I Can't Believe What I Just Saw-Jesus Transfiguration Mark 9:2-10

Last week we finished our look at Jesus challenge to the crowd near Caesarea Philippi to Come after Him, a challenge that brought with it the 3-fold command of denying themselves, taking up their cross and following Him. This meant they had to be willing to give up everything for the sake of Him and the Gospel. That they needed to have an eternal perspective that would be evidenced in their living transformed lives. Realistically, Jesus was asking them to put Him and His perfect will in the crosshairs of their scope, that they might focus on Him and Him only. This led to a 2-Fold Paradigm Shift where Losers became Keepers and where Profit became Loss. We closed by looking at the Consequences of Disobeying the directives Jesus was giving, consequences that brought with them eternal ramifications. In the end, we were challenged to consider “What will God the Father say to us as His gavel hits the strike plate, when we face Him in judgement?”

With this brief review,

Would you please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word? Next Slide

Mark 9:2–10 ESV

2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. 9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word, please be seated.

By the way, if you read this account in the Gospel of Luke, you will notice Luke specifies 8 days, which differs from the 6 days in Mark and Matthew. This is not an error, In Luke’s account, he is including the day Jesus addressed the crowd near Caesarea Philippi as well at the day of the Transfiguration, for a total of 8 days. Whereas the 6 days in both Mark and Matthew specify only the in-between days. Let’s say, for example, Jesus addressed the crowd on Monday, and on the following Monday He was transfigured. Luke included both Mondays in his account, Matthew and Mark only included Tuesday through Sunday. Now that we have that explanation taken care of, Let’s move on.

To begin with this morning, we see that: Next Slide

Everyone Loves A Mountain Top Experience.

We see from the beginning of verse 2 that 6 days had past since Jesus had literally rocked the world of the 12, making it clear to them that not only would he “suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and the scribes and be killed”, but then He went on to challenge them do be willing to do the same thing. As we talked about a couple Sundays ago, I would imagine that after hearing this news, the 12 wanted some time away, a time to reflect and think through all that had unfolded. It could very well be that this was on Jesus mind as He led the 12 even further north to what most believe to be Mount Hermon. Mt. Hermon stood 9200 feet above sea level and marked the highest point in the Middle East. Most of the Judean countryside was 2,000 feet below sea level. This meant that if the day was clear, and there were no physical impediments to the view, Mount Hermon could be seen from all over Israel. It was towering and spectacular in beauty. As the 12 made their way to this masterpiece of creation, I wonder…what did they talk about? Could it be that Jesus directed their discussion to the Creator and His creation. Pointing out that Peter, in his confession, was stating that Jesus Himself took part in the creation process? And if that was the case, this magnificent wonder of creation was painted by the Finger of the One they were walking with those 6 days. Assuming the 12 walked with Jesus to Mount Hermon, Jesus only invited Peter, James and John with Him to climb the mountain. Most likely they didn’t go to the very top, as the top of Mount Hermon is snow covered most of the year. It is believed that He took 3 with Him because of Jewish Law that dictated that truth had to be confirmed by two or three witnesses. The event that was about to take place was so huge that 3 witnesses were needed to confirm it to be true. In Lukes account we find out that they went there to pray and that Peter, James & John all fell asleep during the prayer meeting, in fact he is very specific, it was a “heavy sleep”! Evidently Jesus didn’t have a gavel and strike plate with Him, so He devised another way to wake these men up. His method:

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The Veil Is Lifted. John 17:5; Matt. 24:30; 25:31; Rev. 19:11-16

As He was praying, Jesus was literally transfigured. The Greek word for “transfigured” was “metamorphoo”, which is where we get our English word metamorphosis. This word is only used 4 times in the New Testament, we will look at those uses a little later. Mark writes that “He was transfigured before them, 3 and His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.” Matthew and Luke describe it somewhat differently. Luke writes that “the appearance of His face was altered, and His clothing became dazzling white.” Matthew writes “and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.”

The reason I use the phrase “The Veil Was Lifted” for this section is, nothing changed in Jesus at this time. He didn’t suddenly become different, face altered and shining like the sun, clothes dazzling white. What these men described was always there, it was just veiled from the eyes of everyone until this moment.

Look at what Jesus Himself says during His High Priestly Prayer, prayed shortly before He was betrayed the night of the Last Supper, it is recorded in John 17:5; Next Slide

John 17:5 ESV

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

How long does He say He had this glory? (before the world existed). You see, Jesus possessed all of the essential glory of God from eternity past, He just chose to allow this glory to be veiled during His earthly life, except for this one moment. We find out towards the end of Matthew, that this will take place again in the future at the time of His second coming. In Matthew 24:30 we read. Next Slide

Matthew 24:30 ESV

30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Perhaps the best description is seen in Rev. 19:11-16. We won’t turn there now, but mark that passage down and look it up later. The point is, Jesus always possessed what He showed to these 3 disciples, but for most of His earthly ministry, He hid it from their view.

The question is, What was the purpose of the Transfiguration? Really, it was probably 2-fold. Next Slide

The Purpose for the Transfiguration: 1. To Lift the Spirits of the Downtrodden Disciples.

As we discussed earlier, the news of what the future lay for Jesus as well as His followers was devastating for the 12. And while Jesus didn’t invite all of the 12 to be present for the transfiguration, He did allow His 3 closest companions to be there. My guess is that, while they were prohibited from giving the details of what they saw, they would have been permitted to let the other 9 know that they could all be encouraged, there was more to Jesus than what meets the eye. Additionally, after His resurrection from the dead, that had complete freedom to share what they had witnessed.

I believe the 2nd purpose for the transfiguration was:

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The Purpose for the Transfiguration: 2. To Affirm the Impending Death of Jesus.

As we have seen the past few Sunday’s, the 12 were really having a hard time coming to grips with the death of Jesus. So here, during His Transfiguration, He takes another step is driving this truth home to them. He does so by: Next Slide

Jesus Brought His Own Witnesses. Mark 9:4; Luke 9:31

I mentioned earlier that it was believed that Jesus brought Peter, James and John to adhere to Jewish Law that dictated that a truth had to be confirmed by “two of three witnesses”. In a very real since, that is what Jesus is doing here by bringing in Moses and Elijah. In Luke 9:31 we find out what Jesus was discussing with Moses and Elijah, “His departure”, specifically, His death. Since the 12 were struggling with the reality of His death, and for some reason were not willing to believe the very words of Jesus, Jesus brings 2 additional witnesses, not from Israel, but from Israels history and from Heaven. Moses and Elijah. In many ways these were the two most powerful Old Testament figures. While some may argue for Abraham and King David, there were only 2 men from Old Testament times who were used of God to do many miracles, Moses and Elijah. Additionally, Moses was THE one associated with The Law, whereas Elijah was the greatest and most respected of the prophets. There is so much more I could add about these 2 men, but I only have so much time, I could literally spend hours on just these 2 men as it relates to this event. The bottom line is, Jesus apparently brought these men here to further establish the reality of His suffering and death. To confirm to the 12 that Jesus death was, in fact, a part of the perfect plan of God.

Moving one we see Peter; Next Slide

Open Mouth, Insert Foot......Again.....! Vs. 5-6

I have to be honest with you, one of my favorite New Testament characters is Peter. He makes me feel like there is hope, even for me! Look at this slide. Do you see the dots before and after the word Again? I added those because not only is this not the first time Peter has opened his mouth to insert his foot, this wouldn’t be the last time! It’s kind of amazing he hasn’t been incinerated yet! I mean think about it, just last chapter, he pulled Jesus off to the side to set him straight, moments after he had declared Jesus to be God in the flesh! Here he is, just 6 days later, high on a mountaintop with Jesus, Moses and Elijah, we do see at the end of verse 6 that he was terrified, but instead of responding the way Isaiah did in Isaiah 6; “Woe is me...” He responds with “Boy it’s a good thing we’re here!”

Can I make a suggestion to you? If , at some point in time, God suddenly appears to you and your naturally terrified, either remain silent, pronounce woe on yourself, or lift High the Name of God. Beyond that, it would be best to say nothing! Learn a lesson from Peter! For some reason Peter has to inject himself into the situation!

I wonder what Moses and Elijah thought of Peter? “Jesus, where’d Ya get these guys? I mean is this the best you got?” Of course had they done that, Jesus may have reminded Moses that at least none of these 3 had killed a man or asked God to use someone else because they weren’t good with words. Or remind Elijah of the time, right after he had literally called down fire from heaven to completely disintegrate and alter, the wood and an offering, only to turn around and flee into a desert and hide under a broom tree and ask God to kill him, because Jezebel threatened him! I guess you could say God has a habit of using misfits to accomplish His divine plan! That is exactly what these 3 were, they were misfits.

Let’s take a moment and look more closely at the reality of what Peter is doing here. First, in his defense, this happened to be right at the time of the Feast of Booths, otherwise known as the Feast of Tabernacles. This was a time when most in the nation would build temporary shelters and live in them for 7 days to commemorate the tents the Nation of Israel would build to surround the Tabernacle of God during the wilderness wonderings after the Exodus. This makes what Peter said slightly more understandable. Ok, defense over, there is 3 other things at play here.

Peter didn’t want to come down from the mountain.

In other words, he wanted to revel in this mountaintop experience as opposed to being obedient to the perfect plan of God. Admittedly, I can relate. I have experienced many mountaintop experiences and I never want them to end, but God has a job for us to do, and that job doesn’t get done during mountaintop experiences.

b. Peter still refused to accept this whole suffering and death bound Messiah.

He appears to be thinking, If we can just stay up here, perhaps He doesn’t have to die!

There is one other thing at play here, and this goes back to Jesus question to the 12 of “Who do people say that I am?” Do you remember their answer? (2 of the answers were Moses and Elijah). We talked about this about 3 weeks ago. When the Nation of Israel put Moses, Elijah and the prophets on a level playing field with Jesus, this was a huge insult to Him. It’d be like us comparing North Montgomery’s football stadium to Lucas Oil Stadium. They’re not the same! So what was Peter doing here?

c. Peter is putting Moses and Elijah on equal footing as Jesus!

It was bad enough that we now see: Next Slide

A Divine Interruption. Vs. 7; Mt. 17:5; Lk. 9:35

One of the dumbest and at the same time funniest movies I have ever seen is Dana Carvey’s “The Master Of Disguise”. What is happening here reminds me of a scene from the movie. Dana is in one of his many disguises trying to help the character Jennifer Esposito is playing. At one point in the scene, Dana is speaking to a notorious bad guy and he says and does this; “This is what you’re doing, this is what I want you to do!” (Make sure to do the hand motions!) God interrupts Peter with a cloud, in some ways God is saying to Peter, “This is what you’re doing, this is what I want you to do!”

God is basically telling Peter; “Peter, My will won’t be accomplished on this mountaintop! It IS My will that Jesus suffer and die! And don’t ever put anyone else on equal footing with Me or My son!” God does this with a cloud that completely encompasses all of them and by speaking from heaven. Let me tell you what He says by using bits from Matthew, Mark and Luke, because I believe they all encompass what He said. “This is My beloved Son, He is My Chosen One, and I am well pleased with Him! Listen to what He says!”

He is telling Peter to stop trying to thwart the plan of God just because you don’t like what He is doing, and listen and obey everything He tells you! Next Slide

A Touch Of The Master’s Hand. Mt. 17:6 & 7

I love the picture Matthew gives us of what takes place next. In Matthew 17:6 we see that upon hearing God speak from heaven, “they fell on their faces and were terrified”. Finally we’re seeing an Isaiah type of response! I love what Jesus does next. Matthew tells us that Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” In Isaiah 6, when Isaiah is dumbfounded by the glory of God, God sends an angel from heaven to comfort and restore him. Here, God Himself through His Son Jesus, comforts them.

This Biblical account ends with; Next Slide

A Command Of Silence. Vs. 9-10

As we have seen in the past, these commands of silence are not uncommon coming from Jesus, and similar to the last one He gave the 12, this one was because they still didn’t have the full message. They would be free to share what they saw after Jesus rose from the dead.

So, what are the applications for us this morning?

Application:

First, as much as we all love mountaintop experiences,

Our greatest growth, and as a result God’s greatest work, takes place in the valleys.

Second, Just as the magnificence Of Jesus full glory was hidden during His time here on earth.

We hide the glory of God in us when we don’t live lives surrendered to Him.

In this mornings passage we learned that the Greek for “transfigured” was metamorphoo. This word is used only 4 time in the New Testament. 2 of those times are in this account here and in Matthew. The other 2?

Romas 12:2 where we read “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. And also in 2 Cor. 3:18 where we read “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

In other words, the only reason we don’t have a God like glow about us is, we choose to veil His glory by not being renewed in our minds, not spending time daily in His Word, daily in prayer and the other Spiritual Disciplines we looked at in 2018, allowing all of those things to transform us as we surrender to Him and His will. We are to be a reflection of the Lord Jesus.

Lastly, unlike Peter, James and John, we do not have a command of silence.

We have a command to speak. Mt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8

May we trust God completely, allow Him to mold us into what He wants us to be when we go through the peaks and valleys of Life. May His glory be unveiled in us as we are renewed daily by the transforming power of His Word, and may we boldly proclaim His Good News wherever He leads us.