is from Exodus chapter 24. This morning in our New Testament reading, we'll be reading about the transfiguration of our Lord. and how the glory cloud appeared on the mountain when he was there. And here we see an Old Testament account where the glory cloud also appears in Exodus 24. Listen now as I read to you from God's holy and infallible Word. Now he said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord. But they shall not come near, nor shall the people go up with him. So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord has said we will do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, all that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. Then Moses went up also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone. And it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel, he did not lay his hand. So they saw God. And they ate and drank. Then the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain and be there. And I will give you tablets of stone and the law and commandments which I have written that you may teach them. So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua. And Moses went up to the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them. Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. And there we'll end the reading of God's holy word from the Old Testament. Let's turn over to our New Testament reading, which is from Matthew chapter 17. Matthew 17, beginning in verse one. And I'll read down to verse 13. Matthew 17, verse 1. Here is the Word of the Living God. Now, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, His brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him." And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise and do not be afraid. When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. And the disciples asked him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Jesus answered and said to them, Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already. And they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. And there we'll end the reading of God's Word from the Old Testament. May He bless His Word to us this morning. We have seen how Peter, speaking for all the disciples, confessed to Jesus that, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. We have seen how Jesus, in response to that, clearly affirmed that Peter's confession was correct by telling him, Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. We have seen also that the people of Israel at this time did not understand what Christ was to do. And so is a amazing confession that is made by Peter here at this particular time in Jesus ministry. But Jesus charges his disciples not to tell anyone of this because it would have created mayhem among the people as they would have instantly tried to make Jesus king and place the crown upon his head before the time. With His disciples, though, Jesus goes even further now that they have come to understand that He is the Christ. And He begins to reveal to them the nature of the work that the Father had given Him to do. He explained to them that it was necessary for Him to go up to Jerusalem and to suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to die, and then to be raised on the third day. Now Peter, who had just confessed Him to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him for saying this. Peter and the other disciples could not deal with the fact that the One that they believed to be the Messiah was standing there telling them that He was going to die. That was not what the Messiah was supposed to do in their understanding. They just couldn't bring that together in their minds. But Jesus made it very clear that Peter was completely out of line for trying to stop him in this. He rebuked him sharply, one of the sharpest rebukes we find of the Lord Jesus, saying to him, Get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Jesus did have to go to the cross. And not only that, but He also tells anyone who wishes to follow Him that they must also deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. There is no other option. The cross is the only way. Jesus does not leave it at that. He goes on to encourage His disciples. We saw something of this encouragement last week. He tells them that the cross will lead to glory. He tells them that He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. He tells them that even in their lifetime, they will see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom, as they did as He was raised from the dead, and as He sent the Holy Spirit upon His church, and as the gospel began to spread out into the world, they saw the Lord coming in His kingdom. You need encouragement when you hear the preaching of the cross, just as the disciples did. It makes so much difference when you know and keep before you where the way of suffering leads. If you forget, then you will begin to adjust what you believe and what you practice just to adjust it enough so as to avoid ridicule. to avoid the rejection of the world. It always comes to those who fully follow the Lord. All the sideways glances and whatever. Now that Jesus has suffered and we know why He has suffered, you might think that it would be easier for us to follow Him with boldness and confidence and not to shun the cross. But just look at the church. Look at the church and the world today. And you can see how quickly the message of the cross is accommodated and adjusted in order to please men. In every generation, it is adjusted in whatever way is necessary to take off the edge, to remove the offense. Jesus knew that it was difficult for His disciples then. And He knows it's difficult for His disciples today. Every generation has their own challenges. There are many things that we can hold to with great boldness today that would have been rejected in past days. And then there are things that we cannot hold today without bringing opposition that they could have held easily in days gone by. But Jesus knows wherever we are that we need the encouragement that He offers to us. And so it was. that we come to the passage here today, that six days after having spoken these difficult words to His disciples about the cross, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain and revealed His glorious majesty to them. He made these three men witnesses for the sake of the whole church that the suffering one is also the glorious one. For a moment on an unnamed mountain, he laid aside the veil of his humiliation and he let them see the glory of who he was. Peter himself nicely summarizes what happened on the mountain in that experience in his second letter when he says in chapter one, verse 16, We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Brothers and sisters, the account of Jesus' transfiguration is written for your encouragement. It is recorded for us in the Scripture for your encouragement. It is written to assure you that the suffering One who lived here in great humiliation is also the glorious One. Peter says we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. We have seen the glory in which the Lord Jesus will return. Peter, James and John have seen it and they have declared it to the church. It is for you to look through the eyes of these faithful witnesses and to see that this one who lived among us in such humiliation was none other than the Lord of Glory. Consider what they saw in order that you might have this encouragement. First, see how the glory of the person of Christ was displayed. Matthew describes it here with reverent simplicity in verse 2. It says, "...and he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." Now, it is hard to imagine what it must have been like to see a person's face shining like the sun and to see their clothes changing before your eyes. The description is so brief and so simple that it leaves us to wonder. It is obviously something that cannot be fully described, but you must see in order to appreciate. What is clear is that Jesus was like no other person that they had ever seen on earth. The intrinsic glory of His person shone forth to the disciples. Yet, we must understand that even this glorious appearing of Jesus Christ was that of the Lord in His human body. glorified. You see, the divine nature is a pure spirit and does not have a physical appearance that anyone could see at all. What we have here in the transfiguration is the divinity of Jesus Christ revealed through the human nature. There can be little doubt that what they saw is what we will see when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Jesus had just told them six days before that he would come with the glory of his father at the end on the day of judgment. Matthew, Mark and Luke, the writers of the three Gospels, all link together the transfiguration with Christ's announcement that he would return with glory. They all say six days later or Matthew says after eight days as he speaks inclusively, that this would occur. There's a deliberate connection between Christ's promise to come in glory and the transfiguration here. The link shows us that these three men are enabled to see a preview of what Jesus' glory is like when He comes, what it will be like when He returns. And when Jesus first told them that He would return with glory, it would have been difficult for them to imagine that glory. His appearance among them had always been as an ordinary man. There was nothing special about him. He did extraordinary works, but his appearance was like that of any other man. Therefore, it was helpful for them to be able to see this preview of the glory of our Lord and what it would be in His return. This made it clear to them that when they saw Jesus from day to day, also they were seeing Him Veiled. His glory was veiled in their eyes. What they saw here on the mountain is what Jesus in His human body truly is. The glory was exposed. The veil was lifted from the normalcy and the ordinariness so that they can see His true character in our human flesh. The glowing figure before them was nevertheless the very same figure that they would soon see suspended between heaven and earth, rejected by both. The glory of that figure that they saw on the mountain was the same figure that they would see on the cross without that shining glory, but knowing. that that intrinsic glory belonged to Him. It is for you, brothers and sisters, to see this glory that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, you don't see Christ given the honor that belongs to Him in this world. He is ignored. He is despised. He is subjected to the opinions of men. He's grossly distorted in those opinions by those even who claim to love Him. Though He is reigning at God's right hand in heaven, His glory is not seen upon the earth as it will be seen. But you, brothers and sisters, you are to believe the testimony that is given to us in the Word of God of Peter, James, and John on the mount. You are to believe that even though the glory is still veiled, it is still His. That even though it is not seen now, it will be seen. You are to believe that the next time you feel afraid to admit that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. You are to believe that the next time you're called to do something difficult to do as a disciple of Christ. Something that you don't want to do. Something that seems too great a sacrifice for you to do. Or something that you're called to keep on doing, even though opposition against it keeps on coming. You must remember that you do not follow a weak, impotent Jesus, but a Jesus who has intrinsic glory, such as was revealed on the mount. A glory that will shine forth at the last day. Yes, as it is now, we see the church of Jesus Christ in her weakness. We see her in her humiliation, ridiculed and mocked by the world. excluded and persecuted. We see her members with physical sicknesses as well. We see them die. We see them put in the grave. This is only because the glory that belongs to the church through Jesus Christ is yet to be fully revealed. As Paul says in Romans 8 22, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. It's talking about the resurrection. John tells us that the church's glory will not be revealed until the glory of the Lord is first revealed in the world. He says when we see him, we will be like him. because we will see Him as He is. When we see Him in that glory, we will become like Him. Christ is our hope of glory. We will share in the glory that He has enjoyed with the Father in eternity from before the foundation of the world. You must not see Jesus only in humiliation. By faith, you must know Him as the Glorious One. You must see through the eyes of these faithful witnesses that the Suffering One is also the glorious one. That's the first thing in this passage that you're shown in this account. Secondly, you must see that your suffering Savior is in complete harmony with Moses and Elijah. In verse 3, Matthew says, And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. We're not told just how the disciples knew that this was Moses and Elijah. Certainly, there are many details in this account that we're not told. But they did know somehow for certain that this was Moses and Elijah. Perhaps the Lord Jesus addressed them by name. Or maybe it was divinely revealed to them that this was Moses and Elijah. But whatever the case, they knew who these two men were. The significant thing is the harmony that Jesus has with them. He is talking with these two men. Moses, who had walked on the earth some 1,500 years before Jesus came, is there speaking with Him. And Elijah, who had lived over 800 years before, is there. It is very obvious that these men are friends with Jesus. They are there talking with one another. Luke tells us in his account that they talked about Jesus' departure in the nature of how He would leave this world, His coming death. What a comfort this must have been for our Lord Jesus Christ to have these glorified saints in heaven who understood about His death, understood why it was necessary for Him to die, understood that they themselves were in their comfortable position, their favorable estate with God in that day, because of what Jesus was going to do. on the cross. Jesus spoke to His disciples and there was no one on earth that understood at this time what He was facing and why He was doing it. But these men understood. What a comfort, what a boost that must have been to Him at this point in His ministry, approximately six months away from the cross. There is more than encouragement to Jesus here. Jesus' harmony with Moses and Elijah is quite significant. for the church in all her successive ages. These two men are representative of all that God revealed to His people in the Old Testament. You may remember that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, Matthew 6.17, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. You see here how Jesus speaks of the Old Testament as the Law and the Prophets. That's another way to refer to the Old Testament. That was the way it was often referred to in His day. Jesus says, I'm going to fulfill, not to abolish, the Law and the Prophets. Now, if you were to choose one person to be a representative of the Law, who would that person be? Well, the answer is very obvious. It would be Moses. The very Law of God given by Moses is sometimes called the Law of Moses. He is so connected with it. Moses is the one who gave us the first five books of the Old Testament, which they're also called the Law. It was through Moses that God established the Old Covenant with His people, and He revealed how they were to worship God with the service of the priesthood and all the sacrifices. And if you were to choose one person as well to represent the prophets, Well, there could hardly be a better choice than Elijah, perhaps some that were as good, but none better. He was the first of the great miracle working prophets who came to restore God's people. After him came Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. But Elijah was held in the highest esteem by the Jews, in part because Elijah, you recall, did not die. but was carried to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot of fire." So these two men, Moses and Elijah, represent the whole of God's Old Testament revelation, the Law and the Prophets. Jesus' harmony with them testifies to us today of His harmony with the Old Testament. Jesus' disciples may have been having a hard time harmonizing Jesus and what He was doing and what He was saying He was going to do with what was taught in the Old Testament. The scribes and the Pharisees may have found very little agreement between Jesus and the Law and the Prophets, but not Moses and Elijah. Moses saw Christ's plan to go to the cross as the very fulfillment of all of those things that he had appointed for God's people under the Old Testament shadows, with the tabernacle and the shedding of the blood of lambs and bulls and goats and the priests offering up these sacrifices. And he saw in Jesus' conduct and in Jesus' teaching a perfect conformity to the law, the moral law that he had taught to his people. And Elijah saw in Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit, the fulfillment of God's promise to restore His people to Himself and to grant them repentance. And in Jesus' Reformational preaching, he saw perfect conformity with what Jesus was teaching, with what He and the prophets had taught. The problem was not that Jesus was out of sync. with the law and the prophets problem was that the scribes and the Pharisees and Jesus disciples didn't understand the scriptures. Now, it is best when the disciples of Jesus simply see and understand the harmony, but often they don't see that harmony. In other words, if you look at the scriptures, you look at Jesus and you see the connection. But many times that harmony is is lost on us. And so here it is, this the Lord is saying, do you not understand how the Old Testament, how my son fulfills the law and the prophets? Well, here are Moses and Elijah. I'll let them just tell you that he fulfills all that they said. Let's see what they have to say about it so that there can be no uncertainty. You know, I often get a chuckle at how easy it is for men to proclaim themselves to be disciples of godly men that have lived in the past. So easy because those men aren't alive. They aren't around to say, wait, no, that's not what I was saying. Dead prophets are easy to follow because their teachings can be twisted around and certain parts can be ignored and other parts can be embellished and added to. And the so-called disciple of these men can get along just fine. For this reason, there were many self-proclaimed followers of Moses and Elijah in the day of Christ. Men that would have never been recognized by Moses and Elijah if they had come back. And so it is today that you hear the name of Augustine and you hear the name of Calvin and you hear the name of Spurgeon. Men that would only give a rebuke to those who use their name and claim to be their disciples. But let Moses and Elijah come and speak for themselves. That's what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. They recognized the Lord Jesus. They recognized Him as the One of whom they spoke. He is the One of whom they testified when they were on earth proclaiming God's salvation. Peter speaks of the prophets in their work. He says of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who is in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Things which angels desire to look into. Let these prophets, let these great ones, let Moses come back and we will see that they recognize Jesus Christ, unlike the Scripture-twisting generation in which they lived. They're not surprised that the Son of God said He was going to go to the cross and suffer. They wrote of His sufferings. They testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. This is yet another confirmation for all of you who desire to follow the Lord Jesus. It is a confirmation to you. It is also an encouragement to you to do something. It is a confirmation that Jesus is truly the Messiah. You know, the only way that the Pharisees and the scribes and all the people of Jesus' day even knew that there was to be a Messiah was because the prophets had said that there would be a Messiah. It was written in the law and the prophets. In here, the chief representatives of the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah, come and show their harmony. This is the one of whom we spoke. We can be sure that Jesus is the Messiah that was prophesied in the Old Testament. We cannot be Marcionites who reject the Old Testament Scriptures and only look at the New. Jesus' harmony with Moses and Elijah is then also an encouragement for you to do something. It is an encouragement for you to seek to understand that harmony between Christ and the law and the prophets. It shows us the coming of Jesus is not a change in God's plan, but it is the perfect fulfillment of all that was written before. There are many today that act as if the Old Testament is disjointed. from us today, that it has no real connection to us. They consider it to be reading something into the text to find Jesus Christ throughout the pages of the Old Testament. But here, you are encouraged to look for that harmony that is declared to us is truly there between Christ and the Old Testament. Peter looks on this great scene. Jesus there speaking with Moses and Elijah and His glory shining forth. Peter's quite taken with it. As usual, Peter speaks out of the affection of his heart without careful consideration of what he says. Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, let us make here three tabernacles, or huts, that could be translated perhaps. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, as if these glorified saints would need a dwelling place upon the earth. We can appreciate Peter's hospitality He is ready to set up camp right here on the mountain. He is hoping that this is going to be a permanent arrangement. He is hoping that all of this talk about the cross is now come to an end. This is the Lord coming in his glory. The glorious kingdom is here at last for him. This was no preview of the Lord's coming glory. This was a standing condition. that was going to remain. But Peter is cut off at once. He is cut off by the third great affirmation that was given, that the suffering one is also the glorious one. We have seen the revelation of the glory of Christ's person here on this mount. And we have seen the revelation of the harmony that Jesus has with the Law and the Prophets. Now we see the harmony that He has with His Heavenly Father. The affirmation of God the Father that Jesus, the suffering one, is also the glorious one. God the Father manifests His presence according to the pattern found in the Old Testament. He comes in a glory cloud. He comes in the same way that He came upon Mount Sinai. We read this morning how Moses saw that cloud and how he went into the cloud and how the people saw the cloud. You know how God also led His people through the wilderness with a glory cloud. God appeared in a cloud to show His people that they cannot see Him. He is too great for human eyes to behold. That which is flesh cannot behold that which is pure spirit. The glorious Lord is hidden within a cloud, yet it is no ordinary cloud. It is a very glorious cloud that let everyone know that deity was present. So God stoops, you see, to reveal Himself in a way that human beings can understand. And what is so marvelous is that even in that condescended way that He presents Himself to us, where we can understand that we're struck with terror when we see His majesty and glory. Poor human flesh feels like it will fly apart at the seams when the glory of God is presented to it. And so, look at poor Peter, James, and John. We're told that when they heard the voice come to this cloud that overshadowed them, not a cloud of darkness, but a cloud of light, they could hardly bear it. They go face down on the ground before this glorious majesty. They're terrified. until the Lord Jesus Christ comes and places his hand and speaks gently to them. And they look up and see that the manifestation of the glory of God has been taken away. But how great was that glory that made these men fall down on their faces in the presence? Now, let me show you the great affirmation of the Son of God by His Father. The affirmation comes from the voice of God speaking out of this glory cloud. In verse 5, the voice of the Father declares, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him. Those words ought to ring in your heart as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is the Father of Heaven's personal testimony concerning His Son to the church. There are here three things to observe. First, you see that the Father claims Him as His Son. Peter had recently confessed, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus, in His humbled, earthly condition, veiled, His glory veiled, had affirmed that this was so. But very few believed it. But now the Father Himself comes in glory. And He says, this is My beloved Son. The Father declares that this One who has just declared that He is on His way to Jerusalem to suffer many things at the hands of the leaders of God's people, God says, is My beloved Son. This One that is going to suffer, that just told you that, is My Son. On earth, He doesn't look very much like God's Son. His plans don't sound very much like the plans of God's Son. But the Father says, He is my beloved Son. This is my beloved Son. No one can learn that Jesus is the Son of God by his or her own reasoning and intuition. Jesus, the carpenter's son, can only be known to be the Son of God by the testimony that God has given to us concerning His Son. The philosophers can philosophize all day, and the dreamers can dream all day, but no one knows Jesus to be the Son of God apart from the Father's testimony that He is my beloved Son. And here is that testimony. given to us in the Word of God for you to believe. Jesus is the Son of God, beloved of the Father from all eternity. The Father has said so. He's the Son of God when He's on the cross. He's the Son of God when He's hungry and walking around on the earth. This is My Son. Secondly, the Father affirms that He is well pleased with Him. He says, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Now, this is not so much the Father speaking of His pleasure with His Son's person, with Jesus' person. He has already described that He is His beloved Son. But this has more to do with God's pleasure with the work. that He was doing. I'm pleased with the work that He is doing. The Father is saying that He is pleased with the work Jesus is doing for His church on earth. He looked at Jesus and what He was getting ready to do and what He had done, and He said, this pleases Me. We have already seen that the work of Jesus did not please the disciples. It did not please the multitudes very well. They wanted Jesus to get on with doing the work of the Messiah. What the Messiah was supposed to do from their perspective. Save us from the Romans. What do you want Jesus to do today? What do you think He ought to do? Neither did the work of Jesus that He had just recently told His disciple please them any better. He had just told them that He was going to go to the cross. But it really didn't matter what anyone else thought. Because here we're told that the Father was pleased. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else matters for you. And I might add here that it doesn't matter what you think either. Jesus doesn't need your approval. You may think the cross is a stupid thing. A lot of people do. The Son of God would die. You may think that the lowly condition of the church today in North America, the condition it's in right now, that it's a stupid thing for God to have such a thing in His providence. You may think the difficulties and hardships that you're facing right now are stupid. Whatever any human being may think of Jesus and His work, Father is always pleased. He's pleased with everything that His Son does. Now, I want you to consider that the Father's pleasure with Christ as mediator means everything for us. You see, as the mediator of the church, Jesus is bound together with us. He has bound Himself together. He has come as the head of the church. He is so bound up with us that it was necessary for Him to bear responsibility for our sins. He had to do something about our sins, because they became in that way His sins. He was so closely aligned with us. And if the Father was not pleased with the work that Jesus was doing to deal with our sins, we could not be saved. There would be no possibility for any son of Adam to be saved. Everything hinged on the Father's acceptance of Jesus' work for us. And here you have the Father's testimony that He is pleased with His Son. This is your hope. God the Father, Accepted the work of his son for you to be saved who trust in him. We lie on his saving work. Disciples may not have liked where Jesus was going, but the father did like it. He was pleased with his son, our Savior. How glad you ought to be that the father was pleased. So the father then affirms that the lowly Jesus is his glorious son. and that he is pleased with the work of humiliation that Jesus is undertaking for us. Then the Father commands the disciples and all of us to hear Jesus. Jesus is God's Son. If Jesus is doing the work of God as mediator, then it is our duty to hear the Son. It is the duty of every man, woman, and child in all the world to hear the Son, to sit at His feet and learn from His Word. There are so many people, even in the church, who do not hear the voice of Jesus today. Oh, they may speak His name, but they rely on their own hearts. They rely on their own feelings. They rely on their own reasoning. They do not listen to Him. Instead of preaching acceptance by means of the cross, they teach acceptance by sentimental love. They may talk of the cross, but the cross is an example of love instead of the cross as an atonement for sin, apart from which no sinner can be forgiven. What about you? Do you hear the voice of the Lord Jesus? Or do you make up your own religion? Mixing in a bit of Jesus as you would have Him, however you would wish Him, wherever you would want Him. Every one of you need to hear what the Father says of the Son. Do not ignore what the Father says when He says, hear Him. He is speaking out of the glory cloud. If you do not obey, then you will die in your sins. If you heard the Son, Have you believed the Son? I hope you have. It is the Father's clear command. So, my brothers and sisters, you see how the glory of Jesus that was veiled when He was on the earth and is still veiled today from us who are on the earth was wonderfully revealed on this mount. How glad we ought to be that we are able to see all of this. as it is recorded for us here in the Scriptures. The lowly carpenter's son of Nazareth is none other than God's very own Son. Peter, James, and John. saw the manifestation of His glory. They saw His harmony with the Law and the Prophets. They saw and heard the Father's own testimony concerning Him and His work. We need to see Jesus on the cross. We must see Him not only on the cross, but also in the transfiguration. You must see that the suffering one is the glorious one. Welcome this testimony into your heart. You cannot be saved if you see only a man, nor can you be saved if you see only God. You must see Jesus, our mediator. The curtain was pulled back for Peter, James, and John. so that they might see the glory of the suffering one. The curtain is pulled back for all of you through their testimony, so that you can see the glory of the suffering one. But you can be sure, as you go along with this testimony, that doubts will sometimes arise in your heart and mind. There will be things in God's Word that will be difficult for you to understand. There will be things in His Word that do not seem to sit right with what you believe to be right. But no matter what difficulties may come, the Transfiguration stands forever as a witness to assure you that the suffering one is the glorious one. Even after this great revelation of Christ, the disciples raise a point about which they are confused. You see that in verse 10. Why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first? This is a point of stumbling for them, a point of confusion. Now, doesn't it seem strange to have a point of stumbling after they just had this great revelation? I mean, how could you stumble? We just saw the glory of Jesus. We saw Him transfigured on the mount. But it's not really that strange, if you think about it. Isn't it often true that the times when you're making the most progress in the Christian faith, when you're learning, when you're growing the most, those are times when you often have very serious struggles? Things that you're not sure about. Things that are not so clear. Sometimes it seems like everything has been shaken loose. There are things that you have surely learned, but then there are these other things. How does this fit? How does this work? Such was the case with the disciples here. Without going into a lengthy explanation of this text, you see that Jesus shows them that it is true that Elijah must come first. The forerunner or the Messiah. The mistake does not lie in the belief that Elijah comes first. The mistake lies in that they missed the fact that Elijah had already come. That is where the leaders of Israel went wrong. In verse 12, Jesus says, But I say to you that Elijah has come already. They did not know him. but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands." Immediately, the disciples were told, realized that he was talking about John the Baptist. You remember that John had recently been beheaded by Herod. That is what Jesus means when he says they did to him whatever they pleased. They didn't follow God's will, but they did whatever they pleased. Even Jesus' forerunner had to go the way of the cross in anticipation of his master going the way of the cross. Well, the angel who announced John's birth to Zacharias explained in what sense Elijah was to come in John the Baptist. In Luke 1 17, the angel says of John, he will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So the prophecy here, the disciples are struggling with did not mean that Elijah would literally return to the earth, but rather that one would come in the spirit and power of Elijah. And of course, John did come very much in the spirit and power of Elijah. Well, immediately, the problem for the disciples is cleared up. Scales fall from their eyes. There's always an explanation. You may not know what the explanation is, but there's always an explanation. Well, there are difficulties like that that will arise with your faith. But you must never allow these to unsettle you in the things that are certain. Satan will try to gain an advantage of you and try to unsettle you in those things that are sure with those things about which you are unsure. No matter what comes. No matter how lowly the condition of the church may sink in our day. No matter what the Lord's people may suffer before your eyes in the world today. You must always, always, always, always be certain that the suffering one is also the glorious one. The testimony given by God the Father on the mount tells you so. Let's stand and call on the name of our Lord. Gracious Lord God and Heavenly Father, we praise You For You have been very merciful to us. You have been very kind to us in our weakness, in that You have given us the Word of the Law and the Prophets and You have sent Your Son into this world and He has fulfilled all things that were written therein. And yet, Father, You have also given us additional testimonies without number of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You that though it should have been clear to us that He was the Lord of glory, without the transfiguration, that you have given us this in order to help us in our weakness. We pray, O Lord, that you would teach us to learn this lesson, that you would help us to learn this lesson. Father, that we would remember the glory of our Lord Jesus that was revealed here. The glory that is intrinsic to His person and that we will see on the day that He returns. The glory that was spoken of in the Old Testament when it was prophesied that He would come and suffer and then rise again and ascend to Your right hand and come again with glory. and the glory that You declared when You spoke and said, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This lowly one. This one that was suffering in the midst of His people. And You said, This is My Son. We praise You, Father, that You are not ashamed to call one who is stooped so low, Your Son. But that rather than being ashamed of Him, that You have highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name because of His humiliation. We thank you that as mediator, that when he rises, that he does not rise alone, but that he rises for the sake of the whole church and that the whole church is, as it were, seated in glory with our Lord Jesus Christ. And though we do not yet see all things brought under his feet, we know that the day is coming when he will return with glory and with the heavenly angels and that his kingdom will be established forever and ever. Father, we pray that you would help us as we carry on in our pilgrimage in this world. We pray that you would grant us boldness, that we would be true disciples of our Lord Jesus and we would not waver in our testimony. We pray that you would help us to tell the people around us of the hope that we have in him, that we would speak with a clear voice and that we would not waver. Father, we pray that You would help us to encourage one another along as brothers and sisters. May we live in the glory of the love that has been shown to us in Jesus stooping so low for our sake. May we stoop for one another's sake. May we give our life for one another. May we die in order that we may live. And may that love of the church shine forth as a testimony to your people. Father, we live in a world that is increasingly, at least in our part of the world, increasingly turning away from that which you have called us to do and be. But we thank you, Lord, that you will keep us by your grace and that through your help that we will not turn away. Father, I pray that you would bless us now as we continue in this service, as we continue on this Lord's Day. May we meditate on these things. May we benefit from them. May we carry them with us into the week. For we ask these things in Jesus our Savior. Amen. You may be seated. I'll ask the elders to come forward as we prepare to receive the Lord's Supper. In this world, there are two cities, two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God and king. Now may the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling. What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe? Amen.