1. "Friends, if you've become a bit casual about who you're following, this is a good passage for you to look at. Familiarity with the stories about Jesus should not cause you to become casual in understanding who Jesus is."

2. "This shining wasn't merely a reflection of the glory of another, as Moses had been just a reflection of God's glory, sort of like the moon reflects the sun's light. But here in this account, this was the internal light of the Son of God's internal glory shining out."

3. "Friends, fellowship with a holy God is not natural for sinners. When you're in sin and you feel guilty, you try to avoid God. It's not a silly instinct for sinners to want to avoid a perfectly good and holy God."

4. "He came to us through His gospel. He touched us. He spoke to us. He called us out of hiding and into fellowship with His heavenly Father. And He told them that they no longer needed to have their instinct of fear, because in Christ, united to Him, they have become the beloved."

5. "God doesn't need what we would give Him, but we desperately need what He would give us through Christ."

6. "This church is not a speculation club where we get together and try our best theses with each other and argue them out. The Gospels are all about how we don't in and of ourselves know the truth about God, but God has revealed Himself to us through Christ."

7. "In order for Jesus to do what he came to do, the brightness of this happy scene of the Transfiguration would need to be replaced by the darkness of Jerusalem's dangers and the menace of the cross. The Mediator would Himself have to die if He were to give life."

8. "We want to pay attention to God's Word like nothing else in our lives. There shouldn't be a rival channel in our lives. There should be no alternative allegiances."

9. "The disciples were given a glimpse of the glory before so that they could survive the suffering afterwards. Jesus' suffering would be as real and sharp as His Transfiguration had been glorious."

10. "You could say that the Transfiguration was a presentation of the crucifixion from heaven's view, from that time when the glory would far outshine the suffering, as much as Christ's unending reign at the Father's right hand would exceed the three days of the cross and the tomb."

Observation Questions

1. According to Matthew 17:1-2, what physical changes occurred in Jesus' appearance when He was transfigured on the mountain?

2. In Matthew 17:3, who appeared and spoke with Jesus during the Transfiguration, and what does Luke's Gospel tell us they were discussing?

3. What did the voice from the cloud declare about Jesus in Matthew 17:5, and what command did it give to the disciples?

4. How did the disciples respond when they heard the voice from the cloud, and what did Jesus do in response to their reaction (Matthew 17:6-7)?

5. In Matthew 17:9, what specific instruction did Jesus give the disciples as they came down from the mountain, and what was the time limit on this command?

6. According to Matthew 17:12-13, who did Jesus say had already come in the role of Elijah, and what had happened to this person?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that Jesus' radiance was His own internal glory shining out, rather than a reflected glory like Moses experienced after meeting with God (Exodus 34:29-35)?

2. What is the significance of Moses and Elijah specifically appearing with Jesus at the Transfiguration, and how do they together represent God's revelation in the Old Testament?

3. Why did God give the disciples this preview of Christ's glory immediately after Jesus had predicted His suffering and death (Matthew 16:21-23), and what does this reveal about God's care for His followers?

4. How does the disciples' terrified response to God's voice (verse 6) and Jesus' comforting response (verse 7) illustrate Jesus' role as mediator between God and sinful humanity?

5. Why did God add the command "Listen to Him" to His declaration about Jesus being His beloved Son, and how does this connect to the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15?

Application Questions

1. The sermon emphasized that familiarity with Jesus should not breed casualness about His identity. In what specific ways might you have become casual in your understanding of who Jesus is, and what practice could you adopt this week to cultivate fresh reverence for Him?

2. The disciples were given a glimpse of glory to help them endure coming suffering. When you face difficult circumstances, how can you practically remind yourself of Christ's ultimate victory and the glory that awaits, and what Scripture or truth could you meditate on this week?

3. God commanded the disciples to "listen to Him" regarding Jesus. What is one area of your life where you know Jesus has spoken clearly through Scripture, but you have been slow to obey or pay attention?

4. Jesus came to the terrified disciples, touched them, and told them not to fear. How might you extend this same kind of comforting, fear-dispelling presence to someone in your life who is struggling or afraid this week?

5. The sermon noted that since Christ has risen, we are now called to tell everyone about Him rather than keeping silent. Who is one person in your regular life—family, neighbor, coworker—with whom you could share something about Jesus in the coming weeks, and what would be a natural way to begin that conversation?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Exodus 34:29-35 — This passage describes Moses' face shining after meeting with God, providing the contrast that highlights how Jesus' glory was His own rather than merely reflected.

2. Deuteronomy 18:15-19 — This prophecy of a coming prophet like Moses whom the people must hear is directly fulfilled in Jesus and explains God's command to "listen to Him."

3. 2 Peter 1:16-21 — Peter recalls his eyewitness experience of the Transfiguration and connects it to the authority of Scripture as God's Word, which the sermon emphasized.

4. Hebrews 1:1-4 — This passage declares Jesus as the radiance of God's glory and exact imprint of His nature, supporting the sermon's teaching about Christ's unique divine identity.

5. Isaiah 52:13–53:12 — This prophecy of the Suffering Servant describes the Messiah's rejection and suffering that Jesus predicted would happen to Him, showing the pattern of suffering before glory.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Decline of Understanding About Christmas and Christ

II. Who Is Jesus? Seven Statements

III. What Did Jesus Come to Do?

IV. How Should We Respond?

V. The Pattern of Suffering Then Glory

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Detailed Sermon Outline

The widespread celebration of Christmas is one of the lasting marks of the dominant position Christianity held in our nation's past.

Where half a century ago you might have assumed that most people you met claimed to believe in Christ would be in church at least sometimes, and certainly at Easter and Christmas. Today all such markers seem to be receding. This has happened partly through greatly increased numbers of people moving here from parts of the world in which other religions are dominant, partly from the children of Christians ceasing to follow in the faith of their parents and grandparents. Part of what this means is that when we come to Christmas, there is less understanding of exactly what is being celebrated. The words of the song sound more like Latin or Gaelic.

Those who sing them even beautifully inquires comprehend them less and less. What could be meant by singing that someone is a virgin mother?

Or even more that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. Why is a child being called holy? And why do we sing asking He be born in us today?

Even in the most popular and joyful songs of the season like Joy to the World, why do we so enthusiastically call on heaven and nature to sing?

At root, our modern confusion is about Jesus Christ. People misunderstand or misbelieve about Him. They put Him in a line of leaders espousing nonviolence, like Gautama Buddha and Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela. They think His example, His teaching is the point. And His death merely a tragic mistake.

Most fundamentally, even more than misunderstanding what He meant to do, they misunderstand who Jesus is.

The 12 original disciples were big misbelievers throughout Jesus' earthly ministry. As the weeks followed, Jesus stretched into months and the months into years.

Jesus' disciples saw more and more evidence pile up in front of them of exactly who Jesus was, what His mission was, who His identity really was. They weren't sure how they should respond to Jesus. In our study of Matthew's gospel, we're just at the beginning of chapter 17. The disciples have just come to understand more than they ever had before that Jesus was the promised Messiah. You'll find this beginning on page 822.

In the Bibles provided. In chapter 16, after Peter first confessed Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus said that His Father in heaven, meaning God, had revealed this to Peter. But then Jesus began to prophesy explicitly for the first time that He must now go to Jerusalem and there be killed, the exact opposite. Of what people at that time expected the Messiah to do as their King and Deliverer. Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him for saying such things.

And then there in chapter 16 verse 23, Jesus counterrebukes. And in the verses we considered last week, especially verse 24, said that in fact they would all have to die if they were going to follow Him. It's at this point that the disciples were as instructed and as discouraged and confused as they had ever been that Jesus takes the three of them that He was closest to, their leaders, Peter, James and John, to give them some amazing encouragement to help see them through the difficult days that they were about to face. Our passage for this morning is Matthew chapter 17. Matthew 17:1-13.

And after six days, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, His brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

And He was transfigured before them. And His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with Him. And Peter said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise, and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.

And the disciples asked him, and why do the scribes say that the first Elijah must come? He answered, Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

Three points. Our main point first, who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? And we will spend most of our time there. But also number two, what did Jesus come to do?

And number three, what should we do? I pray that God will use these words to end any confusion that you have. About why we are called to such joy when we think about the coming of Christ. First then, who is Jesus? Seven statements, seven statements.

Number one, Jesus was more than He appeared. Jesus was more than He appeared. Look at verse 1. After six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, His brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them.

So soon after Peter's confession and the teaching about the coming cross for Christ and His followers, Jesus took Peter and James and John to a mountain. Now we know mountains are often where significant teaching happens. We think of Mount Sinai.

With Moses, the giving of the Law, or Elijah there on Mount Horeb meeting with God after his contest with the prophets of Baal. Or here in Matthew's Gospel we think of the famous Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5 to 7. Well now Matthew is letting us know something spiritually significant is going to happen here. And sure enough it did, something spiritually significant, supernatural. You see it at the beginning of verse 2 about Jesus and His appearance.

Look here at verse 2: and he was transfigured before them. On this great high place, Jesus was transfigured. He was metamorphosed. He was form changed before them. Friends, if you've become a bit casual about who you're following, this is a good passage for you to look at.

Familiarities with the stories about Jesus should not cause you to become casual in understanding who Jesus is. This account helps us with that. It shows us, it showed his disciples that Jesus was more than he appeared. But more specifically, a second statement, number two, Jesus is holy. Jesus is holy.

Look specifically at what we're told the change was in Jesus' appearance. There at the end of verse 2: and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

They would never have seen a sight so seriously glorious in all their lives. He began to be visibly glorious, even radiant. And this is not just a matter of speech. It's not like when you go to the wedding and after you say to someone, oh, she was just radiant, wasn't she? Not that kind of radiance.

No, when we read here, His face shone like the sun, you may think of when Moses came down from meeting with God and getting the law and his face was shining, only in Jesus' case, this shining wasn't merely a reflection of the glory of another, as Moses had been just a reflection. Of God's glory, sort of like the moon reflects the sun's light. But here in this account, this was the internal light of the Son of God's internal glory shining out. We read of the Son of God in Hebrews 1:3, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. So Jesus' shining light here was giving visual support to what He had taught His disciples about who He was, that He was as He said back in chapter 12, Greater than the temple, greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon.

God's nature was perfectly holy, unlike the earthly temple or His fallen servants, Jonah and Solomon. So Jesus' brightness here reflected the unspotted radiance of His moral purity. Jesus seemed to glow with a kind of heavenly phosphorescence. At least that was going on, something that seemed absolutely inexplicable and awe-inspiring to these disciples. Jesus' pure holiness was being made visible.

Verse 3 brings us to a couple more statements about Jesus. You look there at verse 3, behold there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with Him. It's interesting in the Old Testament Scriptures we find both Moses and Elijah had talked to God on Mount Sinai. Moses in the giving of the Law, and in 1 Kings 19, Elijah had, when he retreated there after the battle with the prophets of Baal, Luke lets us know what they were talking about here at the Transfiguration. They were talking, Luke says, of his departure.

That's Jesus' departure, literally his exodus, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

So together these figures, Moses and Elijah, personify God's revelation throughout the scriptures up to that time often expresses the law, Moses, and the prophets, Elijah. So statement number three. Number three, Jesus was predicted by Moses. Jesus was predicted by Moses. Moses stood for the law and in the law, even as Moses was physically giving witness to Jesus by being there and speaking with him.

So in Deuteronomy 18, in one of his last messages, to the people of Israel, Moses had predicted that God would raise up a new prophet like him. Deuteronomy 18:15, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him you shall listen. I will raise up for them a prophet like you, the Lord said to Moses, from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

So, friends, the disciples were now being given visual attestation that Jesus was the fulfillment of that divine promise that God gave through Moses for a new prophet for His people, a new Moses. Friends, the whole Old Testament points to Christ. Though they had each seen something of God's glory on a mountain, here was the clearest view that Moses and Elijah would have on earth. And it wasn't just a picture, they were actually there talking with the Son of God. The Son of God would have fellowship with someone who understood what he was doing.

So Moses was seeing the glory of God as the exodus would be completed.

Friend, as a church, we concentrate on the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the reason not just for this season, but for our whole community.

United with Him by faith, in His Spirit, we are united with each other. He is the center of all that we have in common.

Statement number four, Jesus was predicted by Elijah and the prophets. Elijah here is representing all of the Old Testament prophets and there are so many places we could go from the Lord's announcement through Isaiah 42, Behold My Servant whom I uphold, in My chosen, in whom I delight. Elijah himself here would see the glory of God he had only heard of back in 1 Kings 19. Jesus is who the prophets of the Old Testament had been predicting from Isaiah's calling him the heir to the throne of David in Isaiah 9, to Micah's predicting the place of his birth, to Daniel predicting the time of his birth, to Zechariah predicting that Jesus would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. We could go on and on and on.

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, all predicted, would be the means whereby God would lead all His people from the dominion of sin and death to the kingdom of life and light. Jesus came to bring about the new Exodus. That's what we're all invited into through Him. And the prophets predicted Jesus. They predicted what He was about.

Statement number five: Jesus as Messiah was preceded by Elijah. Jesus as Messiah was preceded by Elijah. Look there in verse 10. The disciples asked Him, then why do scribes say that first Elijah must come? He answered, Elijah does come and he will restore all things.

But I tell you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. The disciples were referring to Malachi chapter 4 verse 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

Or Isaiah's prophecy, which Mark begins his gospel with in Mark chapter 1.

A voice cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Mark tells us that this was about John the Baptist, which meant that the one whose way he prepared was the Lord.

Perhaps the disciples would have been full of talk about Elijah because they had just seen him there on the mountain. Now as they came down from this unique vision they wondered, Well then if Jesus was the Messiah, well isn't Elijah supposed to come before the Messiah? But in verses 12 and 13, Jesus explained that the Elijah-like messenger was who John the Baptist had been. And then in verse 13, they understood. If you look back at chapter 3 of Matthew's Gospel, that's clearly how Matthew presented John the Baptist.

So these prophecies of Elijah coming first and the messenger actually lent more weight to their newly refined understanding of Jesus as the long promised Messiah and John as the messenger who had come preparing his way before him. It seems like wherever they looked they were being presented with more evidence of who Jesus is, the Messiah of God.

And then there's statement number six. Statement number six, Jesus was uniquely loved by God. Jesus was uniquely loved by God. Look again at verse 4. And Peter said to Jesus, 'Lord, it's good that we're here.

If youf wish, I will make three tents here, one for your and one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him. Peter's offer here to make these tents in verse 4 does not seem to have been very important. Mark 9:6 even says that Peter said this, quote, because he didn't know what to say.

Close quote. Just like Matthew emphasized up in verse 3, the appearance of Moses and Elijah with that, Behold, so now in verse 5 there are these two emphases, Behold a bright cloud. It'd be like the cloud that Moses' experience of God's personal presence being visibly indicated by this bright cloud. And then another behold, untranslated, right before a voice from the cloud. Behold, a voice from the cloud.

The visual suggestion of the special presence of God was followed up with the very voice of God, something a bit like, Psalm 2:7, you, are my Son. Very much like what we read, the Father said at Jesus' baptism in Matthew 3, and behold a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. God flat out told them, this is my Son. If there's anyone who could settle questions of identity, surely it's God the Father. And He is clear This is my son.

Now, if you really want to understand the Transfiguration as a whole, zero in on what I'm about to say right now.

God gave them this to encourage them. That's the point of these 13 verses. Or better said, that's the point of this event that happened that these 13 verses tell us about. These disciples would be in special need of such heavenly reinforcing because Jesus' messiahship, which they were just beginning to understand, was nothing like they had been expecting.

Once they solved the problem in a few verses before, a week before, and understand Jesus is the Messiah, everything in them meant like, oh, we're home free. Okay. So Jesus is the Messiah. That means he's gonna kick the Romans out, he's gonna be ruling, the throne of David will be the milk and honey is about to flow. We're in on the ground floor.

This is great. That's what they would have understood that to mean. And yet, in fact, Jesus had just told them, as soon as he confirmed their understanding that he's the Messiah, he had said that he would be killed. And so would they.

It's in this context of surprising, even shocking, suffering.

Being predicted that God in His kindness brings forward a little preview of Jesus' resurrected and reigning glory so that His followers might be kept heartened to keep going through the very difficult days which were just in front of them. I think of that verse in Hebrews 12, verse 2, Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. God, in His tender care, was setting a preview of the coming joy in front of them before they descended into the deep, dark night of the rejection of Jesus. And the cross.

It's at this point that God the Father reminds those who heard of His unique love for His Son. We've been reveling in that love this autumn much through John 17 and the messages Bobby's been bringing to us. There we're reminded of the uninterrupted love of the Father for the Son and of the Son for the Father since before time began. And we're given a picture of our own being invited into this love as participants in it and recipients of it. Well, Peter, James, and John shouldn't imagine for a moment that Jesus was merely like Moses and Elijah.

Here are these three great leaders of God. No, Jesus was unique. He is the very Son of God. He is the one who was most specially and uniquely loved by His heavenly Father. This is the one whom they were following up on the mountain and on into Jerusalem.

And of course, all this was specially needed, I say, because of statement number seven, statement number seven, Jesus would be rejected by man. Jesus would be rejected by man.

Look there at verse 12. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands. Here in verse 12, Jesus said that Elijah had come and the people had abused him as they will me, he said. He was teaching them his fulfillment of another prophecy, Isaiah 53:3.

He was despised. And rejected by men. So Jesus knew He was about to be.

Friends, are these seven statements about Jesus helpful to you? Do they clarify or confirm who this Jesus is?

What significance does understanding Jesus' identity better have for you?

Are you seeing more of God's goodness in sending His beloved Son to us?

This is more of who Jesus is. So our first question was, who is Jesus? Our second question is, number two, what did Jesus come to do? What did Jesus come to do? And while Jesus doesn't explicitly answer this question in our passage, He demonstrates the answer.

Look again at verse 6. Look again at verse 6.

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, 'Rise and have no fear.' and when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Why did Jesus come? What did He come to do?

He came to be the mediator between God and man. He came to be the mediator between God and man. The disciples here in verse 6 act as sinners always do. Whenever we see them in the Old Testament or the New, when they come in contact with God the Father, they are terrified. Just like Ezekiel had been when the vision of God came to him in Ezekiel 1, or how Moses hid his face when God spoke to him from the burning bush in Exodus 3, or even how after he had sinned, Adam tried to physically hide from God.

Friends, fellowship with a holy God is not natural for sinners.

When you're in sin and you feel guilty, you try to avoid God.

It's not a silly instinct for sinners to want to avoid a perfectly good and holy God. Thus their terror here.

But see what happens in verse 7. Jesus came to them. Jesus touched them. Jesus spoke to them. Jesus told them to get up off their faces.

He told them to have no fear. Friends, here is a depiction of Jesus' gospel role with sinners. He came to us through His gospel. He touched us. He spoke to us.

He called us out of hiding and into fellowship with His heavenly Father. And He told them that they no longer needed to have their instinct of fear, because in Christ, united to Him, they have become the beloved.

How appropriate then when they lifted up their eyes in verse 8, the disciples then saw only Jesus. Though the Transfiguration was over, what these disciples had learned of Jesus through it wasn't. He may no longer have been surrounded by Moses and Elijah. He may no longer have been dazzlingly bright, but it was clear now that only Jesus was the Father's anointed Son. Only He is the one who's come to replace terror with peace and fear with love.

He alone was their Savior.

So as if to make Jesus' unique status crystal clear and unmistakable, in verse 8, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

That Jesus alone was left was a picture of the unique status that He has. No one else like Him. God Himself had testified to this. What more could one want? So, friend, if you're here today and you're here out of politeness to some family member or neighborhood curiosity, you're very welcome here.

We meet here even when it's not Christmas, every Sunday morning. We begin every week right here. You're always welcome to come. Perhaps you're someone who's not quite certain who Jesus is. I couldn't urge on you anything more important than this: focus on Jesus.

He is God's good gift to us. God doesn't need what we would give Him, but we desperately need what He would give us through Christ. Friends, this is the good news that makes heaven and nature sing. That though we have sinned, God has shown His love toward us in Christ. He has sent His only Son to live a life of perfect trust in His heavenly Father, of virtue and moral purity.

And yet He was rejected by men. He bore the penalty of sin, yet not of His own sin. He suffered as a substitute, as a sacrifice in the place of all of us who would ever turn from our sins and trust in Him. And God raised Him from the dead. He ascended to heaven.

He accepted the sacrifice His Son presented. And so He calls all of us now to turn from our sins and trust in Him. Trust the one whom the Father in His love sent. Trust the Son who came in His love and laid down His life for us.

As Christians, we learn that we must learn about God. From God. You know, this church is not a speculation club where we get together and try our best theses with each other and argue them out and see how does this sound? Does it seem reasonable? What about this?

No, friends, the Gospels are all about how we don't in and of ourselves know the truth about God, but God has revealed Himself to us through Christ. And that's why we as a church focus on the Bible as we do. That's why we're taking this time right now to sit and to listen to a lecture from the Bible, because we understand this to be God's Word.

In order for Jesus to do what he came to do, the brightness of this happy scene of the Transfiguration would need to be replaced by the darkness of Jerusalem's dangers and the menace of the cross. But then in the strange providence of God, the way for Jesus' work to be done would be through giving Himself. The Mediator would Himself have to die if He were to give life. That's what the rest of Matthew's gospel will be spent explaining. That's what Jesus came to do.

Final question, how should we respond? Number three, how should we respond?

Well, there are a couple of obvious imperatives in our passage itself. One that stands out to some would be Christ's command there in verse 9, to tell no one.

You see that in verse 9? As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.

Now, it's clear enough that this was a temporary response about Jesus' identity. Jesus repeatedly taught this in the Gospels, and He taught it because of the then current misunderstanding of who the Messiah was and of especially what the Messiah would do and when He would do it. Telling others about this would just lengthen the lines or double or triple the number of people who were coming to try to use Jesus for their own purposes, especially for immediate political change, Jesus wanted time to teach like He was doing in our very passage, to prepare them for the difficult work ahead. But friends, that command, tell no one, is not for us. That command is no longer in force.

It has an expiration date right there, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. Well, I'm happy to say that expiration date has happened. He has been raised from the dead. Therefore, we are not to tell no one. Instead, we are to tell everyone.

This is what he makes clear and explicitly in the Matthew's Gospel in Matthew 28. Friends on this side of the cross and resurrection there's no reason not to tell others of the cross of what God has done, of the great hope that we have in Christ. Now just a note, since it's just about Christmas we're about to meet with our families, we have many people who come to know Christ here, we have many young people, most of them are already gone, so I should have said this last Sunday, but for the few of you who are here to receive this wisdom, I don't think this means that every time you meet with your family, if they're not Christians, you need to tell them the gospel. I do not think this means that. Assume they have some memory.

Assume if you've shared with them these great and vital truths, they might remember what you've said. Assume that you could be just irritating, even without any spiritual darkness involved, just simply the irritation for the fifth time being told, My address is number 508. Yet you've told me that four times. So just rather than repeating things all the time you see them, just pray God give you wisdom what would be helpful to them. Love them, serve them well.

And as you have opportunity, make sure you share the gospel clearly with them. This good news about Jesus Christ. The real way we should respond is by listening to Jesus. You see that last phrase in verse 5.

Verse 5, He was still speaking when behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him. So when God the Father spoke, this is what He said. He not only told the disciples who Jesus is, but He told them therefore how they should respond to Jesus. He basically repeats the statement He made at Jesus' baptism, but then He adds this resulting duty.

Why should we listen to him? Because of who he is. He's the Father's uniquely beloved Son. What should we do to the one whom the Father calls his beloved Son, with whom he is well pleased? We should listen to him.

Very interesting, that bit of 2 Peter that we read out loud just before the pastoral prayer. Peter immediately, once he recalls this transfiguration and hearing the Father say, this is my beloved Son, which he repeated there, we read together from 2 Peter chapter 1, he then immediately turns to Scripture, reasoning that we should pay attention to God's Word written, recognizing it as God's Word. Do you remember what he says about the Scriptures that we read together? Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So God's command here to listen to him is exactly the command the Lord gave to those who would hear the promised prophet like Moses.

That the Lord would raise up in Deuteronomy 18:15, To him you shall listen. They're gonna have to listen closely if these disciples would keep following Christ through the challenging days they had in front of them. But this is why the Father has so exhorted them. So brothers and sisters, we wanna pay attention to God's Word like nothing else in our lives. There shouldn't be a rival channel in our lives.

There should be no alternative allegiances. That's why we gather here to do this as we do at the beginning of the week, to give ourselves to listen to God's Word expounded In an unhurried fashion, we intend to listen to him.

We should conclude. Listening to Jesus at this time was shocking to Peter and James and John. Particularly it seems they were shocked by the suffering to come. They were scandalized by it. They were traumatized by it.

But even in His prediction of His suffering, Jesus predicted the glory that was to follow. Look up in chapter 16 and verse 21. Right after Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah, we read, From that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Jesus did tell them that. Jesus clearly taught them of the greater glory that was to come.

But it was like they were so distracted by what he said about the suffering, they didn't even hear that about the glory. So in his tender kindness, here at the Transfiguration, God gave them a preview of it so that they might more nearly grasp it. The disciples were given a glimpse of the glory before so that they could survive the suffering afterwards. Jesus' suffering would be as real and sharp as His Transfiguration had been glorious. The eyes of the flesh would see Him suffer.

In the words of Isaiah 52, His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance.

The glorious flesh of this mountain would be replaced by the scarred flesh on another mountain, luminous clothes by shameful nakedness, Moses and Elijah by two thieves, the voice from the bright cloud with only the gasped words of Jesus, it is finished, uttered in darkness.

You could say that the Transfiguration was a presentation of the crucifixion from heaven's view, from that time when the glory would far outshine the suffering, as much as Christ's unending reign at the Father's right hand would exceed the three days of the cross and the tomb.

Did the Transfiguration help the disciples more nearly see the spiritual reality of what was happening at the cross?

As one pastor later put it, When Christ uttered in the judgment hall of Pilate the remarkable words, I am a king, he pronounced a sentiment fraught with unspeakable dignity and power. His enemies might deride his pretensions and express their mockery of his claim by presenting him with a crown of thorns, a reed and a purple robe and nailing him to the cross.

But in the eyes of unfallen intelligences, he was a king. A higher power presided over that derisive ceremony. And converted it into a real coronation. That crown of thorns was indeed the diadem of empire. That purple robe was the badge of royalty.

That fragile reed was the symbol of unbounded power. And that cross, the throne of dominion, which shall never end.

Friends, the biblical pattern is suffering, then glory. Suffering than glory. But here at the Transfiguration, for just a moment, the glory was allowed to reach the disciples' weary and wondering eyes before the gloom and confusion of suffering fully descended on them.

Amazing, isn't it, to think of such glory as Jesus had?

Veiled, subject to suffering, such suffering of one so glorious. You see a growing appreciation of the one helps our appreciation of the other by teaching them here at the transfiguration of Christ's true glory, God was teaching these disciples even more of the truth about the suffering of the Christ they were about to witness, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.

I wonder if this makes Christmas make a little more sense to you.

Let's pray.

Lord God, we pray that yout would help us to understand more and to love more and to live in line with that love for your and for others.

Consume our lives, we pray, in following Christ. We ask in his name. Amen.