Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* – John Newton, the slave trader turned pastor and writer of “Amazing Grace”, in his old age used to lose his train of thought – sometimes mid-sermon.

Then he would say, “I have lost my train of thought, but this I know.

I know what a great sinner I am; and I know what a great Savior He is.” Nothing’s more important to know in life than the greatness of Jesus.

*I.

Purpose for the Preview*

Last week we saw this strange event is actually a preview of the next age breaking into this.

God pulling back the curtains for a glimpse of the future.

He does this to encourage the disciples as well as Jesus that the hard times coming would be worth the reward.

Following Christ is costly but so worth it.

*II.

Person of the Preview*

*A.

Supremacy of His Person*

In April 1995 San Francisco hosted a retirement party for Joe Montana after 16 years in pro football.

John Madden said, “This is the greatest quarterback who ever played the game."

A fan yelled, “We love you, Joe.”

But Bill Walsh, Montana’s coach had a long memory.

He responded, “You weren’t saying that in 1979.

Then you were saying, 'Where did you get this guy who looks like a Swedish placekicker?’”

In ’79, Montana hardly looked like the greatest quarterback ever.

But in Walsh’s West Coast offense, Montana’s quick step, cool demeanor, and precision accuracy turned the 49ers into the dominant team of the 80’s.

In one Super Bowl, down by 6 with under 2 minutes to play, Montana huddled his offense, pointed to the stands and said, “Hey, isn’t that John Candy over there?”

Then he led his team 92 yards to the winning touchdown – one of 4 Super Bowls wins highlighting his greatness.

But true greatness only resides one place – Jesus Christ.

For 33 years earth hosted the Supreme Being who has ever lived.

Like Montana, He didn’t look like much.

Isa 53:2: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.”

You wouldn’t have looked at Jesus and said, “There’s goes the greatest man that ever lived.”

But he was all of that and more.

Pre-eminent in Manhood, Majesty and Message.

*1.

Pre-eminent in His Manhood*

The disciples knew Jesus was a man.

They had seen Him walk, talk, sleep, sweat, eat, drink, tire and tan.

They had seen Him bleed, blister, laugh and weep.

Max Lucado writes, “He felt weak.

He grew weary.

He was afraid of failure.

He was susceptible to wooing women.

He got colds, burped, and suffered.

His feelings got hurt.

His feet got tired.

And his head ached.

To think of Jesus in such a light is—well, it seems almost irreverent, doesn’t it?

It is much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation.

Pretend he never snored or blew his nose or hit his thumb with a hammer.

There is something about keeping him divine that keeps him distant, packaged, predictable.

But don’t do it.

don’t.

Let him be as human as he intended to be.

For only if we let him in can he pull us out.”

He was as human as it gets.

But normal?

Normal men don’t take their disciples up on a mountaintop and then light up like a Christmas tree.

He was anything but normal!

And look who He hangs with!

V. 30, “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah.”

We’re not told how the disciples recognized them.

But there sits Jesus conversing with two of the greatest men in Jewish history – Moses the Deliver and Lawgiver and Elijah the great prophet.

Like going to a retreat in Estes only to find Abe Lincoln and George Washington on hand.

Incredible.

Why are they there?

They certainly affirm that when Jesus was talking about the kingdom of God, He wasn’t kidding!

But why these two?

Why not Daniel and Joseph or Abraham and David?

First, both had unusual exits from this world.

After Moses died at age 120 when “His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated” (Deut 34:7), God buried him.

Elijah never died at all but during an outing with Elisha, “behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them.

And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (II Kings 2:11).

This contrasts sharply with the “departure” which Jesus was about to accomplish at Jerusalem – a reference to the cross that awaited Him.

Second, Moses and Elijah represent the two great divisions of the OT.

The Law came thru Moses and Elijah was a great prophet.

Together they represent the OT that Jesus came to fulfill.

Mt 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

The disciples are seeing living proof of that intent.

What began with Moses and Elijah, Jesus will finish.

He’s the fulfillment of the whole thing.

But there is more.

Moses led Israel’s exodus from Egypt, the greatest picture of salvation in the Bible.

Moses is a backward look at how we enter the kingdom of God.

Elijah points us forward.

In the next to last v in the OT, Mal 4:5: “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.”

Elijah’s presence points to the kingdom in its fullness at Christ’s 2nd Coming.

Now look at Rev 11 where God sends two great witnesses to earth during the Tribulation just prior to Jesus’ 2nd Coming.

Rev 11:3, “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

He describes their miraculous protection.

Then v. 6, “They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying (sounds a lot like Elijah during Ahab’s time), and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire (exactly like Moses in Egypt).”

They are eventually killed and lie in the streets for 3-1/2 days to the joy of the earthly crowds.

But in a final appeal, God raises them.

They are never named, but the patterns suggest they may be Moses and Elijah.

And they’re here at the kingdom preview!

They are witnesses here and witnesses later.

They are great men.

AND YET, as great as these men are, they are not even close to the greatest person on this mountain.

Glory emanates from Jesus, not Moses and Elijah.

They are talking in v. 31 “of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” not about their great exploits.

They are from heaven on credit with no ability to pay the penalty for their own sins.

They need Jesus.

And later, v. 36, “And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.”

As the night ends, Jesus stands alone, the One on whom all depends.

The Lawgiver and the prophet are gone.