35 Luke 9.28-36

Luke 9:28-36

v    Opening Illustration

Ø     You can be a Christian and hold differing beliefs on a number of issues

§        Tongues

§        Healing

§        Baptism

§        The interpretation of Revelation

·        Pre-Mil

·        Post-Mil

·        A-mil

v    But…

Ø     There is a core of beliefs or “Fundamentals” that you have to believe in to call yourself a Christian

§        Among these are:

·        Bible as the word of God

·        The Trinity

·        The resurrection of Jesus

·        The exclusivity of Christ

·        The second coming of Christ

¨     And the most pivotal belief…

Ø     Who Jesus is

§        The God-man

§        Human and divine (Must be divine!)

v    And here, perhaps Jesus makes his strongest claim to divinity...pre-resurrection

Ø     Here he reveals himself as God incarnate

§        As the Nicene Creed stated…

·        God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God

v    In other words…

Ø     Jesus is God

§        And he displayed this through what we call the “transfiguration”

READ 9:28-31

The Shekinah Glory (v. 28-31)

v    Luke begins by telling us…

Ø     “8 days after Jesus said this…”

§        Referring back to verse 27

v    Many people have wondered what Jesus meant when he said…

Ø     I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

§        Here he is preparing his disciples for what some of them will witness 8 days later…

·        A revelation of the Kingdom of God

¨     In other words…

Ø     God returning to dwell with his people

And look at how that is described

v    Jesus’ appearance changes and his clothes become like lightening

Ø     Storm imagery

§        Called the Shekinah Glory

·        That is how God always has revealed himself to man

Ø     Jesus’ transfiguration appearance is like that of God throughout the Bible

§        As a bright storm cloud

·        In Garden (Gen 3:8)

¨     “Cool of the day”

¨     “Wind of the storm”

·        Pillar of light & fire in Exodus (Ex 13:21-22)

·        Moses in cleft of Rock (Ex 33:12-23)

¨     “You will see my back”

Ø     W. Kaiser explained the Hebrew as

§        “The after burn after the shuttle launches”

·        Tabernacle tent of meeting (Ex 40:34-35)

·        Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 8:10-11)

·        Ezekiel saw it depart (Ezek 10:18-19)

Think of how Christ will return for the 2nd time

Ø     Rev 1:7

§        Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

Ø     And now God’s presence is returning once again to dwell with his people in Jesus Christ

§        And we see that in his transfiguration

·        Jesus is revealing himself to these three disciples as God through the Shekinah Glory

¨     Putting an exclamation point on Peter’s profession of Jesus as the Christ

Ø     Jesus is God!

v    And while he is in his glory, look at who he is talking to

Ø     Moses & Elijah

Ø     Q: Why those two?

§        Some speculate that they represent two different types of life endings

·        Moses buried by God

·        Elijah taken up into heaven

§        Some speculate that they represent the two great periods of Israel’s history

·        The exodus and the end-times

§        Some even speculate that they are with him because they both spoke to God previously on mountaintops

·        Interesting, but not helpful

§        Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets

·        Represents the summary of the OT

¨     And remember what Christ said about the Law and Prophets…

Ø     Matthews 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

§        How was he going to fulfill them?

·        His “departure”

§        Interestingly, the GK word used there is “exodos”

·        They were talking about his exodus

·        The exodus of his death, burial and resurrection

·        The great exodus that brings about true freedom from bondage

·        Christ’s sacrificial atonement death on the cross

·        The exodus that the previous one foreshadows!

¨     All of the OT points to this pivotal moment in the history of creation

Ø     We celebrate it today in the Lord’s Supper and remember that which they were talking about

v    And while all this is going on…

Ø     Look at what the three disciples are doing!

READ 9:32-33

The Groggy Disciples (v. 32-33)

Ø     In the middle of this glorious conversation…

§        The disciples wake up

·        We sit here and think…

¨     How could they sleep through that!

¨     How could they miss something like this!

Ø     But before you are too hard on them…

§        Aren’t we just the same?

·        We miss when God is doing great things right in front of us

¨     Illustration: Forum 2 Mondays ago

Ø     Great spiritual work was done

§        The Gates of Hell were damaged

·        Matthew 16:18

·        And I tell you that you are Peter,  and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it

·        Explain that reference

·        We are to pound down the gates of Hell as in ancient cities

·        Yet we sometimes miss it…

¨     And Peter, James and John missed it because they were asleep!

v    And they not only missed most of the transfiguration…

Ø     They also missed the meaning

§        As stated previously,

·        The meaning was to substantiate Peter’s confession

¨     Jesus is indeed God incarnate

v    But Lo!

Ø     Peter himself, the confessor, missed the meaning of the transfiguration

§        Look at what Peter said

·        V. 33 ~ “Let’s put up 3 shelters…”

¨     By Luke’s own admission…

Ø     “He did not know what he was saying”

Ø     Because what Peter was implying was that this was the eschaton

·        The end time

·        When God will make his home on earth again permanently

·        The glorious renewal of everything

¨     Peter said, “It is good for us to be here!”

Ø     This displays a wrong attitude of ‘Comfort without the Cross’

v    Jesus had 8 days previous stated very clearly and succinctly that he must suffer…

Ø     READ 9:22

§        Peter disregarded what was said and saw a possibility to have the Kingdom of God remain here without the cross

¨     “I will built shelters so you can stay”

v    That is our temptation too

Ø     Comfort without the Cross

§        We are tempted to want the glory without the cost

§        We are tempted to want Eternal life without the trials & tribulations of this life

§        We are tempted to want a life of relative ease and not the sufferings that are the prerequisite of following Christ

·        Rom 8:17

¨     Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Imagine a field covered with freshly fallen snow. Off to the one side, you notice two figures entering the field. The first is larger than the second, perhaps they are a father and his son. As they walk across the field, you notice that the father pays no particular attention to where he is going, but his son, on the other hand, follows directly behind, making a special effort to step in his father's footprints.

After the two figures pass off the scene, you notice that there is only one set of tracks visible in the field, although two people had walked across it.

The Christian life is that way. In our daily walk we ought to be following Christ's example, footprint by footprint, particularly in times when we are suffering.

If some­one were to observe the snow-covered fields of your life, would there be one set of tracks, or would he see two sets, one belong­ing to Christ and the other distinctly yours avoiding the times of trials?

Ø     Our temptation is “Comfort before the Cross”

Ø     Our temptation is to avoid suffering

§        When in fact it is a mandate in the Christian life

·        Phil 1:29  

¨     For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him

·        That is what it means to Take up your cross and follow Jesus!

¨     We have to follow in his footsteps

Ø     And the path of those footsteps is the path of suffering

Ø     Comfort without the Cross

§        It is a lifetime temptation

·        Satan tempted Jesus with it

¨     3rd temptation in the wilderness

Ø     “I will give you all this if you bow down and worship me”

§        It is a temptation that Peter fell into here

§        It is our temptation too…

·        Comfort without the Cross

v    After Peter’s Misunderstanding of the transfiguration…

Ø     God the Father wants to make sure that they understand the meaning of it

READ 9:34-35

The Voice of God (v. 34-36)

v    To a Jew, what God the Father said from the Shekinah cloud would have deep meaning

Ø     “This is my son, whom I have chosen, Listen to him”

§        It would have reminded them of Dt 18:15

¨     The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him

Ø     To us this verse is buried in the OT, with so many others that point to the Messiah

§        Unread, Unknown & unthought about

Ø     But to a Jew, this verse was central

§        Verses like this were chiseled into their memories

·        They grew up with them

·        They recited them

·        They knew them inside out

¨     As Rev. John Rankin said several weeks ago…

Ø     Jews knew certain sections of Scripture inside and out

§        Much like our nursery rhymes

¨     But I say today, much like our commercials

Ø     2 all beef patties, special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun ‘ = Mcdonalds

Ø     “Can you hear me now” = Verizon

Ø     “Where’s the Beef” = Wendy’s

Ø     “I’d like to teach the world to sing” = Coke

Ø     “Good to the last drop” = Maxwell House

Ø     “Have it your way” = Burger King

Ø     “Please don’t squeeze the ____________” = Charmin

Ø     When the 3 disciples heard “Listen to him”

§        They knew exactly what was being said…

·        This is the Messiah, the anointed one, the savior, the second Moses, God incarnate

¨     And they are to listen to him!

Ø     Just as they are to listen to God

¨     Listen to him!

Ø     Not something that they always did

§        Told that they must be servants of all

·        Yet asked who would be greatest in the Kingdom of God

§        Told over and over again that Jesus must suffer and die

·        Yet constantly asked if he was going to restore Israel to power

§        Told them that he will raise from the dead

·        Yet they did not believe Mary Magdelene When she came and told them as much

§        It just seemed as if they didn’t listen to him

§        And the disciples are not alone in not listening to Jesus, are they?

·        We need to hear and understand what the Father is saying…

¨     Jesus is God

Ø     Listen to him!

§        Listen to him when he says

·        John 14:6

¨     I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the father except through me

§        Listen to him when he says

·        John 7:37

¨     If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him

§        Listen to him when he says

·        Matt 11:28-29

¨     Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls

§        Listen to him when he says

·        John 10:9

¨     I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved

Ø     Today as we celebrate communion

§        We should particularly listen to him when he says

·        John 6:51

¨     I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever

Ø     The transfiguration screams at us to Listen to him because…

§        Jesus is God

v    Notes

Ø     Some

·        Feast of Tabernacles / Ingathering

¨     Looking forward to the day of Christ’s coming

Ø     We do that, sometimes too much!

·        Understood this as Kingdom of God coming to earth

¨     We want this

·        Did not want to leave the mountaintop experience

¨     We do not want to leave

Ø     But we must go and minister

Ø     But it is clear from Luke’s commentary that he misunderstood what was happening here

§        “He did not know what he was saying”

·        This proves again what John wrote

¨     Jn 1:5 ~ Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it

¨     Peter wanted it too

·        Peter even wanted it for Jesus

¨     Did not want Jesus to go to Jerusalem

Ø     Jesus knew the temptation of Comfort without the Cross

§        And said, “Get behind me Satan

§        We have to have a vision for the next world

·        #345 Green