Have You Ever Put Your Heart and Soul into Something…

For it to Only Fall Apart

For Some, it’s a Relationship

For Some, it’s a Job

When Your Hopes, Dreams, and Aspirations Fall Apart…

It’s Absolutely Devastating

Matthew 16:27-17:13

Jesus’ Disciples have Given Their Entire Lives to Him

They have Come to Whole-Heartedly Believe that He is the Messianic King

They Believe He has Come to:

Destroy All Wickedness

Bless His Faithful People

And Restore All Things

But Then Jesus Drops a Bomb on Them

He Tells Them that He, the Messiah, is Going to Suffer and Die

Can You Imagine Being in Their Shoes?

How would You Be Feeling at that Moment?

The Savior of the World is Here…

But He’s Going to Die

All of Your Hopes are Crushed

But Being a Disciple of Jesus isn’t a Life of Hopelessness

It’s a Life of Incredible Hope

Jesus Doesn’t Leave His Disciples Hopeless

We’re Going to See that in Our Text this Morning

With the Messiah, There’s Always Hope

Matthew 16:27 (NASB95)

27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.

After Jesus Told the Disciples that He was Going to Die…

He also Told Them that He was Going to Resurrect 3 Days Later

And Now He Tells Them that He’s Going to Come in Glory

And When He Does, He will Bring Judgment and Reward

So, Jesus Seems to Be Referring to…

His Return From Heaven at the End of the Age

We Often Call this the Day of Judgment

He’s Telling Them:

“Just Because I’m Going to Die Doesn’t Mean Hope is Lost”

Matthew 16:28 (NASB95)

28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Hope is Not Lost!

In Fact, Some of the Disciples are Going to…

See Jesus “Coming in His Kingdom”

Kingdom = “Kingship, Royal Power, Royal Rule”

Some of Jesus’ Disciples would Still Be Alive…

When He Becomes King

That’s Wonderful News!

Hope is Alive!

Verse 27 & 28 Both Mention Jesus “Coming”…

But They’re Referring to 2 Different Events

Verse 27 is Talking About the Day of Judgment:

A Day that has Not Yet Come

Verse 28 is Talking About a Day…

That Some of the Disciples Would Witness in Their Lifetimes

But What Day is He Referring to?

When Did the “Son of Man Come in His Kingdom”?

This Language May Not Be Familiar to Us…

But it Would’ve Been Very Familiar to Matthew’s Jewish Readers

Daniel 7:13–14 (NASB95)

13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

When Jesus Talks About “Coming in His Kingdom”…

He isn’t Talking About Coming to Earth

He’s Talking About Coming to Heaven…

Where He Would Receive His Everlasting Dominion, Glory, and Kingdom

When Did this Happen?

After His Resurrection and Ascension

This is What Some of His Disciples Would See…

Before They would Taste Death

Jesus is Going to Die, But that isn’t Going to Stop His:

Coming to Heaven to Receive His Glory and Royal Rule

Coming to Earth in Glorious Judgment

Hope is Still Alive!

With These Words, Jesus has Restored Hope for His Disciples

But for a Select Few of Them…

He’s Going to Prove it

Matthew 17:1 (NASB95)

1 Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

Matthew Tells Us that this is Taking Place 6 Days After What Jesus Just Said

Matthew Doesn’t Normally Give Us Many Time Stamps…

So When He Does, We Know He’s Doing it for a Purpose

What’s About to Happen is Connected to What Jesus Just Said

Matthew 17:2–3 (NASB95)

2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

On the Mountain with Peter, James, and John…

Jesus Transfigured (metamorphoō)

He Changed/Transformed

He was Transformed into a Glorious Form of Himself

His Appearance Reminds Us…

Of Numerous Descriptions of Heavenly Beings in the Bible

What These 3 Disciples are Seeing…

Is a Vision of Jesus in His Future Glory

They are Seeing a Foreshadow of Their Glorified King

Just as Jesus Spoke of His Future Glory…

Now He’s Showing Them Proof of it

But They Aren’t Just Seeing a Glorified Jesus…

They’re also Seeing Moses and Elijah

According to Luke, They’re Talking with Jesus About…

His exodos - His Departure/Death

Matthew 17:4–5 (NASB95)

4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

Peter Feels that this is a Significant Moment

He was Right

So He Wanted to Make 3 Tabernacles/Tents to Honor the 3 of Them

But While He was Making this Offer…

A Bright Cloud Covered Them and God Spoke From the Cloud

What God Said was Loud and Clear

“Your Focus Shouldn’t Be on Moses or Elijah”

“You Listen to Jesus”

All of this Would’ve Sounded Very Familiar to Matthew’s Jewish Readers

They would have Been Very Familiar with These 2 OT Figures

They’re Major Representatives of the Law and Prophets…

Which All Pointed to Jesus the Messiah

Both Figures Spoke with God on a Mountain - Mount Horeb/Sinai

God Would Often Present Himself in a Cloud

What God Just Said to the Disciples From the Cloud…

Are Direct Quotes From the Messianic Texts of Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1

When Moses Spoke with God on Mount Sinai, the Glory of God…

Caused His Face to Shine Bright, Much Like Jesus’ Here

But in this Case, the Glory is Coming From Jesus Himself

And, in the Minds of the Jewish People, These 2 Prophets…

Were Deeply Connected to the Messiah

Deuteronomy 18:15 (NASB95)

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.

The Jewish People Expected a Prophet Like Moses to Come

Even the Same Command is Given

God is Going to Raise Up a Prophet Like Moses and “You Shall Listen to Him”

“This is My Beloved Son, with Whom I Am Well-Pleased; Listen to Him!”

And the Jewish People Expected Elijah to Return Before the Messiah

They Got this From the Very Last Words of Their Bible

Malachi 4:5–6 (NASB95)

5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. 6 “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

They Expected Elijah to Return and Bring Restoration

The Disciples are Going to Bring this Up in Just a Minute

Everything that Happened on this Mountain was for a Purpose

It was to Give These Disciples Undeniable Proof…

That Even Though the Messiah is Going to Die…

Hope is Still Very Much Alive

It is Proof that He is Going to Receive and Return…

In the Glory They are Now Witnessing

Matthew 17:6–8 (NASB95)

6 When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. 7 And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” 8 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

They Reacted to the Presence of God in the Cloud the Way People Always have

They Fell Down in Absolute Terror

But Jesus, as He Often Does, Touches Them…

And Assures Them that They have Nothing to Fear

What They See Next is Very Important

They Get Up and All They See is Jesus…

In His Normal/Un-Glorified Form…

Alone

Moses and Elijah are Gone

Jesus is All that’s Left

This was to Emphasize Exactly What God Said From the Cloud

“Listen to Him”

Their Focus/Honor/Devotion is to Be to Jesus and Him Alone

Matthew 17:9 (NASB95)

9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

These 3 Disciples Just Witnessed…

A Foreshadowing of the Glorious Majesty of King Jesus

But They Were to Keep it a Secret

Why?

Because Only After His Resurrection…

Would Anyone Be Able to Comprehend What They Just Witnessed

Matthew 17:10–13 (NASB95)

10 And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11 And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; 12 but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

The Teachers of the Law Were Still Teaching that Elijah…

Would Come Before the Messiah to Restore All Things

But, as has Already Been Pointed Out By Jesus…

John the Baptizer was the Prophesied Elijah to Come

His Ministry Restored Many Peoples’ Hearts Back to God…

And Paved the Way for the Messiah to Begin His Ministry of Restoration

But They Didn’t Recognize Him as Elijah, so They Killed Him

Elijah, as the Messiah’s Forerunner…

Didn’t Come to Prevent the Messiah’s Suffering and Death

He Came to Foreshadow it

Just as Elijah (John the Baptizer) was Murdered…

So Will the Messiah

But We Know the Rest of the Story, Don’t We

His Death will Not Stop His Restoration of All Things

In Fact, His Death and Resurrection are Exactly How He’ll Accomplish it

Application

In this Text, Jesus Told His Disciples that He Would Return in Glory to Judge the World

Then He Showed Peter, James, and John Proof of His Future Glory

And We Know that Peter Would Not Forget About this Event

Decades Later, He would Write a Letter to Several Churches…

Warning Them that There will Be False Teachers Who will Try to Deceive Them

What will These False Teachers Be Saying?

Among Other Things, They will Say that Jesus isn’t Really Coming Back

“Jesus isn’t Going to Return in Glory Like He Said He Would”

This is How Peter Responds:

2 Peter 1:16–18 (NLT)

16 For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes 17 when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” 18 We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

“Don’t Let People Trick You into Believing that Jesus isn’t Returning in Glory”

“I Saw His Glory with My Own Eyes!”

Peter will Go on to Say that the Scriptures Tell Us He’ll Return…

And that’s Even Better Evidence Than His Own Eye-Witness

The Disciples had Just Been Given Incredibly Tragic News

But 6 Days Later, Jesus Gave Them Proof that Hope is Still Alive

To this Point, the Disciples have Been Focused on Jesus’ Death…

But He Wants Their Focus to Be on His Resurrection and Glory

The Prophets, and Jesus Himself, have Promised…

That He is Going to Return in His Glory…

To Judge the Wicked and Restore All Things

2 Peter 3:13–14 (ESV)

13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

It’s Impossible to Live a Proper Life Without the Proper Hope

Place Your Hope in Jesus’ Glorious Return