Our sermon text today is from Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9, verses 2 through 8. For context, we'll begin reading back in chapter 8, starting in verse 27. And not merely for context's sake, but pay close attention. Because the things that you read from Mark 8 to 27 feed into what we see in Mark 9. Mark chapter 8, starting in verse 27. This is the word of God. Now Jesus and his disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi, and on the road he asked his disciples, saying to them, who do men say that I am? So they answered, John the Baptist, but some say Elijah, and others, one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said to him, you are the Christ. Then he strictly warned them that they should tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned around and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. When he had called the people to himself, with his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the son of man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels. Chapter nine. And he said to them, assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power. And after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up to a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid. And a cloud came and overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, hear him. Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. So for the word of God. Amen. You may be seated. Perhaps, friends, at some point in your life, you've been to a theatrical production. You've gone to a show of the theater. And when you go there, you expect that what you see here on the stage of the production is going to be different from how things are in normal life. And so perhaps you've gone and you've seen some of your family members or some friends that participate in a play like this, and as you do this, you see the curtain is drawn back, it's opened, and the stage is revealed. And you expect to see your friends acting, looking, speaking differently, in a manner that is different from what you are accustomed to, showing a different nature of them, if you will. And here with the disciples in this text, we have these men who are accustomed to seeing Jesus as a mentor and as a friend. They even know him as the great true prophet, and as we saw with Peter, recognize him as being God's son. But up to this point, they have only seen Jesus in the flesh and have only seen the human nature, so to speak, with their eyes. And now, we come to this text, and on the Mount of Transfiguration, these disciples, for the first time, are going to have Jesus' divine glory unveiled in a visible way, unveiled to their sight in the way that they see him. So as for the flow of the book of Mark, when we come to this point in the text that we read today, I think that there is a culmination that we see in chapter eight, especially in verses 27 and 29 with Peter's great confession of Jesus being God's son. And so I see here a critical juncture in the book of Mark that we come to. We have Peter's confession, which is followed immediately by Jesus' first announcement of his death. And then he gives, not only that, a prediction of his death, but notice this, a prediction of persecution for his own followers. And now we come to the moment of transfiguration. And then after this point, so we have all these climactic moments that are here in the middle of the book, the narrative of Mark takes a turn towards the cross, as Mark is gonna heavily emphasize Jesus' sufferings. And so as we're looking at the book of Mark, we're looking at this segment, the end of chapter 8 and the beginning of chapter 9, we can see what forms a literary high point in the book, as it stresses right here in the middle, Christ's great sufferings. and the great glory that is going to follow. And then by extension, the sufferings of Christ's followers, their own persecution, and the glory that they will participate in as well. As you remember in chapter eight, how Jesus talks about those who give their lives and then those who also save them. And so like Christ, his disciples are going to have suffering and then glory. And so when we come then to the beginning of chapter nine and we read something like this, that some will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come with power. I think we should see this as a revealing of some of the glory that Jesus is speaking about, this glory that will follow his suffering, with the transfiguration here in this scene giving a picture of what this glory is going to be like. And simply put, Christ shows them the glory of the kingdom in the glory of the King. And in light of all that Jesus is saying about his own suffering and death, and then the persecution of his followers, what greater encouragement could his disciples receive than to see some of this glory of Jesus? And that's exactly what happens here. So in this text, with the Lord's help, we will look at Jesus's glory unveiled in three main ideas. We're going to first see the demonstration of Jesus' glory, then the dread of Jesus' glory, and then, lastly, the declaration of Jesus' glory. We see, first of all, the demonstration of Jesus' glory in verses 2 through 4. I'll go ahead and read that again. Now, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. First, I'm going to show you what I'll take the liberty to call the theater for the sun's splendor as we look here through the demonstration of Jesus' glory. So what I believe here we have, starting at the beginning of verse two, is a setting of the stage, so to speak. The stage of what's going to happen with this great demonstration of Jesus' glory. It's almost as if, here in verse two, we have this introduction, this prologue to all that's going to take place here. And as we look at this stage that is set for us, the text answers questions of when, who, and where. So as for when we have a specific period of time, the beginning of verse 2 says this happens after six days. And this is a specific time indicator, of course, and that is actually important for us. Because Mark does not usually do this. As a matter of fact, the only other time in Mark's gospel where there's a specific time indicator is in the Passion narrative, in the narrative of Jesus' suffering. And so when it also appears here, it perhaps should at least raise our awareness. And I imagine that this time indicator, this specific time indicator here, helps us to connect what Jesus says about His glory that's gonna follow. It helps to connect that with the transfiguration. There's also the question of who? And the answer here is a specific people. You have Peter, James, and John. And perhaps, as you know, this is one of three times in Mark's gospel where Jesus does something separately with these three disciples. And now, why these three disciples? Could it be because they are some of his most devoted followers? It could be. It could also be because these are the three disciples who, in the beginning of Acts, are going to suffer persecution first and the most severe. So if you read the beginning chapters, I think in Acts 3 and 4, it's Peter and John are the ones that are imprisoned initially. And then it's James in chapter 12 who is the first of these apostles to be martyred. And so perhaps Jesus is giving them encouragement and preparation, strengthening their faith at this point for this persecution that is shortly going to come upon them. The setting of the stage here also answers the question of where, and there is a specific place. There is a very high mountain. And there is something about this particular mountain that I think is significant. I don't think that this is necessarily chosen at random. So back in Mark 8, 27, we read that Jesus and the disciples are in the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And if you look into where these are geographically, if you just pull up a map, it looks to me at least like this is in Gentile territory. Or at least this is kind of the border between what you would consider Israelite territory, Jewish land, and then Gentile land. And so it appears that then Jesus is taking his disciples out to the border of where the Jews and Gentiles might be, or just across the border. And of all places, that's where he decides to show his glory. And interestingly enough, there is a very high mountain that's close to these villages of Caesarea Philippi, very close. It's called Mount Hermon. which is reputed in scripture to be a very high mountain. So if you read through Psalm 133, you will read how it's even higher than Mount Zion, such that the dew of Mount Hermon would descend upon Mount Zion with that poetic description. So high was this particular mountain reputed to be. I did a little bit of looking into this and in this particular region of the Middle East, including Israel and I think Lebanon and Syria, this is the highest mountain. This is the highest point that's in that little geographical region of the world. And apparently it's a snow-capped mountain as well, and people today can go there and ski. So it's a very high mountain that Jesus takes them at this point. So it seems that not only here in Mark do we come to a literary high point, but also to a literal, to an actual high point. And what happens after this? Jesus descends from that high point. He descends from this mountain as he heads towards the cross and descends even so low as the grave. And Luke is going to add the detail that his disciples here on the mountain were heavy with sleep. And I like to think it's possibly or probably because of the exhausting journey that it took them to get there. So we see there that this theater for the sun's splendor that is laid out. But I also want to draw out something that's happening theologically here. And I think that Mark is presenting this scene to us as an exodus. I think we have here an exodus scene. Now the exodus that was presented in the Old Testament with Moses leading the people out of Egypt appears to be the imagery that's drawn on here. So look at the phrase six days that is being used and also the fact that they're on a high mountain. Exodus 24 16 where God is meeting with his people through Moses on the mountain says 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 Of course, we have the cloud there that appears in this text as well. You have a mountain you have a a time indicator here of six days. So it's very likely, in my opinion, that Mark could be harping on these details to show Jesus as one leading a spiritual exodus, a deliverance from our bondage of sin into a spiritual freedom. So we see the theater for the sun's splendor here as Jesus will demonstrate his glory. And we also see now the transfiguration, of the sun's splendor. End of verse two and end of verse three. And he was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Now what's fascinating here is that Jesus' form, his appearance, changes. What doesn't change, of course, is divine nature, his inner substance. But the way that he appears, the way that he is seen by his disciples is changed. If you were to look up the Greek text, you would see that the Greek term that underlies this is similar to the word for metamorphosis, which you will recognize. It is a change in form. Nothing about the thing itself, nothing about the person of Christ here itself is different. Of course, God is unchanging, Christ is unchanging. R.C. Sproul gave a helpful illustration as he was, or he explained it well, very memorably when he said that throughout Christ's life and ministry you have the person of God the Son and of course the whole fullness of deity that Paul says dwells in him bodily. But here on Mount Transfiguration You have that thin veneer of his humanity, which is now being pulled back. It is no longer being veiled from the eyes, that for a moment, Christ's disciples can see something of the divine nature of Jesus with their eyes. And I'll be clear here that, and perhaps I should, that invisibility is an attribute of God, the fact that he cannot be seen. So it's not as if, in a very wooden, literal sense, the disciples are seeing a divine nature, but they're seeing something that is revealing to them that he is indeed divine, as he is indeed now shining and brilliant. So the way that he appears, the way that Jesus looks here on the outside, now indeed is going to match. It is fitting for the inside, if you will, his divine nature. Matthew's gospel tells us that Jesus' face shone as the sun. And indeed, if you were to even imagine the scene, of course, not trying to picture the Lord Jesus Christ in your mind, but if you were to imagine just the light itself, the astounding, brilliant glory of the scene of Mount Transfiguration, it's almost Impossible. So then the disciple's response here is going to be understandable. How could you not be absolutely terrified? How could you not be fearful as you see God himself in his divine glory? And this transfiguration of the sun may remind you of Daniel's description of the Ancient of Days. I see similarities there as well. It says his garment was white as snow. You might also think of Jesus's revelation to John in Revelation chapter one. It's hard not to think of that passage as John now sees Christ who is risen, ascended, and glorified. the same disciple, one of the disciples that was here and who saw him in this way on the Mount of Transfiguration. And he has a similar reaction. He falls on his face as though dead. And so also we see with the Apostle Paul as he's on the road to Damascus, very similar. He is literally blinded as he's looking at and he's communicating with the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is the great transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see here under the demonstration of Jesus's glory, the theater for the son's splendor, the transfiguration of the son's splendor, and then now two witnesses to the son's splendor in verse four, where it says, and Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Now, why do I call Elijah and Moses witnesses to the splendor of Christ? I think that they're here reinforcing Jesus's testimony. They come alongside Jesus as he's been telling his disciples, he just told them he's going to go to Jerusalem and to die. Is this not why Jesus came? Then you have these two characters, these two figures here, which are, at least in my opinion, they're similar in what they represent as types of Christ in the Old Testament. And as Jesus has come to fulfill the things that he, that Jesus has come now to fulfill the things that they represented, And I see these men in scripture as these prophets of deliverance, how both Moses and Elijah are connected with this idea of deliverance. And it is interesting that Moses was the one that wrote that two or three witnesses were needed for every testimony to be recognized as valid. And then Moses is here now as one of these two witnesses. Of course, he is pointing, he is testifying to one who is far greater than himself. And it's interesting how in Luke's gospel, it says what they were talking about. It says that they talked with Jesus about his departure, speaking of his death, and that the Greek term underlying that is literally exodus, exodus. this departure. So this is what they are speaking about. There are four things that I'll mention here about Moses and Elijah that really things that they have in common that I look looks here that they're sharing with Jesus that I think I think this helps to reinforce why they why they are here, why they're serving as witnesses to Jesus. I'll note as well, I will include Elijah's successor, Elisha, in this grouping, who does have a double portion of the spirit of Elijah on him. He basically ministers in the same era. I think it's reasonable to put these two together. So I'll go through the four of these. Number one, both of these men were prophets of God who performed miracles. just like Christ. And it might be easy, we might be tempted to think that miracles were a commonality throughout the Old Testament, that God's servants often performed them. But if you were to inspect it, you would see that there are two main eras in which you really do see miracles, in which you see men whom God has endowed with the power to do these signs and wonders. You see it in the ages of Moses and Aaron, and with Elijah and Elisha. God ordains these men. He endows these men with the power to perform miracles, signs, and wonders. And then that happens again with Christ and his apostles. Secondly, both Elijah and Moses met with God on a mountain. Of course, you have Moses' famous meeting with God on Mount Sinai, and there he asks to see the glory of God. It's marvelously revealed to him. You have Elijah who meets with God on Mount Horeb in 2 Kings chapter 19. God speaks to him there. And interestingly enough, Mount Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai. It appears here they're meeting with God on the same mountain. Thirdly, both Elijah and Moses were persecuted by their own people. And we might not usually think of Moses in this way. You see it with Elijah in 2 Kings 19. He's persecuted by Jezebel. But in Stephen's sermon in Acts chapter 7, one of his main themes, or really his climax, his last argument, is the way that Moses was treated. And then of course he makes the application that this is now how you are acting to the Lord Jesus. So they're both prophets who were persecuted by their own people. And then fourthly, both of them fed the people in the wilderness with bread. So we know about Moses, who in Exodus 16, the Lord used him to bring down manna from heaven. It was through him that this happens. Elijah actually does something very similar. I should say Elisha does something similar at the end of 2 Kings 4. Just read the last three verses of 2 Kings 4. And you have a miracle of what appears to be multiplying bread, 20 loaves, to feed 100 men, and then to have some that is left over. And as I read that text, I can't help but think of the Lord Jesus miracle of multiplying bread. There seems to be a similarity there as well. And so you have through some of these similarities, and perhaps there's more we could give, but Elijah and Moses are standing now alongside Jesus. They're speaking to him about his exodus, about his death, his deliverance he's going to accomplish. And I believe that they're here to reinforce the testimony that this is indeed what Jesus came here to do. And what a good encouragement or what a good testimony that would be to Jesus's disciples who are here to see this, to have it sort of confirmed, if you will, using these means of these witnesses, of these men, that this is what Jesus is here to do. And so Peter is the one who rebuked the Lord Jesus, who had the nerve to do that, is the one that gets to see this. And as I read the text, it's hard for me not to think of Exodus 34, when Moses is on Mount Sinai. And there's a lot in that text that's similar here. I touched on this already. There's a cloud representing God's presence. Moses asks to see God's glory. God puts him in a cleft of the rock. And he is permitted to see a glimpse of the backward parts of God's glory. So that seems too much for mortal men to see, as your lights could not look upon his face. But isn't what the disciples saw here much greater? And we do have a great picture of God in the Old Testament, do we not? We have a powerful God, a God who made the world in six days by the word of his power, who performed miracles and signs and wonders, who brought his people out of bondage in Egypt with a mighty outstretched arm as they passed through the waters of the Red Sea and passed through dry ground. But what we don't see in the Old Testament is the incarnate Son of God who has come down from heaven and who is dwelling among his people. What the disciples are seeing is the greatest visible manifestation of the glory of God that was ever seen in creation. They are looking at the incarnate son who in this scene is showcasing his divine glory to them in his human nature face to face. So a question we can ask ourselves is, do we point others to the Son? We see these two witnesses here that are, I believe, testifying by being there and by, perhaps I would just say, to the Lord Jesus, pointing the disciples to Christ to look to Him. Do you point others to Christ to look to Him? Do you hold Christ up and say, look upon Him? Remember that this text is here, I believe, to encourage these disciples, at least partially, to give them strength, to encourage their faith, to make them stronger. So as we're dealing with people, as we play the role of counselor, we're talking to our friends, our family members, as we help them through their problems and their issues, how tempted are we often to give simply earthly and temporal answers to their needs? I'm not saying there's no place for answers like this that are simply temporal, that belong to the realm of this earth. God made this world and, you know, those things have a place. But what I'm saying is how prone are we so often to forget about the infinite splendor of Christ and how he is our greatest need. and how so many of our needs as we wrestle with sins and problems and issues, conflicts, how much of that could be alleviated if we had a proper vision of the Lord Jesus. We could see his shining face, so to speak. So shouldn't we be content with seeing the glory of Jesus Christ? Should we be content, shouldn't we, if we could look at nothing else? So then even as we do give counsel to our friends and even counsel to ourselves as we go through various trials and problems in our life, shouldn't we love to point others and ourselves to look to Christ and to say, even if God does take everything away, don't we still have great reason to glory in Jesus Christ? and great joy at beholding his infinite glory. Indeed we do. And so please take this away here as the disciples saw and here in this text you also see this great demonstration of Jesus' glory. Then we go on in the text and see the dread of Jesus' glory in verses 5 through 6. that Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid. So here, as we go through these couple of verses, we see Peter's exclamation. We see an exclamation in verse 5. And admittedly, what Peter says here is rather jumbled. He's not necessarily thinking in a very straightforward, logical manner, is he? He's not. He's overcome with fear. I think verse 6 bears this out, and it says he didn't know what he was saying. He was overcome with fear. And so I think we should try to use verse 6 to kind of color how we interpret what Peter says here in verse 5. But insofar as we can find something there when we see Peter saying, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Peter does recognize The importance that Jesus has is the focus of the scene. The focus of the scene is not Peter, James, and John. It is Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. It's as if Peter is saying, it's not like you are here with us, but now we are here with you. You are the focus of this scene that is taking place here on Mount Transfiguration. But then Peter goes on to say something that's a little bit more strange. I should say far more strange, doesn't he? He expresses his desire to build these three tabernacles, or we can call these three tents. And in one sense, it certainly is strange that Peter expresses this desire. That's not the design of Jesus. Jesus did not come up to Mount Transfiguration in order to start living there and dwelling there in these tents with Moses and Elijah. That's true. So Jesus had come for a specific reason, as he just revealed to Peter and to the disciples, he was going to go to Jerusalem and to die. And so in one sense, what Peter says sounds utterly preposterous. However, in another respect, there might be more to what Peter says here in building these three tents than meets the eye. So remember the allusions to the historical exodus that we drew out already. And as we think of these, perhaps this helps us to make sense of what Peter says. So think through the Old Testament feasts. Is there one of those that would, that goes with the idea of tabernacles or tents? And there is, there's one that's called the Feast of Tabernacles. And if you read Leviticus 23, you will see God giving a reason why he's now ordaining this feast. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. This is Leviticus 23. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. So perhaps here, Peter is recognizing these signs. He sees the high mountain. Perhaps he notes the six days. He sees Moses and Elijah that are talking with Jesus about his departure, about his exodus. That's the word that's used. He seems to recognize these symbols, perhaps. And if that's true, then Peter might not only be interpreting these symbols, excuse me, Peter might be interpreting these symbols but might not be interpreting them in the right way. So he might be right here to connect what he sees to the exodus scene in some sense, but as far as the application of what to do in building these tabernacles now, he goes off base. So we see then Peter's exclamation, and then we have an explanation in verse 6, where it says that Peter just didn't know what he was saying because he was overcome with fear. And because of a verse like this, I'm going to be cautious about being really hard on Peter at this point. It's not necessarily because I have a problem being hard on Peter. There are times where that's appropriate. But I'm going to be cautious about judging him too harshly at this point. I think verse 6 kind of helps to guide us that way. As it says, he's overcome with fear. He doesn't know what he's saying. So then we have this explanation for Peter's exclamation. The one thing that I do want to touch on here about Peter's appropriateness and what he says, even among some of the perhaps foolishness that you see, is isn't he actually right to be overcome and to be overwhelmed with fear as he beholds the glory of Christ? So we can also ask, are you gripped by a fear of God? I'm not talking about a terrifying, a terrified, slavish, bondage-like fear that God's enemies should feel, but a holy, reverential, honorable fear of God. Still a fear nonetheless. Are you gripped by such a fear of God? One of the common terms as you read scripture for those that are believers is God-fearers. Can you be described as a God-fearer? As you look at earth and you see things like natural disasters, do you not think of God's mighty power? If you think of the great flood that he caused, which created many canyons and caverns in the world, you see God's power. When you hear and when you see tornadoes and great hurricanes, you also think of the great power of God. And maybe if you do like I did this morning and you drive through the mountains, Do you not think of God's majesty and his power to create things such as these that are so grand and so beautiful? And so as we look around us, and even as we look in our own hearts as those who are made in God's image, we should be led to a holy fear of him. He is the God who demonstrates, as Romans 1 says, his eternal power and divine nature, as we simply look at his creation alone. And the same God who showed to his disciples the glory of Jesus in the mouth of transfiguration says much to us today as well, even as we look around at creation. So indeed, we are right simply to look around us, to see things like the heavens that declare the glory of God, and to have an honoring, reverent fear of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't forget, as Hebrew says, that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is no different now than he was on the day of Mount Transfiguration. This is how the disciples see them, and that's why we read here about this dread of Jesus' glory. But after seeing the demonstration of his glory, the dread of his glory, now we come to, lastly, the declaration of Jesus' glory and the climax of our text. In verses seven through eight, we read this, at least in verse seven, and a cloud came and overshadowed them. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, hear him. I want you to see here the cloud. We read in verse 7 that this cloud comes and the cloud overshadows him. And what's significant about a cloud? I believe, perhaps I said earlier in the sermon, that it represents God's divine presence. And I think I mentioned, as you remember the Exodus story, how God meets with Moses. How does he do that? He uses a cloud. And as God travels with his people through the wilderness, what is the visual representation of that? It's a pillar of cloud. You can also think of the passages in scripture that speak about God who comes on a cloud, Isaiah chapter 20. As you read the book of Acts, you see that Jesus ascends, and how does he disappear from the disciples' sight? He disappears into a cloud. This cloud hides him from their sight. And scripture also speaks of Jesus coming again. And what is he coming on? He's coming on the clouds of heaven. So the image here I get is at least the same cloud into which Jesus disappears at his ascension. is one on which you will come again, with the cloud here representing God's presence in this text. So we have the cloud, and then immediately there is a call that comes out of the cloud. In verse seven, there's this voice that comes and it says, this is my beloved son, hear him. As you think about these words, you'll think how they're tremendously significant. on several levels, several levels. It's difficult to read the words of God the Father here and not think of the words at Jesus' baptism. As you read Mark chapter one, the account of Jesus' baptism, the words that come from heaven are almost the same. So I think that in some way, this scene here recalls Jesus' baptism. Then also remember this, at this point in the book of Mark, as now Jesus after this is going to head more, a lot more directly and closely towards the cross, it appears like we're nearing the end of Jesus's earthly ministry. So it's almost as if then at the beginning of Jesus's earthly ministry before his death and then at the end, these are bookends where you have the Father who's audibly speaking these words which are very similar to each other, these divine declarations of Jesus being the Son of God. In my understanding, at least at Jesus's baptism, he is consecrated as a priest, as God's holy divine priest. Not with, well, he is anointed with water by John the Baptist, but God the Father anoints the Holy Spirit upon him. And I think of the servant's song in Isaiah 42. Behold my servant who I'm uphold, my elect whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. And what else do we know about this servant? The servant that Isaiah speaks of. You can continue reading. You'll come to Isaiah 53 and you'll see how he will be such a suffering servant. He is the one that is going to undergo the suffering that the people of Israel need to be saved from their sins. And so we see here something that connects this transfiguration, what the Father says to Jesus' previous words in chapter 8 about Him going to Jerusalem to suffer much from the Pharisees, from the scribes, from the chief priests, and to be put to death. And as you think of the name of Jesus itself, isn't this what it means? In Matthew 1, 21, where you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from his sins. The very name means, Jesus means Jehovah saves or Yahweh saves. It's the Greek form of the word, the name Joshua. He will save Israel from their sins. And then you have this command, hear him or listen to him. which I believe echoes what Moses wrote about the great prophet that was to come in Deuteronomy 18 to 15. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. So given everything that we've seen about Jesus, who is greater than Moses and Elijah, these two prophets, Jesus now embodies what Moses and Elijah stood for, leading a deliverance spiritually. He is this prophet that is spoken about, and all of his disciples, including Moses, must listen to him. And so for you believers here today, listen to this prophet, hear this prophet, and take heed to what he says in his word, and obey this prophet and all the commands that he presents to you in scripture. Do not be content merely to rely on his grace to save you if you will not strive also through his grace to see him sanctify you. As you become more like the Lord Jesus Christ and your obedience. Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 1415. So here the Lord Jesus Christ obey him being diligent to follow all of his commandments so far as you are aware and are able. And this is going to apply regardless of how much you may naturally like or not like his commandments. I had a professor in seminary that said something like, a true Christian believes whatever God says and he does whatever God commands. So let this characterize you as well. for those who are believers. But what if you're sitting here today as an unbeliever? I just described those Christians who might hear the son, they might listen to him, but not fully. But what if you're here today and you don't listen to him at all? Repent, open your heart, turn to him, hear the son, and let his divine voice sink into your heart. Do not reject his call. But listen, incline your ear unto them, unto him. He is the good shepherd, and he says in John 10 that he has other sheep that are not of his fold that he must bring in. So incline your ear to hear the voice of the good shepherd as a sheep that is not yet his own. Let him then bring you into his sheepfold. So we see here this cloud and then this call that comes from the cloud and everything, I haven't explained everything that can be drawn from it, but we see some good things there. And then lastly, we see what I'm gonna take the liberty to call the curtain. We have the cloud, the call, and now this curtain in verse 8. And I call it that because we have this conclusion. We have this little epilogue to this story as this scene is now being drawn to a close. And the curtain, so to speak, of the act is is drawn once more. The great exposition of the glory of God on this mountain stage has taken place, and the scene now returns to normal. In verse eight we read, suddenly when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. So isn't this interesting? That the scene ends just as it began. You have Jesus and the three disciples on a mountain. You no longer see any divine glory. You no longer see a cloud. You no longer see Moses and Elijah. You don't hear any divine voice from heaven. You don't see Jesus's glory visibly shining upon them. He looks like the man that they would have seen during their ordinary, everyday lives. But what Jesus accomplished here had its effect. These disciples could never forget what they saw. They would never be able to forget the scene that was showcased for them as Jesus Christ in his person and work. There's one commentator that wrote about this verse very concisely. As the two fade away, Moses and Elijah, Jesus is left alone, confirming that he is the climax of salvation history and the fulfillment of all that Moses and Elijah came to accomplish. So as we look through this text after we see the demonstration of Jesus' glory, and then we also conclude with the declaration of Jesus' glory, isn't it perhaps interesting that the center of the text is about the disciples who are entrenched with fear as they are encapsulated with dread for Jesus' glory in verses five and six. So why are these disciples literally central to this text? Did it just happen that way? Or perhaps is there something to this? Maybe it's because this great demonstration of Jesus' glory was not given for Jesus' sake so much as it was given for the disciples' sake. Why does God reveal himself to us? Is it because he needs anything or is it because we need to hear from him? That's why scripture was given to us. Scripture was given for us. That's the purpose. And I think of John chapter 12, where you have this voice that comes from heaven affirming that God is glorifying his own name. I have glorified it and will glorify it again. Then think, what does Jesus say right after that? This voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. It's as if Jesus is saying, I'm not the one that needs to hear this. This voice came for you. So brothers and sisters, I think in a similar way that this transfiguration was not for Jesus' sake, but it was to instill a powerful sense of Jesus' glory in these disciples, to fortify them, to strengthen their faith. You have Peter here, back in Mark chapter 8, it looks like he can't take it when Jesus tells him what he's going to do, how he is going to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. And how can Peter see the glory that is going to come when what he sees in front of him is the suffering, the humiliation, the agony? And so then this is a theme that Jesus will continue to teach his disciples until he does suffer and die. And then even after that point, you see how the disciples are slow to believe the things that Jesus has told them. As you see, for example, with Thomas. So I believe as we look at this text as a whole, as we look at what comes before the transfiguration, we see such a divine strengthening of the faith of these disciples. as Jesus reveals his glory as a taste, a foreshadowing of the great glory that is indeed to come. And to return to our opening illustration, in a certain theater that you might go to, as you look around at the act, what you see is going to be different. It's not going to correspond to the reality that you are accustomed to as you see your friends, perhaps, who are now acting and looking as if they are something else. They might have, so to speak, a veil or a mask that is put over them as they're presenting a different character or as a different nature. But in this theater, aren't things exactly the opposite? Instead of things now on Mount Transfiguration looking different because there's a mask that is veiling the true reality, here things look different because, so to speak, a mask is being taken away. revealing Jesus' divine nature in a visible way to the eye. He's presenting who he truly is, and the veil that was over his deity, so to speak, is pulled back. The plain humanity, this facade that kept his divine nature hidden from the eye, at this moment, it does not contain the brightness of his divine glory. And this truth has great application for us. So we as Christians living day by day should look upon Christ to increase our faith. As the disciples' faith was strengthened on the mountain as they saw Christ, our strength, our faith is strengthened by looking upon Christ in his word. And there is where we hear him. And actually, this is where Peter is going to take us later in his life. So, of course, he's one of the disciples that's here. And as he writes 2 Peter, he reflects on what happens on Mount Transfiguration. If you look at 2 Peter 2 verses 17 and 18, he writes, 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. So Peter reflects on this moment, but does Peter stop there? Does he stop at the revelation that is given of Jesus Christ that he saw and heard on the mountain? No, he goes on, in verse 19 he says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. More sure than what? In the word of God. What is our word of God more sure than as a word of prophecy? Mount Transfiguration, the things that these disciples saw and heard. So then even after Jesus' transfiguration, in the Word of God, what we have there is even more certain of a prophetic word to us. And so even as the disciples look upon God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, we have a greater testimony if we have the faith to believe it, we have this greater testimony in this sense to the person and the work of Jesus Christ as we behold Him and all of His radiant glory in His Word. So, friends, how we should believe this and how we are absolutely without excuse if we refuse to believe this, if we refuse to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and to hear Him, the things that He tells us, Romans chapter one says man is without excuse anyway, just being aware of God through nature, through his own soul. But if we have the very word of God presented to us that describes to us Jesus' person and his work, and if we turn away from it, it seems we are even more culpable, we're even more guilty than if we had been present on the stage of Mount Transfiguration itself. We had heard that voice and seen Jesus and his divine glory. This is how certain the word of God is. And through this word, we look so fully and so completely upon Christ as his spirit is sent to convict the world of sin and righteousness and of judgment. The spirit speaks through these scriptures directly to us. And in the Bible, we are told that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that we must listen to him. exactly what the disciples heard on that day. And so in in doing this, as we read through scripture, we ourselves have this great down payment, this great taste of the glory that is going to come. The kingdom of God showcased in the glory of the king. And if you're here today, again, not as a believer, as one who has not heard God's beloved Son, it is still true that the Lord Jesus is going to display His radiant glory when He returns. And you will see Him in His majesty. Every eye is going to see Him. But when you see Him, you will not partake in the joy of his glory. You're going to see him coming on the clouds of heaven as your judge. This is what happens for all those who refuse him. who do not look to the Son, who do not listen to Him. So what is the remedy? And we've talked today about believers who must look to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're an unbeliever, also look to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a simple gospel promise that is. What does Isaiah 45 says? What does it say? Look unto me and be saved, all ye ends of the earth. Salvation, this promise is given in terms so simple as looking. And so John can write one of these disciples that even as the bronze serpent was lifted in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes on him may have eternal life. And the Son of Man has been lifted up. He has been exalted, so to speak, on that cross and His humiliation. And now He is lifted up and raised into heaven. Look upon this glorified Savior, the one who indeed, as He prophesied, underwent such great sufferings on behalf of His people. He was entered into such great glory. Look to Him. so that you also may have fellowship with him as his disciples did, and may participate, you may partake of some of this glory in his kingdom. And so certainly, brothers and sisters, you want to be strengthened in your faith. And there will indeed come a day when each one of you will no longer be walking by faith, but be walking by sight. And what a great day that will be when, it's a day that I trust all of you believers here are looking forward to. Where you can see Jesus, perhaps as John did in Revelation, as this one who is risen, ascended, and glorified. And you can worship him, and you can rejoice to do that for all of heaven's eternal days. So what a great joy, brothers and sisters, we look forward to when the Lord comes again. But I will also say, we need not wait until then to look upon him. And so if you would behold Jesus then, gaze upon him now. Amen. Let us pray. Dear Lord, you reveal to us the Lord Jesus Christ, his person and his work, so perfectly in your scriptures. What a marvelous book we have. What a marvelous savior we have. Dear Lord, we pray that you would humble us as you had prayed this morning. Give us this heavenly wisdom to look at Jesus Christ in the scriptures. And we pray that even as we might be participating in his sufferings, we would also participate in his glory. And even as we die with him, that we also will be raised with him, that we now are spiritually raised with him, quickened in our souls, that one day we may be raised in our bodies as well, united to our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, that there is nothing, no good thing in the Lord Jesus that is held back from us, but we are united to this great and glorious head. So cause us even now to gaze upon our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen. Thank you, brother. Let's stand together and respond to the word of God that we've heard through the great prophet, the Lord Jesus himself. Let's stand number 58, O splendor of God's glory bright, 58.