Sermon Tone Analysis

Read Matthew 17:1-13

The Setting

Just as was the case with the mountain of temptation, we notice that this mountain scene appears in close connection with one of Matthew’s key structural markers: from that time on (Mt 16:21).

The previous marker (in Mt 4:17) came just after the mountain of temptation and marked the start of Jesus Galilean ministry.

The next marker in Matthew 16:21 comes just before the scene on the mountain of transfiguration and marks the shift in focus to Jerusalem and the Lord’s passion.

So, in passing, we observe Matthew’s literary use of mountains as structural dividers for his narrative.

However, we need to back up a little further in the narrative to understand the setting for the transfiguration scene.

In Matthew 16:16, we have Peter’s glorious declaration, in answer to the Lord’s question, “Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16:15).

Following that, we have the Lord commanding secrecy about his Messiahship (Mt 16:20).

Then, a prediction by Jesus of his death (Mt 16:21).

And finally, a challenge to that prediction and a correction from the Lord Jesus (Mt 16:22-23).

We will notice that our study passage has precisely the same structure of:

glorious declaration (Mt 17:5)

command to secrecy (Mt 17:9)

prediction of death (Mt 17:9, 12)

challenge and correction (Mt 17:10-12)

In each case, the declaration of Jesus’ sonship and Messiahship is central, but the true understanding of that Messiahship will not conform to the understanding upheld by popular culture.

Hence, the need for secrecy and correction as God’s will for his Son, the Messiah, to suffer is unfolded.

The Structure

Three times, in our passage, Matthew says “behold” (Mt 17:3, 5).

These prompts cause us to see (and hear):

Moses and Elijah

The bright cloud

The voice from the cloud

The climax is the voice from the cloud and what it declares.

It’s a glorious declaration, which is of central importance to the meaning of the passage: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.

Listen to him!” (Mt 17:5).

The wording of the declaration (aside from the last phrase) is identical to what Matthew records the voice from heaven saying at Jesus’ baptism (Mt 3:17).

Precisely the same considerations regarding Jesus’ sonship, which we looked at in our study of the temptation narrative, apply here in Matthew 17. Jesus is still standing in the place of the nation of Israel, succeeding where they failed.

The presence and voice of God validate his sonship.

The theological links to Sinai are even more obvious in Matthew 17 and help us to understand the salvation-historical importance of our passage.

Let’s remind ourselves of the Sinai accounts to give context to our passage.

Read Exodus 19:3-6, 16-20; 20:18-20; 24:1-11, 15-18.

There are numerous similarities with our passage before even coming to Jesus’ transfiguration:

Matthew very deliberately records that it was “after six days” (Mt 17:1) that Jesus led them up the mountain.

And in Exodus 24:16, we read that the cloud covered the mountain for six days before the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.

Moses is instructed to bring three individuals up the mountain with him - Aaron and his sons (Ex 24:1).

Similarly, Jesus selects three men to accompany him up the mountain - Peter, James and John (Mt 17:1).

Matthew records that a bright cloud covered them (Mt 17:5) and his emphasis seems designed to evoke memories of the cloud which engulfed Sinai.

To the Israelites, it looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain (Ex 24:17).

The declaration of Matthew 17:5 comes from the cloud and, in just the same way, the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud (Ex 24:16).

The disciples’ response to the voice is to fall facedown, terrified (Mt 17:6).

Just the same response is recorded of the Israelite camp - they trembled with fear (Ex 20:18).

Moses comforted Israel with similar words to those used by the Lord Jesus: Do not be afraid (Mt 17:7; Ex 20:20).

What we have in Exodus 24 is a covenant ratification ceremony, which is nothing short of awesome!

The favoured three (plus the seventy elders) who ascended Mount Sinai that day seem to have sneaked a glimpse at the very throne of Almighty God - at least they saw the setting of the base of it, a pavement of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky!

God had become present (in the cloud) and was revealing himself to Israel (in the voice).

And the wonder of it all is that they did not die!

Indeed, they saw God, and they ate and drank (Ex 24:11)!

Now, on the mount of transfiguration, the message is once again that God will be present with and will make his name known to a people on the earth - a people who will see him and eat and drink with him!

He is, once again, going to enter into a covenant with a community who will come to him through the person of his Son.

That’s the significance of this validation of Jesus’ sonship for salvation history!

It cannot be overstated!

And, for the disciples, that validation was never more necessary than at this moment, because what was about to happen in Jerusalem would challenge every concept they had of their expected Messiah.

Predictions of Jesus’ death straddle the divine declaration of his sonship (Mt 16:21; 17:12).

For the Son of God, the way led inevitably to Calvary, but the disciples were to be in no doubt that all of this was intentional and that Jesus was no less the Son of God’s love.

Rather, the fact that he had chosen the way of the cross goes to the heart of what it means to be the Son of God and to the Father’s expressed love for him.

On the mount of transfiguration, those favoured three men saw the Son of God crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, i.e.

I believe this was a glimpse of the glory and honour Jesus would receive in resurrection.

However, I think they also saw the Son of God crowned with glory and honour in preparation for the suffering of death, because that is what he had set his mind on, in subjection to the will of his Father.

There has never been a more obedient Son of God; he was transcendent in his obedience and, therefore, transcendent in the glory which is his as a consequence of his obedience.

And, since he learned obedience through the things that he suffered, he was never more obedient than when he humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross.

Consequently, I believe he was transcendent in his glory on Mount Calvary too!

Don’t for a minute think that God turned his face away from the sight of his Son, at Calvary; he did not!

There was never anything displeasing about Christ.

God forsook his Son on the cross because of our sin; he turned his face away from the sight of our sin, which his Son bore in his body on the tree.

The Son of God was ever his beloved, the one who pleased him well!

The setting of the glorious declaration from the cloud, the prediction of Jesus’ death, takes us to the tension at the very heart of God’s covenant promise to be present with his people.

Will God accept his people no matter what they do?

What about his holiness!

Will he then give up on his people and his promise?

What about his faithfulness!

Everyone tends to come down on one side or another: the side of law or the side of love; moralism or relativism.

But God, in his wisdom, finds a solution which protects his holiness and preserves his faithfulness.

And that solution is the humble, obedient Son of God, who will taste death for us!

No wonder we find him on a mountain crowned with glory, his sonship validated, because this is indeed “good news”!

Listen to Him

The Sinai typology doesn’t end there, though, because we’ve yet to say anything about the transfiguration itself.

One important detail which is unique to Matthew’s record is that Jesus face shone like the sun!

And, in this detail, we’re touching upon what seems to be an important sub-theme in Matthew’s gospel, namely the link between Jesus and Moses.

Let’s make that link clear by reading Exodus 34:29-32.

It seems beyond doubt that Matthew wishes his readers to pick up the allusions to Sinai and to see the resemblance between Moses and the Lord.

Moses, of course, is even present at the transfiguration, as if to underscore the point.

He is present with Elijah, both of whom had the experience of meeting with God on top of Mount Sinai.

As he pleaded for the Presence of God to remain with Israel, Moses asked the Lord, “What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Ex 33:16).

Shortly thereafter, God caused all his goodness to pass in front of Moses, hiding him in the cleft of the rock and allowing him just to see his back, as he passed by.

Moses was certainly distinguished by the experience.

His time in the presence of God had caused his face to change, to become radiant, and he descended the mountain into the camp without even realising that God had distinguished him in this way.

God was validating the testimony of his servant, his prophet, distinguishing him in the eyes of his people.

And Matthew wants us to see Jesus, the divine Son of God, as the one whom God distinguished on the mountain of transfiguration in a similar way.

What we have in the words “listen to him” is an allusion to Deuteronomy 18.

Deuteronomy 18:15 concerns God's promise to raise up a prophet like and as a successor to Moses to communicate his divine will to his chosen people.

The promise recalls God's appearance to Israel at Sinai when they first entered the wilderness and remembers that it was the people who demanded that Moses speak to them in the place of God, lest they die.

The promise of a successor is given in the context of a warning to the people entering Canaan, when seeking revelation of God's will, not to listen to the sorcerers or diviners of the nations they would dispossess.

Rather, they must listen to the prophet whom the Lord raises up in Moses' place.

How were Israel to know whether or not a prophet had been raised up by the Lord?

Moses, of course, was a prophet of unique stature and his testimony was validated by the glow of his face every time he left the presence of God (cf Nu 12:6-8), after speaking with God face to face.

“LISTEN TO HIM!” (Mt 17:5) is an allusion to Deuteronomy 18:15.

Jesus is also a prophet of unique stature!

In echoing the words "listen to him" in connection with his Son, God's voice from the cloud in conjunction with the transfiguration of Jesus’ face authenticates and validates the unique testimony of the divine Son of God.