Suffering and The Glory of God
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 46:08
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· 16 viewsJesus corrects our expectations because God’s kingdom comes through suffering before glory.
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Call to Worship
Call to Worship
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Adoration
Adoration
Confession
Confession
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Message
Message
And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”
He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.
But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”
Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
Peter’s desire to build “tents” of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah is an extremely human desire.
He desire’s to capture a moment that’s impossible to grasp; like water through the hand.
If you’re a Christian…
You’ve probably had those experiences of the Love of God poured out in the most wonderful ways.
Even if you haven’t had visions and wonders, its almost like you can taste them.
The Christian life is not sustained by living from one mountaintop experience to the next.
It is sustained by trusting the Christ whose glory has been revealed, even when the road ahead descends into the valley.
“The Lord has arranged the world, and the life of the church, so that the transfigurations are not yet permanent. We might be on the mountain for a time, seeing the flashing glory of Jesus. But there are still demon-possessed boys at the foot of the mountain, and we need to descend into hell to minister to them. We can find some peace and calm on the mountain peak, but we are called to travel to Jerusalem bearing the cross.” Leithart, Peter, The Gospel of Matthew
Jesus will correct your expectations because God’s kingdom comes through suffering before glory.
Jesus will correct your expectations because God’s kingdom comes through suffering before glory.
Imagine you’ve witnessed the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen in your life.
You’re convinced the Messiah has been revealed to you on a mountain.
Your friend and Master has shone in glory, with God accrediting it with Shekinah glory and power from heaven.
Moses and Elijah affirmed that this is indeed the end of the law and the prophets; the prophet, priest, and king has come.
What would you be thinking about?
You’d be thinking, “I need to tell the world about this!”
Which is surprising because Jesus again shocks them with this statement.
Jesus corrects our expectations about understanding
Jesus corrects our expectations about understanding
Expectation of Silence until Resurrection
This isn't merely about secrecy.
Jesus is teaching that the Transfiguration cannot be understood apart from the cross and resurrection.
And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
The ESV translates the word for “vision” here but it doesn’t mean something akin to a “dream”, but instead something seen with your eyes (See Matthew 17:9 NIV).
The kind of Messiah people had in their minds was a political-ruling Messiah, one that closely squares with the glory of the Son of Man in Daniel 7.
A problem of Biblical interpretation is when we bring our own paradigm to the Bible.
We hear Jesus speak of resurrection, and we know how the story goes and then we backfill what we know is true.
What resurrection were the disciples thinking of?
In Jewish thought, there was ONE resurrection.
A resurrection at the end of days, after all things have been concluded.
This would be the kind of resurrection that Martha thought of when she answered Jesus about the resurrection in John 11:24.
“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
So when the disciples heard Jesus speaking of His resurrection, they naturally understand it in terms that they knew best.
The resurrection comes at the end of all things, which they believed to be quickly approaching.
Jesus is speaking about His immediate death, which in their mind couldn’t happen.
So since they held the Messiah wouldn’t die, they just assumed He must be meaning the resurrection at the end of all things.
How many Christians think that because they've had one glorious experience with Jesus, they now understand everything He is doing?
Who is Elijah to come?
What happens after Elijah comes?
When does this happen?
This isn’t meant to be a mystery for us. Jesus tells us plainly.
Observe how detailed and specific Jesus is about His identity.
He doesn’t want any of His disciples to misunderstand Him.
Even though they clearly didn’t understand who He was before (Matthew 16:21-23), He wants to take pains that they will in the future.
Jesus corrects our expectations about His Mission
Jesus corrects our expectations about His Mission
Expectation of the Messiah
It’s not enough to understand who Jesus is.
We need to understand the people who surround Jesus.
If we really believe in the coming of Jesus, the end of all things, it should be pretty clear.
Who is Elijah to come?
And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”
The disciples question reveals they have a different timetable than Jesus appears to have.
They’re seeing that Jesus is coming to bring the kingdom of the Son of Man, the end of all things is at hand.
But the confusion for them is of the events immediately proceeding the coming Messiah.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
The expectation from Malachi 4 is that Elijah the prophet comes before the “end of all things” or “the Day of the LORD.”
He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased.
And the disciples interpret this to be…
Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
How could John the Baptist be “Elijah to come”?
The scribes are only partially correct.
Elijah does come first.
But the kind of man they pictured Elijah to be was wrong.
Every generation deals with this: they look up to men that would condemn them.
What happens when our hero’s show up and they begin to oppose us?
Jesus condemned His generation with this very line…
Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.
You can picture the scene, our hero’s show up and they are opposed to us instead of siding with us.
Think how disappointing the scene of our beloved hero’s opposing us would be.
The same is true with Elijah.
The Jew’s would have loved the stories of Elijah opposing the prophet’s of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40).
Fire falling from heaven to defeat these weak, limping false prophets.
But to think that when this hero shows up, he confront you in your idolatry is a terrifying thing.
So when we hear back to John the Baptist…
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And we see what he’s wearing…
Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
All of these signs point to this man being Elijah who was to come.
The Jesus of the Bible repeatedly disappoints our false expectations so He can deepen our faith.
Jesus corrects our expectations about His Kingdom
Jesus corrects our expectations about His Kingdom
Expectation of the Kingdom
What happens after Elijah comes?
He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”
JTB didn’t restore all things perfectly, instead he pointed his generation unto Messiah.
What comes into your mind when you hear, “restore all things”?
We think…
Beautiful gardens.
No more sin.
No more suffering.
A kingdom to restore all things.
A kingdom to restore all things.
But is that what Malachi’s prophecy was about?
Pay attention to Malachi’s prophesy and what it says this “Elijah” will do…
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn (LXX: re-establish/restore) the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
The preaching of John the Baptist did what Jesus’ prophesied here it would do: re-establishing all righteousness.
JTB was the leading figure that comes in the Spirit and Power of Elijah to turn the hearts of Israel back to their God and in repentance toward one another.
And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
Application to parents…
I think of you who stand back and
Application to hurting/sick believers…
I think of you who have went through a difficult season of sickness and physical suffering.
Maybe the thought has crossed your mind,
“I’m a Christian! I shouldn’t be suffering in this way.”
“Why would God leave me to suffer in this way?”
The sickness and suffering of a believer does not mean the kingdom of heaven has stopped advancing.
Application to those who have been wronged…
Now pay attention to the One who comes after Elijah in Malachi’s prophecy.
It’s crucial to understand JTB to be Elijah because Yahweh comes after Him in Malachi’s prophecy!
A kingdom ushered in through suffering
A kingdom ushered in through suffering
The kingdom of God inaugurated through suffering
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke b. The Place of Elijah (17:9–13)
Their confusion is
He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”
What would a Jew have in mind for the coming of Elijah?
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
Basically the same thing you probably have in your mind for the “the end of the world…”
It would be in the minds eye of a Jew that the coming of Elijah comes right before the “end of the world” which they held to be “the Day of the LORD.”
This great and awesome Day of the Lord would be God’s wrath poured out on sinners, and the salvation of the righteous.
“The judgment rendered by the Son of Man looks like the judgment of the Son of Man. When Jesus is on the cross, it looks as if He is the one condemned, but the reality is that the world has condemned itself by putting Him there. That is how we participate in Jesus’ judgment of the world. We often think that we participate in Jesus’ judgment of the world when we take mastery, when we are elevated and when we can stomp on those who have stomped on us. Retribution is real, and good. God is a God of justice. But we should not think that is the beginning of our sharing in Jesus’ judgment. When we bear the cross, when we are persecuted by people hostile to Jesus, we are sharing in Jesus’ judgment of the world. The world is condemning itself. When we are persecuted, we are also prosecuting the persecutors.” —Leithart, Peter, The Gospel of Matthew
And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”
Jesus corrects our expectations about His Timing
Jesus corrects our expectations about His Timing
Expectation of the Timetable
When will Elijah’s coming be?
When does this happen?
In Jewish chronology, the “day of the LORD” was the end of all things.
Elijah would come and then right on the heels of that Messiah would come and set all things right with the fiery judgment of heaven.
So for a Jewish reader to hear that Elijah has already come, their paradigm of the end of all things must change.
Elijah and the Day of the LORD
Elijah and the Day of the LORD
The “Day of the LORD” becomes a technical term in the OT to designate when Yahweh comes near to bring salvation through judgment (Malachi 4:1).
The Day of the LORD isn’t merely a stormy day in the distant future, though that day is truly coming.
There are many “days of the LORD.”
How should we think of Elijah already coming and the Day of the LORD?
When Elijah came, he indeed came before the Day of the LORD.
But it should recalibrate what we understand to have taken place at the cross of calvary.
"If God were really working...
“Then my marriage would already be different."
"My children would already be converted."
"I wouldn't still be grieving."
“We are called to a faith that reorders creation and puts it back together in new ways. We are called to faith in Christ the Lord of all, and by faith we are called to participate in that restoration. Your life may look small, but if you are living with faith in Jesus in every area of your life, you are part of the biggest story there can be, part of the biggest reclamation project in history, a participant in the recreation of God’s damaged world.” Leithart, Peter, The Gospel of Matthew
Jesus will correct your expectations because God’s kingdom comes through suffering before glory.
Jesus will correct your expectations because God’s kingdom comes through suffering before glory.
