What is the Glory of God?

The Transfiguration and the Glory of Christ

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, chapter 9, verses 2 -9. After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them.

His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we are here.

Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, this is my beloved son, listen to him.

And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Have you ever been in one of those churches where the pastor or somebody in the congregation talks about the glory of God in this way? It becomes a very polysyllabic word.

It becomes the glory. Have you ever heard it talked about in this way? Funny enough, our gospel text and our Old Testament epistle text are truly about let me say it, the glory of God. But if you don't pay attention to how these texts work together, you're going to misunderstand what the glory is.

So we're going to work our way through this, and what I would encourage you to do as we work through our text today is pay attention to the light. Pay attention to the light. If you remember that movie Poltergeist, there was that line, don't go into the light.

Here, I want you to pay attention to the light because the light is going to tell us something. What goes on in our Old Testament text, and we'll pick up the context, is going to help us get what's going on.

So let's first take a look at our gospel text. Mark 9, starting at verse 2, after six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them.

His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. I'm thankful that they put that little detail in, otherwise people would think this was a Tide commercial. Now, there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

Important to note here, Moses is the guy who wrote the first five books of the Bible, known as the Torah. Elijah is the representative of what became known as the School of the Prophets. It was the School of the Prophets who were responsible for compiling the rest of the Old Testament.

So Moses and Elijah are literally the visible representatives of the authors, of all of the authors of the Old Testament. And they wrote explicitly about Christ. And we learn this little detail from Luke's gospel, that they were speaking to Jesus about his, and it's really fascinating because in the Greek, you've got a Hebrew word just transliterated, it literally says, Jesus' exodus, about his exodus, his departure, about his death, and his resurrection.

So, Peter said to Jesus, and we note that the following verse tells us that they were terrified, so you can almost hear the nervousness in his voice, Rabbi, it's good that we're here, let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, for he did not know what to say, they were terrified.

So, note that when this light shows up, Jesus, BAM! There is his divine glory for everybody to see who's there on the mountain, and when this type of light, this type of glory shows up, people are terrified.

It always fascinates me when people talk about the glory in such a way as if it were to show up, they would somehow bake in it, or grab some suntan lotion and some sunglasses in a chaise lounge and just soak it in.

This is nonsense. When this type of glory shows up, the glory of God, we, because we are sinners, we cannot tolerate or stand or do well when God shows up like this. Not in our sinful state, we become terrified.

So, note that Jesus himself is God in human flesh, we see an example of his deity if you would, kind of peeking out for just a minute, but the light ends up getting hidden again. You think of it this way, there's God in human flesh, lying in a manger, having been born of the Virgin Mary, all of his glory muted and hidden, which kind of begs the question, really, what is the glory of God?

The glory that would kill us or destroy us or terrify us isn't going to do us any good. If Jesus were to shine, Jesus shine all over the place, people would be fleeing in terror. And so Jesus doesn't shine, he does something a little bit different.

So, there's Peter, he's terrified, Peter, James, and John, they're all terrified. He nervously says, well, maybe we can set up some tents here. And then a cloud overshadowed them, a voice came out of the cloud, this is my beloved son, listen to him.

Suddenly looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus charged them, tell no one about what they'd seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Which begs the question, the disciples at this point are what does it mean to rise from the dead? Now, I would argue that that has everything to do with the glory of God, but don't think of it in terms of glory regarding the light, at least not here.

So what are we to make of this? How are we to understand this biblically, doctrinally? Well, I would argue the next place we need to go, because we see this type of glory showing up in our Old Testament text, but let's take a look at the context, if you would.

Back up with me into Exodus chapter 32. A little bit of a note, this is the tail end of the account of the golden calf incident. Remember, while Moses was up on Mount Sinai, and by the way, important things happen at the top of mountains, he's on the top of Mount Sinai, he's receiving from God the Ten Commandments.

God writes them in those two stone tablets and he hears the sound of war in the camp. It's not the sound of war really, it's the sound of people reveling. They had made for themselves a golden calf and set this up as a festival to Yahweh himself.

They were worshipping God via the golden calf. It don't work that way. And you'll note that God breaks out against them, that many of the people who were reveling and taking part in this they end up dying, there's a plague that gets sent, and at this point Moses is kind of stuck.

And here's why. He knows that the people of Israel have sinned greatly against God. And what is necessary when you sin greatly against God, even when you sin smallly against God, sin is sin, what you need is to be reconciled to God and for there to be forgiveness and atonement.

And so this is where we pick up the story, where Moses is going to talk to the people and basically say, I'm going to see if we can't make things right between you and God. Vital information. So verse 30 of chapter 32 says this, the next day Moses said to the people you have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up to Yahweh, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.

So notice that's his goal, got to figure out how to make atonement for this sin. Moses returned to Yahweh and said, alas, this people has sinned a great sin, they have made for themselves gods of gold, but now if you will forgive their sin, and it's kind of interesting in the Hebrew, he doesn't complete his thought.

It's like, if you will forgive their sin, dot dot dot, and then Moses begins to engage in what looks like a negotiation. But if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written. Moses is kind of offering himself up in a way.

If you won't forgive them, take me out of the book that'll get you God. Kind of strong-arming God. Well this isn't going to work. So Yahweh said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.

But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf the one that Aaron had made.

Not so good. Round one did not result in atonement, or the people of Israel being forgiven. Things are now a little bit worse. The story continues in chapter 33. Yahweh said to Moses, depart. Go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt.

Notice, the people whom you have brought out. It always works this way in families. At least it worked this way with my kids. When my kids misbehaved, they became my children. When they were good, they were barbs.

It's the weirdest thing. So, same thing with the people of Israel. When they had sinned, they were Moses' people. He's the one who brought them out of Egypt. And when things were right, then they were God's people.

Kind of fascinating. So the Lord says, depart from here, you and the people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, to your offspring I will give it.

I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and the Uptites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but listen to these words.

I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people. Yikes. This is not good. God, who has been with them the whole time, has basically said, I'm out of here.

I'll send an angel, but my presence isn't going to go with you. Verse 4 says, when the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned. No one put on his ornaments, for Yahweh had said to Moses, say to the people of Israel, you're a stiff-necked people.

If for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you. Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.

So far, no atonement for this sin. There is been no reconciliation between God and the people of Israel. Things are getting a little bit worse, and God is basically saying, I'm out of here. This is not so good.

Now, we'll skip the part about the detail about the tent of meeting, and pick it up then in verse 12. So Moses said to Yahweh, see, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.

Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. So Moses now, second round of the negotiation, is basically starting off with saying, well you say, I found favor in your sight, but remember, he's still trying to seek how the rest of the people of Israel can find favor in God's sight.

He says this, now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your ways so that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. And you can almost see what's going on. Tell me what your ways are, I'll convey them to them, and then they can find favor in God's sight.

That's kind of the idea. Well, it doesn't work that way. You cannot be reconciled to God by following God's law. God's law doesn't reconcile you to him. So, show me your ways. Consider too that this nation is your people.

So he's trying to pin them back onto God. We'll see how this goes. So he said, the Lord said, my presence will go with you. I will give you rest. And he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.

For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight? I am your people. Is it not in your going with us so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?

It doesn't look like Moses is making much progress here. It seems like every attempt to try to kind of grab on to God's mercy and forgiveness has resulted in him not getting any closer. We still have a problem.

The people of Israel are estranged from God. They have sinned this great sin. God basically says, Moses, you're in. The rest of them are out. I won't go with y 'all. This is not good. So then Yahweh said to Moses, this very thing you have spoken, I will do for you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name.

Moses said, now here's the interesting part. Please show me your glory. Now that is an interesting change in the tactics. Remember, he's trying to get reconciliation for the people of Israel. He tried, blot me out of the book.

That didn't work. He tried show me your ways so that we know how to find favor in your sight. That didn't work. Third attempt now goes like this. Show me your glory. That's different. So he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim before you my name, Yahweh.

And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But he said, you cannot see my face for man shall not see my face and live. And Yahweh said, behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock and while my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock.

I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by and then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back. But my face you shall not see. Alright. This is an interesting turn of events. Think of it this way.

No one can see the face of God as a sinner and live. No one. No human being can and live. It'll kill you. God will kill you. So, Moses is asked to see the glory of God. That's the next step in the negotiation as to how to reconcile Israel with Yahweh.

And God says, okay, fine. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take you and I'm going to put you in a rock, the cleft of a rock, cover it with my hand as I pass by and notice he's not going to be allowed to see God's glory but we're going to learn he's going to hear it.

This is vital. Now, I want you to think of it this way. All of us being sinners, we have sinned greatly against God in thought, word, deed, by the things we've done, by the things we haven't done. This is what we confessed at the beginning of the church service.

Each and every one of us also is in need of being reconciled to God. Hence, part of the reason why we're here. And so, remember this. If you're reading your New Testament, I want you as you're reading your New Testament, look for this phrase.

It shows up a lot more times than you would think. The phrase is, in Christ. In Christ. It describes us as being in Christ. And we learn from the Apostle Paul in his epistles that there was a rock that followed the children of Israel and Paul says that rock was Christ.

So, we learn from Scripture that when we were baptized, we were baptized into Christ. We were baptized into his death and his resurrection. Ah. So, think of it this way. We cannot see the glory of God and live, but God himself has hidden us in Christ in our baptism.

Great way to think of it. So, your baptism is like God saying, okay, I'm going to have my glory pass by. You're in Jesus and I'll pass by so that you can live. Good stuff here. The story then continues.

Verse, chapter 34. So, Yahweh said to Moses, cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. Be ready by morning.

Come up in the morning to Mount Sinai. Present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you. Let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.

So, Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. He rose early in the morning. Went up on Mount Sinai as Yahweh had commanded him. Took in his hand the two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of Yahweh.

Now, remember from the previous chapter, we know at this point God is causing his glory to pass by. Moses is being hidden in the cleft of the rock. There's no point of repeating it again. So, Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed.

Now, here's the glory of God. Remember, that was the, please show me your glory. Can't show it to you. I'm going to pass by and I'm going to cause it to go out. So, here's how it happens. The glory is hidden.

Moses can't see it, but here's the glory of God. Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation.

Interesting phrase. You've got to note there's law and gospel, sin and grace in here. There's forgiveness of sins who all who call on the name of the Lord, those who persist in sin and unbelief, God will not acquit.

But it is the glory of God to forgive iniquity, to pardon transgression. This is God's glory. This is the glory of God. So, think of it this way. On the Mount of Transfiguration there's Jesus. Boom! Bright as the sun.

Flanked by Moses and Elijah. This isn't really the glory of Christ. It's not. And we can't tolerate it. We can't stand it. It terrifies us. So, for us here right now, God's glory has to be muted. So, what is the glory of God to forgive sins?

Fast forward now to the crucifixion. It is the glory of God to forgive you. Not flanked by Moses and Elijah, but flanked by two thieves. Bleeding and dying for your sins. This is the glory of God. And our epistle text will practically say it that way.

But I want you to see that. So, no sooner does Moses hear the glory of God, that he pardons iniquity, that he forgives sins, that he latches onto that glory of God in those words, and he prays the glory of God back to God.

Remember, he's still seeking for reconciliation for the people of Israel and God who've been estranged. So, here's what it says. Moses, hearing this, quickly bowed his head towards the earth and he was worshiped, because truly now he has something to worship God for.

And he said, if now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, confession, and pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us for your inheritance.

God reveals his glory. Now Moses prays back the glory of God to God and watch what happens. So God says, behold, I'm making a new covenant. Before all your people, I will do marvels such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation, and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of Yahweh, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.

All of a sudden, God is singing a different song. His attitude towards the people of Israel now is one of let me show you what I'm going to do. I'm going with you and you're going to see stuff like you've never seen before.

How is this? Because Moses prayed for them. Prayed back to God the glory of God to forgive sinners. And God forgave them and his attitude totally changes. Now from there, we'll skip the details of the covenant that God is going to make.

Go to verse 29 and it says this, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, he came down from the mountain. Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

So you're going to know Moses in a sense here kind of prefigures Jesus. At least we see now he's shining with the glory of God and watch the response. It's the same as the apostles. So he didn't know that his skin was shining and Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses and behold the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him.

Moses called to them and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him and Moses talked with them and afterward all the people came near and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai and when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out and when he came out and told the people of Israel what he had commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses that the skin of Moses' face was shining and Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went in to speak with him.

Now that little detail is not a throwaway detail and you're going to note that even when Moses is shining with God's visible glory as an afterglow effect, it's still too much. The people are terrified by this so he's got to cover up.

So the shining face of Moses and the veil itself now have a type and shadow interpretation that is explicitly taught for us now in our epistle text. So if you'll turn with me back into 2 Corinthians 3 and we'll pick up a little bit of context starting at verse 4 and here's what it says.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God. So Paul here is talking about how we as Christians have confidence towards God and there's a reason for it. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, instead our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit.

The letter kills, the spirit gives life. Now watch what's happening here. Moses is making a very sharp distinction between the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant. If you are familiar with your covenants in scripture there are several covenants that we pay attention to.

The Noatic Covenant, we see its sign in the rainbow. Every time we see the rainbow we say God's not going to destroy the earth by a flood. It's going to be better next time, it's going to be fire. We know the Abrahamic Covenant where Abraham is basically declared righteous by grace through faith.

It is a unilateral covenant. And the New Covenant that we are a part of in Christ through his blood shed on the cross for us and his broken body, that covenant is tied back to the Abrahamic Covenant. There's an in-between covenant which is the Mosaic Covenant and that covenant as the Germans would say is now kaput.

It's kaput. And that's kind of Paul's point here is that the Mosaic Covenant is kaput but he talks about how when it came, and this is what we see in Exodus 34, it came with glory, kind of the afterglow glory on Moses' face.

And watch what he does with this. Verse 7. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed in glory. Indeed in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it.

For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Now you're going to note verse 11 in 2 Corinthians 3 makes it clear that the Mosaic Covenant like I said is kaput.

It has been brought to an end. This is why we Christians are not required to observe the Passover. This is why we are not required to circumcise our sons. This is why we are not required to rest and not work on Saturday.

It's because all of the commands of the Mosaic Covenant, the Covenant itself is kaput. It's been brought to an end. And you're going to note it came with glory. The glory was the shining face of Moses.

Now watch where Paul takes us. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

But their minds were hardened. For to this day when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is the veil taken away. So that veil that covers the glory, when Moses is read without Jesus, a veil remains over people's hearts and minds.

And the only way that veil is taken away is through Christ. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to Yahweh, or turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

This is a picture of repentance. Now, the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. I'm going to note something here. Verse 18 says that we Christians presently now are beholding the glory of the Lord. He's not shining. Have you seen shiny Jesus?

You haven't. I haven't. I've never seen Jesus shining. And yet this text says that we presently right now are, at this moment, beholding the glory of the Lord. How is that possible if we haven't seen Him shining?

Answer? It goes back to the definition that God gave for the glory. The glory of God is to forgive sin. That's the glory of God. And watch where he goes next. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

But we, because of this, we have renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning, or even to tamper with God's Word. But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

And even if our Gospel is veiled, and watch what he just did there. Did you see it? The Gospel now is the thing that's being veiled. What's the Gospel? The Gospel is the good news that Christ died for your sins in accordance with the Scripture.

That He was buried and raised again on the third day in accordance with the Scripture. The Gospel is the proclamation of God's love, mercy, and forgiveness in Christ. So now, he's taking the glory of God, and he's changed that concept and exchanged it for a synonym.

The synonym, the equivalent is the Gospel. In other words, the Gospel is the glory. That's what he's saying. So, even if our Gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.

Ah, I get it. You see, I said, pay attention to the light. So, the light of Christ that we see at the Transfiguration, it disappears pretty quickly. And what does the Father say? That's my beloved Son.

Listen to Him. See, the light gets hidden in humble Jesus. The one who rides into Jerusalem, humble, on a colt the full of a donkey, who goes to the cross to bleed and to die for you. The light is hidden in Christ, who suffers and bleeds so that you can be forgiven, because this is the glory of God.

And now think of it. Remember how disastrous it was to the children of Israel, the thought that God would not go with them and His presence would not go with them in their wilderness wanderings. This was totally disastrous.

Does not Jesus say, where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there. Brothers and sisters, you heard these words from my lips. A sinful man, speaking the glory of Christ this morning when I said to you, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, I forgive you all of your sins.

This is the glory of Christ. Last week we had the Lord's Supper, and Christ was present for us to forgive us of our sins. When you heard these words, take, eat, this is the body of Christ, broken for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

Take, drink, this is the true blood of Christ, shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. You couldn't see the light, but the light is there. It's hidden in these humble things. The voice of a sinful pastor, who forgives you your sins.

The bread and the wine, which is the body and blood of Christ, broken and shed for you. It's there in your baptismal waters, when you were hidden in the rock of Christ. This is His glory to forgive you.

And see, now when you see it, you can't unsee it. You see, this text explicitly is saying that the light of Christ is in the good news that He has bled and died for you. And of course it would be, because when the glory of God passed by Moses, He heard Yahweh, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, pardoning iniquity.

So don't be looking for a light show, smoke and mirrors, and all that kind of stuff. Believe me, we will someday, as this text says, be transformed from one degree of glory to the next. There is a day coming when we will see shining Jesus.

Not now. That would kill us. That would destroy us. Then when He returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, we'll see Him in all of His brightness. And we ourselves, Scripture says, will shine like the sun.

We too will shine, transform from one degree of glory to the next. Here and now, it is the glory of God to forgive you. Here and now, the light of Christ that we saw at the Mount of Transfiguration is hidden in the good news that He has bled and died for your sins.

This is the glory of God. And it truly is glorious. Let us rejoice that God has come to us in His glory in such humble ways to save sinners like me and like you. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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