Matthew Pt. 63

All right, you can turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 17.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

We got interrupted. I mean, every week we get

interrupted because a lot of times we talk about how the

moment is continuing. Here the idea continues, but you

know, I have to stop at some point.

So last week, of course, I missed, but six days have gone

by since the last thing that happened.

So as you look back through chapter 16, what happened there?

The Pharisees and the Sadducees, they're demanding signs and

Jesus rebukes them. He says, look, you're asking for

a sign from heaven, which ironically enough had already

been given. The God the Father has literally

spoken out loud from heaven at Jesus baptism.

He literally changed the stars in the sky to announce Jesus

birth. So everything they're asking for

has actually been provided. But Jesus saying I'm not going

to give you what you're demanding in this moment.

They're saying do a trick and prove something to us.

Jesus says you're going to get the sign of Jonah.

I'm going to go down into the grave and I'm going to come back

out again. Then he continues and he warns

his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and the

Sadducees to make sure that they're not being, that they're

not being infected, frankly, by a little bit.

A little bit of infection goes a long way, unfortunately.

And then we continue. Jesus is with his disciples.

He's teaching them, he or he's asking them, who do people say

that I am? And Peter makes that profound

revelation. He has that profound revelation

from the Father which leads to a confession, which is what saves

us. It's the revelation that the

Holy Spirit brings to us and then the confession with our

mouths we make unto salvation. And Peter says you're the

Christ, you're the Son of the living God.

Jesus says this has been revealed to you by my Father in

heaven. Jesus says the gates of hell

will not prevail against his church.

And from that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that

he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, that he

should be killed and be raised from the dead.

Peter rebukes him, He calls Peter Satan, tells him to get

his mind on the things of the Lord.

And then Jesus gives one of his many, one of the many times he

does this, makes it plain and tells people, what does it mean

to follow Jesus? It is a bit different from the

version that some of us have heard.

This is where he says, if you don't follow me and take up your

cross to follow me, he says, you just heard me say I'm going to

go die. Let me extend the let me extend

this for all of you. You have to take up your cross

too. If you want to be my disciple,

you have to do what I'm going to do.

So it's one thing to say, hey, I'm the leader.

Watch this. It's another thing to say, you

can't be my follower unless you're going to be like me.

High expectations, high standards.

And then he finishes in verse 28 there and says, truly, I say to

you, there are some standing here who will not taste death

until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.

Six days later. That moment is fulfilled and

this is where we come now to chapter 17.

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his

brother, and LED them up on a high mountain by themselves.

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like

the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking

with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord,

it's good that we are here. If you wish, I'll make 3 tents

here, one for you and one for Moses, and 1:00 for Elijah.

He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud

overshadowed them. And a voice from the cloud said,

This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him. When the disciples heard this,

they fell on their faces and were terrified.

But Jesus came and touched them, saying, rise and have No Fear.

And when they lifted their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them,

Tell no one the vision until the Son of man is raised from the

dead. And the disciples asked him,

Then why did the scribe say that first Elijah must come?

He answered, Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.

But I tell you that Elijah has already come.

And they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever

they pleased. So also the Son of Man will

certainly suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood

that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

God, we pray that You would give us fresh eyes to see and receive

and be amazed, to be just, to marvel at the glory of Jesus, to

marvel at your power. God, I pray that you would give

us revelation, not just of the mountaintop that day, but what

it means for us still today to marvel, to understand and see

more and more of who Jesus is. That's our desire, that's our

expectation, and we thank you for it.

Now, in Jesus name, Amen. What a crazy passage of

scripture. You know, if you've been around

the Bible for a while, you've read this and you've heard this,

but this is nuts if you'll just be honest for a second and go

compared to their day-to-day interactions that they were used

to. I mean, the miracles themselves

are nuts. It's already crazy stuff going

on. Hey, Jesus takes us up on the

mountain. Jesus is going to pray and now

Jesus face shines like the sun. His clothes are as bright as

light. OK, Moses and Elijah are

suddenly here on the mountaintop.

God the Father is speaking. We're being covered by a bright

cloud. This is all, these are all

things that are being fulfilled that we all saw in the Old

Testament. Remember, Moses goes up on the

mountaintop. The cloud comes down over him.

His face shines. But remember, everything in

Scripture comes through the filter of Jesus.

Jesus is perfect theology. So we don't look to Moses and to

Elijah. Look at y'all.

You already got me way ahead in the sermon here where we don't

look to Moses and Elijah and then see Jesus and go, oh, it's

kind of like Moses. No, no, that's not what's

happening. Moses and Elijah were always

types and shadows of what's to come.

Everything gets measured by Jesus from the past and from the

future. He is the central figure of

everything. So just because he sent Moses

first, or he sent Elijah, or he sent others 1st and we go, oh, I

kind of see how Jesus is kind of like that Old Testament thing.

No, the only reason the Lord did that Old Testament thing to

begin with was to preach Jesus. Everything's about Jesus, the

whole Bible is about Jesus. Everything's held together by

Jesus. Jesus is central, Jesus is

supreme, and it pleases the Father to make it that way.

So this is what's going on. So remember Matthew, who wrote

this, who wrote this book? He wrote it.

His audience was to the Jews. That was his audience.

And remember the the chapter designations that we see here,

We added those things later. So Matthew didn't write chapter

16. He didn't write chapter 17.

So his ideas just continued to flow there.

So he hasn't made these designations and nothing that he

writes is being lost, especially on his Jewish readers.

As Moses and Elijah show up on the mountaintop, the Jewish

readers are having to understand things and they do very clearly

with what's going on and what the Lord chose to do and how he

chose to reveal everything. So this experience that these

three disciples are about to have with Jesus is like, I've

told you what I believe. He was what Jesus was

referencing when he was saying some of you won't even taste

death before you see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.

The phrase coming in His Kingdom gives me the image and gives me

the idea of His second coming to rule the earth.

And that's how many have read that and thought about that.

But with the advantage of hindsight, we can obviously see

that that's not what He meant. We can obviously see that's not

what He intended because they did taste death.

They all did. They all died, all, all of the

apostles died and specifically even, you know, even the three

were up on the mountain that day.

So what was he saying? He's saying they're going to see

my glory. Some of you are going to see the

fullness of my majesty. Why hadn't they seen it?

Well, because Jesus is wearing a veil, a human body, and somehow,

someway, through the miracle of God, he has hidden those things.

He has set those things aside so that we can participate with

him, so that we can experience him and so that he can

experience life as a man. There's a mystery there.

We haven't fully decoded it, but we know it's true and we know

it's good. So after six days, Jesus took

with him Peter, James and John, his brother, and LED them up on

a high mountain by themselves. There's a lot we could say.

They're out. The the nugget that I'll give

you, of course, is that Peter, James and John are are pulled in

for more intimate moments at times.

Also, Scripture talks heavily and constantly about the need

for two or three witnesses to confirm a thing.

So Jesus is mindful about everything that's going to

happen and the testimonies that are going to take place.

Then in verse 2, and he was transfigured before them and his

face shone like the sun and his clothes became white is light.

He was transfigured right in front of them.

Jesus is up there to pray. So other gospel accounts tell us

about what happened on the mountain that day.

So we have some other contacts. He went up, He was praying, and

then he was transfigured in front of them.

The word transfigured refers to a complete and glorious

transformation. Peter, James and John witnessed

something that they did not expect when they woke up that

morning and it's something that they will never ever forget.

John writes about this in his gospel.

So the Gospel of John and John chapter 1, John one verse 14,

John 1 · chapter mention

John wrote, we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and

only. Peter will later write about

this event to the church in first Peter chapter 1, verses 16

1 Peter 1:16–18

through 18. Peter says this.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known

to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What a great point. What a great argument, as people

still make that argument. Christianity is a cleverly

devised myth. Peter's going, hey, just so you

know, I'm not willing to be crucified upside down for a

myth. I'm not willing to be crucified

upside down for a lie. None of the apostles were going,

hey, Jesus died. Bummer.

He didn't. He wasn't raised from the dead.

Tell you what, guys, let's play the world's biggest prank on the

world and let's all take it to our to our torturous deaths.

Let's let's do it. Who's who's with me?

No, no, who's with me? Everyone was with them.

Everybody was all in on it. Why?

Because it's the truth, Because it's the reality.

It's why they wouldn't deny because like, I've seen him.

It's too late for me. I've seen him.

I walked with him. I was on the mountain that day

when he was transformed before my very eyes.

We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known

to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me make another point. I know you want me to finish

that passage. We'll get there eventually.

The whole Bible is awesome. The whole Bible is perfect, and

everything in the Bible keeps pointing to Jesus.

No man could have done it. I mean, don't you see how week

after week how I show you things?

I didn't put them in there. I'm not wrestling.

I'm not shoehorning anyone. It's kind of like it's there

because the Bible is that awesome.

Because the Holy Spirit inspired all Scripture.

So this isn't cleverly devised myths.

Man couldn't have done it, and man wouldn't have done it.

Why? How do we know?

Because everything man builds makes man the hero.

That's why every world religion except for one somehow makes you

the hero. You accomplish the work.

You Pierce the bubble of the universe like Siddhartha Buddha

supposedly did. You are the one who keeps the

five pillars of Islam. You are the one who does good

enough things to be reincarnated to eventually achieve Nirvana.

You did it, you earned it. Good job.

That's what man made. Religion always creates the

gospel, crushes the human ego and says you can't, you don't

actually. You deserve death and punishment

forever, and eternity won't be enough punishment for what you

actually deserve. But it's all we can do.

Eternity is the only option. But God, who is rich in mercy,

God is the hero, God is the savior.

So everything he does, his Old Testament connections to the New

Testament connections, his sovereignty, his grace.

To call it clever would be an understatement.

It's brilliant, it's majesty, it's divine.

These are not cleverly devised myths.

We did not follow cleverly devised myths.

Peter writing later in First Peter about the Transfiguration.

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, 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. Peter saying, guys, don't

forget, this is not some cleverly put together story.

I was there on the mountain that day.

I ran my mouth as I've, as I've tended to do.

That's me, Peter, and the Father said, you shut up.

This is my son and he's greater than Moses and Elijah.

Peter says I was there and I won't forget it.

I saw the glory of Jesus, the eternal glory of Jesus, which

had been hidden from them. I saw it for moments, for

minutes. We don't know for how long, but

it marked these men and they wouldn't forget it.

What was the Transfiguration? It was a display of the majesty

of Jesus. It was a revelation of the

divinity of Jesus. It was a moment for him to

receive honour and glory from God the Father.

It revealed his authority over Moses and the prophets, and it

prepared him for his journey to the cross.

Those are the things and those are the purposes of the

transfiguration. I'm going to tell you that

again, what was the transfiguration?

It was the display of the majesty of Jesus.

It was a revelation of the divinity of Jesus.

It was a moment for Him to receive honor and glory from God

the Father. It revealed His authority over

Moses and the prophets, and it prepared him for his journey to

the cross. It continued to provide and

prepare Him for strength for the cross.

His face is shining like the sun.

His clothes are as white as light.

Peter, James and John are getting a glimpse of the eternal

glory of Jesus that He has set aside or that He is hidden when

He became man. It's important to understand

Jesus is not putting on some new glory in this moment.

There's not some new thing coming upon Christ in this

moment. This is his natural state, and

they're seeing him take off the mask for only a moment.

This is who Jesus is. It's not whoa, look, he got like

a power boost or something. Nope, this is him all the time.

There's a veil on him, though, just like Moses when he came

down off the mountain and his face was glowing because he had

been talking with God and the people of Israel want this is

too much for us. So Moses wears a veil just for

the comfort of the people because they were terrified of

God and they were terrified of Moses.

So Moses wears a veil and he only takes off the veil to go be

into the presence of God again. Oh, this is kind of like that.

Nope. That was prophecy of the greater

that's coming. Jesus fulfills the law.

Jesus fulfills the prophets. So He's fulfilling everything in

perfect righteousness. They've been seeing the mask and

now they see the real thing. They're seeing the face of God

in the glory of Jesus. So I told you back in verse 21

of chapter 16, remember where Jesus?

It says from that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that

he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the

elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the

third day be raised. Remember how I told you we

shifted gears? We're in the last chapter of

Jesus's story. At this point.

You think, man, we got a lot of chapters left.

Yeah, but that's because we slow down and we get into so much

detail. Now we're in the final chapter.

We saw early life, we saw early ministry.

We're very likely in the last six months, very, very likely.

You could argue for even shorter, But we're in the last

six months with all the chapters that we have left in Matthew,

and we're going to start to slow down and we're going to get day

by day when we get into Jerusalem.

And it's just, it's the awesome culmination.

But this was the moment where it all shifts.

And Jesus says from now on his start, he starts telling them

over and over, here's what's going to happen.

He's shifting gears to finish his mission.

So what happens right after he's shifted gears to finish his

mission? Mission.

The Father comes to bless the Son.

The Father comes to encourage the Son, to strengthen the Son,

to show his delight in him and to sustain him for what's

coming. Fathers, there's a lesson for us

here, an important application that earthly fathers should make

for us, for ourselves. We must do the same thing for

our own children. Do not withhold your love and

Your praise from Your children. They need this to fulfill their

purpose. Do not exasperate your children.

Do not discourage them with harshness.

Give them your delight freely, even while you discipline

wisely, calmly, and firmly. The Father God does it for Jesus

to publicly praise and to bless His own Son.

Us earthly fathers need to learn that same lesson.

How great an impact might this have had on Jesus and been just

more wind in His sails as he soldiers forward to be the

suffering servant that he was sent to be.

At his baptism and at the beginning of his ministry, the

Father said out loud so that people heard it.

This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

And now again, as Jesus enters the final chapter of his

ministry, the Father comes again and says, this is my son with

whom I'm well pleased. Listen to him.

This has to bless Jesus. How do we know that?

Because Jesus has said before his only priority, his only

desire is to please the Father. The disciples came to him once

said, Hey Lord, you want you want something to eat.

And Jesus goes, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and

to accomplish his work. Jesus said, that's my

sustenance. That's what fuels me up.

And then sure, yes, Jesus also ate food, but he was saying the

most important thing for me is to please the Father.

Another time Jesus said, and he who sent me is with me.

He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are

pleasing to him. So Jesus wants to please the

Father. That's his whole purpose.

It's what he even prays in the garden.

Again, not my will, he's saying, not, not what I would feel in my

flesh that I would want to do to escape this torment.

But your will be done, Father. If it's possible, let this cup

pass from me. But I want to please you more

than anything else. Keep going here in verse 3.

And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking

with him. This is something else entirely.

Not only do we see Jesus in his glory, it's just weird.

Now Moses and Elijah are here. I'll say it, it's weird.

Jesus alone being transformed and transfigured is incredible

and magnificent. That would have been enough.

But now, like, where did these two come from?

And not only that, why Moses, Why Elijah, why not Abraham, why

not David? Why not pick your patriarch?

Why not somebody else to come to come speak with the Lord?

The reason that it's Moses, the reason that it's Elijah, is

because Moses represents the law that God gave in the Old

Testament. Moses in the Jewish mind is the

law. They even referred to it as the

Law of Moses. Now, it's not the law of Moses,

it's the law of God, but it was often referred to as the law of

Moses. And Elijah was the greatest

prophet, and Elijah represents the prophets.

So what's happening here? Why Moses?

Why Elijah? Because the law and the prophets

are represented right here. The law and the prophets are

embodied right here on the mountaintop.

Remember the Jewish reader, Moses and Elijah are there.

I mean, we should be excited about Moses and Elijah too, not

just the Jews. Moses is awesome.

Elijah is awesome, actually. Truly, truly great men of God.

They represent the law, They represent the prophets.

So here we have the ultimate authority in the Jewish mind

though the law and the prophets. And now again, the the Jewish

readers aren't missing any of this at all.

That's why it's so awesome what the Father does next.

Why Moses? Why Elijah?

Because Jesus fulfills the law and Jesus fulfills the prophets.

They, they would always hold up and always look back, but the

Father is going to continue to shift their perspective here.

Now what else? We'll, we'll come back to that.

What did they talk about? It says they were talking

together, Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus.

What a privilege for those two. Luke 931 tells us, because Luke

gives the account as well and tells more detail what was going

on. It says they and they spoke of

his departure, which he was about to accomplish at

Jerusalem. That's what they talked about.

Moses and Elijah have come to talk with Jesus and they spoke

about his departure, which he was about to accomplish at

Jerusalem. His departure has multiple

meanings. One of the meanings is his

death, His departure, which he was about to accomplish.

Accomplish is not really the word you and I use when we talk

about us passing on. It's just something that's it's

necessary, but it's not welcome. But Jesus is going to

accomplish. When he dies, He'll accomplish

it. Why?

Because nobody takes his life from him.

He makes that clear. Nobody takes this from me.

I lay it down. That's my accomplishment, and I

will take it back up again. Jesus accomplishes his own

death. You and you and me, we're just

going to die. I'm not going to accomplish my

death. Jesus accomplishes his death.

His departure, though, has multiple meanings.

The word departure means exodus. Again, God's perfect, He's

brilliant. His departure is his death.

But there's more to the exodus of Jesus.

Moses LED an exodus, but the greater Moses was here now to

finish the job in the hearts of men.

Moses only led the people out of Egypt, but Moses could not get

the Egypt out of the people. That was the problem.

When they left Egypt, they still had Egypt inside of them.

They're still worshipping a cow made of gold with their own

hands, and they're saying this is our great God who has

delivered us. Egypt was still deeply inside of

them. Moses couldn't get it out.

Jesus can. Jesus can get into my heart and

get out all the idolatry and all the filth and all the sin.

Moses couldn't do that, but the greater Moses can.

Moses face shined on the mountain because he talked to

God. Jesus's face is shining because

he is God. The King has come to finish the

work, the final sacrifice has come, and the Lamb of God will

take away the sin of the world. That is what they're talking

about, Jesus accomplishing his mission and fulfilling the law

and fulfilling the prophets. The law is great and it points

to the greater One who fulfills it.

The prophets are great, but their prophecies point to the

One, the perfect prophet, the perfect priest, and the perfect

king in verse four. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord,

it is good that we are here. If you wish, I'll make 3 tents

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

He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud

overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my

beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him. Luke tells us in his account.

He says Peter, who didn't know what he was saying.

It's almost like Peter just kind of it got away from him before

he could even stop himself. And he wants to prolong this

occasion as much as possible, which is likely what's going on

here. We don't fully know Peter's

motive, but we know what he wanted to do.

He probably wanted to build like a Tabernacle when they would do

their their feast and they would build like their you would get

sticks and you would get leaves and you would stay outside.

And Peter's probably say, hey, let me, let me build a shelter.

Like I want this to last. I want this to go on and on and

on. Is Peter enjoying the glory of

Jesus or is Peter excited about Moses and Elijah?

It's Moses and Elijah. I got to keep them here as long

as possible. But look at what the father does

next. He makes things very clear and

he's he interrupts script. The scripture says he interrupts

Peter. So Peter's going, hey, I was

thinking if maybe. And the father comes in in the

cloud and speaks and he's essentially saying you've got

the law of Moses and you've got the prophets, prophets through

Elijah. But I want you to know that

someone greater than them is with you.

Now. This is my son.

Listen to him. Moses, Elijah, Jesus.

Listen to him. This is the the shift in the

hierarchy for some. And they're thinking and they're

going well, yeah, you got Moses, you got Elijah, you got Jesus

again, What? What every world religion does,

by the way, to Jesus, they want to make him.

Oh, yeah, He's another great option out there.

You know, you got this guy who died and wasn't raised from the

dead. You got this guy, also dead,

also not raised. You got this guy, also dead,

also not raised. And then they pretend that Jesus

is somehow equal. He's not.

He's not. And actually, he's got nothing

to do with false religions and demonic religions that have been

created by Satan and his tools. But Jesus does come to fulfill

what Moses has started and what Elijah has started.

And the Father emphasizes this point.

This is why it's so awesome to have the law and the prophets.

And then the Father says, hey, hey, hey, don't get distracted

and don't misunderstand. Listen to him.

The law and the prophets give way to the one who sent them.

The law and the prophets are not irrelevant.

I need to say that to you, Church.

I don't want to overstate the case.

And you go, Yep, I don't need my Old Testament anymore.

That's a lie. And that is a that is a very

false claim. You need your whole Bible.

Why? Because the whole Bible is about

Jesus and the whole Bible brings you more light and revelation on

Jesus. So your whole Bible is good.

Every single command in the old old covenant does not apply to

you any longer. Many still do the 10

commandments. They still apply to you.

Jewish dietary law does not. I'm not going to break down all

the details of how we make those distinctions, but the point is

the whole Bible is good. The whole Bible is useful and

profitable for you and I still today, but they are to be

viewed. Everything in Scripture is to be

viewed from the future and from the past.

It's to come through the through the lens of Jesus.

That's how you read Moses, through the lens of Christ,

that's how you read the prophets.

Through the lens of Christ. That's how you read the

revelation through the lens of Christ.

Everything filters through Jesus.

It's why time itself and the calendar is built off of Him.

It counted up to Him and now it's counted from Him.

He is the central figure for everything.

Whether or not man, when they were messing with the calendar,

understood that and God's sovereignty, He accomplished

that. Jesus has been teaching them.

But the Father brings another testimony, so Jesus doesn't

testify about himself. Moses testified of Jesus in his

writings. Elijah testified of Jesus in his

ministry. But now they are sent in person

to testify. But their testimony is

overshadowed by the testimony of the Father himself, which is the

only testimony that matters to Jesus.

And he makes that plain whenever he's praying later before his

crucify a couple days before the crucifixion, and he's praying

and he says, Father, glorify your name.

And the Father speaks out loud in front of this whole crowd and

says I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.

How? Through you, son, through his

own son. And everybody goes, everybody

hears it. And the cynics do what cynics

do. You know what they said it

thundered. That was that was Thunder.

What are they? Who are they trying to convince

themselves for the fear of God? The right response is God,

forgive me and let me be humbled before you.

But the hard heart goes, That was Thunder as it wets itself in

fear for what it knows it really was Jesus.

But Jesus after the Father spoke, Jesus didn't go.

That's right. Look at me.

Jesus said that voice was not for me, That was for you.

I didn't need that. I'm with the Father and I'm one

with the Father. That was for you.

It will be for your salvation or for your condemnation.

You'll get to pick. So the only testimony that

matters to Jesus is not the testimony of Moses or the

testimony of Elijah. Jesus going hear what Moses said

about me, like he sent Moses to say it about him.

He sent Elijah to say it about him.

Their obedience is is good and wholesome.

It's right and it's commendable. Godly men, awesome men, but

still, who are they compared to Jesus?

The testimony of the Father now comes and that is the testimony

that matters most to Jesus. This is just another one of

those wide eyed moments for for the for the Jewish readers of

Matthew's Gospel. Go on.

Whoa. Like Matthew has made it plain

over and over and over, and Jesus has said things over and

over and over. Remember back in the Beatitudes,

what was he doing? You've heard it said the law and

the prophets. But I say, and he brings a

deeper revelation. Did he undo?

No, he didn't come to undo the law and the prophets.

He came to fulfill them. The problem is you don't

understand what the law and the prophets were talking about.

I am the lens that you can see the Old Testament perfectly

through. Everybody was reading the Old

Testament. They're going, this means this,

and this means this, and this means this.

It's all out of focus. You have to put on these glasses

called Jesus. And now you go, oh, that's what

it meant. Yeah, you misunderstood.

You were trying. Fair enough.

But it's only when you put on Christ.

So you go, oh, so that's why Jesus brings revelation and

clarity and detail. You thought it meant this.

You've heard it said this, but I say this.

He raised the standard of holiness.

He didn't make it less. People say, oh, the Old

Testament's a bunch of commands, but the New Testament, hang on,

don't finish that sentence. The New Testament has hundreds

and hundreds of commands. OK, now they're fulfilled and

simply loving God and loving your neighbor.

But there are many commands in the New Testament.

There are many commands to you and I as Christians don't.

Well, but we have a relationship, right?

Of course we do. Of course we do.

You have a Father who loves you. I love my children.

Do you think I have commands for them?

That's how they know that they're loved, because there are

many commands, there are many standards, there are many

fences, and there are many boundaries.

That's what a loving father does.

That's what any loving leader does.

I provide. I provide the protection and the

perimeter and I say, you can go this far and no farther.

But Jesus clarifies all of that. He says My love is deeper than

you ever thought. I'm better than you imagined,

and my standards are so much higher than you ever dare dream.

You will fail at all of them. Well, that's bad news.

And yet God, who is rich in mercy, will make you new and you

can also be transfigured. Your New Testament uses that

word in other places. Do you know where it uses it?

It uses it to describe the work of God inside of the people of

God. Keep going.

We're in verse 6 when the disciples heard this.

What the voice of the Father. When the disciples heard this,

they fell on their faces and were terrified.

What do we see here? The presence of the Lord

produces fearful reverence among His servants.

But their response was too much. How do we know?

Because verse 7. But Jesus came and touched them,

saying, rise and have No Fear. The presence of the Lord also

brings a comforting reassurance. We don't have to fear the

Father. Jesus wants to bring that

revelation fully. You don't have to fear the

Father in terror. Now, if you reject the Father,

of course you should. If you reject the Son, of course

you should. So there is a a fearful

reverence that's appropriate, but it can go too far.

And Jesus says get up and don't be afraid.

That's your father. I don't want you to be afraid of

him. In verse 9, as they were coming

down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, tell no one the

vision until the Son of man is raised from the dead.

So there's some speculation as to why Jesus said this.

I think that it's likely that he doesn't want anyone to have any

more misunderstandings. He knows that the three who are

just with him on the mountain top, they don't have full

revelation on what in the world just happened.

They know what happened technically, but they don't

understand what happened meaningfully.

So instead of running down to the others and saying here's

what we just saw, here's what just happened, here's what we

experienced, then they're going to apply their own meanings to

it. They already had

misunderstandings still about who he was as the Messiah and

what he was still going to do. Remember the Old Testament

readers, They were still reading the Messiah and going, He's

going to take over the world and Jesus going, I absolutely am

going to take over the world. Global domination is most

definitely going to happen, just not the way you think it's going

to happen. I'm going to take over the

hearts of men, the thing that no one else could ever take over.

So they don't understand that. So I think This is why.

I think that's likely why Jesus is doing this, because they're

wrong ideas and He wants to delay their misunderstandings.

Notice what He says here until don't tell anybody until the Son

of Man is raised from the dead. He tells them over and over and

over that he's going to die and be raised from the dead.

It's easy to just breeze past it, but this is new information

to them, even though it's prophesied in the law and the

prophets. It's there, but he's he's making

it clear crystal clarity after I'm raised from the dead.

Stop, stop, stop saying I wish he'd stopped talking about that

because it remember a few days earlier.

Peter was like no, Lord never. And this time he just sends

their silent like he keeps talking about being raised from

the dead. That means he's got to die.

He'll keep showing them over and over and over, which is

fascinating at their unbelief. When he finally goes to die and

they're not expecting the resurrection and even after the

resurrection, they're like, no way.

It's shocking. My ability to not believe God is

shocking to me is your shocking to you?

My ability to doubt him is fascinating.

It's wild. These jokers were on the

mountain and saw the glory and majesty of Jesus, and then the

women came and said he's been raised from the dead.

And they're like, I don't know what dude you were.

You've been a part of everything.

That's crazy. What's the problem?

The human heart is the problem. What a sticky, tricky, idol

producing little factory it is. Who can save us?

Only the King, only the Lord. Lord help us to believe.

Lord help us to trust. Help us to love after the Son of

Man is raised from the dead. Then you can share that

testimony. Keep going.

We're going to finish up here in verse 10 through 13.

And the disciples asked him, then why do the scribes say that

Elijah must first come? He answered, Elijah does come

and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has

already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him

whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will

certainly suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood

that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

So their question comes because they know their Bibles and they

know Malachi who was quoting Elijah.

So they know that Elijah is supposed to 1st come.

They've just seen Elijah. Jesus says, don't tell anybody.

Tom raised from the dead. And they've got this question.

They know Jesus is the Messiah. They've been rightly taught that

Elijah comes to prepare the way for the Messiah.

So was that Elijah's coming Lord?

Like what's when does Elijah come?

You're here now. When's he going to come and do

his thing? Jesus clarifies.

John the Baptist was the Elijah to come, not in the way that

they expected. Again, the Old Testament, you

read it and until you have Christ, you don't have the

perfect lens. You go, that verse has to

obviously mean that and you're like, well, you would think, but

Jesus is going to clarify everything.

So now with Christ, we have that 2020 vision to look at all of

Scripture and to know Jesus is perfect theology and every he is

the cornerstone that everything's built upon.

He is the factor that you interpret by John the Baptist

was the Elijah to come, not in the way they expected.

He wasn't literally Elijah. He dressed like Elijah.

He prophesied to a wicked generation like Elijah did.

He was bold like Elijah. He rebuked the wicked rulers

like Elijah did. He doubted himself like Elijah

did, but how did how did Elijah come?

He came or John came in the spirit and the mantle and the

anointing of Elijah. And that was the way that that

scripture was fulfilled. Well, how is that determined?

The Lord determines it. He he interprets his own

scripture and he fulfills the scripture and he goes, I didn't

think that's how that would have been interpreted.

And the Lord goes, yeah, there's a lot you didn't think and I'll

keep teaching you. I'll keep showing you my ways.

Transfigured, transformed. I told you a few minutes ago

that is the same word used to describe the work of God.

And you and I, as he continues to we, we actually get our word

metamorphosis from the root of these words.

This transformation. You were the Caterpillar, kind

of gross, kind of weird. You became the butterfly,

beautiful and majestic. This is the word used to

describe the work of God in you. What Jesus received, He gives to

you, and in being transformed by Him, we become like Him.

God makes our heart new. That is the miracle of the new

birth. I was dead and now I'm alive and

I still have this mind that must be renewed every day.

It must be renewed every day. It must be transfigured.

It must be transformed. My mind is the thing that gives

me trouble. My heart seeks and wants the

right thing. And then at the same time I have

this flesh that tempts me, that pulls me, that persuades me.

But the Lord is continuing to transform His people.

Our food and our life and our energy come from doing what He

likes. That is the pleasure, That is

the satisfaction of the Saints is to please their Master.

And the more we grow, the more love we develop, the more

fellowship we have, the more the transformation continues because

it is a progressive work. The sanctification, the holiness

of our lives, the maturity of our lives is a progressive work.

The salvation was the moment that the Holy Spirit guilt

brought you the revelation and you made the confession.

Salvation. You're secure and now being

secure being in this family, Now it's time to what?

Put off the old man and put on the new.

You're not broken as a Christian.

You're not unique as a Christian because you still have sin and

temptations. Read your New Testament, there's

a lot to it. Do you know why the New

Testament has so many books? It's because the church was

constantly being corrected for sin.

He wasn't saying, hey, you guys are all saved and perfect.

See in heaven, you know, just wanted to say, hey, the whole

letters were let's correct this, let's correct this, let's

correct this. Don't be conformed to this

world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.

Be transfigured, be renewed, be refreshed.

Keep looking at Jesus, look at His Majesty, look at his glory.

And as you do that, you're going to want to be more like him.

God, we pray that you will continue to reveal Jesus to us,

help us to see him and to enjoy him.

Holy Spirit, continue. We you've already been sent as

the down payment, as the deposit, as the seal.

We have been sealed by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

It's a guarantee that we've been saved by the blood of Jesus

through his cross, through his gospel.

And still, Lord, we want growth and maturity.

We don't want to stay in one place.

We want to look more and more like him.

Transfigure us, Lord, renew our minds, mature us.

Let us be marked by growth. Let us be marked by repentance.

Let us be marked by forward progress.

We love you. We honor you.

Jesus, Peter, James and John, they got to see with their own

eyes. You said blessed are those who

have not seen and still believe. We believe.

We trust our eternity and our Sunday afternoon into your

hands. Apart from you we can do

nothing. You are the vine and we're the

branches. God, we love you.

Bless your people today. Lord, bless them with the

sweetness of your presence and your fellowship.

Jesus, I pray that you would touch them, You would cause them

not to be afraid, that they would receive full cleansing,

that they would receive full peace, that they would receive

full love from you and from one another.

Help us to love and to care for one another, to bear one

another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.