Transformed

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

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

St. Matthew, the 17th chapter. 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, one for Elijah.

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and the 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 they 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 the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Glory. Yeah, that's an interesting word, isn't it? The world we live in seeks for glory. The Olympics are on right now, and I'm probably not going to watch them this time around.

I'm just kind of fed up about all this nonsense about transgendered people claiming that they are women and being able to compete. Forget it. I'm out. As long as the strong delusion is in place, I've got something else.

But we're all familiar with the Olympics. People training for their entire lives for that moment of glory. The one competition, that final one where they are competing for the gold medal, and the one who rises to the occasion, well, they get to be in the spotlight.

They get to have their moment of glory. In fact, everything about our lives is all about glory. Having the brightest, the shiniest, being the smartest, being the thinnest, being the healthiest. That last part of the list doesn't apply to me.

But you get the idea. We are all about glory. And unfortunately, in many churches, they take the concept of God's glory and they trivialize it with nonsense and whack-or-doodle concepts like soaking in the glory, baking in the glory.

And then you have people who speak so much about glory that I've noted in the past, they take this two-syllable word, glory, and they stretch it out to have 15 syllables. Glory. And this is what they're talking about.

As if somehow God exists to glorify you. Just put it all away. You're the problem. I'm the problem. This isn't about us glorifying ourselves. In fact, as I've been studying out and preparing for this sermon, I'm really coming to appreciate just how deep the theology is as it relates to Transfiguration Sunday.

The Transfiguration and the Meaning of Glory

So we just read out in our Gospel text what happened. Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John with him, led them up a high mountain by themselves. You'll note that oftentimes when Jesus needs witnesses for something, he always takes the required minimum, two, and then he adds one to it.

And you'll note at the end of this, Jesus says, tell nobody what you saw here until after I rose from the dead, which is proof that he rose from the dead because they told everybody about what happened.

But Jesus is more than meets the eye. He's King of kings, Lord of lords, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, right? And that's kind of the big theme of Epiphany. In the Epiphany season, it's all about the revealing of who Jesus is.

It begins with a text that, well, begins to warm us up to the concept with the visit of the Magi who worship the newborn King of the Jews. But wait a second, only God can receive worship. What were these fellows thinking?

But that's kind of the whole point. And then last week's gospel text, you have Jesus asleep in a boat during a storm. Sounds a little familiar, kind of hearkening the Book of Jonah here. And the disciples wake Jesus up.

Don't you care that we're perishing, Lord? Don't you care? And Jesus quiets the storm by talking to it as if it's like a little dog. Settle. Settle. As if he's a Yorkie. Settle. Just work it. Calm down.

And what happens? The storm does. The storm settles and the big question on the table at the end of last week's gospel text is who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? Well, in our gospel text today, shine Jesus, shine.

Out comes the glory of Jesus because he is God of God and that's the big epiphany here. He's the son of David. He's also God the Son, second person of the Holy Trinity. And here's where we do a little comparative work because at Jesus' side, well, a little holy huddle between him and Moses and Elijah.

Why Moses and Elijah? Well, Moses received the law. He is the, if you would, the guy who received this Mosaic Covenant as well as the moral law, the Ten Commandments. And Elijah is this wonderful representative of the prophets.

In fact, Elijah's life, when you consider it, some of the miracles that Elijah performed, they kind of are like precursors to the life of Christ. Elijah's a wonderful type and shadow of Jesus. In fact, Elijah doesn't die.

He ascends up to heaven. Hmm, yeah, kind of appropriate. But you'll note then that when we look at our epistle text that goes along with this, that when Moses comes down after spending more than a month with God in the glory on Mount Sinai, remember the glory of God showed up for a bit, charred the whole top of Mount Sinai.

In fact, it's described in Exodus when the glory of God descended on Mount Sinai, the smoke billowing up looked like it was coming from a furnace. And Moses goes into that glory and he meets with God.

And when he comes down, his face is glowing. He had to put on a burka. How embarrassing, right? But the point is this, is that Moses didn't have any glory in and of himself. This is second-hand glory.

If you would, we can use a church term. This was the afterglow of his experience with God. And it was all coming to an end. But what we need here is a theological explanation. What does it mean that Moses' face glowed?

Why is Jesus shining? What's going on here? And you'll note the comparison between the two, there is no comparison. That's kind of the point. Moses shines, and yeah, he has to put a veil on his face, but Jesus, man, when he shines, it's not second-hand shining, he's shining of his own glory.

And he's bright as the sun, white as all get out. And we learn from the book of Luke that when Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah, a little Hebrew word shows up in the Greek text. It says they were discussing with him about his exodus.

Hmm, interesting themes. But in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, I think this is where we can learn from Scripture what all this glory is about and how it connects with us, because it does. So here's what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 7.

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, not his, which was being brought to an end. Now let me work through the sentence for a second.

Isn't it interesting that Scripture refers to the Mosaic Covenant, the law, as the ministry of death? You see, Scripture is very clear. God gave us the law in order to convict us of our sin. And so the problem is that we oftentimes bear the law a grudge, as if the law has done something terrible to us.

Well, actually it has by killing us, but the law is not the problem. I am. You are. And so when we read in the law, thou shalt have no other gods before me. You will not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy. Honor your father and your mother. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. Do not covet your neighbor's house or your neighbor's wife or his manservant or maidservant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

When we hear these words of God's law, well, here's what happens. The law looks at you and goes, uh-oh, you've done the thing you're not supposed to do, and you're not doing the things you're supposed to do.

And the law kills us. It convicts us and shows us to be guilty and shows that we've got nothing good in and of ourselves. And so Paul here makes a very important theological note, and that is that when the ministry of death arrived on the scene, it arrived with glory.

But here's the important part. The Mosaic covenant was brought to an end. Christ fulfilled it. Now that doesn't mean that the moral law still doesn't stand. It does. But he then asks this question. Will not then the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

And if you think about it, it makes sense that it would. What is the ministry of the Spirit? The good news of the gospel. That Christ died for our sins. That he bodily rose from the grave on the third day.

That this is the ministry of the Spirit that gives us hope, that quickens us, regenerates us, gives us life. And not only life here and now, but life eternal. Will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

And yes, indeed it does, and it should. And so for if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, and there was, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. And it's important to note then theologically when Moses shows up, when Christ is transfigured, Moses isn't shining with his own glory.

The only one shining is Christ, and that's kind of the point. And so scripture makes this point. We should pay attention to it. So he says indeed in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it.

For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, how much more would what is permanent have glory? Now since we have such a hope, we are very bold. Interesting. So watch the comparison here. We Christians now, we have a hope.

A hope based upon this glory, this exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding glory of the ministry of the Spirit. Because we have such a hope, we are bold. Not just bold, really, really bold. Not like Moses.

Moses, when he came down and he was shining, he wasn't bold. He had to veil up. Right? That's why I said he put on a burka. He had to hide everything. Not like Moses, who put on a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

But their minds were hearted. To this day, when they, these Jews, read the Old Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it then taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Now let me highlight these words. We all with unveiled face are currently now beholding the glory of the Lord. Say what? How do you figure? Norwegian Jesus doesn't have an LED light panel, right?

How are we beholding then the glory of the Lord? How are we seeing His glory with unveiled face? Answer, by faith. And this is where we as Christians need to pay very close attention to this. And that is that all this other talk of glory, that is counterfeit glory.

It's not even the real thing. It's a cheap imitation, a substitute. It's like somebody waving a sparkler on the 4th of July going, wow, look at the glory here. Really? Okay, that'll be out in like two seconds.

But the Scripture says we are currently now with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord. How? With the eyes of faith. You see, we see the glory of the Lord in Scripture. And we believe it and we behold it in the words of the Bible.

In fact, that's kind of Peter's point, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So note then that the voice of the Father who was heard then on the Mount of Transfiguration. And I always love this part because when you do the little cross-reference work with this event in the other Gospels, there's Peter, James, and John, and Jesus is shining, talking with Moses and Elijah about his exodus.

And I always kind of picture him because of the other passages that talk about the fact that even at this point he was terrified. He didn't even know what he was saying. You can almost hear him going, Lord, it's good that we're here.

If you wish, I'll make three tents. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. He didn't know what he was talking about. And while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. So there's Jesus' glory and here comes another bright cloud.

Glory upon glory. The glory of the Father shows up. And then the voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. And rather than going, gotcha. Sure. We heard it.

We understand. The disciples, when they heard this, they fell on their faces and they were utterly terrified. So note, interesting here, is that the Father is pointing everybody to Jesus and says, listen to him.

Well, Paul says that we are already with unveiled faces currently now beholding the glory of Christ. And it's important to note here that in Acts chapter 10, Jesus makes it very clear. He's speaking to his disciples who would become the apostles.

He says that the one who hears you hears me. The one who hears me hears the one who sent me. Peter in Acts 10 says to Jesus, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives the forgiveness of sins through his name.

So the idea here is that it is the glory of the Father and we behold the glory of the Son by hearing his voice. And there's only one place to hear that. There's only one place to behold it and that's in the apostolic and prophetic scriptures.

This church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. That doesn't mean we have them to this day. It means that their ministry continues on in the text of scripture and this is where the glory of God is hidden.

So if you think about it, the one who hears the apostles hears Christ. The one who rejects them rejects Christ and rejects the one who sent him. So it's important at this point that we recognize that there's the disciples terrified on their face having heard the voice of the Father glory upon glory.

The whole situation just undid them, which is the normal thing that happens when humans are in the presence of the glory of God. You remember on Mount Sinai the people were terrified after hearing the voice of God and they said to Moses, you go talk to God.

We don't want to hear that voice again. You go. You can almost see them pushing him. You be our brave guide. But here's where we note that Christ tells his disciples. He touches them and says, rise and have no fear.

And the reason why he is able to do that with his apostles and with his disciples is actually quite simple. You see, sounds so healthy. Here's the important bit. The important bit is that in Scripture, important things happen on mountains.

The law was given on Mount Sinai. Christ is transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. But there's one more transformation. There's one more transfiguration that we need to consider. And that is that Christ is going to go to Mount Moriah, sometimes referred to as Mount Zion or Golgotha.

And it is there that Christ experiences the most important transformation and transfiguration as it relates to us. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians. Chapter 5, verse 19. In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.

And he was entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are now ambassadors for Christ, and God is making his appeal through us. So we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

It was for our sake that God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Listen to those words again. God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin. There was one other transfiguration, and that is that God laid on Christ the iniquity of us all.

Every one of your sins, my sins, every transgression, every errant thought, every errant word, every errant and disobedient deed, all the things that we have collectively done against God and racked up the debt that goes along with it, God laid all of that on Christ.

On Golgotha, he was transformed into the sinner of humanity, and he drunk to the dregs the full fury of the wine of the wrath of God in your place and mine. God made him to be the sinner so that we might become the righteousness of God.

And we know from the cross references in Scripture that the gospel reveals a righteousness that is from God, Christ's righteousness, that is given to us by grace through faith. And so as we see Christ transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration, we see him in all of his glory.

Do not forget this fact, that in Christ you have been clothed with that same glory, with that same righteousness. And as a result of that, God sees you clothed in Jesus's glory and says of you, you are my beloved son and child.

Not because you are in and of yourself, but because you're clothed in Jesus's righteousness. Remember the story of Jacob and Esau? What a lousy fellow that Jacob was. Stole his brother's birthright. How did he do it?

Well, while his brother was out hunting food to give to his father so that he might receive a blessing from his father Isaac, Jacob, at mom's advice, goes and puts on hairy skins on his body and puts on his brother's clothes, his brother's vestments if you would, so that he would smell like his brother, that he would feel like his brother.

Dad was a little dim in the eyesight. And so he walked in and his father says, who is it? And he says, it's your son Esau lying through his teeth. It's your son Esau. He says, well that's weird. You say it's Esau, but it's the voice of my son Jacob.

Come near to me. And he touches him and he feels the goat skin over his hands and arms and goes, well, my son Esau is hairy. And then he takes a whiff of him and goes, yep, smells just like a mountain meadow like my son Esau.

So he gives him the blessing. That's the point. You and I are Jacob. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Think of it this way. God the Father has chosen to have bad eyesight. To not pay too close attention to the details.

Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He says, ah, my beloved son. And he gives us the blessings of Christ. That's the point. And it's all here in this transfiguration text. And when you start to tease out the themes biblically.

And all of this because Jesus, he took our sin upon himself and he was made to be sin so that we can become the righteousness of God. So as we then wrap up, consider our epistle text here. Peter as he's getting ready to go to his cross for real.

He's going to be crucified. He's going to be crucified. It's going to take him three days to die because he's going to be crucified upside down because he didn't consider himself worthy to die in the same way that Jesus did.

In his last letter before his crucifixion, Peter writes these words. We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

He saw it with his own eyes. He heard the voice of the Father with his own ears. For when Jesus 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.

We ourselves, we heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain. Now remember Paul said that we Christians currently now are beholding the glory of Christ. Remember that?

And I made the point that we're seeing that in the scriptures. Watch what Peter does. It's an interesting move. So reflecting then on the experience that he had seeing Christ transfigured. We heard the voice.

We saw the glory. He says this, and now we have the prophetic word which is more fully confirmed. The Bible in Peter's theology and pay attention it should be yours as well. The Bible in Peter's theology is even more fully confirmed than the events that he witnessed on the mount of transfiguration.

So we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Interesting.

Similar words, right? So note then here where now is Christ shining? Where is Christ's glory for us to behold? It's in the Bible. It's in the Biblical text. It's there in the apostolic scriptures. It's there in the Old Testament prophets.

Pay attention to it. It's a lamp shining in a dark place and it's shining with the glory of God. We dare not turn aside from it for cheap imitation glory. And it will continue to shine there until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart.

So know this first of all. No prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. No prophecy was ever produced by the will of men. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So all of that being said we would do well to obey the voice of the Father because the voice of the Father is speaking to us today. Today in this text we beheld the glory of Christ. We too are now eyewitnesses of the majesty of Jesus.

We too have heard the voice of the Father say, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well. Please listen to Him. We know the scriptures tell us that the prophets bear witness to Christ that everyone who believes in Him receives the forgiveness of all of their sins through His name.

And we also know that those who hear Christ's apostles hear Jesus. And those who reject them reject Jesus. And we also now know with absolute certainty that we currently have been and are beholding the glory of Christ as the light shining in the darkness in the prophecies and in the words of scripture.

Don't let anyone take your eyes out of these texts. The glory of God is in them. And it is the glory of God to forgive you. And we through these scriptures our faith is being, well, confirmed fed, upheld, strengthened so that on the day of His return when He returns in glory we too, like Him, will shine like the sun.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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