In Luke 8 and 9, Jesus continues to heal and perform miracles, and His followers continue to increase in number and in their commitment. At the very beginning of Luke chapter 9, Jesus called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority and sent them out to heal diseases, cast out demons and proclaim the Kingdom of God. He gives them specific instruction, and sends them on their way. When they return, they tell him all they had done. Christ then took them away to Bethsaida, away from the crowds, but the multitudes follow, without preparing and end up there listening to Jesus teaching without having adequate food to eat, so Jesus miraculously feeds them from 5 loaves and two fish.

In verse 18, we are told that Jesus went away with his disciples to pray as He was in the habit of doing. It is during this time, that He asks Peter two questions. “Who do the crowds say that I am?” and Who do you say that I am?” Peter answers correctly, “The Christ of God.” Meaning the Anointed One, but look at Jesus’ response in verse 21-22.

Luke 9:21–22 ESV

21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Luke 9:44 ESV

44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

Jesus is giving them a road map of the path that He will take to accomplish the work He has come to do. He tells them in no uncertain terms, that He will suffer and die and on the third day be raised. Yet they did not understand what they heard Jesus saying.

In between these two announcements, Christ informs them that if they are going to be His followers, they need to be ready to make great sacrifices for the Kingdom of God.

Luke 9:23–27 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

This is where we see something of a shift in the Lord’s ministry. There is something significant that takes place and that is what I want to focus our thoughts on today.

The Face of God our Savior!

Jesus seems to communicate to His followers that He is going to take this whole ministry and discipleship thing to another level.

He goes up to pray

He is praying

He is transfigured/transformed/altered

Luke 9:28–36 ESV

28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

A Face Revealed

God the Father, confirms once again, that this truly is the “My Son, The Chosen One” / The Anointed One. Listen to Him!!

He is the Christ! The Only Begotten of the Father

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

2 Peter 1:16 ESV

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

The appearance of Moses and Elijah, is interpreted to mean that Jesus is the end of the Law & Prophets. He is the completion of the work that the Law & the Prophets spoke of.

It is as if each time this take place, Jesus’ life and ministry are put into higher gear. The focus of His ministry intensifies, as if He is zeroing in on the bullseye of the Cross.

A Face Restrained

Luke 9:34 ESV

34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

The disciples were surrounded by a bright cloud. If you remember, a cloud was how God led the Israelites through the wilderness, into the promised land. It was in the cloud on Mt Sinai that Moses received the 10 commandments from the Lord God. Now once again, we are told that a cloud is hindering the disciples from seeing or experiencing all the majesty of the presence of God. Christ’s transformed or altered face was but a glimpse of the glory that He possessed, and the cloud was a means of restraining the disciples from being completely overwhelmed by the glory of God the Father.

We see tremendous restraint all throughout the ministry of the Incarnate Christ. The account that we are reading today, is yet another wonderful picture of the Lord’s willingness to humble himself, restrain himself and demonstrate such incredible patience and perseverance.

This event, which has become known as “The Transfiguration” served to reveal the deity of Christ, and also reveal his self-control and restraint.

John 14:3 ESV

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

John 17:24 ESV

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

1 John 3:2 ESV

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

So we see in these passages and in others, that we won’t take the time to look at this morning, that in the face of our Savior Jesus’ glory was revealed, but it was also restrained. He did not avail himself of the many attributes that He possessed during His time on earth, but there is something else that we see in Luke 9 about the face of Jesus.

A Face Resolved

Multiple times in this chapter alone, Jesus tells of his impending death.

He does so in verse 21 and again in verse 44, so we know that He understands the plan. He comprehends what “must be done” and He comprehends that it “must be done”, yet He is resolved to follow through. He will not choose to call down 10,000 angels. He will not avail himself of His own omnipotence and omniscience to combat the evil schemes of men and of Satan, despite the clearly disturbing and horrendous death that He will face.

Luke 9:51 ESV

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

He will travel the road to the Kingdom of God by way of Samaria and Jerusalem. We have been walking this road with Him in our study of Luke’s Gospel and what a marvelous view Luke gives us. It’s as if we are able to be right there, beside the Lord and His disciples, observing the miracles. Christ’s miracles display His power over sickness, over nature, over evil spirits, and even over death.

The Face of God our Savior

Jesus’ face or His true identity has been revealed to us. His is a face that though we see it, it is restrained. Not restrained by outside forces which are working against its revelation, but restrained by His own will. Restrained for His own glory.

Sometimes good news is hard to keep. For example, when I was going to propose to my high school sweetheart, I couldn’t contain myself, I was so excited. Much to her dismay, I shared the news with a few other people prior to that moment.

That situation, as wonderful as it may have been, doesn’t even come close to the incredible news that Jesus was slowly but surely revealing to His disciples and has slowly but surely revealed to us as well.

Jesus exemplified incredible restraint, but He also demonstrated incredible resolve. He counted the cost and the reward, He encouraged His disciples to do so, and guided them as they went through the process of doing so, themselves.

In the Fire Service, there is a standard, which is fundamental to the work. It relates to making a quick assessment of the situation, when you arrive on scene. It is the Fire Services version of counting the cost.

Risk allot to Save allot, but risk little to save little. Risk a life to save a life.

Luke 6–10: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Sleepers’ Suggestion

Before the crown comes the cross; the path to the kingdom lies through Calvary. Before Jesus reigns as king, He must be the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. But the glorious vision they experienced that day would stay with the three apostles for the rest of their lives (2 Peter 1:16–18), reassuring them of the reality of the coming kingdom

2 Peter 1:16–18 ESV

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Jesus the Very Thought of You

Jesus the very thought of you Fills us with sweet delight, but sweeter far your face to view And rest within your light.

No voice can sing, no heart can frame, nor can the memory find a sweeter sound than your blest name, O Savior of mankind!

O hope of very contrite heart, o joy of all the meek, how kind you are to those who fall, how good to those who seek!

But what to hose who find? Ah, this no tongue or pen can show; the love of Jesus what it is, none but His loved ones know.