master, it's good for us to be here.

Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,

not knowing what he said.

While he was saying this, a cloud appeared and overshadowed them.

They became afraid as they entered the cloud.

And then a voice came from the cloud saying, this is my son,

the chosen one, listen to him.

After the voice had spoken, only Jesus was found. They kept silent and in those

days told no one what they had seen.

So let's go ahead and review this story.

Jesus, from his 12 disciples, chooses for three of them to go on a prayer hike with him. Okay?

He's got 12 disciples. He picks Peter, James, and John for some reason.

It says, I want the three of you to come with me. We're going to go pray.

He says, we're going to hike up that mountain. We're going to pray.

They hike up to whatever spot it is that they hike to. I don't know if they

hiked all the way to the summit or not, but they go to wherever the prayer place

was that Jesus designated on this mountain.

They get up there. And then what happens next is interesting.

I didn't remember this part of the story.

I don't know if they hiked all day long, took a long time to get to the top

of the mountain, and it was like nighttime when they got there,

or if they were just worn out from all the walking, but it looks like Jesus

starts praying, and Peter, James, and John sleep.

And this is something that if that's what's going on here, that's not uncommon,

right? There's actually other, there are other stories where Jesus prays and they sleep.

There's a really famous one toward the end of Jesus' life where he prays and

they keep falling asleep and he keeps telling them, stop sleeping, pray.

And they go, okay. And then they sleep some more. And so anyway,

apparently that goes back, it looks like all the way to this moment.

They get to wherever the place to pray is.

They all go to sleep or they all go to pray, I guess. And Peter,

James, and John are sleeping. Jesus is praying.

And then when they wake up, I guess I'll tell the story from their perspective.

When they wake up, stuff's already going on.

They wake up and wipe out the eye crispies out of their eyes and they look up and who's there?

Moses and Elijah and Jesus and Jesus has changed.

Jesus' appearance has changed. In Luke's version, it says, the appearance of

his face changed and his clothes became dazzling white.

Matthew tells the same story and in Matthew's version of the story,

he uses a word that gets translated into English as the word transfigured.

That's why they call this the transfiguration.

Jesus was transfigured or it could also be translated transformed.

There was this transformation that happened with Jesus. He looked like normal

human being and then on this mountain at this particular occasion,

he was transformed. He looked like something different.

Matthew also says his face shone like the sun, right?

Luke just says his face changed, but Matthew specifically says his face showed like the sun.

So this glorious transformation happens to Jesus where you can see like who

he is and Moses and Elijah are there and they're already talking with him when the disciples wake up.

How did Peter and John and James know that it was Moses and Elijah that were

talking to him? Isn't that an interesting question?

You've got to remember, this is a time period before there was photographs.

So Peter, James, and John had certainly heard of Moses.

They had certainly heard of Elijah. They probably went to synagogue where the

Old Testament was read to them.

Their mom and dad probably told them about Moses and Elijah.

But there's no photos. How would they know what they look like?

Were they wearing little name tags as they were talking to Jesus?

Was Moses holding the Ten Commandments like this? And that's how they knew?

Like, oh yeah, that's just like the action figure, Moses. Right.

Is that how it happened? Every time Moses shows up, does he have to hold the

Ten? Is he stuck holding those things forever so people recognize him? I don't think so.

The story doesn't say how they recognize him, but I think the answer is obvious.

Because they woke up and they listened to them talk.

The story does not say that Moses and Elijah stood there still and mute and

just were glowing, all right? And then they just looked up and they figured

out who they were, right?

The story says, if you look at verses 30 and 31, it says, suddenly two men were

talking with him, Moses and Elijah.

And it says they appeared in glory, right? So I'm assuming they're probably

glowing in the dark too, just like Jesus.

And they're talking with him. There's a conversation that Peter,

James, and John are overhearing.

And so I think they were able to listen to the conversation and figure out who Jesus was speaking to.

He knew in the moment, like it's not like Jesus, as they were walking back down

off the mountain, he told them later.

This is not something that they figured out later on. It's not like they're

walking down the mountain and Peter, James, and John go, hey,

hey, you know, that was crazy up there.

You know, who were those two people you were talking to? They looked so old, right?

And then Jesus goes, oh, that's Matthew, that was Moses and Elijah,

right? No, that's not what happened. How do you know that's not what happened? Look at verse 33.

As two men were departing, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it's good for us to

be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for what?

Moses. He knows his name in the moment. He wasn't told later on who that was.

He knew right there in the moment that it's Moses and one for Elijah.

He knew who they were in the moment because, I think, he was listening to them

talk and he figured it out.

Now, after this happens, God the Father speaks from heaven.

And he says in verse 35, it says, then a voice came from the cloud saying,

this is my son, the chosen one, listen to him.

And clearly God, the father is referring to who in this, when he says this,

Jesus, he's referring to Jesus.

I'd somehow he indicated Jesus as the one he's talking about.

Cause there's three guys there.

I don't think like an arm came down and like specifically pointed to Jesus,

but it was very obvious that the one that is his son is Jesus.

That's actually what he said at Jesus's baptism, right? This is my son or you

are my son, the chosen one, listen to him.

Another thing that gives away that this is about Jesus is after he said,

listen to this one, and the voice had spoken, what happened?

Only Jesus was found, right? So God the Father says this about Jesus,

and then Moses and Elijah are gone.

And that's the story. So today what I'm going to do is I'm going to focus on

an aspect of this story that I have never focused on before.

I have preached on this story. I would say, I think it's been three times here

in the History of Good News Church, I preached on this story three times.

But I've never in all those times focused on the conversation that took place

between Jesus and Moses and Elijah.

There's the face shining like the sun. There's God the Father saying, listen to him.

There's the disciples going, do we tell anybody about this? Like all that stuff's

enough that I've always had enough stuff to say.

I've never even focused on the conversation that happens between Jesus and Moses and Elijah.

It is interesting, if you're not a preacher, maybe you don't know this or maybe

you've not thought about this, but sometimes the title that you pick for your

sermon or the title that you pick for your series affects what you focus on.

So if this series were called Miracles in the Life of Jesus,

then I would probably focus on the face shining and the white clothes and the

cloud coming down and the voice from the cloud.

But this is not a series called Miracles in the Life of Jesus,

so I'm not going to focus on that part.

If this series were called Secrets of the Disciples, okay?

Then I would probably focus on that last verse where it says,

only Jesus was found and they kept silent. And in those days,

they told no one what they had seen.

They saw this incredible thing and then they didn't tell anybody about it.

And so if we were doing Secrets of the Disciples, I'd probably focus on that

verse. In fact, I probably especially would because Matthew and Mark make a big deal about that too.

Luke doesn't say it, but as they were walking back home, the reason they kept

it a secret and they didn't tell

anyone what they saw is because Jesus specifically told them to do that.

He said to keep it a secret. Don't tell anybody what you saw until after I rise from the dead.

And they were even going like, what does that mean, rise from the dead? Like, is that literal?

They didn't know. They just knew there was this thing that was gonna happen

called rise from the dead. And then we're allowed to tell people what we saw,

but not before that. And it was a secret.

But this series is not called Secrets of the Disciples, so I'm not gonna focus on that verse.

If this series were titled, Dumb Things Peter Said.

I would probably focus on the part where he said let's

make three tabernacles one for you one for Moses one for Elijah now

I don't know if that's dumb or how dumb it was um but

I I will say growing up I was always told like oh that was dumb he shouldn't

have said that Peter was always just talking before he was thinking um and the

idea was what was wrong with it was that it would be three tabernacles it would

be treating them equally like treating Moses and Elijah and Jesus as if they're

all equals I don't know I don't know if that's what Peter thought I don't know

if he was responsible to have thought something different than that or to have

said something different than that.

But I would say, it seems like even Luke is trying to hint that what he said

was dumb. Because if you look at the verse, it says, let us make three tabernacles. This is verse 33.

One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Could you put the verse up there, verse 33?

One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. So notice the quote.

So this is Luke telling us what Peter said.

Master, it's good for us to be here. Let us make tabernacles,

one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah, end quote.

And then now here's Luke talking, not knowing what he said, right?

That's Luke telling us, like, Peter was just talking, he didn't know what he

was talking about. So...

But Dumb Things Peter Said is not the title of the series, okay?

So this is conversations Jesus had.

And so for today, I'm mostly going to focus on the conversation that took place

between Jesus and Moses and Elijah.

So what do we learn from that conversation? And I'll say this,

before I point out what we learned from that conversation, I would like to explain

some beliefs that people often hold to that I believe are not true and that

this story sort of casts doubt on, okay?

These are common beliefs that I don't think are true, and I think this story

points us in a different direction.

So here they are. I'm going to give you them. Well, the first thing is materialism.

I want to talk to you about materialism.

Materialism, at least the way that I'm using the word, is not the way we ordinarily use the word.

I would say most of the time when we use materialism, like we say if someone

is materialistic, we say like, we mean like, oh, they're buying,

you know, they always buy a new TV and a new boat and a new condo or whatever.

I'm not using the word materialism that way.

I'm using the word materialism the way philosophers use it.

Materialism is the belief that the material world is all that there is, okay?

Like the physical world is all there is. What exists, what you can see,

what you can taste, what you can touch, what you can smell, what you can hear, that is what reality is.

Materialism is the physical world, that which you can, you know,

see is there with your senses or hear or whatever it may be,

that is what exists. There is nothing beyond that.

The materialist would say there are no angels, there are no demons,

there is no heaven, there is no hell, there is no God, there is no Satan,

there is no spiritual anything, there's just the material world. I do not believe that.

The second one I wanted to bring up is the idea of soul sleep.

Soul sleep is something that a lot of people believe in. And this one is,

I will start off by saying this, this one is not as bad as materialism.

Nowhere near as bad. Materialism is, I think, a big problem.

If you are a materialist, then you cannot be a Christian.

Like if someone that's a materialist is not a Christian, because if you're a

materialist, you don't even believe that there's a God.

Soul sleep is different than that. Soul sleep, I believe, is wrong,

but I think you could be a Christian and believe in it. Like you could just

be a Christian and you're just incorrect, okay? But at least you're still a Christian.

So soul sleep, nowhere near as bad as materialism, but I still think it's not

correct. But this is the idea behind soul sleep. And I think there are Christians that believe this.

That when you die, sort of nothing happens, okay? When you die,

you just sort of, you're not there anymore.

Your body decays and your soul, in a sense, sleeps. You are unconscious for a period of time.

And then one day, Jesus returns and the resurrection happens and eternity begins.

You know, he creates the new heaven and new earth.

And the people who believed in him, who had died, they, in a sense,

the Bible says resurrected, but in a sense, they wake up after all of these years of slumber.

They died and sort of nothing happened. And then they come back to life or they

wake up and there they are with God for all of eternity.

And so this belief is basically the person who believes in soul sleep would

say, when someone dies, they would say, you don't go to heaven when you die,

but it feels like you go to heaven when you die, right?

Because you die and then nothing happens, but you don't know it because you're

not conscious of it. And then one day you wake up in eternity when God begins that whole thing.

And for you, since you don't know, you know how with sleeps,

it doesn't feel like time has passed.

So the idea is when you die, you don't go to heaven, but it feels like you go

to heaven because that's the very first thing you experience.

That's the next thing that happens.

Um, I don't think that that is true. I do understand why people believe that.

Um, there is imagery in the, in the Bible that talks about death and like metaphorically

talking about it like sleep.

In fact, we sang a song and this was not planned, but we sang a song that talked

about, um, bring me awake. We use some of that imagery, even the song we sang.

Um, and that's found in the Bible as well. But I just, I don't think that was

meant to be taken as people literally sleeping.

So we're going to talk about that. So not as bad as materialism,

but I think that's something that this story points us in a different direction from.

Um another one another thing i think

people often hold to and and this story would cast doubt upon

it is and i'll call it this the idea of that we as

christians should unhitch from the old testament okay to unhitch from the old

testament i'm particularly phrasing that way because there was a very well-known

pastor super super influential pastor here in america i don't know sometime

in the past 10 12 years who that's the way he phrased it he said christians

need to unhitch from the Jewish scriptures.

That was the way he phrased it. And when he said Jewish scriptures,

he was referring to Genesis through Malachi, like the books that we call the Old Testament.

He said, Christians need to unhitch from the Old Testament. He is not alone in that.

You probably have talked to Christians who have said stuff like that at some

point, right? Where they will say, you know, like, well, I don't know about

that, but that's the Old Testament.

Okay. We don't do, I'm a New Testament Christian. All right.

Not an Old Testament Christian. I'm a New Testament Christian.

So someone brings something up and they go, I don't know. That doesn't apply

to me. I don't need to know about that. That's the Old Testament.

And part of the reason for that is there are things in the Old Testament that are difficult.

There are things that are in the Old Testament that are difficult to defend.

There are things that are in the Old Testament that are difficult to explain.

There are things in the Old Testament that are difficult to understand.

Some things in the Old Testament that are very difficult for people in our culture.

And so the idea is like, well, let's just say that's not our book.

Let's just go with the peace and love and harmony of Jesus in the New Testament.

And that's my book. I'm a New Testament Christian, right?

And so whatever that is, I don't need to worry about that. That's not my book.

The New Testament is my book. I think this story points us in a different direction than that.

And then lastly, I wanted to address the issue of God not knowing the future.

There are some people that believe that God does not know the future.

And when I say some people, I mean people who say that they're Christian.

Like there are Christians who say God doesn't know the future.

And this is the way that they would say it. I want to try to phrase it,

I think, the way they would explain it.

They would not say God doesn't know the future in some sort of way that they

would mean that God is not all-knowing, okay?

You might come across people that would say this. They would say God is all-knowing.

And what it means that God is all-knowing is God knows everything that can be

known, but he doesn't know the future because it can't be known. It doesn't exist yet.

Like the future hasn't happened yet. So the idea is not that God isn't all-knowing.

God is all-knowing. He knows everything that can be known, but he doesn't know

the future because it can't be known because you can't know something that does not exist, right?

You can't know a thing that doesn't exist, so he doesn't know,

even though he knows all things, but he doesn't know something that can't be

known, things that don't exist yet.

I think this story points us in a different direction than that.

I do not believe that one either.

So I cover all that because I wanted to think through all of these beliefs and

now I want to go and look at the verses.

So here are the verses I want to focus on this morning. I'm going to reread

verses 30 and 31 and verse 35. That'll be our focus.

So Luke 9, starting in verse 30. Suddenly two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah.

They appeared in glory and were speaking of his death, which he was about to

accomplish in Jerusalem. And then verse 35.

So what I did this week as I was preparing for this message was,

as I looked at the passage and I basically tried to ask myself,

okay, what is it that Peter, John, and James would have learned from seeing and hearing this?

Like, what are the things that if they were there, they would have been like,

okay, now I know this is true, or I thought this was true, but now it's for

sure confirmed that this is true.

What would Peter, James, and John have learned from seeing and hearing this conversation?

And by extension, what do we learn from this story? So this is what I wrote down.

Started very easy. This seemed very obvious to me, so I just wrote it down.

Here's the first thing I think they would have known.

Number one, people exist after they die.

People exist after they die. Why? Because suddenly two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah.

Moses and Elijah were long dead at this point and yet they were there.

Have you ever wondered if when you die, you just die?

Has it crossed your mind? Like I'm sure people have talked to you about heaven

and hell and you know, this is what happened and your grandma's in a better

place, and you've probably heard all sorts of things.

But has there ever been a time where it just crossed your mind that you thought,

I wonder if the day I die, that's just it.

My story just ends there. What if I just die and nothing happens?

What if when you die, you just die? Has that ever crossed your mind?

I would imagine probably everybody in this room, it has crossed your mind at

some point. Well, what if nothing happens?

Now, I don't know if Peter, James, and John ever wondered that.

But after this event, I think it would be really hard for them to doubt.

That people continue to exist after they die. These disciples saw two historical

figures standing there, one of them who lived about 1,500 years earlier,

and one of them who had lived about 900 years earlier.

And there they were existing and talking after they died.

Another thing that I think is, I think that this story casts some doubt on the idea of soul sleep.

Okay, I just came up with this because I was just thinking about this from Moses's perspective.

It seems to me that Moses and Elijah, when they show up and they're speaking

to Jesus about what he's about to accomplish in Jerusalem, it seems like they're

with the program. It doesn't seem like they've been out of it.

Okay. So I want you to imagine from Moses's perspective, go back to like book of Deuteronomy.

Moses is there. God says, you're not going to be able to go into the promised

land. And he's like, man, that stinks.

And then God says, I'm going to take you up to the top of this mountain.

I'm going to show you the promised land. So at least you get to see it before

you die. And he's like, all right, thanks.

And he goes up there to the mountain and he sees the promised land.

And he's like, well, that was cool. And then he dies.

And in Deuteronomy, it says God buried him. And then if Saul sleeps true,

what would happen is there's, that's the beginning of the giant nap. And then what happens?

1500 years later, he wakes up on a completely different mountain.

And this is kind of crazy just to think about.

He's actually in the promised land at this point. Okay. Like Moses did actually

get to set foot in the promised land. He's there.

So he, but he's there, he's on a different mountain, and he wakes up,

and then there's all these people around him, what's he going to do?

He wouldn't be like, Elijah, how's it going? He doesn't know who Elijah is.

Elijah existed 600 years after Moses.

He doesn't have any clue who that is. Peter, James, and John,

he's looking at them. He doesn't know who they are, right?

So if you're Moses, I think you're going to be waking up here going,

who are you? Who are you? Who are all these people? Where am I? What is going on here?

It doesn't sound to me like he just woke up. Look what he says.

They were talking with Jesus and they appeared in glory and were speaking of

his death, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

It seems the way the story is written is that Moses and Elijah,

as they're talking to Jesus...

It seems to me they understand what has gone on in the intervening years.

They understand what moment in history they're in at the time they're talking.

They understand what's just about to happen over the next few months,

right? They understand the plot line of the whole story, don't they?

Well, how did they understand the plot line of the whole story? I think this is how.

I think Moses and Elijah had already talked about this in heaven before this moment.

So, one thing that is for sure, this appearance would have communicated to Peter,

James, and John that people continue to exist after they die.

Okay, what is another thing that Peter, John, and James would have known upon

seeing this conversation? This is the second thing I wrote down.

The Old Testament stories are true.

The Old Testament characters are real, right?

Like, I don't know what kind of doubts that Peter, John, and James might have

had before they met Jesus.

I don't know if they ever wondered, are these stories real? But they would have heard them, right?

Their moms would have told them about Moses and the parting of the Red Sea.

Like there's a whole bunch of Old Testament stories they would have known.

And Jonah with the whale and Joshua and Jericho, like they would have heard these stories.

Was there ever a time that they wondered like, is all this real?

This was so long ago, there's no way to prove it. Like, was there really a Moses?

Or did Israel sort of just need a cool origin story and they made up the legend

of Moses? Or was there really a Moses?

I don't know if those kinds of things cross their minds, but people nowadays

certainly wonder that, right?

People nowadays certainly go, are these stories real? Are these just legends?

Did people make this up or do these things happen?

And so I think when Moses and Elijah appeared in front of them,

these disciples would have immediately known, like, mom was right, right?

Like the stories they told us are true.

Okay, a third thing that I think Peter, James, and John would have learned,

and therefore we also learn, is that Jesus Christ is connected to the Old Testament.

Jesus Christ is chatting with and talking about the future plans that God has

for him with two of the most significant figures from the Old Testament.

So Jesus is connected to the Old Testament. Whatever religion Jesus represented,

it's the same as Moses and Elijah, isn't it?

Like the God that Jesus represented is the God of Moses and Elijah, right? Right?

So even though Jesus taught the disciples like new things, and he gave them

like new categories for seeing the world, I don't think this experience would

lead them to unhitch from the Old Testament.

Moses was the author of the law. Like Moses is credited in the New Testament

as the author of the law, meaning the first five books of the Old Testament,

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Those are sometimes, I think sometimes in the New Testament at least once that

I read. It's called the book of Moses, referring to the law.

Okay, so Moses is the author of the law.

Elijah is one of the most revered prophets in the Old Testament.

And sometimes people in the New Testament referred to the Old Testament writings,

as the law and the prophets.

Did you know that? Yeah, because it wasn't called the Old Testament back then.

It wasn't called the Old Testament until there was a New Testament. Did you know that?

It's kind of like World War I wasn't called World War I until World War II. Let that blow your mind.

Everyone that fought in World War I, they had no clue they were fighting in World War I.

Okay, so at the time period of the New Testament, they didn't call it the Old Testament.

There was no reason to call it that. But sometimes writings that are in the

Old Testament were referred to as the law and the prophets.

And here Jesus is speaking to Moses and Elijah.

And I think that Peter, James, and John would have seen a connection between

Jesus Christ and what he was doing and all that had come before in their sacred

books, in their holy books.

Okay, fourth thing that I think we learn is that God has a plan. He is not improvising.

God has a plan. He is not improvising. Where do you get that from?

Well, they were speaking of his death, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Okay, that word that's translated death is interesting because it is not the normal word for death.

It is the Greek word for Exodus, like the book of Exodus in the Old Testament.

Okay, so they were speaking of his Exodus.

There are quite a number of Bibles that translate that word departure.

They say they appeared in glory and they were speaking of his departure,

which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

I suppose HCSB went with death because they know that's what happened when he

was in Jerusalem. But departure is actually probably a more specific word.

But this is a reference to, they showed up, they're talking to Jesus about what?

Well, right around the corner, this whole thing comes to a head.

Right around the corner, Jesus is going to die on the cross for the sins of the world.

He's going to rise again and conquer death. He's going to ascend.

Like salvation is going to get enacted.

And they were talking about it before it happened.

They're talking to him about it. And they talk about his departure,

which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Had not happened yet. But they show up and they say, Jesus, this is what's right

around the corner. This is the thing that's going to happen in the future.

And so I just want you to realize God plans things ahead of time and then enacts

them when the time comes.

And that idea is not unique to this verse, okay?

There are times in the Bible where God says about things that are going to happen

and he talks specifically about particular things that are going to happen and

even includes not only details of what's going to happen,

but even talks about the decisions that other people are going to make and how

he's going to react to those decisions when they happen.

So not only does God say this is what's going to happen ahead of time,

but I guess I'm trying to be clear here.

It's not simply that God says this is what I'm going to do ahead of time.

Like this is my plan of what I'm going to do when the time comes.

He even talks about what other people are going to do. He even talks about what

other people are going to do before they even exist.

So if you look at Genesis 15, I'm not going to turn there, but for homework

today, you can go, you can read Genesis 15 if you want to see if I'm telling the truth here.

But this is kind of a paraphrase of Genesis 15. God shows up to Abraham and

he makes a very specific prediction. He says, this is what's going to happen.

You're going to have a bunch of, there's going to be a bunch of people that

come from you, many, many descendants. It's going to become a nation.

Like there will be a nation that comes from you. And this nation is going to

get captured by another nation. They're gonna live in another land, not their own.

And the people in that nation are going to mistreat your descendants.

They're going to enslave them. They're going to oppress them.

And then I'm gonna punish them for the slavery that they put your people through,

okay? Now, I just want you to think this through.

God is saying, I'm gonna punish people for what they do.

And the people that he's talking about don't even exist at the time that God is saying it, right?

He says, this is gonna happen for 400 years. He said, your people are going

to get captured. They're going to be enslaved for 400 years.

And then at the end of the 400 years, I'm going to punish them for oppressing

your people. And I'm going to bring them out of there.

And I'm going to take them to this other piece of land that I am promising you.

And there are going to be people in that land and they're also bad. Okay?

And I'm going to punish them and kick them out too. I'm going to harm all those

people. But they're not bad enough for me to do it to them yet.

You can look it up. He says, their iniquity has not reached its fullness.

So there's some land right now and the people are bad. but they're not as bad

as I'm going to let them get.

I'm going to let them get really bad, and then I'm going to punish them.

And he says all of this 400 years before any of it happens.

Why? Because God plans things ahead of time, and then he enacts them.

Now, the Bible does describe God as someone who does respond to the things that we do in real time.

There are times where the Bible says, like, if you do this, I'll do this.

And if you do this, I'll do this. And if you repent, I will do this.

And if you do not repent, I'll do this.

God is described in the Bible as someone who is responding to,

it's not like he's like, well, this is all just happening.

He's involved in his creation and responding to things that are happening in real time.

But it seems to me the God of the Bible is never surprised by what's happening.

Okay. Number five, fifth thing that we learned from this story is that Jesus

is greater than Moses and Elijah.

Why do you say Jesus is greater than Moses and Elijah? Well,

I've read the rest of the Bible and I'm aware of it because this is not the

only passage that says it.

Jesus is greater than Moses and Elijah. But I think you could probably figure

it out. I think Peter, James, and John could probably have figured it out that

day if they were paying attention.

Because there's Moses and there's Elijah and they're talking and then a voice

comes from the cloud. And what does it say? Let's look at verse 35.

Then a voice came from the cloud saying, this is my son, the chosen one, listen to him.

He doesn't say, these are my chosen ones, talking about all three of them.

They're not all called his son, right? He doesn't say, listen to them.

So there's three guys there. And then there's three other guys there,

right? Peter, James, John, right?

And so think about this from the disciples' perspective. You wake up,

two of the heavyweights of the Jewish faith are there in front of you.

And then God says, very similar to what he said at his baptism,

this is my son, listen to him.

He doesn't say Elijah is his son. He doesn't say, listen to Moses.

He says, Jesus is my son, listen to him. And then suddenly no one's there but Jesus.

What would that communicate to you?

Jesus is greater than Moses and Elijah. So that's our story.

And if you're wondering, well, how does this apply to my life?

Like Mario, that was, you know, that was some good doctrine,

but what does that have to do with the way that I live? Well,

this is what I think you should do.

I think you should take the five things that I said and just like apply them to your life.

Okay. Let me just give you some examples. Here's an idea. Number one, don't be a materialist.

Understand that the spiritual is real.

Here's another one. Trust in the Old Testament. Don't unhitch from it, right?

Yes, there are civil and ceremonial laws that are in the Old Testament that

were meant for ancient Israel, and they don't apply to you.

And that is good for you to know, that there are commands in there about this

is the way that the sheep is to be slaughtered at Passover, and this is the

way the sacrifice is to be done, and this is how you handle your crops,

and this is what you do with the fabrics and this is how you go up to the priest

and this is the way the priest is gonna purify himself before the festival.

Like there are civil and ceremonial laws in the Old Testament meant for ancient

Israel that do not apply to you.

But do not jettison all that is revealed about God in the Old Testament.

The creator of the world in Genesis is the son of God in Colossians.

All right, here's another way this applies to you. Understand and trust that

God has a plan and that he enacts his plan.

And in this particular passage, the plan that he was planning and enacting was the gospel.

They appeared in glory and were speaking of his death, which he was about to

accomplish in Jerusalem.

The plan that God had set up ahead of time is for Jesus' death and his resurrection

and the salvation of the world.

And so we can trust in that plan.

We can honestly rest in that plan.

And then lastly jesus is greater than moses and elijah he's the son of god the

chosen one so how do you apply that to your life you listen to him like that's

what god said to do in this case he said listen to him you listen to him above

all else thank you for listening let's pray.

God, what a wild passage.

I just didn't even, I don't know, I just wasn't even remembered that you would

send Moses and Elijah to be a part of a New Testament story and that Peter and

John would have seen things that would have taught them or reminded them or confirmed for them.

There's a whole nother world out there that they ordinarily can't see and we

need to know there's a world out there we cannot ordinarily see.

They would be able to see the connections between the stuff their dad taught

them when they were little kids,

and stuff that was happening with Jesus Christ right in front of them.

If they were listening closely, they'd realize there was a plan.

In fact, even if they were listening at this point, I think there were at least

three other times where Jesus talked about what he was about to do before it happened.

And pray that you would help us to, that we would treat you as the one who plans

and unfolds and enacts all of history and that we trust you.

And thank you that we know enough of your plan that we can know like you are

out for our good and not for our harm.

And so we can rest in the good news of the gospel.

And I pray for all of us who are aware that you are greater than Moses and greater

than Elijah and greater than everything, Jesus, that we would listen to you,

and you would be the number one priority, the Lord of our life.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Let me end with these good words from God's word. They appeared in glory and

were speaking of his death, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. That is good news.