Advent 2.0

Good Morning Church!

Bibles out ...Mark 9:1-13

READ V1-13

This is the time of year that we celebrate and countdown the ADVENT

Advent definition- the coming or arrival of something or someone important

In this season we celebrate what is called the 1st Advent…the first coming of Jesus Christ…

There is also of coarse and 2nd Advent…

The second coming of Christ…

What we will see is that this was a foreign concept to the disciples at this time…

BUT Jesus uses this event in the scripture today to reveal His upcoming incredible works to His followers…

These 3 disciples are going to get a vision of whats coming…a sort of prelude to the 2nd Advent...

This is what the bible calls the MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION

The apostle Peter who was present for this…discusses how the transfiguration of Jesus that we just read…points to the second advent…2 coming of Christ…

2 Peter 1:16-18 “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount.”

Lets break down this vision…so we too can see this

3 things we must do as we read this…

Its the same 3 things these 3 disciples must do…

Lets put ourselves in their shoes for a moment…

See, Hear, and Understand…

First lets…

See (1-4)

READ 1-4 Again…

See Jesus in His glory

Transfigured…

changed/morphed…

Went from man on earth to Glorious righteousness in Heaven!!!

Clean, white, bright!!!

Shining white…that no fuller (thats a person who does laundry, makes dingy robes white again) could accomplish.

These disciples are getting a glimpse of what Jesus will look like on the second advent…

In Revelation 1 John describes Jesus at the return…as he is on Patmos and comes face to face with Jesus in His glory… John says “His head and hairs were white like wool, as white as snow…His eyes were as flame of fire”

He is glowing in His glory…

The disciples get to see Jesus in His glory!!!

See who is with Jesus…

Moses and Elijah

Luke 9:30-31“And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elijah: Who appeared in glory, and spoke of His death which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.”

This is to show how Jesus is fulfilling the scriptures…

Moses- THE LAW

Elijah- THE PROPHETS

Both being fulfilled by Jesus

He is the Word of righteousness (Law)…

He is the greatest prophet…

We will dig into this a little more in a minute…

But we must see that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises God made in the Law and through the Prophets

See the place He took them

On a mountain…

This is where God speaks to man…on mountain tops

He takes man to mountain tops to reveal His plans for them…to SEND THEM OUT TO DO HIS WILL…to prepare them to do His will…to strengthen them…to assure them

Jesus goes up to mountains tops to talk with the Father…and is prepared for His ministry.and the choosing of His disciple (Luke 6)

Moses speaks with God on mount Horeb …and God tells him the mission He will send Moses on….to deliver His people out of slavery in Egypt…LATER He reveals His glory to Moses on that mountain. (Exodus 3,33)

Elijah speaks with God on a mountain…Elijah is broken that Israel has rejected the commandments of God, tore down His alters, and worship a false god, and have killed all of Gods prophets..so much that Elijah himself is in danger…and the Lord calms Him and reveals to Elijah that He is in control and that there is a remnant of Israel who are faithful and that God will keep. And He instructs Elijah on what will o carry out. (1 Kings 19)

NOW the Lord Jesus Christ has brought man (3 disciples) to this mountain top…revealed His glory (the transfiguration) and His plan (the death, burial, and resurrection)

The building block for the second advent has been laid by Jesus!

This is what he is doing with us Church…every time we pray…

This is why the Lord tells us to pray in a private place…

Nowhere more private than a mountain top…no distraction, no people

BUT there are many places we can go with no distraction…to seek the Lord…

Just you and your bible and the Lord

And when we do…we see Him!!!

Through prayer and the Word we:

-See His glory! (search the scriptures, search your heart, and you will see the glory of God)

-See His plans (Both for mankind, and for you personally)

-Get confirmation of what He desires us to do

-And get clarity and equipping and boldness to do so!!!

Lets move on to the second thing we must do as we work this text…

We must SEE…and we must also…

Hear (5-8)

READ 5-8 AGAIN

Disciples are standing before Christ in His glory, seeing Moses and Elijah (2 of the greatest Jewish ancestors)

They are astonished and afraid…stricken silent…amazed…

How do they respond to this vision they are receiving??? Peter responds like most man would…

He talks…He intervenes…

NOTICE…Jesus is having a discussion with Moses and Elijah….and its Peter who answers??? Peter intervenes…

Then God speaks from the cloud and says “this is My beloved Son:HEAR HIM

Peter is speaking when he should be listening…

Hear…don’t talk

Often we speak when we should listen…

We come to God…talking…when we should be listening…

How do we do that????

Hear…the Word of God

Whether we are reading the scriptures or having them taught to us…we need to HEAR them…

The Lord speaks through His Word…

ANd He has given to us His entire revelation…

We have the whole thing in our possession!!!

Listen to it!!!

Here in the text, the disciples are seeing Jesus in His glory…and hearing Him discuss His coming death…

They should be listening!!! NOT TALKING!!!

Why is this important??? Why did the Lord speak from the cloud here???

Because what Jesus is about to explain to the disciples…is going to set the stage for the second coming….

The disciples need to HEAR so they then will…

Understand (9-13)

We see here in verses 9-13…confusion

Remember Jesus was speaking to Elijah and Moses about His death.

Now Jesus has turned to His disciples and tells them not to speak of anything they have seen or heard…UNTIL AFTER HIS RESURRECTION…

This confuses them (Look at verse 10 again)

Here is what we must know before we dig into their confusion…

The Jews only know of 1 Resurrection…the general resurrection (Isa 26, Dan 12, Malachi 4)

Malachi 4:4-5 “Remember you the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord”

So here is what the Jews know from the OT scriptures…

The Messiah will come and then the Judgment will come…and at that Judgment there will be a resurrection of all the dead and all will be judged…

That all they know…

They don’t have the NT…they don’t have Paul or John…

They don’t have the book of Revelation…that lays out the second advent…

They don’t know a second advent exists!!!

All they know is that on the DAY OF THE LORD…a resurrection happens…

They also know that before that resurrection…Elijah the prophet is supposed to show back up (remember Malachi 4…”Behold I will send you Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord”)

So here is Jesus talking about the resurrection…and the disciples are like …TIMEOUT!!

We thought Elijah was supposed to come before the resurrection!?!?!?!

Now we know why the Lord told Peter to be quiet and listen…

Jesus is about to give His first in depth teaching to His disciples on His death, burial, and resurrection…

LOOK AT V12 AGAIN

Jesus says…YES ELIJAH DOES COME FIRST!!!

And he restores everything…

And speaks about how the scripture tell us that the Son of Man will be suffer for us (be treated like a criminal) and die for us….

The one who comes and does this is Elijah…

And look what Jesus says in v13 READ

Elijah has come…and they killed him

Parallel verse to this in Matthew 17 the bible says that after Jesus told them this…

Matthew 17:13 “Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.”

John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah!!!

What did he do when he came…

He restored all things…

He came a the prophetic forerunner to tell the people of Israel…THE KING IS COMING!!!

REPENT AND PREPARE THE KING IS BRINGING THE KINGDOM!!!!

And John also spoke as the scriptures say Elijah would speak…that he would proclaim that the Son of Man would suffer and die for our sins…

John 1:29“…Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.”

JTB came in the spirit of Elijah…

Jesus has just show these 3 disciples…

That He will suffer and die…

BUT death is not the end…because they will soon see with their own eyes that RESURRECTION comes...And that leads to GLORY!!

Christ is not only crucified…BUT resurrected and glorified!!!

Church lets put all of this together …

What is the significance of the transfiguration???

That we SEE, HEAR, and UNDERSTAND that …

That Jesus Christ is GOD in the flesh…

That He came to earth…born according to the scriptures…(1st advent)

That He lived perfectly according to the Law of righteousness…

That HE died according to the scriptures for our sins…

And that He resurrected to defeat sin and death…according to HIS WORD…

And that He is coming back (2nd Advent) in His Glory…to defeat all evil and as a conquering King of Kings…Usher in a new and perfect Kingdom!!!

AND HE HAS REVEALED ALL OF THIS TO YOU IN HIS WORD!!!

Let us not forget though that we have a front row seat to all this glory…all this victory in Christ…

We get to watch the Second Advent from a seat in Heaven…

Only because of the ability to place our faith in the shed blood of Jesus…

It was only through His death, burial, and resurrection that we are able to have this hope…

To be glorified with Him…to have a perfect body…and be His bride…

To live forever as one with Him!!!

Only through His body broken and blood poured out that we are able to celebrate this hope we have…

We must remember that!!

Thats what we are going to do today…REMEMBER

COMMUNION

This is intentional time…

This is a time for Christ followers…to remember Jesus’s death on the cross for our sins…the blood shed that we placed our faith in…

That Jesus has provided us eternal life…we remember how He did it…and worship Him for it!

(NOT A CHRIST FOLLOWER? Take this time to reflect on the gospel)

GRAB CUP…SIT DOWN…REMEMBER…WE WILL TAKE THE CUP AND BREaD TOGETHER AS A BODY

QUIET PRAYER!! 3-5 MIN

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24

READ V23-24

TAKE THE BREAD AND EAT

READ V25-26

TAKE THE CUP AND DRINK