John Pt. 28 | John 5:37-47

The Father’s Witness to the Son in John 5

Alright, if you will take your copy of the Scriptures and turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 5. This will be our last week in chapter 5. This is our 28th message. Again, we will consider, in light of verses 37 through 47, our main text will be in 46 and 47.

John 5, verses 37 through 47. Our glorious God, Lord, we come to you in the name of Jesus. And Lord, we ask by His name, you will use me this day as a plate so that your people may feast on the bread that has come down from heaven.

Lord, please let me not stand here in my own power, but in my weakness you give me strength. Lord, we love you. And we come to you asking for mercy. In Christ's name. Amen. I'm going to begin reading the text.

Verse 37. Jesus speaking to the religious Jewish leadership. And the Father who sent me, He has bore witness about me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. And you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that bear witness about me. And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have wife. I do not receive glory from men, but I know you.

That you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my Father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that is from the only God?

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. If you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?

The Means of Scripture and the Problem of Unbelief

As most of you know, I am a huge, huge martial arts fan. MMA, I've been watching the UFC since I was 18 years old. A recent new fighter within the last three years by the name of Sean O'Malley was on a podcast speaking.

And he was speaking about a guy named Habib Nurmagomedov. Habib Nurmagomedov is a Muslim. And he was speaking about how he was raised in a Christian household and he knows Christians. And he has lost respect for Christianity after watching the way these Muslims conduct themselves.

He says that he understands their faith by the way that these Muslims live. And he denies our faith because he sees the way Christians live. Our theme for this Lord's Day is the means of Scripture. And my proposition is the same as it was last week and the week before.

If you do not believe that Jesus and the Father are equal, remember they're co-equal, co-eternal, then you do not believe the Scriptures. It is entirely possible to spend your whole life studying the Word of God and not pick up what it's dropping.

Jesus here in our text is exposing this Jewish leadership to that very thing. To that very thing. They've spent their whole life studying the Scriptures and they're not picking up what it's dropping. Not only have they read their Scriptures their entire life, right?

But for the most part they had them memorized. Imagine being able to quote the entire five books of Moses. These guys could. And Jesus in our text is telling them they've missed something. And the what that they have missed is standing right before them.

They weren't picking up what it was dropping. Jesus in verse 37, He tells them, You have neither heard His voice nor seen His form. And yet the Word that became flesh is standing before them speaking.

A few weeks ago we started looking at how God gave witness of His Son. One of the points that was made here was that He gave witness through the Scriptures. And at that point we call the means of Scripture.

So in our outline today we're going to expound on that third point, which is our theme, the means of Scripture. And we will do so by using our last subheading of a paragraph that we started a couple weeks ago.

Our first point was God spoke in Scripture. The second point was carnal man do not accept the Scripture. So we spoke, we walked through that the first week. And last week we looked at the Scriptures accuse you to the Father, which was our third point.

And our fourth point is the Scriptures bear witness of the Son. And as we transition, last week we saw that the Scriptures are all sufficient, inerrant, and infallible. So I'm going to kind of just put that into a sentence to close that up.

All sufficient meaning they are enough. Inerrant meaning they are without error. Infallible meaning they are perfect. Perfect being that the Scriptures are perfect. That tells us it is impossible for them to err.

Therefore, they are enough. That puts the bow on that conversation of sufficiency, inerrancy, and infallibility. So when we look at our fourth subheading, the Scriptures bear witness of the Son, this has taken us from verse 46 to 47.

Moses, the Promised Prophet, and the Proto-Evangelium

Let's read that real quick. Again, Jesus speaking. For if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me. If you, the religious Jews, believed Moses, you would have believed Me. For he, Moses, wrote about Me.

But if you do not believe his writings, think the Torah, what they had memorized, how will you believe My words? So far, in this portion of Scripture, we have witnessed Jesus pronouncing an indictment over these religious Jews for rejecting the glory that has come from God.

They would receive glory from one another. You approve of My accolades. I approve of yours. We're boasting in our own works. I'll boast in your works. She boasts in My works. We're receiving that when God sends His glory, which is Christ, they reject it.

This is what they were not picking up as the Scriptures were dropping. We have seen from that very Scripture that we're looking at, the Scriptures that they were looking at, they were looking to for eternal life, and the very ones, the Scriptures, this Torah, these five books that they had memorized, that they were looking to for eternal life, Jesus says in verse 45, was accusing them.

He says, Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. The one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. So Moses wrote the five books of the Bible, this portion of the Scripture they were looking to for eternal life.

Keep the law and live. Break the law and be removed from the land. They were looking to this law as a way of self-justification. Remember, Ezekiel 36, talking about the heart of stone. The heart of stone, the heart of self-righteousness, this law that they were looking to, it was written on their heart.

They were trying to keep it, not to please God, but to please man. And it had become their own means of justification. And that's not how God purposed it. So in our time together today, we're going to see Jesus stick the knife in a little further and twist it the opposite way.

But in order to prove my subheading, which is the Scriptures bear witness of the Son, I must do so by giving my subheadings, a subheading, three subpoints, right? That's how you know you're a true Baptist.

My point has three subheadings, four subheadings, and now my last subheading has three subpoints, which is prophecy, I mean promises, prophecies, and shadows. So my first subpoint is promises. My second subpoint is prophecies.

And my third is shadows. And I'm going to let verse 46 steer this vehicle. So let's look at that one more time. Verse 46, Jesus says, If you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote about me.

So here's the question. Is there a clear passage of Scripture where Moses spoke about Jesus? And I know you're thinking, yeah, you can probably just yell it out to me. And if y 'all talked a little more, I'd ask you, and you would yell it back to me.

But I believe the Gospel of John directs us to this passage that we're looking for. In the Gospel of John, chapter 1, remember, as John is going through this Gospel, he's always reaching back to the first chapter, and he's sprinkling it in through the whole book.

That's my observation. John chapter 1, John the Baptist was questioned, and one of the questions were, Are you the prophet? Look at verse 19. And this is the witness of John. Speaking of John the Baptist, When the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?

And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. Then they asked him, What then are you, Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, No. So I believe Moses, when he spoke about Jesus, he is speaking about the prophet.

Also in John chapter 1, verse 45, Philip alludes to this. Verse 45 of chapter 1, And Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Philip mentions to Nathanael that we have found him whom Moses wrote about. Not only Moses, but the prophets have prophesied to us about. We have found him. So now I want to look at where Moses wrote, where he spoke to the Israelites about him.

So if you would turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy chapter 18. Remember, this is the last book of the five books of Moses. You can look in your Bible, go to the end and think, These Jews that he is speaking to had this memorized word for word.

Look at verse 15. This is Moses speaking. Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. You shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of Yahweh your God in Herber on the day of the assembly saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God.

Let me not see this great fire anymore or I will die. And Yahweh said to me, They have spoken well. I will raise up a prophet from among their brothers like you. And I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

And it will be that whoever will not listen to the words which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him. Moses here is speaking clearly, right? Clear as crystal. Saying Yahweh their God, our God, is going to raise up from their brothers, meaning the Jews, a prophet.

And they, the Jews, are to listen to him. Now right here is key. It's key. They are to listen to him. If this is Jesus that we're speaking about, we see that they are not listening to him when we get into the Gospels.

This is whoever does not listen to him, it will be required of him, meaning they will be judged. I believe one way Moses to be speaking here is by way of promises. So sub-point number one, promises. Listen to verse 15 again.

Yahweh your God will raise up from you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. Listen to him. So the key words that we're looking at in promises is from your brothers. This tells us that the coming prophet will be an Israelite.

Right? He's not going to be a Jebusite. He's going to be an Israelite. And I do believe Moses to be referring to the Messiah, which points us to the Proto-Evangelium. The Proto-Evangelium is an announcement of the one who was to come that would defeat the snake.

This is the first proclamation of the first coming of Jesus Christ. And this Proto-Evangelium, this proclamation is a curse to the snake, to Satan, but it is a promise to Adam and Eve. And it is a promise to you and I.

But to you and I, this promise has been fulfilled. He tells the snake, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, and he, this seed that's coming from the woman, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

He will bruise his heel that there's coming from a woman a seed, a male child that is going to defeat him. And this male child that's going to defeat him will be bruised. And I would say this speaking of the crucifixion, Jesus coming in time, which takes us to the promised seed of Abraham that will receive a land and a nation.

Abraham was promised a seed, and that seed will receive a land, and through this he would bless the nations. That seed would travel by way of genealogy from Abraham to Isaac, from Isaac to Jacob, from Jacob to Judah, and from Judah to David, and so on and so forth until we get to Jesus the Nazarene.

If you wish to finish reading in chapter 1 of John, where Philip was witnessing to Nathanael, he said, Jesus from Nazareth, he said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And yet we believe that he is the promised seed who inherits the land and through him has blessed the nations.

So yes, something good came from Nazareth. Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews. We'll be in the second chapter. Hebrews 2, we'll begin reading at verse 5. Think as I'm reading that promise. Think as I'm reading your brothers.

And think as I'm reading the prophet. Verse 5. For God did not subject the word hypotasso, to give control of, subject to angels the world to come concerning which we are speaking. But he has testified somewhere saying, what is man that you remember him?

I'm going to add here, from among your brothers. What is man that you remember him? Moses gave a prophecy. From among your brothers. Or the son of man that you are concerned about him, you have made him for a little while lower than the angels.

You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have appointed him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection, hypotasso, remember, in control, under his feet. For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing outside.

He left nothing that is not subjected to him. But tell me how true these words are. But now we do not yet see all things in subjective to him. That's still, right? Look outside. The Bible tells us that everything is in subjection to Jesus Christ.

Everything is being put under his feet. We look outside. I don't see it. I don't see it. Well, the text answers. But we do not see all things in subjection to him. What do we see? Same thing that this is telling us.

But we do see him who was made lower, who was made for a little while lower than the angels, Jesus, because of his suffering death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.

This is telling us that he became a man to taste death. Verse 10, for it was fitting for him, for whom all things, and through whom all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering.

The word here, perfect, is teleu. And it means to be made complete. That in Jesus coming to earth, dying, suffering for our sins, this was a part of who he is. This, him coming into time, taking on flesh, living the life we could not live, taking our punishment in his death, completes him.

For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all one, for which reasons he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, now listen, he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will recount your name to my brothers.

In the midst of the assembly, I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children that God has given me. Therefore, since the children had to share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook in the same, that through death he might render powerless.

Him who had the power of death, that is Satan. He is the seed that came to crush the head of the snake and might free those who through fear of death were subjected to slavery all their lives. For surely he does not give help to angels, but he helps the seed of Abraham.

Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in all things so that he might be the merciful and faithful high priest pertaining to God to make propitiation, think, a payment for their wrongdoing, a propitiation for sins, for the sins of the people.

For he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered. He is able to come to the help of those who are tempted. The Son of God had to be made like his brothers in all things. And one of the reasons why is he had to be a high priest.

In order to be a high priest, you had to come from the Jewish descent. He had to be a Hebrew. And in becoming a high priest, he is both the one who sacrificed and he is the sacrifice. And this is how propitiation is made.

This is how reconciliation was made. He lived the life. He took our punishment. And he had to do so by becoming a Jew, by becoming a Hebrew. Moses tells the Israelites that God is going to raise up a prophet like him from among them, from your brothers.

The writer who I believe is Paul in Hebrews is telling them that Jesus the Nazarene came, had to be made like them in every way. And he's saying that the one who's come, that everything's in subjection to, the world is going to listen to him, is their brother.

Prophecies, Shadows, and the Greater Moses

So point number two, prophecies. When we examine Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, we see that this is a prophecy. Your God will raise up for you a prophet like me. That is a prophecy. Moses is speaking with a prophetic voice, that God was going to send them a prophet like him, and they are to listen to him.

Again, this prophecy is pointing to the promises. And it is giving more information concerning the promise. Moses is telling us that the promised one, this one, this Messiah, this promised one who was going to come from the Jews, is going to be a prophet.

And not just any prophet. A prophet like Moses. He said a prophet like him. Moses turned the now into blood. Jesus turned water into wine. Moses parted the Red Sea. Jesus walked on the stirred up waters.

Under the ministry of Moses, God gave the Israelites manna. Jesus is the bread of God, which comes down from heaven. Moses saw the backside of God's glory. Jesus is the glory that comes from the only God.

Moses spoke to God face to face like a man speaks to his friend. Jesus is God. And in his omnipresence, he has fellowship with the Father, and whatever he sees the Father doing, that which he does. And since the Israelites did not obey Moses, under the ministry of Moses did not obey, they were wandering in the desert for 40 years.

And since the Israelites did not listen to the voice of Jesus, Jesus required it of them, and 40 years later, Jerusalem was destroyed. The ministry of Moses ends at the Jordan River. The ministry of Jesus begins at the Jordan River.

And as we transition, ladies and gentlemen, I kept going. Like, there was so many. Like, there was so many. I said, well, they're not going to let me stay up here too long. So many. And nor would you want me to preach my last sub-point and give it points, right?

Give my sub-point sub-headings. So sub-point number three, shadows. I want to turn your attention to Deuteronomy chapter 34. Deuteronomy chapter 34. We'll begin reading in verse 4. Then Yahweh said to him, the hymn here is Moses, This is the land in which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed.

I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. So Moses, the servant of Yahweh, died there in the land of Moab, according to the command of Yahweh. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite to Beth Peor.

But no man knows the burial place to this day. For Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his vigor abate. So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

Listen to this. Now Joshua, the son of Nun, was filled with the spirit of wisdom. For Moses had laid his hand on him, and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as Yahweh commanded Moses. Seems pretty dark right there, and then verse 10 kicks in.

Dark for us, probably light for them. And there has not yet arisen a prophet like Moses whom Yahweh knew face to face. As you're reading it, you're thinking, is this the one? Is this the prophet that Moses was speaking about?

Is it Joshua? But the condition was he had to be like Moses and know God face to face. And then it gets into in regards to signs and wonders. The Gospel of John, and specifically when speaking of the miracles of Jesus, does not call them miracles, but signs and wonders.

The Gospel of John points to the five books of Moses so, so much. It would be impossible for my small brain to point out everything. But listen to what it says. In regard to signs and wonders which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all the servants in all the land, in regards to the mighty power, in regards to all the great terror which Moses did in the sight of Israel.

Again, Moses did signs and it showed destruction. Jesus does signs that point to reconciliation. Verse 9 tells us that they were to listen to Joshua. Verse 10 tells us, but Joshua is not the prophet. He's not because he does not, it says Yahweh does not know him face to face.

Let's go to the Gospel of John, again chapter 1. I mentioned earlier that Jesus in his omniscience, him being God and in his omniscience can see the Father and they can have fellowship. Let's look at John chapter 1 verse 1.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. So we got to look at real quick and I know everyone of y 'all know this. Who is the Word? Verse 14 tells us and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory.

Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. So when it says Word here in verse 1, the Word is speaking about Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, Jesus, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

The Greek here where it talks about the Word was with God is ton logos in pros ton theos. This is telling us that they were together. The Greek here is saying that two persons are together. They are together.

They are in present, in fellowship with one another. In ton logos in pros ton theos. But then verse 2, thank you verse 2, says he was in the beginning with God. This is the strongest way in the Greek that you could say this.

It's a hutus. Hutus in... I lost my breath. Hutus in arcae pros ton theos. Hutus in arcae pros ton theos. There is no stronger way to say that two people are standing together from the beginning, face to face, in present, in fellowship with one another.

The hutus is pointing to the logos. So when you say hutus, the English would say he, the nearest antecedent is pointed to the Word. The Word is with God. And it says he was in the beginning with God. In arcae pros ton theos.

There's no stronger language in the Greek that can tell you that two persons are together. Jesus was with the Father. Jesus and the Father were face to face since the beginning. Listen, we don't understand beginning here, right?

We're just talking about from the beginning of time. Robert talks about... How do you say it, Robert? From a past to present? We have no understanding. We can only understand what our little minds will allow us to understand.

We cannot understand eternity. We cannot understand infinity. We have little bitty minds. And this is telling us that Jesus and the Father have always been face to face. In arcae pros ton theos. There's never been a time where they were not face to face.

Moses spoke with God face to face. Jesus, the Word became flesh, was and is face to face with the Father. Israel was told to listen to Joshua, but Joshua did not know Yahweh. Yahweh did not know Joshua face to face.

And I can imagine Adam and Eve holding Seth, right? Cain has killed Abel. God has given them Seth and them thinking, Is this the one? Is this the one who's going to redeem us? We have broken God's law.

We have been sentenced. We have been cursed. An offspring is going to come from the woman. Is this the one? Or Abraham looking at Isaac thinking, Is he the one? Is this the one that's going to redeem us?

And so on and so forth throughout their generations. Looking for the snake crushing seed that will come and inherit the land and bless the nations. Ladies and gentlemen, it wasn't Seth. It wasn't Abraham.

It wasn't Isaac. It wasn't Jacob. It wasn't Judah. It wasn't Moses. It was not Joshua. It wasn't David. It wasn't Solomon. It wasn't Rehoboam. It wasn't Elijah. It wasn't Elisha. It wasn't Ahaz. It wasn't Hezekiah, nor was it Manasseh.

It wasn't Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, nor Malachi. It was none of them. These men, these ones that I just named, these kings and these prophets were only a shadow of the God-man who was both king and prophet.

So the question is, does the Scripture bear witness of the Son? And I say, absolutely. And promises, prophecies, and shadows. But you can study this book your whole life and not pick up what is dropping.

And truth be told, there is no way that I could break down for you today the well that's in here, right? The well of sermons is much deeper than a hundred sermons. It would take for me to break down the prophecies, to break down the promises, the prophecies, and the shadows.

As a matter of fact, I think I would have a better chance of feeding the hungry with what little money I have on my card than to avail to you all the promises, all the prophecies, and all the shadows in my lifetime of preaching.

And they all lead to the feet of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells these religious Jews in our chapter, chapter 5 of John, beginning in verse 46, for if you believed Moses, think about the knife he's putting into him and he's twisting it.

If you truly believe what you say you believe, what you're looking to, what your hope is in, if you truly believed him, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, these writings that they have memorized, these writings that they're looking to for life, he says, but if you do not believe them, how will you believe me?

He's telling them that the reason why you don't believe me is that because you don't believe Moses. You don't believe Moses. When he says that he wrote about me, he's speaking about the law. He says you don't believe the writings of Moses.

He says Moses' writings are the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. You can't have the Word of God without Jesus. This group of Jews knew that a prophet like Moses was coming and that if they don't listen to him, it would be required of them.

They who were trying to indict Jesus for healing a lame man on the Sabbath and making himself equal with God by calling God his father are now in the hot seat as Jesus turns everything around and renders to them an indictment on them for rejecting the glory that has come from God.

Jesus is telling them the very scriptures you trust, think Moses, think the law, accuses you to the Father. No, Moses is not whispering in the Father's ear the people who missed us. But we have broken that law, and that law which we have broken condemns us.

And the only way for anyone to find life is if Jesus' life was lived for them and Jesus' death was died for them. And if it is not, that law accuses us to the Father. First use of the law. So now I turn to you.

And I turn to you not because you don't believe. I mean, some of you might not. I turn to you because you believe. I turn to you because if your faith is in Christ, then you are God's people. Right? If your faith is in Christ, you are God's people.

Moses was faithful over God's people as a servant. Jesus is faithful, is. Notice the was and the is. Moses was faithful over God's people as a servant. Jesus is faithful over God's people, not as a servant, as a son.

Christ Greater Than Moses and the Call to Hear the Son

Turn with me one more time to Hebrews. We'll look at chapter 3 real quick. Hebrews chapter 3. Listen to the baton changing, right? Like something happens here. Therefore, holy brothers, partakers... Remember, this book is written to Jews.

It's written to the Hebrews. Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him as Moses also was in all his house.

For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, and so much as a builder of a house has more honor than the house. Why does a builder have more honor than the house? A builder can continue to build houses, right?

If the world was like if there was some kind of a chaos, you know, I watched a movie six, seven, eight months ago, and it was like this destruction, this world in the movie. And one of the things that the higher-ups knew that they needed was a builder.

They needed someone who could build, because if you don't have a builder in the future, you're not going to have houses. They weren't trying to take houses into this place. They needed a builder who could build houses.

The builder has more glory than the building. And then it says in verse 4,. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were spoken later.

But Christ was faithful as a son over his house. Listen, whose house we are. If we hope fast, the confidence of our boast of hope. Therefore, just as the scripture says, Today if you hear his voice, remember as we're talking about preaching the gospel, I'm preaching the gospel.

John chapter 5 tells us that you have to hear the voice of Jesus in order to be reconciled. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tried me by testimony.

I saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation and said, They always go astray in their hearts and they did not keep my ways. As I have sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

We know that Hebrews is an expositional sermon of Psalm 83. Speaking of they did not believe God, so because they did not believe God, they did not enter his rest. Moses was also a part of that generation who got to see the land, but did not get to enter the land.

And that was all at the Jordan River. So in this text right here, Hebrews chapter 3, just a few things I want to point out and I'll close. Jesus is greater than Moses inasmuch as the builder of the house is greater than the building.

The question is, God being the builder and the people are his house, is God greater than us? God's the builder. We are his house. Is God greater than us? A house can't create a builder. We do not formulate God.

God created us. He is greater than us. And if he is greater than us, and he is, this text is telling us that inasmuch as God is greater than us, Jesus is greater than Moses. And yet people, even today, still look to Moses.

Hebrews chapter 1 tells us that God once spoke by way of prophets and in many portions and in many ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us in his son. One more scripture and we'll close. Matthew chapter 17.

This is the Mount of Transfiguration. I want you to see the baton that's being changed here. Jesus tells, and it says, verse 1,. And six days later Jesus brought with him Peter and James and John his brother, and he led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. Again, I could have touched back on Moses and how he, when he saw God, his face changed. Or even this point right here says,.

Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him, and Peter answered and said to him, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

And while he was still speaking, behold, a cloud overshadowed them, pointing back to that cloud that overshadowed the Israelites. There's so many connections you can make with Moses and Jesus. But the point that I want to bring out today is the voice that comes from the cloud.

Let's read verse 5 again. And while they were speaking, behold, so while the three apostles, the disciples, are willing to make booths, tents, for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, a voice comes from the cloud.

It says,. And while he was speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Pointing us back to Deuteronomy 18, 15.