Sometimes, Seeing is Believing!

Sometimes, Seeing Is Believing! Series: Journey to Easter & Beyond - #1 Matt 17:1-13 Rev. L. Kent Blanton Introduction • In your earthly journey, have you experienced a life-defining moment? A moment where your world was turned upside down . . . or . . . right side up. • Perhaps it was a crisis where you experienced great loss and emotional devastation, where the very foundations of your life crumbled underneath you? • Perhaps it was a mountaintop event where you experienced a profound revelation and euphoric joy. Whatever it was, that moment changed your life. • The story we’re exploring today from the Bible is an account of an event that became a life-defining moment for three men. Their names? Peter, James, and John, three of Jesus’ twelve followers. Background to Focal Passage • Jesus took Peter, James, and John up to a mountain (Matt 17:1). • The identity of the mountain is unspecified, but from the preceding chapter it is likely the mountain was somewhere in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi (Matt 16:13) which is 40 kilometers north of the Sea of Galilee in the far northern reaches of the Golan Heights. • It’s likely that Jesus brought his three friends up to the mountain to pray. The Bible tells us that Jesus frequently took time to pray, sometimes alone (Matt 14:23; Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 5:16), and sometimes with his friends (Luke 9:18; 11:1). It’s interesting to note that the same three followers were with Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his betrayal and arrest (Matt 26:37). Events on the Mountain • Three most unusual and spectacular things happened on the mountain. The result was that Peter, James, and John experienced a life-defining moment. 1. Jesus’ became luminescent (v. 2) ◦ The Bible tells us in v. 2 that his face became as bright as the sun and his garments as white as light. • He glowed! The word scholars often used is that Jesus was transfigured. This sight surely must have dumbfounded the disciples. 2. Two prominent and significant old Testament figures, Moses and Elijah, appeared and were conversing with Jesus (v.3-4) • The Bible doesn’t tell us how the disciples knew that it was Moses and Elijah, whether Jesus called them by name or whether the disciples were provided this knowledge supernaturally. • What we do know for sure is that Peter pipes up while his knees are knocking together ninety to nothing and says, “Lord, it’s good for us to be here. If you want, I will set up three shelters here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (17:4 CSB) 3. A bright cloud enveloped the entire scene on the mountain and a voice spoke out of the cloud (v. 5-7) “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!” • The disciples fell facedown and planted their faces in the dirt (v. 6) • They were terrified! (v. 6) • But Jesus comes to their rescue (v. 7) • The next thing they know, Jesus is touching them, telling them not to be afraid (v. 7) • When they heard Jesus’ voice and felt him touching them, they opened their eyes and everything was back to normal (v. 7) Significance of Events on the Mountain • What was happening on the mountain and why? • In each of the three phenomena, Jesus’ dazzling luminescence, the appearance of Moses and Elijah, and the cloud and the voice form the cloud, God was revealing something to Peter, James, and John. • God was revealing that Jesus is no ordinary man. He’s way more than just a great moral teacher. • This teacher and friend of theirs was, and is, divine. Jesus is the Son of God. • How do we see this revelation of Jesus identity in each of the phenomena? • Luminescence (v. 2) • When Jesus began to glow, the disciples were being given a revelation of his glory that existed before he came to earth as a human. It’s the glory that John tells us that Jesus shared with God the Father before the world existed (John 17:5). It’s the glory of the one who created all things in heaven and in earth (Col 1:15). • The disciples were also being given a revelation of Jesus post-resurrection glory, a glory described in Rev 1:13-17 as Jesus possessing eyes like flames of fire, feet like burnished bronze that’s been heated in a furnace until it glows, and a face that shines as bright as the sun. • Presence of Moses and Elijah (v. 3-4) • The presence of Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets as witnesses to Jesus the Messiah. • Their presence points to the fact that Jesus is the one whom the Law and the Prophets foretold would come as God’s Messiah. • Moses was hands-down the most revered figure in Israelite history because God had chosen to give him the Law. He was considered the model Prophet who was a prototype of the Messiah (Deut 18:18). • Elijah, on the other hand, had been one of the most prominent prophets in Israel’s history and was considered a forerunner of the Messiah (Mal 4:5-6). • The similarities between Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are numerous. • Both Moses and Elijah had visions of the glory of God on a mountain - Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex 24:15) and Elijah on Mount Horeb (I Kings 19:8-16). • Both Moses and Elijah had unique endings. Elijah was taken directly to heaven in a flaming chariot (2 Kings 1:21-12) while Moses, whom God buried and whose grave was never found (Deut 34:6), is said by rabbinic tradition to have also been taken directly to heaven. • Both are mentioned together in Mal 4:4-6; the giving of the Law through God’s servant Moses and the sending of the prophet Elijah before the coming Day of the Lord. • Their presence with Jesus signals that the Law and the Prophets, and the prophecies of the Messiah contained in both, were soon to be completely fulfilled in the person of Jesus (cf. Matt 5:17). • Bright cloud and voice from the cloud (v. 5) • The bright cloud reminds us of the way God appeared at different times in the OT. The cloud of God’s presence guided the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert (Ex 13:21-22; 40:36-38), appeared to Moses on Mt Sinai (Ex 34:5-7, 29-3), filled the tabernacle (Ex 40:34-35), and filled Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 8:10-13). • The Bible indicates the cloud containing God’s glory was so strong in the Temple at its dedication that the priests could not physically stand to go about their duties (1 Kings 8:11; 2 Chron 5:14). They were flat on the faces, like Peter, James, and John. • God speaks from the cloud with an almost identical words to those spoken at Jesus’ baptism (cf. Matt 3:17) - “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!” Why this Sensational Display? • Why did God choose to reveal Jesus’ identity in such a sensational fashion to the disciples? Why now? Why so dramatically? • The answer is quite straightforward. It’s because of the road that lie ahead. It was a road that would lead to the cross. A road that would lead to Jesus’ death. • It was a road that would lead to the death of the disciples hope that Jesus was the Messiah who would restore the glory of Israel and set their people free from oppression. • In the events that immediately preceded this passage, Peter had confessed Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. • Jesus acknowledged the accuracy of Peter’s confession, but also started telling the disciples that he would be killed in Jerusalem and then would rise from the dead three days later (Matt 16:21). • The disciples’ world was soon to be turned upside down. How they would respond to the events that lie ahead would either make or break them, and Christianity as a movement. God knew that great spiritual peril was lying in wait for them. • They were going to be tempted to jettison their faith (cf. Luke 22:31). God knew they needed an experience that would anchor their faith through the emotional turmoil, pain, and loss they were going to encounter. • So, God the Father chose to reveal to them Jesus’ identity through a most remarkable event. God chose to create for them a life-defining moment. How can we know it was life defining? • Close to the end of his life and in his second letter, Peter makes clear the profound impact that this event had upon him. In 2 Peter 1:16-18, we read . . .  For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!”  We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. • But didn’t Peter and the other disciples still struggle to maintain faith after the transfiguration? Yes, they did. Even after the transfiguration, the disciples failed to fully grasp what Jesus was saying to them about his death and the kind of Messiah he came to be. • In v. 9-13 of this same passage, we see them conversing with Jesus all the way down the mountainside about different events spoken of in the OT. Events such as the “coming of Elijah” that were to relate to the Messiah’s arrival. • But it’s obvious from his statement in 2 Peter 1 that what Peter saw and heard on the mountain that day was an anchoring event that became a defining moment in his faith for the remainder of his life. Personal Application • Have you experienced an anchoring event in your faith journey with God? Have you experienced Jesus in such a manner that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is God’s Son and you’ve submitted yourself to worship, follow, and obey him? • You can’t acknowledge that Jesus is God’s Son and not respond in obedience. The voice out of the cloud said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him! (Matt 17:5 CSB) • The clear implication of this command is that listening to Jesus includes obeying him. If Jesus is, indeed, God’s Son, his position of absolute authority demands your and my submission and obedience. • Some of you would answer the question, “Have you experienced an anchoring event in your spiritual journey?” with a “no,” or a “I’m not sure.” You would say, “I’ve not experienced a moment where I saw clearly that Jesus is God’s Son and where I responded to him in faith.” • If this is your response, God is offering to you today a revelation of Jesus’ identity. • How can this be? Jesus is no longer here in the flesh like he was with Peter, James, and John. How could I see his radiance, how could I hear God’s voice declaring that Jesus truly is divine and worthy of all my trust, worthy of surrendering completely to his control? • The answer is that you must see him by faith. God wants you to experience an anchoring event and it’s accessed by faith. The Spirit of God prompted Matthew and Peter to record their stories for your benefit. To make it possible for you to be on the mountain that day and along with Peter, James, and John to see Jesus’ glory. They saw his glory with their physical eyes; you can see Jesus’ glory with spiritual eyes. • After Jesus rose from the dead, one of his disciples, Thomas, who had not yet seen him struggled to believe that Jesus was alive and that he truly was and is God’s Messiah. When Thomas finally saw the risen Saviour, he believed. Jesus responded, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:29 CSB) • Jesus was saying to Thomas and to all those who would ever read these words, “You don’t have to see me with physical eyes to believe. Through the witness of those who did see me, I will enable you to believe that I’m the Son of God. I will give you faith to believe and trust the testimony of those who did see me.” • Today, God the Father is opening your spiritual eyes to see that Jesus is, indeed, his divine Son. He’s calling you to faith, to an anchoring event that can become a life-defining moment. Will you respond by choosing to believe in Him? • Some of you here have experienced a spiritual anchoring event, but none of us are out of the woods. Life is filled with blessings, joys and happiness, but also with challenges, trials, and brokenness. God is preparing you today for the dangers that lie ahead. • In a very real sense, God is revealing his Son to you today afresh and anew. He’s reminding you that Jesus is no ordinary human being. He’s the Son of the living God. He has the power to sustain you through the deepest, darkest canyons that your path may travel in the days ahead. • Like he did on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, he’s revealing his glory to you today anew and afresh. He’s reminding you of that anchoring event or events in your past that helped to solidify your faith. He’s is tapping you on the shoulder, calling you by name, and saying don’t be afraid. I am with you. I will see you through whatever lies ahead. Conclusion • Peter, James and John experienced . . . seeing is believing. • Whether you are yet to experience an anchoring event, or God is renewing the power of a previous anchoring event in your life, today can be a life-defining moment for you. • Like the disciples, you, too, can see . . . through eyes of faith. Will you?