Mark 9:2-13

Great to be here again with you all tonight…

I know last week was kind of a heavy lesson for those of you who were here.

I began last week in talking about how we are really entering the second half of the book of Mark.

We spoke about how the first half of the book of Mark really centers on WHO JESUS IS, and how the second half of the book is going to be getting into THE PUROSE THAT HE CAME FOR.

In the first half of the book we see that He is both God and man, the eternal king. He is forgiveness, rest, power, and unbounded love.

Yet at this point in the book the readers are left with a lot of questions about what He has come to do and how he will do it.

And so last week we started to get into that. As soon as Peter says that “you are the Christ”, Jesus immediately explains that He has to die.

And remember last week I said that from here on out Jesus is going to speak constantly of His death and suffering, and honestly he speaks about this in ways that’s very hard for the disciples to swallow which we found out last week.

(Our culture has really cheapened the call to salvation in Jesus and also the call to discipleship.)

So, that’s what we continue in, in the second half of this gospel in talking about why the cross in necessary and what it accomplished.

What seemed like it might become a story of triumph is going to look more and more like a tragedy.

Like last week, Jesus in all of these passages begins to be more and more explicit about what it means to follow Him.

In the first half of Mark He CALLS PEOPLE TO FOLLOW HIM, but now He is painting a more clearer picture of what that means.

As He takes up his cross, we must do the same. As the cross and glory are linked in His life, so the cross and glory will be linked in our lives. That is the theme that is introduced to us in the second half of Mark. -Tim Keller

All of this leads us now to our passage this evening that is usually called the Transfiguration.

Let’s go ahead and read our passage.

READ MARK 9:2-13

9:1-8

This is such an exciting passage here.

He takes Peter, James, and John to the top of the mountain and it is there that He reveals His glory.

He had just spoke to them about something that would take a lot of faith to practice in discipleship, and here God the Father and Jesus gives the three disciples this AWESOME PROOF that God indeed transforms suffering into glory.

Centuries prior to this event, according to the Book of Exodus in the OT, God came down on Mt. Sinai in a cloud. The voice of God spoke out of a cloud, and everyone was afraid. Moses went to the top of the mountain and begged to see God’s Glory.

Exodus 33:18–23 ESV

18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

We read here how Moses was able to see the glory of God, but that it was kind of indirect. He got to see His glory but only from His backside.

Even getting near to God was enough to make Moses face shine with the reflected Glory of God.

NOW, centuries later we’re on top of another mountain, and there’s glory again.

This glory, makes Jesus’ clothes whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.

There’s a mountain, there’s glory, and even Moses himself makes an appearance along with Elijah! (AMAZING SCENE!)

Readers are lead to ask the question… is this Mount Sinai part 2?

KINDA… BUT NOT>>>

Because we see a difference between Moses and Jesus in these two stories. And it’s something that we must understand but something the disciples at the time really needed to understand.

Moses reflected the glory of God much like the moon reflects the light of the sun. But, Jesus here in this passage PRODUCES this glory of God; it is coming directly from Him.

The word transfiguration describes a change on the outside that comes from the inside.

It makes us think about Hebrews 1:3

Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature...”

Something else happens here that is pretty cool.

Peter, James, and John are in the presence of God, His glory and they do not die!

At Mt. Sinai, God was revealing this glory that the Israelites knew to be fatal.

When God told Moses that you can only see my backside, He’s saying that there is a huge gap between deity and humanity.

YOU CAN’T TAKE MY REALITY.

YOU CAN’T ENDURE THE PRESENCE OF MY HOLINESS, MY GLORY.

THIS IS WHY, when Jesus is transfigured, Peter is scared!

SO SCARED in fact that Peter does not know what to say...

How many of you have ever been in a conversation where you just didn’t know what to say… but you feel like you got to say something… and so you just say whatever comes to your head first and as soon as you say it… in your head you’re like oh no!

Peter does this… Mark 9:5-6

Mark 9:5–6 ESV

5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

Here when the ESV says tents… it’s talking about three tabernacles.

In the OT, after the Mt. Sinai scene with Moses, guess what was built right after… a tabernacle.

WHY?

Because the Israelites recognized the gap between deity and humanity.

Therefore, you built a tabernacle or temple with priest, sacrifices, and rituals to try to bridge the gap, to protect human beings from this divine presence.

What Peter is saying here is, “we need to set up something to protect us from God’s presence!”

Other commentators say that Peter just wanted to stay up there and kind of bask in the glory of God. Find a way for this to continue!!! ...... Kind of that feeling that you can get after camp right??

Man this mountaintop experience is AWESOME! I am closer to Jesus than ever before up here!

BUT, what did Jesus just tell his disciples before this…?

“Discipleship means denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Him; you cannot do that and selfishly stay on the mount of glory. There are needs to be met in the valley below.”

“If we want to share the glory of Christ on the mountaintop, we must be willing to follow Him into the sufferings of the valley below.”

RIGHT AFTER Peter says this… what happens?

A cloud overshadows them...

And a voice comes out of the cloud. And God says… this is my Son. Listen to Him!

THEY ARE IN THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD and yet they do not die.

Suddenly the cloud disappears, Moses and Elijah are all of a sudden not there either.

You kind of get this since that this is Mark’s way of telling us and His disciples especially,

Jesus is able to give what Elijah couldn’t give, what Moses couldn’t give, what no one else could ever deliver. Through Jesus, we can cross the gap into the very heart of reality, into this relationship with God the Father. Jesus is the temple and tabernacle to end all temples and tabernacles because He is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, the ultimate priest to point the way for all priest.

Here on top of this mountain, Peter, James, and John get to experience WORSHIP: the preview of the thing our hearts long for, whether we know it or not.

We seek worship in art, in romance, in our family, in sports… but it is only found in Jesus.

Here they got to experience what true worship looks and feels like with their eyes and in their souls.

9:9-13

As they’re coming down from the mountain, Jesus charges them to not tell anyone what they have seen, UNTIL the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Scripture says that they kept it to themselves, again questioning what He mean by this rising from the dead.

I could not imagine this is i’m one of either James, John or Peter… having to keep this from the other disciples until the resurrection!

Now why does he tell the three disciples this?

Well Tim Keller says that the fill meaning of this episode would not be understood until after the resurrection because this was just a glimpse! A preview of the resurrection, and maybe even of the second coming.

ALSO, who would believe this right now? Maybe the other 9, but this was for the inner circle that Jesus had took with Him.

JESUS HERE IS AGAIN POINTING TO HIS DEATH.

Here again Peter tries to push back, but this time it’s a little more thoughtful.

Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?

In the OT, in the book of Malachi, it is prophesied that Elijah would return before the day of the Lord, when God will appear and make everything right.

So, here the disciples are like, “HEY! We just saw Elijah! The day of the Lord must be near!

Why all this talk about death??

And then Jesus again corrects them…

Mark 9:12–13 ESV

12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Jesus is telling them, The Elijah that the prophet was pointing has come and his name is John the Baptist. And he has come, suffered and died. Elijah has come and gone.

John the Baptist (Elijah to Jesus), his coming was a primer to Jesus’ coming. So also His death is a herald of the execution and death of Jesus.

God here is showing the disciples some things to learn but also He is preparing them for the test they will face when their leader is taken from them.

Have you ever had that experience? When the compassion and love of another person helped you deal with your suffering? When someone’s unconditional approval and encouragement transformed your fear into resolve? When an encounter with beauty seems to neutralize your anxiety and give you hope?

Keller ask the question....

How are you going to get all of this that you need without burning out your friends?

Isn’t that a great question?

Because you see, sometimes we place onto our friends, or our parents, or our boyfriends or girlfriends.... this weight that only Jesus can bear.

Sometimes we insist that the only place I can fill this whole in my soul is through blank...

Sometimes we think in the back of our minds that I can find all of this (unconditional love, compassion, encouragement, this beauty, grace and mercy, this since of fulfillment)… in _________.

That is one of the worst things we can do to somebody. When the only one who can take that responsibility of supplying what our souls need is JESUS.

The answer is WORSHIP.

You must have access to the very presence of God through the worship of The Father’s only Son - Jesus.

And you must not just know of this love and presence, but you MUST EXPERIENCE IT. You must be ACTIVE in it.

And this is what will eventually get the disciples through their suffering as they go through the suffering of Jesus’ death, resurrection and after His ascension.

This is what ultimately will get us through our suffering in this world that we are in.

Not just knowing in our head knowledge about Jesus…

but EXPERIENCING JESUS.

BEING ACTIVE IN THE ONGOING PURSUIT of ABIDING IN JESUS.

BEING ACTIVE IN THE ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM and knowing that the deepest needs of our inner most being is met in only Him.