The Transfiguration: Powerful Sermon

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Peter thinks that he, Jesus, is to be honored like the other prophets.

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He's to be honored like the other prophets. And what he learns from the father is that when they're dealing with Jesus, they're dealing with something wholly new.

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I just wanna point you to this passage. You don't have to go to it. I just wanna read it for you. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15, this is a prophecy about the one who's coming.

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It says, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, that's

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Moses, from among you, from your brothers. It is to him you shall listen.

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Now, isn't it amazing in the Old Testament, Moses actually says, God's gonna raise up a prophet like me from among you, and you are to listen to him.

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They get up on top of this mountain. Moses is there. The father says, here he is, the one who

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I've raised up out of the people, just like you. Listen to him. It's the fulfillment of that prophecy in Deuteronomy 18, 15.

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Listen to the coming prophet, the one who now has arrived. Moses and Elijah are not irrelevant.

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This would be a wrong way to read this passage. Well, God says, no, you listen to Jesus now, so you don't need

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Moses and Elijah, you don't need the prophets. That's not what God is saying here. It's not that they are now irrelevant.

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It's that Christ is the peak from which we're to view everything else.

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Now it says, verse nine, 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. That's a prophecy of his death and his resurrection, and it happened.

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And the disciples asked him, then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? He answered,

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Elijah does come, and he'll restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come. And they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased, so also the

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Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the

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Baptist. I wanna summarize this by saying, I think this passage is incredible testimony to the faithfulness of God that he keeps his promises.

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Just consider, Moses and Elijah were constantly foreshadowing and foretelling the story of Jesus.

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It's all pointing forward to Jesus as the ultimate. The Old Testament is giving direct prophecy.

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For example, Deuteronomy 18, the Lord your God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers, you shall listen to him.

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That's one prophecy amongst so many. Direct prophecy, Jesus is coming.

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God keeps his covenant promises. Oh yeah, Elijah's supposed to come first. Jesus says he did, and they did to him whatever they wanted, it was

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John the Baptist. Just like it was foretold, he showed up, he will restore all things.

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And just like that Old Testament prophecy said, Elijah comes first, forerunner, then

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Jesus, then covenant, judgment, and redemption. It all happened just like God said.

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Everything taking place throughout our Bibles is yes and amen, all of God's promises, all of his prophecies.

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And not only watch in this moment do you have all these prophecies fulfilled in this one moment on a mountaintop and the glory of God shining through, but you also have

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Jesus once again testifying. I'm gonna suffer, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna rise from the dead.

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They could not completely understand that, but everything Jesus said happened. God said the forerunner's gonna come,

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Messiah's gonna come, then they will be judged and redemption will follow. It all happened in the first century.

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Jesus says I'm gonna die and rise again. It all happened. So I wanna end with this point.

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When you read a text like Matthew chapter 17 about the transfiguration, it's this swirl of pattern predictions fulfilled in this moment on top of a mountain.

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It's this swirl of specific prophecies predicted Jesus fulfills them.

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And then more promises are being made. But I think the powerful thing to think about is that when

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Jesus, with his entrance into the world, he changes the nature of our relationship with the

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Father to remove our sin, to remove our fear, to bring us into an entirely new way with God.

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And all of his promises are sure and guaranteed and yes and amen, and there's no question.

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So when I read this text, I think about God's faithfulness throughout time. And I think about my unfaithfulness.

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And I think about my inconsistencies. And I think about my failures as a follower of Jesus.

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I think about my failures as a father, as a husband, as a human being. I think about my sins and my inconsistencies.

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And I'm reminded in a moment like this on a mountaintop with Jesus that God doesn't have the same problems that I do.

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God is faithful to his covenant promises. God is faithful to all of his promises.

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When God says something's gonna happen, it happens. Nothing can alter it. And there are times where I hear something from God, watch, and I think, wow, that's amazing.

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And I can tell in this passage, we don't understand the half of it. It is so much bigger and more glorious.

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And if we could just have heaven and earth split for just a moment, we would see that it's more than we ever thought it was.

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And it would change us. So my question to you is this, how do you respond to this moment in history that Peter says he was an eyewitness to his majesty?

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How do you respond to it? Is it just an amazing story? Is that it? Is it just an awesome moment in history that shows how awesome

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Jesus is? Or are there things connected to this story that do relate to you very personally and intimately in your relationship with the

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Father? Can I ask you, are you in that place where you hear the Father's voice and you're still in fear and trembling on the ground?

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Or can you hear the voice of Jesus? Can you feel his touch where he says, you don't have to be afraid?

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Do you think God is like you? Half fulfilled promises, inconsistency, jaded, indifferent?

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Or do you see in a moment like this that God is actually the faithful one? He is the sure foundation. He keeps his word and he is intimately involved in everything that is going on here.

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Can you see in this moment that God hasn't forgot his promises, that he keeps them? Can you see in this moment that God isn't like you?

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And so here's the call. God says that Jesus is returning to judge the living and the dead.

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God says that he's gonna redeem and restore the world. God says, watch, whoever has the

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Son has the life. Whoever does not have the Son does not have the life, but the wrath of God abides in him.

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How do you respond to that? Will you repent and believe in the good news? Will you come to the

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Father through the Son and receive the Father's love and blessing and salvation and redemption?

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How will you respond to this message of God? Because here's the thing. Peter actually had a word from God, it's kind of powerful.

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He had a word from God. Peter, you're gonna die a martyr's death. So Peter even tells you,

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I'm coming to the end here, guys. I know I'm about to be killed. He knew it.

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He knew he had some time, but he knew he was gonna be martyred. You and I don't know that we have tonight or tomorrow morning or this week.

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You and I don't know how much time we have given to us by God to live in the world that he's created.

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So here's the question, what will you do with Jesus? Because you see, what's amazing is in this moment, the disciples of Jesus, those who knew

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God and were saved by Jesus, these guys had every reason to be told by Jesus, do not be afraid.

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Why? Because Jesus is standing between us and the Father. That's why they had no reason to be afraid. But let me just say, if you face

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God in eternity, if you stand before God without Christ as your mediator, if you stand before God without him standing between you and the

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Father as an intercessor, then that majesty and glory will be something to be afraid of.

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That majesty and glory will be terrifying and not a delight. If you don't have

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Christ, then when you hear the Father's voice, you have everything to be afraid of because you'll then meet

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God not as savior and friend and lover of your soul. You'll meet God as judge.

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You'll meet God as perfect judge who will always do right. And so here's the question.

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Will you come to Christ, the glorious one, the God -man who loves and saves his people?

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Will you come to him to trust in him and his work? Or will you continue to turn the other way?

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And for my brothers and sisters in here who have found yourself in a pattern of sin, you found yourself in a pattern of indifference.

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You found yourself in a pattern of honestly feeling like giving up. Maybe you find yourself after 20 years of being in Christ still struggling with the same things, feeling this is about as far as you can go in your relationship with God because I'm not changing.

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Maybe God's gonna leave me the way that I am. Will you see that God is faithful?

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And when he makes promises to change you and to be there for you and to embrace you and to fill you and to empower you, that that is a promise that you can keep.

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It's as sure and as amen as every promise that led to the transfiguration. So what will you do with God's promises?

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Will you embrace them? Will you rejoice in them? Or will you be indifferent? We're gonna come now to prayer and then baptism and then the