When Jesus Takes You Up the Mountain

01 - When Jesus Takes You up the Mountain

Friday, May 05, 2017

2:13 PM

Matthew 17:1, Luke 9:28-36, Mark 9:1-2

Four Realities of the Transfiguration - The transfiguration is an amazing event told by three of the Gospel Writers. Matthew in chapter 17, Luke in Chapter 9, and our text Mark 9:1-12. I want to break this story up into four sections and try to look a little deeper at what Jesus was trying to accomplish here on the mountain with these disciples.

The first thing I want us to notice is verse 2 where Jesus takes the inner circle up the mountain alone. It is amazing how many times Jesus got alone in the Bible. When we say alone, I want us to understand he wasn't solitarily alone, he was alone with God. The Reasons he went alone are various:

It's how he began his ministry.It's how he made important decisions, like choosing his disciplesIt's how he dealt with griefIt's how he dealt with the constant demands of ministry and cared for his soulIt's how he taught his disciplesIt's how he prepared for important ministry eventsIt's how he prepared for his death on the cross. From <http://www.soulshepherding.org/2013/02/jesus-solitude-and-silence/>

Ye many times we find Jesus, "Alone With God" often on a mountain somewhere preparing for the next great event.

It is wonderful, amazing, and unpredictable what can happen when we get alone with God. I like how Johnson Oatman Jr. put it to song:

When storms of life are round me beating, When rough the path that I have trod, Within my closet door retreating, I love to be alone with God.Refrain: Alone with God, the world forbidden, Alone with God, O blest retreat! Alone with God, and in Him hidden, To hold with Him communion sweet.What though the clouds have gathered o’er me? What though I’ve passed beneath the rod? God’s perfect will there lies before me, When I am thus alone with God.’Tis there I find new strength for duty, As o’er the sands of time I plod; I see the king in all His beauty, While resting there alone with God.And when I see the moment nearing When I shall sleep beneath the sod, When time with me is disappearing, I want to be alone with God. From <http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Alone_with_God/>

I love to get alone with God, but every once in a while a circumstance, or situation, or it just happens that God takes us up on the mountain alone with Him. What is that all about, when God takes us up the mountain alone.

When Jesus Takes You Up The Mountain Alone It's To Show His Glory - Moses would have never had the privilege of seeing God's Glory if he had never climbed the mountain alone with God. Gideon might have given up and never won the battle had he not climbed the mountain and heard the dreams of the Midianites. Elijah would have never seen the "Fire Fall from Heaven," Had he never climbed up the mountain and there amongst a crowd of people stood alone at the altar with God. Yes we get a glimpse of God's glory only when we are alone with God on the mountain.

It's To Teach A Truth - It's not just a fireworks display, it has a purpose and a reason. Jesus needed to teach a couple of things to his disciples. Two things stand out.That He, Jesus was God in the flesh. To the world around them and even to the disciples he looked like all of the rest of them. Just another man. But here as they looked on and his face and clothes shone. As he was transfigured or radically changed in front of them.That word transfigured is the same word we use to describe what happens to a caterpillar and a tadpole they go through Metamorphous they are radically changed from what they were before.A caterpillar crawls scraping out a meager existence on leaves and plants.A tadpole swims through the murky water eating whatever it canAnd then there comes a change, the cocoon bursts apart and the caterpillar has changed into a gorgeous butterfly.The legs develop on the tadpole and for once in it's life it can hop out of the water and feast to its hearts content on bugs and insects that come its way. Jesus was radically changed till there was no question of his Deity that day for these three. The Second thing I think he wanted to teach them is that Suffering comes before GloryOne of the hardest lessons for children (and adults) to learn is to get your work done before you play.Just so it was with Jesus. In chapter 8 Jesus and the disciples had a very dramatic discussion about his sufferings, and now he was trying to teach them, that after the suffering, after the hard work comes the rest and the reward. Comes the glory. It's To Further His Kingdom - Not right now but after his resurrection they could tell this story and further the kingdom. IN the mouths of two or three witnesses and all three saw this that day. It would have passed in the Jewish Court of Law with flying colors.