Show Me Your Glory

Introduction

Our world is desperately seeking something more. We want to reach out and experience to something greater, something transcendent, something beyond our very rational, data-driven day-to-day lives. I’ve been thinking about this idea all week, then I got the the new issue of Christianity Today on Thursday and the first article is a testimony from a woman whose journey to the Lord took her from New Age spirituality and LSD, psychedelic drugs that promised transcendence. I was struck by the way she described what she was looking for: “I had felt an unbearable chasm between me and the source of life, whatever or whomever that was. I thought maybe new age spiritualism and LSD could bridge [that gap].”

You see, we’re longing for transcendence and we’re looking for it everywhere. We want that mountaintop experience. Have you ever had that? Maybe it was at a church retreat, a great concert, a great work of art, maybe a literal mountaintop being captivated the majesty of creation after a long hike. If you’re my daughter the height of transcendence is the It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland.

In this passage from Mark 9 today, we see that Jesus takes these three disciples to a mountaintop, transcendent experience. They step into what every human is longing for, but they also find it’s true and proper source: Jesus. We will not find what we’re longing for in these lesser things: not new-age spiritualism, not our own comforts, and not even in Disneyland. Even nature itself only points us back to the source. And that’s our main idea today: Jesus is the source of what all people are seeking, now we have access to it through the cross.

First, what is it we’re seeking? That’s the first part of our outline:

Jesus is the source of Glory (v. 1-4)

Verse 1 may feel out of place. Mark 9:1 “1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”” What is Jesus referring to? He’s saying that there are some of his disciples that will see “the Kingdom of God and it’s power.” We might think he’s referring to His Second Coming, but that still hasn’t happened and as far as I know, none of the disciples are still alive. Some scholars think he’s referring to His resurrection, the glorious work of God’s Kingdom through the cross, defeating death, and Jesus being alive again. Others think that this refers to this immediate event: The Transfiguration. And I wonder if it might be both, for the Transfiguration is a mountaintop experience that gives them a taste of what’s to come.

[v. 2-3] A few days later Jesus takes three of his disciples—Peter, James, and John—up to a high mountain and it says merely that “he was transfigured.” What does that mean? We get a clue as to what his appearance is in the next verse—his clothes became radiant, intensely white—but what does “transfigure,” mean?

The Greek word here is the one we get metamorphosis from, and it referred to a complete change, not merely a surface level one or a change in mere appearance. Now, it’s not as though the very nature of Christ was changed, for he was always fully divine and fully human, but that His divine nature is being made visible in a deeper, greater, fuller way than anyone had ever seen. They are catching a glimpse of Divine glory such as they probably thought was impossible.

[v. 4] This scene on a mountaintop with the Glory and Presence of God and suddenly Moses and Elijah appear, in a couple of verses, there’s a cloud that overwhelms them and the voice of God Himself. All of this should immediately bring us back to Exodus 33, It’s a moment that features a mountaintop, the glory and presence of God, a cloud, the voice of God, and even Moses is there.

There Moses says to the Lord, Exodus 33:18 “18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”” And God instructs Him to essentially hide behind a rock and God will pass by and Moses will see his back.

Then in the next chapter, after having spent time on the mountaintop with God, Moses descends the mountain and it is reported that his face was shining. Exodus 34:29, “Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” Sounds a lot like Jesus’ radiant appearance. But what’s the difference between these two stories. In the Exodus story Moses is shiny because he is reflecting the glory of God, but it is merely that, a reflection. It’s the image of the moon brilliantly lighting up the night sky, but it’s light is only a reflection of the sun’s great light.

Jesus on the other hand is no mere reflection, He is the radiance of God’s glory, He is the source! Tim Keller puts it this way: “Jesus produces the unsurpassable glory of God; it emanates from him. Jesus does not point to the glory of God as Elijah, Moses, and every other prophet had done; Jesus is the glory of God in human form.”

Don’t take my word for it, or Keller’s word for it: Hebrews 1:3 “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.

Ultimately, it might be right to say that this whole story is misnamed. It’s not a transfiguration as if Jesus is becoming something new. It’s a revealing of what he truly was, is, and always will be. The real transfiguration happened when Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary, when the Word took on flesh. For the first time, the disciples are getting a true vision of the Word.

And it is a full picture! In the story from Exodus, or even the experience of Elijah the prophet—right, Elijah had an experience in the presence of God on the same mountaintop as Moses (1 Kings 19)—they had incomplete experiences of God’s glory. For Moses it was his back, Elijah it was the still small voice. While Jesus is a more complete revelation of God’s glory.

Jesus is demonstrating that He is the source of glory and He is the fullness of the presence of God. And it’s for God’s presence that every human heart is longing. That’s the second part of our outline:

We long for Glory (v. 5-8)

[v. 5-6]

The disciples are having the mountaintop experience of a lifetime! Look at what Peter says, Mark 9:5 “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.””

First, he’s saying, it is good to be here! We want to stay here! It’s a recognition of his own longing for the glory and presence of the Lord. Since the first pages of our Bible, all the way back to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve had sinned and were exiled from the Garden of Eden. They are removed from the perfect presence of God. Ever since then, deep in our hearts is a longing to return to Eden.

And so much of the story of scripture is the story of God making a way for humanity to come back into His presence. We see glimpses and measures of it throughout the Bible, but now here is something fuller and greater than they could have imagined.

Peter suggests making tents, or literally making tabernacles. Yes, the same word from John 1:14 when it says the Word became flesh and dwelt (or tabernacled) among us.

He suggests this because his whole context for the presence and glory of God is from Exodus that God dwells with His people in a tabernacle or in the Temple, in the holy of holies. But ordinary people could not enter that place lest they died. It was from this tent that God would speak to His people and it was in this most sacred place that the High Priest would be allowed to enter into His presence.

What Peter seems to be saying is this: It’s good to be here, we want to stay here, but we are afraid. Maybe we can build some tents, build a tabernacle to protect us from the glory we’re beholding. He wants to control, or facilitate, or manage the glory and presence of God. That’s like saying, let me manage the waves of the sea, let me control the winds of a hurricane. That is a hopeless endeavor.

[v.7] And immediately after he says this, a cloud envelops Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, and overshadowed the disciples. And the voice of God Himself speaks from the cloud. Again, this is a familiar image, if still a terrifying one for Peter, James, and John. They know what a cloud is, it’s the glory cloud, the very presence of God now with them and speaking to them!

The glory cloud affirms Jesus’ divinity and identity as Christ (This is my son!). This isn’t new information, for Peter just confessed Jesus as Christ in Mark 8; but this is a divine affirmation. And the voice of God confirms the authority of Jesus: “listen to Him,” or “obey” Him. Everything they thought about Jesus is confirmed here, that confession goes far, far beyond an intellectual conviction, this is the experience of Christ’s glory.

What they have experienced is worship. A depth of worship they had no concept for, but worship nonetheless. It’s a standing in the presence and glory of God praising Him. When we worship we do not create more glory, we acknowledge and step into the presence of God’s glory. Worship is a way to put Jesus in His proper place, on the throne of our hearts and of our lives and we enter into his glorious presence.

The Transfiguration is only a taste of what’s to come. But it does point them forward. And in the same way, our worship is a taste of what’s to come, a glimpse of our eternal lives perfectly in His presence. When we gather together in worship we see a glimpse of heaven or when we worship Him on our own through prayer, through scripture reading, whenever we delight in the presence and glory of God we are getting a taste of what to come.

And here’s something important, here’s why we can come into His presence. Notice what does NOT happen to these disciples: they don’t die! How? There’s no tabernacle to protect them, yet there they are.

[v.8]Suddenly, it says, they looked around and Jesus alone was with them—no Moses, no Elijah, no cloud—just Jesus. It’s as if to say: You want to find the presence of God, you want the truly glorious and truly transcendent? Look to Jesus and only to Jesus. You need no prophet, you do not need the law of Moses, you don’t even need a tabernacle. Jesus is the truer and better Moses, the truer and better prophet, the truer and better tabernacle.

We go directly to Jesus and we are in the presence of God. In Jesus we find what our hearts long for, the glory of God, that which was taken when humanity was exiled from the garden is found wholly in Jesus. Through Jesus and his work on the cross, we have amazing access to the presence of God. We need no facilitator, no medium, middle-man, we go straight to the source.

For us today, we cannot look for lesser mountaintop experiences, lesser glories. We will not find this in our idols, our comforts, our culture or world. We need to unite ourselves to Christ.

Now, we know this is not the end of the book of Mark, the disciples’ journey does not end on the mountaintop, there is still plenty ahead for them and for Jesus. The transfiguration is a taste of what’s to come and the full weight, the perfect access to Christ’s glory will not be seen until he has gone through the cross and until His resurrection.

That’s why we need the presence, the glory, because by coming and being with us, Jesus is also able to redeem us. Let’s look at these last few verses.

Glory sustains us in suffering (v. 9-13)

[v. 9-13]

After this incredible mountaintop experience, Jesus’ eye moves to something else: he talks of suffering. The disciples are confused as Jesus talks of his own death and resurrection. They’re still hung up on seeing Elijah, wondering if he will come again as was foretold. It’s a strange conversation, but the focus for Jesus is all on suffering. He talks about how Elijah had already come again, that was fulfilled in John the Baptist, and he suffered and died. And that the Son of Man, referring to himself, will suffer many things. Because that’s what’s ahead for Him, his suffering of the cross. But the disciples will suffer greatly too. This is what we see in mountaintop experiences. They couldn’t stay on the mountain, there was work and ministry to be done. And there’s no promise that just because they had this transcendent experience would their lives and ministry be easy.

Immediately, we’ll get into this next week, coming down the mountain what do they encounter? A boy with an unclean spirit in need of healing. What’s ahead for them? Persecution, the execution of their teacher and leader. Great suffering.

Life is hard, it’s messy, it’s full of suffering and trial and grief. You don’t need me to tell you that. And this one encounter is not the end of it. But the presence of God, the glory of Christ will sustain these followers. This is why we need the glory of God, because it sustains us in suffering. God’s presence and the promise of the gospel is not to minimize suffering or pretend it doesn’t exist, but to point us to the hope that one day Jesus will set all things right.

I mentioned earlier that testimony from Christianity Today. She says in it that her new age beliefs promised that “there was no such thing as sin. Suffering was an illusion to be overcome.” The idols of the world offer no solution to our suffering, they offer the lie that it don’t exist. But when she receives Jesus she realizes that “my search for enlightenment was useless, that I couldn’t save myself. But Jesus could. I finally found the thing that would make everything okay forever.”

And this is the glory of God, to take the tragic suffering of the world—like the cross—and redeem it for our good and for His glory.

When we worship, when we step into the glory of God, we are sustained despite our circumstances. We cannot forsake this gift we have in Christ and His presence. God’s presence ministers to us when we are weak, it strengthens us, it comforts us in grief, it encourages us when we are discouraged.

And when I say worship, I don’t exclusively mean coming to church and singing songs. I mean any time we intentionally move toward God, whether through his word, through prayer, through participating in the local church and praising his name, yes.

Another way to say it might be this: worship is stepping away from our circumstances (our sufferings, our trials, our sins) and feelings and in faith stepping into the reality and presence of God. Away from our fleeting trials and into the eternal glory and presence of the Lord. Our impulse is the opposite! When we are down, discouraged, depressed, we feel far from God so why would do pick up our Bible or have a quiet time or go to church. But that is to ignore the greatest thing God has given us to overcome this world: Himself! His presence!

Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 3:18 “18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

That word, transformed, it’s the same Greek word as “transfigured” used in Mark 9. Paul is saying we are, by beholding the glory of the Lord, by worshipping Him, we are being transfigured ourselves from one degree of glory to another! Just as the disciples saw Christ’s glory unveiled, we now can behold and be transformed by that same glory. By His presence we are being changed! And the very next verse, Paul says this: therefore we do not lose heart!

We behold the glory of the Lord, He transforms us, and we can face any suffering, any trial, any grief. The glory of God’s presence sustains us in our suffering, and we have access to it because the very glory of God Himself suffered on the cross.

As we close in worship, let us recognize that we step into the presence of God Himself, that we can draw near to the throne of grace with great confidence knowing that we will receive mercy and grace in our need. Amen.