Sermon
The Transfiguration of Christ
February 27, 2005
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you take your Bibles and your sermon notes, and today we are going to continue our subject, our sermon series, 'Let's Talk About Jesus'. We started in January and so now this is the eighth Sunday, and our subject has been the personhood of Christ. And the reason why we selected that subject and why my heart was compelled to study it, is because all of us are aware that the cults and the false teachers that surround us the first thing they do with Christianity is attack the personhood of Christ.

And I've suggested to all of you that when one comes knocking at your front door you can immediately identify them by asking them the first question, what are your thoughts, what is your belief concerning Jesus Christ? And you will find that all cults will begin to diminish, distort what the Bible has to say about Christ and they will eliminate His deity.

We have spent eight weeks going through the various versus talking about the deity of Jesus Christ. We believe that the Bible presents Christ as the divine Son of God, the Savior of the world, Christ was God incarnate in human fresh, that Christ was God in human flesh. We believe that with all of our hearts, and so for that reason we have taken many of the verses that have strengthened and proven that particular point.

Today we come to a subject that I think probably is the strongest evidence in the Scriptures with regards to the deity of Christ. I began to ask myself the question last night, and I didn't have time to research it, but I wonder what the cults do with this marvelous subject on the transfiguration of Christ. How do they explain that away? because it's the most visible proof of the deity of Christ. So I'm going to ask you to take your notes or your Bible, and the passage is found in Matthew chapter 17 verses 1 through 13. Now the record of the transfiguration is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and they'll vary just slightly, but I have chosen as our text today from Matthew.

"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as 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. But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid." When they 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 His 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."

Now the first sentence in my notes reads: In the chapter preceding our text, Jesus openly discusses the events which would soon take place. And I think it's proper and I think it's good Bible study if we take the setting of the verse or the event that we are going to discuss and let's see what the setting is. So in your Bible go with me to Matthew chapter 16 and let's just see what precedes this glorious event of the transfiguration of Christ.

Verse 13 says that Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi. That was up near the Sea of Galilee. And He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This is known as the great confession of Peter.

And then Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but My Father who is in heaven. Verse 20, He says, Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

Verse 21, From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day. So now we know He's come to a crisis moment. He has set His face towards Jerusalem and He's going to be crucified and He's going to give His life, and now He starts talking openly about this event to His disciples.

Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" But He turned and said to Peter, "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."

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone 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 will find it. For what profit is it to 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 the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

And many theologians believe that that verse, verse 28, was the reference that followed as these disciples saw Jesus in all of His glory, the glory of His kingdom. Now let's go to our notes. I'm down at the bottom of page 1.

Jesus knew that the hour for which God had appointed Him could not now be far away. The shadows were deepening and the storm was gathering. So Jesus determined a bold stroke. He would meet the opposition at its headquarters. He would carry the campaign up to the capital, and there in the city of God the final revelation must be given, the decisive blow struck at the powers of darkness, and the uttermost sacrifice of redeeming love accepted.

And Luke tells us "He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem." From this point on, one steady, dazzling flame can be seen burning through the shadows as they deepen into midnight--the heroism of the soul of Jesus. Listen to His words of commitment: 'I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!' And again, 'I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.'

So with head high and steady eyes and firm step He went, with no weapons but His love, no resources but God and His own indomitable soul, to where the entrenched and embattled forces of evil were waiting for Him. Those were the religious leaders in Jerusalem.

No wonder-No wonder the Evangelist, describing one stage of that last march, has put it like this: 'Jesus went before them and they were amazed, and as they followed, they were afraid.' Here, on the royal road of the Cross, He stands, the Hero-Christ, a leader for whom people would gladly die. So the strong Son of God went out on His last crusade.

Just before He left Galilee, a strange event happened which strengthened Jesus mightily for what lay ahead. Six days after the great self-disclosure or the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus took Peter, James and John to Mount Hermon and was transfigured before them.

Luke tells us that Jesus went up into a mountain, a high mountain to pray. Dropping down a few lines - and although the shadows were thickening around Him, His refuge was in prayer, and if He found prayer the secret of His strength, how essential it is for us as humans to make time and place for prayer.

For Jesus, He chose Peter, John and James as His prayer partners. They were the most intimate disciples of Jesus. And I'm suggesting there are four reasons why He chose just the three to be a witness to His transfiguration.

Pause - now remember, He's got twelve, twelve disciples, and they are just as human as you and me, and I'm sure that there were times when they saw Jesus take these three and leave them behind. In fact, I know that there was tension in the group because on one occasion they are walking along and they are arguing as to who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God, and Jesus has to discuss the matter with them...he that is greatest is going to be servant of all.

You can only imagine as human beings there are tensions where three out of twelve are selected time and time again to be evidence to those intimate moments with Christ. But I'm suggesting there are four reasons.

Number one - first, they would be reliable witnesses of His manifested glory, able to confirm the event to the other disciples and to the rest of the church. And we learn that to be true when we read the writings of Peter he references this glorious moment that never left his mind or his heart. It marked him forever. And we when we read the writings of John, John says we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.

So we have Peter and we have John who give witness, but we don't have a witness of James. The reason being, James was an early martyr and in the early days of the church he gave his life for his Christian faith. So we don't have a written testimony of this event by James, but we do of Peter and John.

I'm at the top of page 3. Number two - these three men were probably chosen because of their intimacy with Jesus. They were with Him the most, they understood Him the best, and they frequently accompanied Him when He went away for times of intense fellowship with His Heavenly Father. And it was fitting that those who would most intimately share His sufferings and sorrow would also most intimately share in witnessing His glory.

Three - as the acknowledged spokesmen among the Twelve, the ones whose word was most respected, these three men could most reliably and convincingly articulate what they witnessed on the mountain. And fourth is possible a reason that is negative. If all of the twelve disciples had seen the transfiguration, or if all of them plus the crowds that had been with them in the upper Galilee were to have seen Jesus transfigured, the entire region could quickly have been in turmoil. The people may have run down the hillside and into the surrounding towns babbling uncontrollably about what they had just seen on the mountain. The accounts doubtlessly would have varied greatly and been embellished with each retelling, and Jesus could have been pressured even more forcefully to become the political and military deliverer the people expected the Messiah to be.

So Jesus selects the three, His closest, and they go to the mountain.

We learn from Luke 9 that, as in the Garden, these three disciples could not stay awake despite the momentousness of the experience. It was "from sorrow" that they slept in the Garden, and it was perhaps the same reason that they slept on the mountaintop.

Dropping down a couple lines - Remember, they had just learned from the lips of Jesus that He was going to Jerusalem to die. Now in the events that followed are found five powerful confirmations, or proofs, that Jesus was indeed the predicted Son of Man, the Messiah, the divine King of glory.

First, the transformation itself. Secondly, the testimony of the saints; that's Moses and Elijah. Thirdly, the terror of the Father; that terror that filled them as the voice came out of the cloud. Fourthly, is what we may called the tapestry of the scene, the glory that surrounded that mountain; and fifth, the reference to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ.

The first three are given during the transfiguration; the last two are given just afterwards. And the Bible says, "And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light."

WAS TRANSFIGURED is from metamorphoo, which has the basic meaning of changing into another form, and is the term from which we get metamorphosis. And because no further description is given all we know of the change is that, during this brief display of divine glory, Jesus' face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.

The Jesus who had been living for over thirty years in ordinary human form was now partially seen in the blazing effulgence of God. From within Himself, in a way that defies full description, much less full explanation, Jesus' divine glory was manifested before Peter and James and John.

Here is the greatest confirmation of His deity yet in the life of Jesus, and here, more than on any other occasion, Jesus revealed Himself as He truly is, the Son of God. As the divine glory radiated from His face, it illumined even His garments, which became as white as light, in supernatural testimony to His spiritual splendor. And as with the Shekinah manifestation of the Old Testament, God here portrayed Himself to human eyes in a form of Light so dazzling and overwhelming that it could barely be withstood.

Shrouded in mystery and difficult to interpret, as this wonderful incident must always be, it was certainly no dream or fancy, but a real experience--a spiritual experience of the first order for the three disciples, and an experience of supreme spiritual exultation for their Master.

Vincent in his WORD STUDIES says, the description of the transfigured Savior not only describes a change in His outward appearance, but an outflashing of His inner, essential divine nature.

Dropping a few lines - Deity shows through the glorified face and shining raiment of the Christ. Such radiance was the revelation of His incarnate deity. "His face did shine as the sun" or as Luke expresses it, "The fashion of His countenance became other than it had been." In full communion with His Father, divine glory flowed out into visible brightness. Such a transcendent manifestation was experienced in a lower degree in Moses whose face shone as he came down from the mountain, and by Stephen as his face became the face of an angel.

The Light portrayed Jesus' glory and His majesty, as Peter testified years later in his second epistle. And here is the witness of Peter: "For when He received honor and glory from the Father, such an utterance as was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, 'This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.'"

Dropping on down a few lines - John later testified that "we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." So there are the two witnesses that I referenced earlier, and I note here that James' testimony is not included because of his early martyrdom.

A bright cloud overshadowing all upon the mountain that day added to the glory of the event. This was the SHEKINAH. Let's pause.

Remember in the Old Testament when God would manifest His glory it was over the Tabernacle; it was a cloud of fire, it was a demonstration of the very presence of God, and that glory is referenced as the SHEKINAH glory - the demonstrated presence of God on a certain location, and that, over the Tabernacle. So we refer to that glory, the manifested presence of God, as the SHEKINAH.

This was the SHEKINAH wrapping Him around--the same SHEKINAH glory which appeared above the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. And to the Jews, this SHEKINAH represented the abiding presence of Jehovah, that symbol that He was with His people. Now adding to the supernaturalness of the event was the voice of the Father speaking out of the bright cloud, and saying, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him!"

A similar commendation was heard at our Lord's baptism. Then the Voice, the divine Voice, assured Christ as the Son of Man, of the greatness of His Being. Now the same awesome Voice approves the Savior's consecration in showing Himself obedient unto death. And amid His increasing sufferings and coming sacrifice, He was satisfying His Father's good pleasure as the one perfect sacrifice.

Ladies and gentlemen, this was the grand, climactic witness direct from heaven that Jesus was the One in whom the Old Testament prophecies had emerged and found their fulfillment. And such a manifestation of glory confirmed Peter's previous confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

A fact we must not forget as we meditate upon our Lord's transfiguration is that it actually represents His great refusal, for had He wished He could have stepped into heaven from that mount. But He turned aside from the glory, came down to a valley of need, and set His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem where He died upon the cross so that countless myriads might share glory with Him.

No wonder, no wonder the disciples were awestruck by what Matthew calls a "vision," and in after days, as they looked back on the scene, they were to say, "We were eyewitnesses of His majesty." And such a supernatural vision confirmed their faith in His deity against the shock of troublous days ahead. The privileged three never got over such a blaze of glory. It gave them a sense of security as they came face to face with their own martyrdom. They had seen Jesus in all of His glory, and it was in that moment that assurance so filled their soul they could face whatever martyrdom brought to them because Jesus was real. They had stood in the presence of Almighty God, and they knew it.

I'm on page 6. Have you got the picture? Jesus has those three and they're up there on the mountain, and all of a sudden His face shines brilliantly and His garments glisten, and then in that glory the mountain is covered with the SHEKINAH glory of God. And then out of that cloud comes the voice, "This is My Son," the identification of deity, "In whom I am well pleased."

And then, two people appear on the mountain with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. We say, Why Moses and Elijah? Well when we go back into the Old Testament Moses was the man who went up on the mountain and he received the Ten Commandments from God. It was Moses that was the giver of the law. It was known as the Law of Moses. So now we have the lawgiver standing there and we have old Elijah.

Elijah was the defender of the law. You remember the day when he walked into old King Ahab's castle, or whatever it may have been, he was a wicked king. He was married to Jezebel, and he had turned the nation to idols. And Elijah couldn't take it any more. His righteous soul stirred within him. He walked into the kings' chamber and said it won't rain again until I give the word, and walked out. He was the defender of the sacred laws of God's righteousness.

So now you have Moses the lawgiver and Elijah the law defender, but there's something very interesting about these two fellows. They both had an unnatural exodus from this earth. Deuteronomy 32 tells us, I think it's the last chapter in Deuteronomy, God takes Moses, takes him up on a mountain, Nebo, and He shows Moses everything from Dan, the whole land that He was going to give to His people. But He said, Moses, you are not going in.

Remember earlier the people needed water, and God said, you talk to that rock...you speak to the rock and it will usher water. But he was so angry at those children of Israel, so rebellious, he struck that rock. Of course God sent the water, but God said, now Moses, you disobeyed Me. I told you to just speak to it. You hit it, and because of it, you're not going in. So God takes Moses in those closing moments of his life, walks him up to Mount Nebo, and said, Moses, there it is, but you're not going in. And there Moses died, and God was the only one present at the funeral service. In fact, He was the undertaker, He was the preacher, He was the gravedigger because the Bible says He buried Moses, and to this day nobody knows where he was buried. A strange departure.

Old Elijah as he closes his ministry out God sends a chariot of fire. It comes down, swoops, picks up old Elijah, and he takes off for heaven and doesn't even have to worry about a funeral service. He didn't die.

Now you've got two fellows who had unique departures standing there talking to Jesus. Luke tells us what the conversation was all about. It says they spoke to Him concerning His departure. In the original, it's exodus. They were going to talk to Jesus and they were talking to Him about His exodus after completing His ministry and going back to heaven.

Now I have a great big imagination. And so I'm going to imagine what old Elijah and Moses said to Jesus. Now this is not theology this is imagination by Sheley. Moses and Elijah said, Jesus, we just came down to encourage You. We know now that You are heading for the cross. The hours and the days ahead are going to be difficult, but we want You to know we're all rooting for You up in heaven. In fact we're planning a party. When it's all over and You come back to heaven we're going to rejoice.

You know I think old David must have seen that scene in Psalm 24. David writes -- Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, so the everlasting King can come in. And I'm sure that the reason for Elijah and Moses' appearance there was to encourage Christ in a moment where He was faced with a cross. Jesus has already heard the words from His Father; It's all right Son, You're doing wonderfully, I'm well pleased with you. And old Elijah and Moses say, Jesus, we're right behind you. We're applauding You in heaven. Finish the task that You've been assigned to do.

Can you imagine what this must have meant to Jesus? To have the vindication of His Father, and the encouragements of the saints in heaven who came the from heaven's glory to talk to Him. When you read the story, this is too much, this is too much for the disciples. They can't take anymore, and they fall on their face afraid. They have witnessed the glorious Christ in all of His kingdom glory.

Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever paused to think what it must be like to close our eyes in death here and the next time we open our eyes we are looking on the majesty of our Christ?

Someone said to me in our last service, Pastor, can you imagine Marilyn, what that must have been like the minute after she slipped from this life. You say, who is Marilyn? I'm talking about Marilyn Anderson. Pastor Anderson was with us for many years and then went to Fresno to pastor, and his lovely wife of 61 years of age passed away and we are going to her funeral tomorrow down in Fresno. A lovely, godly lady.

But I often stand...I often stand at a coffin and I pause to think, what was that moment like when they close their eyes on earth and open them in heaven? That will happen to us. But that happened to old Peter, James, and John. They saw the glory of the eternal Christ.

You know when you go through the Bible, you go to Exodus chapter 32 and old Moses has been up talking to God and he's got the tablets in his hands, but when he comes down the very presence of God glowed from his face so brightly that they had to put a veil over his face. They couldn't even look at him. That experience of being in God's presence had transformed his face into a light so bright and so dazzling they veiled him.

You go on through the Old Testament and you come to Isaiah Chapter 6. Chapter 6 says, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up above the earth, and His train filled all of the temple. And old Isaiah had that vision of the majesty of God. He saw the angels saying holy, holy, holy, and the angel came and touched his lip because in the presence of God he was speechless.

Old Paul as he is on his way to Damascus in Acts chapter 9, the light shines from heaven and old Paul falls beneath that light, and that moment when the brightness of heaven shown upon him, that moment transformed him totally into the great apostle that he was.

You go into the book of Revelation, and in the book of Revelation we have that marvelous description - now remember this is the same Christ that John saw on Mount Hermon. This is what he sees when he sees the vision of heaven. He says, "Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead."

Moved by the awesome presence of the eternal God. You know, I come to that moment and I say, God, may it always be when I come into Your presence to worship You, may there be that sense of awe and wonder and majesty about you always. Every week I pray as we prepare for this day, I say, Lord Jesus, may it be that Your presence is so real and so wonderful that when people walk through that front door they know they've walked into Your presence. I pray for that marvelous presence of Christ to fill this room so that lives are transformed and made new.

But I have a fear...I have a book that I pulled off my shelf just quite recently. It's a book entitled "The Trivialization of God." Dr. Donald McCullough wrote it, and every time I read it it just shocks me, because here is what the great theologian has said: I fear when history has written its pages defining the 20th century or we understand the dimensions of what happened in eternity we will come to the conclusion that the greatest sin of the church in the 20th century has been the trivialization of God.

What he is saying is this, he is saying we have a tendency to culturize God. We want to bring our God, the concept of our God, down into manageable terms so He's the God that agrees with my theology. He's the God that agrees with my politics. He's the God that agrees with me, and that's the kind of gods we create in our mind, and often in so doing we lose biblical viewpoint of a majestic God who is incomprehensible, who's glorious, who's wonderful.

And you know, I fear that too many things are being done in the light of keeping up with the times that we've taken the awe too frequently out of worship. I pray...I pray God may that moment come when Jesus You make Yourself so real all we can do in Your sanctuary is bow in awe and reverence before You. May we never trivialize God. He's the God Majestic, the God eternal, the creator God, the God all-powerful, the God who loves us, and may those very thoughts pull our hearts and our bodies to their knees in adoration and worship.

When old Peter, James, and John left the mountain that day they were different men. May it be that we have an experience so personal, so deep, so revealing, and Jesus become so blessed all we can do is bow and worship Him. Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Lord Jesus, we bow in Your presence. We never want to be guilty of reducing You to a god we can comprehend or a god that always agrees with us. God, may You be the glorious, omnipotent, all-powerful, eternal, wonderful, awesome God that we find great pleasure in worshiping. I worship You Jesus, and we love You, and we bow in Your presence. Amen. God bless you.