Matthew 17:1-9, The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, Mr. Earl Byrd

Matthew chapter 17 verses 1 to 9, hear the word of the Lord. And after six days

Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother and led them up 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 is good that we are here

If you wish I will make three tents here one for you 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

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 up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only and As they were coming down the mountain

Jesus commanded them Tell no one of the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word. I want to speak on the transfiguration of the

Lord Jesus Christ It's one of the important events That happened to our

Savior while he walked here on the earth and that was read by the pastor from Matthew chapter 17

I think which is we can say and I hope you'll be convinced that the transfiguration of Jesus Christ is

One of the more important events which happened to Jesus while he was here on the earth

One of the things that can substantiate that is the fact that this account also occurs in Mark chapter 9

Luke chapter 9 and just a short summary of it in John 1 14 when

John says we beheld his glory The glory as of the only begotten of the

Father full of grace and truth and not only that but we also had

The Apostle Peter referring to this in his second epistle, which we will look at briefly toward the end so I want to convince you that the

Transfiguration of Christ is very important And I think we can see that by several several reasons several things which do point to the importance of his

Transfiguration and the first of those is simply the context of Matthew chapter 17 and also the context in Mark and Luke But if we look here at chapter 17 and go back to chapter 16

We can see that there is a connection in verse 1 of chapter 17

Matthew says now after six days Jesus took Peter James and John his brother led them up on a high mountain by themselves so what we have in chapter 17 is connected to chapter 16 by the context of Where it occurred in chapter 16 we have the confession of Peter which took place in Caesarea Philippi and what you have in chapter 17

Happens up on a mountain where Caesarea Philippi is at the bottom But it's connected in more ways than that and one of the most important ways in which it's connected

I believe is in when the when the father corrects Peter You noticed

I trust from the reading that Peter says Let's stay here on this mountain, and I will build a tent for you

Jesus and for Moses and for Elijah and the father is that it's at that point that the father speaks from a cloud and in part corrects

Peter from his suggestion Peter needs to learn to listen to the

Lord Jesus now. Let's go back to chapter 16 for a moment What happens in chapter 16?

Jesus asked his disciples Who do people say that I am?

And what was the answer? Some say you are John the

Baptist Some say that you are Elijah Some say that you're

Jeremiah or one of the other prophets and then Jesus turns to the disciples, and he says but who do you say that I am and Of course

Peter speaks up as he normally does and he says you are the Christ the

Son of the Living God What a confession in that wonderful confession

Peter is saying you are the promised Messiah You are the Christ and you

Are deity you are God? Because you are the Son of God And then the

Lord Jesus Commends Peter's confession, but he said Peter flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you my father which is in heaven

Reveal this to you And then he goes on to speak of his church the founding of the church and how the gates of hell

Will not prevail against it. He goes on to speak of his suffering of his death of His burial and of his resurrection and Peter says something again and This time he rebukes the

Lord Jesus Not good his first confession

Good commendable. He said what he should have said in his second statement.

It is not good and So the Lord Jesus rebukes him and he says get behind me

Satan now What has happened here? What's happened here?

Is that this does what Jesus says about him suffering and dying? Doesn't make sense to Peter and so he rebukes the

Lord Jesus He should have been listening To the

Lord Jesus and that's why you have on the Mount of Transfiguration in part

One of the reasons for the father speaking out of the cloud says this is my beloved son

Listen to him hear him and It was a way of instructing the disciples that they need to be paying attention

More attention to what Jesus had to say So I would argue

That the Transfiguration is important because of the context

Secondly, I believe we can argue that the Transfiguration of Jesus is very important because of the setting

What is the setting? Well verse 1 gives a setting it says now after six days

Jesus took Peter James and John his brother and led them up where on a high mountain

Now there's some speculation about which mountain Jesus was up on And it is speculation.

We don't know but we do know that Mount Hermon Which is over 9 ,000 feet in elevation

Is at the top and at the at the bottom of that mountain is Caesarea Philippi It's likely that they were up on this high mountain.

Jesus had led them up on this high mountain Why on a high mountain? Why do you think he went up on a high mountain?

What was his fascination with being up on a mountain? We won't do this this morning

But we could take our Bibles and see how that Jesus often went up on a mountain to pray

Did he feel closer to his father when he was up on a mountain? What what was there about being up on a mountain that caused him to go there at special times?

My wife and I used to take our sons Stephen and Micah To Hanging Rock State Park in the western part of North Carolina Have you ever been there?

If you've not some have some shaking their head Yes, if you've not it's a wonderful place to go.

There's water waterfalls are there There's a lake there But I always like to to me the gym was not the waterfalls as much as I love waterfalls

But the thing that's the gym is Hanging Rock itself And you walk up there and one of the you just Have that greater sense of being near heaven

And it's quiet at the top of the mountain and There's the sense of privacy and I think that may be why the

Lord Jesus went there From time to time to pray and so he went there on special occasions that argues that the

Transfiguration is a special occasion because Jesus chose this place for his for his transfiguration

Thirdly, I think we can argue for the importance of the transfiguration By what happens to Jesus while he's up on this mountain what happens?

Look with me again at verse 2 It says and he was transfigured before them his face shone like the

Sun and his clothes became as white as light

Something said about his face Something happened to his face such that it was as bright as the

Sun and The other accounts say something say the same thing and then

In one case, it's added. It was radiant. It's shying his face is shining

Something happens also to his clothing Because we read here in Matthew's account that his clothes became white as light

One of the other accounts say that his clothing was so white it was more white than what a launderer could

Could make clothing to be with bleach and another account says that his clothing was like snow white like snow

So his face shone like the Sun His his clothing also was was radiant How do we explain this what's going on here?

I think the best explanation of what's going on here is first to say it's not something

Shining on him. That's not what the verse says It's not that the Sun was shining on his face.

And so his face glowed. No We have to say that there was something about Jesus that was normally veiled

Normally his his flesh Concealed the fact

That he was Almighty God veiled the fact that he was the

God of Majesty of Glory of honor and of power and as we sung the moat the thrice

Holy God We have instances besides this one in the scripture

Where something of the deity of Christ comes to the surface that normally

Was veiled by his flesh One of those instances is when

Jesus Christ is arrested You may remember that when the soldiers come and Judas is leading the soldiers to Jesus he identifies

Jesus by by kissing him betrays Jesus by kissing him and Then the the

The soldiers asked this question Are you Jesus?

Are you Jesus and Jesus responds in this way?

two words in in the Greek and and that second word is the verb and You may may know that Greek words

Greek verbs are unlike English verbs in that Greek word

Greek verbs will tell you Who the pronoun is and the verb that excuse me the verb that he uses?

actually says I am Because he also uses the pronoun

Although the pronoun is one since not needed But the fact that he uses the pronoun with the verb that contains the pronoun pronoun.

I Intensifies the I in other words, it could be translated

I I Am what does that remind you of?

What does that statement Remind you of? It reminds me and you should remind us of that instance where Moses is before the burning bush

And he's being commissioned by God to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt into the promised land

And Moses says who shall I say has sent me

What's the answer that God gives? You tell them that I am sent you

Jesus uses that expression I am To refer to himself and when he does what happens to the soldiers?

The scripture says that the soldiers Fall back There We have another instance of the deity of Jesus Christ Being unveiled and here on this mountaintop the

Lord Jesus Christ Is being His something of his deity the veil is lifted as it were and we can see something of his deal

Deity Charles Wesley, I think had it right in that Advent him veiled in flesh the

Godhead see Hail the incarnate deity Pleased as man with men to dwell

Jesus our Emmanuel fourthly

I Think we can say that the transfiguration is important because of who was there

Well who was there? The inner circle of the disciples was there which means

Peter James and John why Peter? Well, perhaps because he was something of the leader.

He was always speaking first Why James we don't know for sure, but it may be that he was the first disciple to be martyred

Why John well We know from the gospel of John and other places first John as well second

John that Jesus and John had a Special kinship one with the other and so John was there

Peter James and John Moses was there Moses was there representing the law.

He was the lawgiver and Elijah was there Representing the prophets.

There's a citizen which the entire Old Testament Sometimes the Old Testament is referred to as the law and the prophets

So we had the whole Old Testament as it were represented here on the mountain of transfiguration

So you had Peter James and John you had Moses you had Elijah you had

Jesus and you have God the Father There on that mountain quite a roll call

There on that mountain Wouldn't you say? So it's important for that reason as to because of who was there

Fifthly the transfiguration is important because of what was said on that mountain

Now we have to start with Peter's statement Peter says Lord if you want me to I'll build three tents one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah Well Moses Excuse me

Peter should not have said what he said But I think the things that the scripture says about him we

Should not come down on him too hard If we had been there Seeing the

Lord Jesus Christ magnified as he was with his face shining like the

Sun and His clothing the way they were I think we would have said.

Oh, I want can we stay here Can we abide here? Can we remain here to enjoy these moments?

Another thing that we could say about Peter's response He didn't say let if you won't

Lord, I'll build six tents One for Peter me and me and James and John and Moses and Elijah and for you.

He didn't say six tents. He only said three So I don't think we should come down on him too hard.

I Think if we'd been there we would have cherished the moment, too But What he said is not he should have kept quiet the scripture also says

That he had just awakened and he didn't know he was disoriented. I think we can relate to that We all know what it's like to be awakened and maybe

Alarmed or shocked by what we see or by by what we hear But We read from Matthew and Mark and Luke That Jesus and Moses and Elijah are talking

Matthew and Mark don't tell us what they're talking about Luke does and Luke tells us that they were talking about His suffering his death and his resurrection

We don't know how much the disciples heard But it's likely that they heard some of this discussion that was going on But if they didn't

It was encouraging to the Lord Jesus For what

Moses and Elijah were saying because he is the fulfillment of what they said in the

Old Testament about him So if nothing else, this was a time of encouragement of Jesus Christ as he walked on the earth as in his humanity but I think it's likely that the disciples heard about the suffering and the death of Jesus as well as the other things the resurrection remember from Matthew 16 that Jesus had said

I'm going to suffer and I'm going to die and Peter rejected that can't be no

Lord that can't be I'll go with you. I'll be sure this doesn't happen

Of course, he says that again later and we know how he denied the Lord three times

But if we look at Luke we find that They were talking about That is to say

Jesus Moses and Elijah. We're talking about his his death and his resurrection

There are two words that we can take from the Luke passage and And comment on should comment on There in Luke's account

It says that he will go to Jerusalem suffer and die and accomplish his death hmm

Accomplish gives the idea of this is a project. This is this is an assignment

This is a work that Jesus is supposed to do Did he do the work of suffering and dying?

Successfully so as to please the Father and the answer to that question is Unmistakable God the

Father was pleased with the work that Jesus Christ did on behalf of sinners

So the word accomplish is used second word that's used by Luke is the word departure and The idea is that he is going there it the idea this word is only used two times in the

New Testament It's used in Luke and it's used in Peter's epistle one of his epistles where he speaks about his death

The Greek word is echadon from which we get the word Exodus What probably the primary event that you read about in the

Old Testament as you look at the issue as you look at The law and as you look at the prophets and as you look at the

Psalms The primary event of the Old Testament was what it was coming out of Egypt it was the

Exodus and if there's constant reminders, especially in the Psalms of Coming out of Egypt that that that is it was a deliverance.

It's a picture of salvation It's a picture of redemption and deliverance from sin and and death

But here in Luke's account he uses that word Exodus in other words.

He is calling attention by using that word that what Jesus Christ accomplished is

Central to the New Testament. In fact brethren we can say it's central to the entire

Bible the entire our entire Bible points to the crucifix the suffering and the death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead

Is the transfiguration of Christ important? Yes because of what was

Because of what was said there on that mountain Between Jesus and Moses and Elijah But sixthly because of what the father says here and this is really of what was said

This is infallible, this is this is absolutely Incredible what the father says of his son, what does he say?

After Peter has suggested that he build these tents He is interrupted and there's a cloud and God the father speaks out of that cloud and he says

This is my beloved son in Whom I am well pleased

Listen to him And I believe that again as I said earlier the father is in part not totally

But in part he is saying Peter be quiet Listen to what

Jesus is saying you try to close you try to shut him up earlier

It's Caesarea Philippi Listen to him. It's the father

Instructing the disciples. It's the father instructing Peter as to who

Jesus is This is the way of development when you look at the disciples their understanding of Messiah was much like not entirely but much like what the

The idea of Messiah was to most of the Jews and what was that concept?

What was that perception their perception was that Messiah was going to deliver them from Rome and Make them a nation of their own

That was the perception perception then at that time that they had of Messiah Was that a proper misstep of perception and the answer is no

Because if you even go back to the Old Testament go back to the book of Isaiah Messiah yes,

Messiah will be the government will be upon his shoulders Yes, that is in the

Old Testament, but in Isaiah we read that he will be the suffering servant

Who will die? Who will be humiliated

But also who will be exalted but before he will be exalted He is to be humbled.

He is to he is to be humiliated in his death even the death of Crucifixion on the cross and so the father says this is my beloved son

We are sons if you're if you are a believer you are a son of God But not in the same sense in which

Jesus is the Son of God Jesus is the Son of God in the sense that he is the eternal

Son of God he is God himself But the father says hear him

Listen to him Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 & 2 says

God who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets

Has in these last days spoken unto us By his son dear ones we need to be hearing

Jesus more than we do we need to be giving ourselves To his word where is his word his word is found in these 66 books

That is the word of the Lord Jesus Seventhly The transfiguration is important because of what is said later in 2nd

Peter chapter 1 verses 16 through 21, and I'm not going to read that But I want to read one.

I'm going to read one verse here Peter Who was rebuked on the mount of transfiguration now?

He's looking back on it 30 years later. What is he going to say? About what happened on that mountain?

What do you think he's going to say and if you're familiar with 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 16 to 21

You may remember that she that Peter makes reference to it and one of the things he says there is found in verse 17 for when we 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 Had Peter learned his lesson to hear

Jesus and Oh, yes, the answer is as we would read 2nd

Peter chapter 1 we would have to say Yes, he learned his lesson that he needed to be quiet and listen to what

Jesus has to say and then seventhly and Lastly I normally have three points or four points

I Was afraid if I told you how many points some of you already maybe already have the notes of this morning, but I If I told you there was going to be eight points, you might say oh,

I better get out of here I think you'll be here to till mid -afternoon Normally I have three or four points, but today

I have eight The eighth and final reason why this is so important is because this is a preview

Things to come it's a snapshot of things to come you ever been somewhere

Where I was still photo just Doesn't tell the story

It's it's a representation Yes, it's it's a photo you were there, but It just doesn't tell the whole story

Years ago I Preached in I was preaching in Sudbury, Ontario and Stephen went with me and we went

I took him to Niagara Falls and We took some pictures and I came back we came back and I was showing my wife the pictures of Niagara Falls and I realized there is no way that she can really

Get a full picture of what happened there while we were there if you're if you're there there's there's this rush of water and the water going over is loud and and there's

There's all this fog and spew in in the air And it's just absolutely incredible and your eyes looking up you see you see

More than you can see in a photograph However a picture does say something of What is there

Brethren I believe this chapter Matthew 17

Mark chapter 9 Luke chapter 9 John 1 14 2nd

Peter 1 16 to 19 I I believe the trance the

Mount of Transfiguration is something of a snapshot of What's going to happen one day?

and the pastor referred to it in his prayer one day the

Lord Jesus Christ is going to come in great glory and power and might

And Just as he he was there in glory and majesty There on that mountain there is coming a day in which the

Lord Jesus Christ will be It's it's the Lord's Day.

We refer to Sunday as the Lord's Day, and I think properly so but there is coming another day in which

Jesus Christ will be so Magnified we will all do what the disciples did and the scriptures tells us that they fell down terrified and when

Jesus Christ comes It's going to be so majestic and so glorious Listen to what

Paul says for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout

The Greek word is a word of command It gives us

It reminds us of Jesus command to Lazarus when Lazarus had been dead three days he says

Lazarus come forth and Lazarus came forth from the dead and when

Jesus Christ comes in his coming and he gives this shout The dead are going to rise all over this globe

Everyone who has died Will be raised by the mighty power of Jesus Christ the

Lord What a day What a day

That's going to be and not only will there be a shout of command

Maybe come forth the sea will give up the dead and the earth will give up the dead

And the air will give up the dead Who've had their bodies Cremated There will be the voice of an archangel

And the scripture says that the dead Will be raised listen to what

Paul says in Philippians Chapter 2 and this is pastor

Quoted some of this in his prayer Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Who being in the form of God Did not consider it robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men and Being found in appearance as a man

He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross

Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name

That at the name of Jesus every knee

Should bow star athletes

Star basketball players professional basketball players professional baseball players and football players

That we esteem too highly They're going to bow to Jesus Christ Presidents Kings Queens Princes vice presidents

Are going to bow their knees to Jesus Christ the

Lord the verse says at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven of And of those on earth and of those under the earth that every tongue should confess

Jesus Christ is Lord To the glory of God the

Father I say to you Transfiguration is a snapshot of that glorious day when our

Savior returns Let me make some applications this morning first Shouldn't we be listening to Jesus Christ in light of the transfiguration and in light of his coming?

Shouldn't this be of utmost importance in our lives brother. We are so blessed

We are so blessed You know from hundreds of years the

Bible was not the possession of individuals

Like it is today For years the scriptures were not translated into different tongues and Today we do dear us.

What a treasure we have right here These are the words of Jesus that God the Father says hear him listen to him

Are we giving ourselves to the Word of God the way we should? Today is as was mentioned today is

Mother's Day Primarily today is the Lord's Day It's too bad that it is

There's a sense in which our culture recognizes today is Mother's Day Scripture does say to honor your father and your mother

Proverbs 31 says of the ideal mother and and and wife

Her children rise up and call her blessing. There's a place for honoring your mother even today

It's a shame, isn't it that honors that children will be honoring their mothers more today

Than they honor the Lord Jesus Christ Honor is due to mothers more honor is due to him.

Let's not just say we love him Let's show that we love him

One of the things I find interesting in the scripture Is what we normally think about love

The scripture uses the word More than just a feeling so often in the scriptures love is

Coupled with giving With action For God so loved

Okay. Okay words are important. I'm not saying words aren't important For God so loved the world that what?

He gave his only begotten Son Husbands love your wives husbands.

We should be telling our wives That we love them But it shouldn't be just mere words

Paul says husbands love your wives Even as Christ loved the church and what did he connect with?

Christ's love for the church He loved the church and gave himself for it

Let's let our actions Show that we really love the

Lord Jesus Christ Since this Mother's Day in a sense

Let me close with an application to parents When Tim when

Paul writes to Timothy He reminds Timothy of his mother and of his grandmother

And he says to Timothy and that from the Greek word breath oss can be translated, baby

He says Timothy from a baby you have known the holy scriptures

Which are able to make you wise and to salvation What a statement

I can say I can say that from age nine I've known the holy scriptures

Parents let me let me say say to you mothers. Let me say to you this When when our children are young they soak up knowledge like a sponge

Do you realize have you ever thought about this a Child learns a foreign language

When they're young Did they know did they come out of the womb knowing English They didn't they had to learn the language.

They had to learn a foreign language. They go to school. What do they? What do they learn? They learn math tables. They they learn to read

There is something about the young tender mind that can absorb so much

I Will say to you this this morning that most of the scriptures that I can quote

Are scriptures that I learned when I was a boy And so my application to you parents

Is Do whatever you can to expose your children to the

Word of God have them in the house of God Where you've got where you've got a man called of God who studies the scriptures to labor to understand what the scriptures?

mean and it and to share what they mean to you and To apply to you bring them to hear the man of God and teachers

Expound the Word of God so they can they can absorb that word while they are young Timothy you you had a mother and you had a

Grandmother who shared the Word of God with you from the time you were in the cradle

May God be pleased to bless our families such that they will grow to love the

Lord Jesus Christ not because Okay, God can use us as instruments, but we know in the end that a person is converted because God has revealed

Himself in his son to that person and they've been born again That's why people are saved is because of the sovereign work of God, but God does use us

He does use us and he uses mothers uses grandmothers fathers and grandfathers to bring the little ones to the