Where Do We Find This Light?

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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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

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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Matthew, Chapter 17, verses 1 through 9. After six days, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John and his brother and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

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He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun. His clothes became as light.

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And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good we are here.

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If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.

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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

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I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and they were terrified.

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But Jesus came and touched them saying, rise, have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

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And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, tell no one the vision until the

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Son of Man is raised from the dead. This is the Gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus.

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Brothers and sisters, there is a fascinating thing happening within the Visible Church today and that is this chasing after the glory.

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Now you may have heard it talked about in Pentecostal or Charismatic circles. And I always find it very fascinating that when they talk about the glory, they add a whole bunch of syllables to the word.

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It becomes the glory, something like that. And as a result of it, there are many people today who are chasing after religious experiences with God.

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And there's a lot of nonsense being spoken about, nonsense such as, I saw the glory come into the church and I was whisked up into the third heaven, spent time with Jesus at Starbucks, and we even stopped by his wine cellar and I got drunk in the spirit.

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I wish I was making this up. This is actually a real problem. But you'll notice that with our reading today, our

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Gospel reading, we have an encounter, a religious experience. Peter, James, John, they all went up on a mountain.

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Hmm, important things happen on mountains. Pay attention to that. They went up on a mountain and there

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Jesus was transfigured before their eyes and you can say this was the religious experience of all religious experiences.

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In fact, I know some charismatics who would sell their mothers into slavery to have an experience like this and I wish I was making that up.

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That's how much they chase after these types of things. And yet, in our Epistle text today,

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Peter does something very fascinating. He takes that shining

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Jesus, shining in all of his glory, and he puts him somewhere.

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And so the question before us today is, where did Peter put the shining Jesus? That's the question that we're going to answer, but you know me,

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I like to ramble a little bit. So we're going to start in our Old Testament text and we're going to kind of let a story unfold in order to answer this question.

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And so our first question before us as we're answering a bigger question, as we're on this journey, is have you ever stopped to wonder, when did the writing of the

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Bible begin? Have you ever stopped? When did it start? You know, when we talk about building a building, we talk about that cornerstone, the cornerstone was laid or something symbolic that begins the building of an important edifice.

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We do it with all of our major skyscrapers and things like that. And you can look, if you were traveling in a major city, you can look at a building and you find that cornerstone and it'll tell you what year that building was built.

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Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the Bible has a cornerstone? Does it?

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Well, let's review. We've been working our way through the book of Exodus, and let's just kind of ask a question.

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Has Moses had time by Exodus 24 to begin the important work of writing the

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Bible? He seems like he's had a pretty busy schedule. I know something about busy schedules. But let's kind of review, look back through his calendar, if you would.

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And we remember that, well, Moses, remember, he was on the run. He was a fugitive.

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He had murdered an Egyptian and his face was plastered all over the Egyptian post offices.

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And every Saturday night on Egypt's Most Wanted, his face, have you seen this man?

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And of course, he wasn't too far away. He was in Midian. He had gotten married, had some children, and now he's a shepherd.

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And he spent 40 years outside of Egypt after being raised in the palace of Pharaoh, right?

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And the Lord appears to him, gives him an assignment. Moses tries to weasel his way out of it.

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You know, I've chosen you for this grand, important task. You're going to go and set my people free.

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And Moses says, please send someone else. But that didn't work. And so he finds himself back in Egypt.

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We have the 10 plagues and all of his meetings face to face with hard -hearted

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Pharaoh. And then finally with the Passover, the children of Israel are brought out of Egypt right to the

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Red Sea. The sea parts, they're delivered from their enemies. And no sooner do they get across will they begin to grumble and they need water and food and things like that.

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And God splits the rock of Horeb to give them water and feeds them manna from heaven. And we're all familiar with this because we've been working our way through this narrative as we've been doing

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Sundays. So up to this point, Moses has been a busy fellow.

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So busy he hasn't been able to grab his parchment and quill and begin that wonderful first part of Genesis.

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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He has not begun the project yet, right?

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So when did the foundation, the cornerstone of scripture get laid?

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Answer in our Old Testament text. Did you see it? Did you see it? Well, let's go back through and see if I can point this out to you.

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And by the way, this has everything to do with our big question today. Where did Peter put the shining

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Jesus? Believe me, it has everything to do with that. Here's what it says. Exodus 24, verse 8.

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We're going to note a few important things as we work back through this. Moses took the blood, the blood of the covenant, threw it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the covenant the

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Lord has made with you in accordance with all of these words. Blood sprinkled people.

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That sounds like us, does it not? You're thinking, when was

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I sprinkled with blood? Right there. Many of you write in that very baptismal font.

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The blood of Christ mixed with the waters of baptism makes a baptism, right? You are blood sprinkled people.

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Then the next verse. Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and the 70 of the elders of Israel, they went up and they saw the

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God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone like the very heaven for clearness and he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel.

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They beheld God and they ate and they drank, eating in the presence of God, a meal with God, a covenant meal with God.

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That sounds a lot like, hmm. So here we have blood sprinkled people, those who are eating an important meal with the

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Lord, which we do every time we have the Lord's Supper. And then these words. So Yahweh said to Moses, come up to me onto the mountain, wait there so that I may give you tablets of stone with the law and the commandments which

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I have written for their instruction. And there it is.

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Here in Exodus 24, we see that the cornerstone of the Bible itself, the beginning of the project of writing the scriptures for our instruction begins with God himself.

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And he writes the 10 commandments in his own handwriting on stone. And that's where the

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Bible begins. And it's for our instruction. It's for the instruction of those who are sprinkled with the blood of the covenant, who eat in fellowship with God.

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That's us. Because we have been grafted into Israel. And with that, let's take a look at our gospel text today.

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Matthew 17. We're going to note some important things going on in this text. Matthew 17, starting at verse 1.

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After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

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Important to note this in the Old Testament. In order to establish a thing, there has to be at least two witnesses.

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Jesus takes two plus one, a little bit more than what is necessary. And right before them,

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I think there's a word missing here in the Greek text between verses 1 and 2.

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The word is boom. It really should go like this. So he led them up to the high mountain by themselves, and boom, he was transfigured before them.

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You can imagine, that's got to be what it's like. I mean, there's Jesus and all of a sudden, whoa! He was transfigured before them.

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His face shone like the sun. His clothes became white as light.

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And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

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There it is, Jesus. In all of his glory. And who is it that appears with him? Well, if we think about the

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Old Testament, the Old Testament, the Hebrews call it the Tanakh. And the Tanakh has kind of two primary pillars.

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The first part of the Tanakh is written by Moses. These are the first five books of the Bible. And then as we understand history as it's revealed even within the scriptures itself, the next part of the scriptures is compiled by the prophets.

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So in much the same way that we elect congressmen and senators and we send them to Washington to represent us, here in, well,

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Jesus' transfiguration, two representatives of the entire Old Testament show up.

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Moses and Elijah. Moses representing Torah, Elijah representing the prophets, and there they are conversing with Jesus.

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If you do your cross -reference work in the book of Luke, we learn that they were having a conversation with Jesus about his, and this is what's fun, they bring a

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Hebrew word into the Greek text in Luke, about Jesus' exodus, his departure.

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Hmm, important stuff. So there he is. There's Moses and Elijah, two primary pillars of the

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Old Testament. They appeared with him and then Peter, like Peter is apt to do, says something kind of silly.

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You know, he means well, he's got a lot of zeal, but he needs to temper it with some better understanding.

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He says, Lord, it's good that we're here. He remembers back, because when Moses went up on Mount Sinai to be with the

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Lord, in the presence of the Lord, they were there for a while, remember? Long time.

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So long was Moses up on the mountain that when he finally came down, you know, he came back to the children of Israel, well, they had given up.

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Well, we don't know what happened to him. Thus perished Moses. He was gone for over 40 days, for 40 days, right?

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He's missing. So they thought maybe he died. And so they made a golden calf and they worshipped it.

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You know the story, right? So Peter is thinking, man, we're going to be here for a while. So I have an idea, Lord, let's,

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I'll make you three tents, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. And while that was going on, while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them.

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We saw this exact cloud in the book of Exodus. Overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom

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I am well, please. And here are the words, listen to him, listen to him.

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Now end of our pericope, verse nine, it says this. They were coming down the mountain. Jesus commanded them, tell no one the vision until the son of man is raised from the dead.

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So how do we know about this incident? How do we know about it? Well, after Jesus rose from the dead,

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Peter, James, and John said, oh man, remember that mountain thing that Jesus transfigured? We better write this down.

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Now how many books did Jesus write? Not a one. Not even one.

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I mean, how are we supposed to listen to him if he hasn't written anything, right?

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It's not like he's on videotape. You can't find Jesus on YouTube. And by the way, if you find Jesus on YouTube, that's not

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Jesus just saying. So there you are commanded by the father to listen to Jesus.

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I want to, I want to do this. I think it's important, but how do I do it? Well, remember what

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Jesus said to his apostles, the one who receives you receives me.

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The one who receives me receives the one who sent me. The one who hears you, hears me.

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Ah, now we've got, we got a little bit of a clue here. And so the reason we know about this is because at some later point, the disciples decided we'd better write this down.

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So Lord, it's good we're here. The cloud overshadows them. This is my beloved son with whom

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I am well pleased. Listen to him. And as we work through the book of Exodus, we're going to find out the reaction of the children of Israel.

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When they hear the voice of God at Mount Sinai, they were shaking in their boots.

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Absolutely shaking so much. So the children of Israel eventually say, don't let us talk to God or he'll kill us.

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We're afraid. We're terrified by his voice. You, you Moses, you go. And this is an important thing here.

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So it says the disciples, they fell on their faces and they were terrified when they heard the voice of God.

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There are many people out there claiming that they're hearing God's voice in all different ways. And the one thing they seem to have a supreme lack of is terror.

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And you'll notice over and over and over again in scripture, when people have an encounter with either the one true holy

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God or his angels, their first response is not, Hey, how's it going?

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Fist bump, dude. No, it's ah, important to note. So they're terrified.

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But Jesus came and he touched them saying, rise, have no fear.

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And how is it that we can have no fear when we hear the voice of God? Because we fall so far short, check the 10 commandments.

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If you're confused about this matter, you will have no other gods before me. You will not take God's name in vain.

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You will keep the Sabbath day holy, honor your father and mother. You will not murder. You will not steal.

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You will not covet. You will not commit adultery. Did you see what I'm saying here? We fall so far short, but Jesus has rise and have no fear.

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You see, it's only Jesus who can comfort us in the midst of God's terrifying voice that convicts us of our sin and our shortcoming that shows us just how unholy we are.

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And the reason Jesus is able to say have no fear is because he went to the cross, took our sin upon himself, bled and died in our place so that we would have no fear in the presence of this holy

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God. This is important stuff. So when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

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Wonderful. They saw no one but Jesus and Jesus only.

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And it's to him we are to listen. To him we are to see. Only him.

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Now the question comes up, let's take a look at our epistle text. Second Peter chapter one, 16 through 21, and we're going to note what

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Peter does here. Peter recounts this religious experience.

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Truly, he was in the presence of the glorified Christ. He saw Moses. He saw

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Elijah. He heard the voice of the father. And you're going to note something here that Peter does not say.

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And just as I had this religious experience and was there and experienced the glory, you too need to seek and find this glory and have this kind of experience too.

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It's not what he says. Like not even close. Instead, what Peter does is really fascinating.

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It's as if he takes Jesus in his shining glory and finds a way to put him in the palm of his hand.

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And he puts this shining Jesus in a very specific place and does it for us.

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Watch what he does. And here's what he says, verse 16. We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus isn't a myth. Jesus isn't

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Zeus or Athena. Somebody like that. He says, no, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

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For when He received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved

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Son with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven and we were with Him on the holy mountain.

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See, as he's writing this, you can tell all of this is coming flooding back to him and he can see the whole thing as if it happened just a minute ago.

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And there he sees the shining Jesus. And here's what he says to us. And we have something more sure, something more certain.

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Seriously? Think about this. I mean, if there was ever a life changing experience that we should all probably have, right?

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I mean, we got to go climb a mountain and we need to hear the voice of the

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Father and we need to see the shining Jesus. Peter is saying, listen, those experiences, we were eyewitnesses of them, but we all today, we actually have something more sure and more certain than that.

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And you think about it. How many of us have ever had an experience where we thought, was that real?

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Am I crazy? Maybe my blood sugars were a little low. It could be bad pizza.

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Not that there is such a thing. I just want to make that very clear. There's no such thing as bad pizza. I mean, especially in the morning.

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Oh, have you ever had it for breakfast? Oh, anyway, sorry, I'm distracted. But the thing is, is that an experience is something that may or may not quite be right.

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It may, there may be other things. Seeing isn't always believing. So the question is, where can we go and have certainty regarding this

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Jesus? And watch where he points us. So we ourselves, we heard this voice born from heaven.

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We were with him on the holy mountain. We have something now more sure, more certain. Are you ready?

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The prophetic word translation, the

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Bible. This is more sure and more certain than any experience.

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The prophetic word, and he says this, and you will do well, you Christians, you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.

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And there it is. What does Peter do? He takes Jesus, the transfigured Jesus, shining in all of his bright glory.

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His face like the sun, his clothes white like lightning. And he takes him and he squishes it into the palm of his hands, and then he pushes him through his quill right into the text of Scripture.

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So that now when you open up the Bible, you can't see it with your own eyes.

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But Peter says, that's what it's doing. You open up God's word, and there is the shining

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Jesus, transfigured before our eyes. And the light of his glory is the thing that is instructing us and showing us the way through the darkness that is this world.

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That's the picture that he's painting. So you will do well to pay attention to the prophetic word, to the

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Bible, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

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In fact, here's the idea. These words are not throwaway words. And in the ESV, if you'll note, it says, the day, day is capitalized.

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In the ESV, day is capitalized. So how long are we to be led by the prophetic word, by Jesus shining in the prophetic word?

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Until the day, the day of his return. God wills for us to be instructed, have our sins convicted through his law, as he speaks to us his word of law, and our souls and consciences to be comforted through the word of his gospel.

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In no other place than in the written word of God. Because that's the place that we can say,

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Jesus right now is shining for us. And he will be shining there until he returns.

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And on the day that he returns, the day of his return, then we will see his glory with our own eyes.

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And that's the idea. So pay attention to the prophetic word.

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It is now the lamp shining in a dark place until that day dawns, and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing first of all, no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

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And that's a good thing. With all of the different authors of Scriptures, there's one common author.

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And that common author is God the Holy Spirit. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God, as they were carried along by the

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Holy Spirit. So where did Peter put the shining Jesus? Right into your

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Bible. And there he is for us today. And the light of his glory is leading us.

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Is it not said of Scripture, that it is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path?

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What good is light if you don't use it? And see, here's the thing. Jesus has made himself that light for us.

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And that's where he meets us. That's where he speaks with us. That's where he instructs us.

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And all of this is a gift from God. One that we would be wise to not shun or despise, because man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

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So where do we go to find the shining Jesus? He's not up on a mountain. You won't find him out in the fields.

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You don't have to travel to Jerusalem. He's shining today in his word for you.

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In the name of Jesus, amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue Northwest, Oslo, Minnesota, 56744. And again, that address is

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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue Northwest, Oslo, Minnesota, 56744. We thank you for your support.

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