The Transfiguration of Christ (Sermon)

The Setting of the Transfiguration in Matthew 16–17

If you would, follow along in Matthew chapter 16, verse 28, through chapter 17, 1 through 9. Good morning!

We're in Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 28. Assuredly I say unto you, There are some standing here who shall not taste death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them.

His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here.

If you wish, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. But while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Hear him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, do not be afraid. When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. May God add his blessing to the reading of his word. Thank you.

Why the Transfiguration Reveals Christ's Royal Splendor

Thank you, Mark. So you're already in Matthew chapter 17. Let's stay there, and we're going to be looking at this passage again. This is the event known as the Transfiguration. So that's the title of the message, the Transfiguration of Christ.

We looked at this passage briefly a few weeks ago, but it's worth a second look, because really this is one of the most significant and most amazing of all the miraculous events in Christ's ministry. This is very unique.

It's very significant. And I think it's clear looking at the passage, Peter, based on his response, he didn't really realize the significance of it. So we want to realize what it is. And any time we're looking at a passage in the Bible, we should sort of ask ourselves the question, you know, what's the point?

What's the purpose of this? What's the takeaway? What is meant? So let's try to figure that out. Matthew 17 begins in verse 1. Now, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

Okay, so six days after. Well, you have to ask, six days after what? So that's where we need to go back to chapter 16 and look at verse 28. Jesus made this statement. You could say he made a promise to at least some of the disciples.

He said, Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. So yes, well, when did that happen? Well, it's happening here in chapter 17.

So Jesus, in chapter 16, tells his disciples that I must go to Jerusalem. I must suffer at the hands of the chief priests. I must be killed. And you remember that they balked at this. Peter told Jesus, No, that will never happen to you.

And that's when Jesus said, Take up your cross, follow me. So they knew that there were going to be difficult days ahead. And part of this, I think, is Jesus wants to strengthen his top disciples to face the coming trials.

So he says here in verse 28, Assuredly, I say to you, some standing here will not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. I know we typically think of the kingdom as a future event.

You know, when Jesus comes back at the second advent, he's going to set up his kingdom here on earth. And that's true. The kingdom, for the most part, is a future event. So what's Jesus talking about here if they saw the kingdom, so to speak, 2 ,000 years ago?

Well, the term kingdom in the Greek, it basically means royal splendor. It could be translated. Jesus is saying, Some of you, some of you will see me come in my royal splendor or my royal glory, and they will see Jesus for who he really was, Lord of lords, king of kings.

You can imagine back then when Jesus came into town, there was all this talk and buzz about him, how he was a great prophet, maybe the Messiah even. But what people saw, what did they see? They saw a man, didn't they?

You wouldn't have known by looking at Jesus that he was God incarnate. Nobody could have known that simply by looking at him. But what the disciples see here on the Mount of Transfiguration, they do see Jesus in his divinity.

They see him for who he really is. So the some that Jesus refers to in Matthew 16, 28, the some who are standing there is clearly a reference to Peter, James, and John. And they probably got to see this royal splendor a lot sooner than they thought, just six days.

So Jesus takes his three closest disciples, I said his top disciples, and I say that because they sort of make up his inner circle. They're mentioned more than any of the others. It seems that Jesus was closer to them than the others.

He takes them up on what? What does it say? A mountain? Is that what it says? Who has their Bible open? Okay, who's got a Bible? Who's got it open? What does it say? A high mountain. It doesn't say a mountain.

It says a high mountain. And these details do matter. So one of the reasons I ask that, because some people today want to know what mountain this is. A lot of people take trips to the Holy Land, and they want to visit these biblical sites.

They want to see where Jesus was laid in the tomb. And, of course, there's a place you can go and look at the tomb where Jesus laid. Was Jesus really put in that tomb? Well, we don't know. There's a place where they think that's Golgotha.

That's where Jesus was crucified. So you can go to Israel today and see that spot. Of course, these are tourist attractions now. Do we really know that's the spot? Well, you don't really know that. So some people have tried to figure out, where is this mountain?

I mean, this is one of the questions, and I hope you do this. I hope you read the Bible during the week. This is how we grow. This is how we learn. You read the Bible during the week, and you ask yourself questions, and you try to answer them.

So if Jesus takes his disciples up on this high mountain, a basic question should be, what mountain is it? And you could search the other Gospels and try to find out. Well, I'll just save you some of the work if you haven't done that.

The Bible doesn't tell us what mountain it is. One tradition says it's Mount Tabor, and that's because today if you go to Israel, on top of Mount Tabor, there is a church on top of the hill known as the Church of the Transfiguration.

So at least with the Roman Catholic Church, that's one of their monasteries, they believe that's the site, and there's a Catholic church located on top of it. There's also a Greek Orthodox church on this same mountain, Mount Tabor, and they call it, again, the Church of and the Mount of Transfiguration.

But here's the thing about Mount Tabor. Mount Tabor, if you look at it, it's not very high. How many of you are skiers? You know, if you go out west, there's some real mountains out there, aren't there?

The mountains around here, you know, they're like hills, right? Well, Mount Tabor is more like a hill. It's not a high mountain. The Bible says it was a high mountain. So if you go back and look at Matthew 16, what was Peter's confession called?

It's called the what? Caesarea Philippi Confession. So we know from Chapter 16 they were in the region of Caesarea Philippi. So the mountain closest to that would have been Mount Hermon, not the Mount Hermon that we know in Gil and Northfield, but this is the original Mount Hermon, and it truly is a high mountain.

So the other tradition says that Mount Hermon is the site. Now, if the Bible doesn't tell us, what do we conclude from that? Well, at least part of the story is that it doesn't really matter that much.

I would just say this in bringing up some of these holy sites. I think it is beneficial to travel to Israel, and I have no problem with going around. Someday I hope to do that and see some of these places.

But don't ever start to think that a certain plot of ground is more special than another. I mean, that's more of an Old Testament concept. When Moses met God at the burning bush and God told him, you know, take off your sandals, the ground that you stand on, this is holy ground.

And the temple and the tabernacle were special places. But again, that's more of an Old Testament concept. In the New Testament, there is no temple. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. There is no special place.

All that to say this, you can commune with God. You can worship God. You can meet with God anywhere. There is no one special place. If I just go here, I'll be closer to God because I'm here or because I'm there.

A lot of people today, they venerate objects. They venerate a plot of dirt. And they'll go and they think they can become closer to God based on their locality. That is simply not the way it is. But the Bible doesn't tell us the mountains, so we can assume that at least from God's perspective, where this happened isn't really the issue.

The issue is that it happened and the significance of this event. So look at verse 2. This is what takes place. It says that Jesus was what? Transfigured. That's what my Bible says. Does anyone have a different rendering than that?

Some translations might say transformed. But it says Jesus was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun. And his clothes became as white as the light. So the Greek word translated transfigured is metamorpho.

And you can kind of hear it in that word, right? Metamorphosis. What is a metamorphosis? It's a change. I mean, most people, their mind goes to the caterpillar that turns into the butterfly. And of course, we could go through what happens.

That's almost like a miracle. I know it's a natural thing, but it's almost miraculous the way it takes place. But this is what's happening with Jesus. He was a man. He looked like a man, spoke like a man.

He truly was a man, a human being. But at the same time, he was truly man and truly God. He was God veiled in human flesh. But at this moment, it's like his royal splendor. His divinity came out and they saw it.

And he was white, became white as the light. I started thinking about that. If you were to see Jesus in his divinity, according to this, he would be shining. You know, the Bible talks about the radiance of God's glory.

So here's the thing. Back in chapter 16, Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living God. But now Peter sees it. He sees it with his own eyes. He knows for certain. Peter, James, and John now know for absolute certain that Jesus is more than just a man.

He is divine. So it's Jesus in his face, his clothes. It says they started to shine. And we could say it was so bright. It's like looking into the sun. You can barely look at it. It's so bright. This got me thinking of a verse in 1 Timothy 6, 15 through 16.

If you take notes, you can write this down. 1 Timothy 6, 15 through 16. It says, speaking of Jesus, He who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be glory and honor and everlasting power.

Amen. So according to Paul, writing to Timothy, he says that Jesus dwells in what? Unapproachable light. What's unapproachable light? Have you ever seen a light that's unapproachable? Probably not. But it gives the impression that when you see it, you're afraid to look.

You're afraid to approach. And this should make us think back to Moses at the burning bush. What did Moses see? You say, well, he saw a burning bush. The bush was on fire, but it wasn't really fire, because if it was fire, it would have consumed the bush.

So you could say Moses saw a bright light like a fire in the bush. Also, there's a story of Moses going up on the mountain when Moses went on the mountain to commune with God, and he came back down. Do you remember what happened?

Yeah. After spending time with the Lord, his face shone so bright, people were afraid to look at him. And Moses had to put a veil over his face. So that kind of tells you something about God. God is light.

1 John 1 verse 5 says, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If you go back to the first few pages of Genesis, I don't know if anyone's ever picked up on this before. God created the heavens and the earth, and then he said what?

Let there be light. And then you continue reading. That's the first day, and you continue reading, and you find out that he didn't create the sun and the stars and the lights in the heavens until what?

Day four. Well, what was that light? It was the radiant glory of God himself. We're based on Revelation. Christ is that glory. He is the light. So we're starting to see some parallels between Jesus going up on the mountain and another man who went up on a mountain and saw a great light.

And who's that other man? Moses. And just so happens, of course, who shows up when Jesus is transfigured before these three disciples? Who shows up? Moses and Elijah. Look at verse 3. It says, and behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.

So this is no coincidence. It's just Moses because, you know, God just picked somebody. No, I mean, there's reasons for all of this, and there's a message here. We need to figure out what it is. So why Moses and Elijah?

Just a few things about these men. Moses, the thing we know about Moses, most of all, he was the mediator of the old covenant. So we have the Old Testament scriptures. Typically, when we say Old Testament, we're talking about, you know, the Old Testament scriptures.

But Old Testament and Old Covenant, the terms are used synonymously. So Moses was the man who ushered in the old covenant. Who's the man who ushers in the new covenant? Jesus. Okay, so at least in this way, Jesus and Moses are similar.

So Moses is the law giver. Okay, the first few books of the Bible, and sometimes the entire Old Testament is referred to as the law. But what about Elijah? What does Elijah represent? If Moses represents the old covenant, or he represents the law, what does Elijah represent?

Well, what was Elijah? Elijah was a prophet. And one of the ways people describe the Old Testament scriptures, a way to summarize them is you call them the law and the prophets. So if you hear someone talking about the law and the prophets, they're basically talking about the entire Old Testament.

So Moses and Elijah appear, they represent the law and the prophets, and who are they talking with? They're with Jesus. They're talking to Jesus. This is a way of saying that the entirety of the Old Testament is about Jesus.

They wrote about him. They spoke of him. And if you were here with us on Wednesday nights as we were going through, you know, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I mean, the whole, all of these stories, we're constantly seeing Jesus pictured in all of these stories.

The Old Testament Points to Jesus and His Cross

So the whole Old Testament talks about him. Okay, so I would say the first point of this story, I didn't really highlight it, but the first point of this story is it shows us the divinity of Christ. So the number one takeaway, it shows us who Jesus is.

He is divine, God in human flesh. Now, Moses and Elijah, let's turn to Luke chapter 9. We'll try to find another point to bring out of this. Moses and Elijah are talking with Jesus. When we compare Scripture with Scripture, we find out what they were talking about.

Because that's another thing, if you're reading this passage, you say, okay, they were talking. What were they talking about? Wouldn't you want to know? Okay, well, good. There's an answer. Luke chapter 9 tells us what they were talking about.

Luke 9 verse 30 says, And behold, two men talked with Jesus, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his, capital H-I-S, they spoke of his decease, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now, just the way this is translated, I mean, normally we wouldn't talk like that. They talked about his decease. When you hear that word, what does it make you think of? Yeah, if someone is deceased, they're dead.

So they talked about his decease, although I suspect some of you have a different translation, and it says they talked about his departure. Does anyone have departure? Now, to me, this is two different things.

I realize you could talk about death as a departure, but a departure, I think of the departure of Jesus as when he ascended to heaven. But his decease sounds like his death. You say, well, maybe they're talking about all of it, perhaps.

Let's skip ahead to chapter 24. I'm more inclined, though, to think that they were talking about his death, because that's the focal point of history. The entire Old Testament is building up to Jesus coming into the world, and the reason, the primary reason he came into the world was to die on the cross.

So in the past, they're looking forward to the cross, and now today we're looking back to the cross. So I think they were talking about his death. Luke chapter 24, this is the disciples who are on the road to Emmaus.

So Jesus has just been crucified, and there's these men walking along the road, and they're talking about what happened. And Jesus has already risen from the dead, but they hadn't heard about it yet. So Jesus, in his resurrected body, he can sort of appear and disappear at will.

So all of a sudden, these two men, and this is one of my favorite stories in all of the Gospels. Here are these two guys walking along, talking about Jesus and what happened to him, and all of a sudden, he's there, and he's walking along with, of course, they don't know it's him.

And he's like, so what are you talking about? What's been happening? They're like, are you the only one in the city who doesn't know? And little do they know it's the Lord. But look at Luke 24, 25 through 27.

He said to them, O foolish ones, in slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

So according to Jesus, if you read the Old Testament Scriptures, it should be obvious that the Christ had to suffer. Now, that wasn't obvious to Peter, was it? In Matthew 16, because when Jesus told him, I need to suffer, Peter says, no.

So what does that tell you? Peter really didn't understand the Old Testament. Most people didn't. And it's true today. Most people, even though they've read parts of the Bible, they've heard the Bible, most people today really don't understand the message of Scripture.

But it really is all about Jesus and his death, summarized by the Gospel. So Moses wrote about Christ's death. Give me an example of how Moses wrote about Jesus's death. I'll put you on the spot here.

Well, okay, let's think of Moses. One event he wrote about was the Passover, right? Moses wrote Exodus, didn't he? I realize there's people today who claim that he didn't, but that's not true. Moses wrote Exodus.

He wrote the story about the Passover. What's the Passover lamb about? Jesus, right? When Jesus came on the scene, John the Baptist said, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

The Passover lamb was Moses writing about Jesus. All of the sacrifices Moses wrote about were, it was all about Jesus. Let's turn to Isaiah 53. I mean, I realize Isaiah in, he's not Elijah, but Elijah and all of the prophets, they touched on certain things that pointed to Christ, but this is maybe the most obvious of all the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament that spoke of Jesus himself.

Isaiah chapter 53, he writes, Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. And as a root out of a dry ground, he has no form or comeliness.

And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Do you know who Isaiah is writing of? He's writing of Jesus. He says, when you see him, it's going to be nothing special about him. Isn't that true?

Isn't that what we said? People saw a man. There's no way they could have known that he was God in human flesh. And yet he was. Verse 3, he is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. And he was despised, and we did not esteem him. And then he continues on, and he gives very clear details about Jesus and his crucifixion. It says here in verse 5, he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. That's another way of saying that he, the Messiah, he will die or he died for our sins. And by his wounds or by his stripes, we are healed. And then he even talks about, he shall see his seed prolonged.

Verse 10, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief when you have made his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. Even that speaks of the resurrection.

So the point being, the entirety of the Old Testament, Moses, the law, the prophets, they all wrote about Jesus. So let's turn back to Luke's gospel, if you would. So the Old Testament, it all points to Jesus.

So this is the second part of the story, or the second point in the message. I think one reason for the transfiguration, yes, number one, to show Christ and his divinity. The second point of the story was to open the eyes of the disciples and to strengthen and encourage them for the days to come.

They had just been told that Jesus is going to die on the cross. They were devastated. They needed some reassurance. And seeing Jesus transfigured before them, that gave them the confidence, the boldness, the encouragement they needed to continue on.

So that's number one, his deity. Number two, encouraging Peter, James, and John. I also think this was an encouragement for the disciples, or excuse me, for Moses and Elijah themselves. They finally got the privilege to meet with and speak with the one they spoke of, or the one they prophesied about.

You remember Moses, when he ministered in Deuteronomy, I guess it was where Moses was told that he could not enter the promised land and how he must have felt when he heard that. Well, guess what? He got to enter the promised land.

He's right there in Israel on the mountain. So I think this was a privilege even for Moses and Elijah. Another thing that shows us, and we'll get to the text and Luke in a moment, but another thing that shows us is that Moses, here's the thing about Moses.

Did Moses ever die? The other guy with him is Elijah. We know Elijah was taken up to heaven and the world went. So you could say, well, Elijah never died, so it's no problem for Elijah to be with Jesus here on the mountain, but Moses died, right?

The scripture says Moses died and the Lord buried him on top of Mount Nebo. Well, if Moses was dead, how is he showing up here? Well, it's very simple. Those who believe never die. This is point number three.

The saints never die, and this experience proves it. Moses, his heart may have stopped in the book of Deuteronomy. His body may be somewhere, even to this day, something left in the dirt somewhere. But Moses is not dead.

His spirit is alive. What does the Bible say? Absent from the body, present with the Lord. If somebody trusts the Lord, that is the promise they shall never die. This is what Jesus said in John chapter 11 when he raised Lazarus from the dead.

He said, whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. And he asked a question, do you believe that? Do you believe that? I believe that. I believe every member of this church who has passed on, they're not really gone.

I mean, they're not here, but they're there. They're with the Lord. They're not dead. Their body is waiting for the resurrection, but they are with Christ. So the believers, we shall never die. Why? Because God is not the God of the dead.

He is the God of the living. So if I can put it this way, whether it's Moses or whether it's a saint who passes on and goes into the afterlife, there is a metamorphosis. The title of the message is the transformation or the transfiguration of Christ.

But if you think about it, the Christian who dies, whether it's Moses or later on Peter or even your family member, or even that little child that died at age, when children die at age one or two or three, they don't really die.

They're just transformed. They have changed forms. They are alive spiritually with God in heaven. Now, what Jesus did on the mountain was unique. What believers do when we shed our human flesh and our spirit lives on, that will be unique as well, because even for us, we receive a new glorified body when the Lord returns.

So there's transformation for Jesus on the mountain. There's going to be transformation for us when we enter into the afterlife. And then at the last day, when the dead are raised, maybe that ultimate transfiguration even for us.

But these are great lessons that we learn from this passage. But let's finish it up. You're in Luke 9. Okay. Just finished with these last verses. Jesus speaks with Moses and Elijah. It says about his coming death.

Luke adds the detail in verse 32 that Peter, James, and John were asleep for this part. So they didn't get to hear it. Luke 9 .32 says, but Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep. That's when they were talking about that subject.

But when they were fully awake, he saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Then it happened as they were parting from him that Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three tabernacles.

One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And Luke adds this detail that Matthew doesn't. It says Peter said all that not knowing what he said. Now he knew what he was saying, but what is Luke trying to communicate?

He didn't really know what he was talking about. He just kind of, he spit something out. He muttered something that didn't really make a whole lot of sense. I think Peter was probably awestruck. He had never seen anything like this before, so he spits out this statement.

And he seems to be concerned with Moses and Elijah more than Jesus. He wants to set up a tent so that Moses and Elijah can stick around. Not realizing that the true purpose maybe of this miracle is that this is Jesus in a way saying that Moses and Elijah need to depart.

That covenant that they represent needs to go away and a new covenant be ushered in. So Moses and Elijah and all the Jews and even Jesus and his disciples at this point, they're all men living under the law.

But the time was approaching for the law to give way to the gospel. So we're no longer, from this moment on, it's no longer going to be about Moses. It's going to be and will always be about Jesus Christ.

We see this in verse 34. While Peter was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son. Hear him.

Who's speaking? Presumably it's God, the father, telling Peter, telling James, telling John, and by extension, telling all of us, listen to my son. This is what God wants. We can read Moses. We can read the prophets.

And we benefit greatly from reading the Old Testament. And we learn from teachers today. But the one who has the true ultimate authority is the Lord himself. And, of course, the New Testament is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

From Law to Grace, and Peter's More Sure Word of Prophecy

So in starting to wrap this up, the transfiguration also marks a transition. A transition from law to grace. A transition from old covenant to new covenant. There's parallels between Jesus and Moses. Moses' face shown.

And now you see the face of Jesus shining. Moses, however, reflected the glory of God. Jesus is the glory of God. It marks a transition from the old covenant to the new. John 1 .17 says, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

So let's go one last passage. I promise we'll end here. 1 Peter 1. And I want to sort of see what Peter's assessment was. Peter's takeaway. Because here in 2 Peter 1, decades later, the apostle thinks back on this event.

And we're going to see what he said about it. 2 Peter 1 .16. So probably 25 years after the fact, Peter has had a lot of time to think about it. And Peter's conclusion about this event is, I don't know, kind of surprising.

2 Peter 1 .16. He says, for we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. When was Peter an eyewitness of the majesty of Christ?

On the mountain. Right. And the we, he's talking about him, James and John. Verse 17. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

And when we heard this voice, which came from heaven, when we were with him on the mountain. OK, so clearly Peter is referring to this event. So she's in the Lord said not only hear him, but this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

But look at Peter's conclusion. This is the surprising part. Verse 19. Peter says,. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you will do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. I like how the King James Version puts this.

The King James says we have a more sure word of prophecy. If I can put it this way. People, a lot of people today, they go by experience. They go by their feelings, what they've seen, what they've experienced with their own eyes.

And certainly Peter saw something with his own. He experienced something amazing. But it's as if Peter is saying, even what I saw, even what I heard, the scriptures are more reliable, even than my experience.

But seeing Jesus on the mountain, what did it do? It confirmed that the Old Testament scriptures were true. We have a more sure word of prophecy. So in conclusion, this is maybe the final point we looked at.