A Dazzling Revelation 10-16-2021

1. The Kingdom Coming in Power

Jesus said

Mark 9:1 NIV

1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

What do you think the discipled imagined those words to meant?

In their lifetime.

At least the lifetime of some of them

The kingdom of God will come in Power!

The disciples, must have been beside themselves.

It’s beginning

Jesus is going to start setting things Right

This is awesome!

But was that the display of power that Jesus had in mind?

No, far from it.

There will come a time when the Messiah will

be the concurring hero, but that was not the time.

People like you and me, get all kinds of wrong ideas about Jesus and

then they get mad when he doesn’t act like the way the imagined he would act.

They believe in the prosperity gospel and if they don’t get rich,

they might question if there really is a God.

They hear how baptism

or sanctification

or some other experience will change there life and

put them on Easy Street and

when life is hard,

they are bewildered and unhappy.

How have you and I wrongly pictured the kingdom of heaven blessing us

Father, our imagination

about you and heaven,

about grace and mercy

about many other things

can fill us with auw and wonder.

Remind our hearts

whenever we stray,

what your world says

the truthes and realities you have revealed to us in your word.

Amen? Amen!

In what ways did the kingdom come in power?

3 people saw the Transfiguration

as we will see this morning

that was quite a demonstration of God’s power and glory

more people saw Jesus death and resurrection

Paul says 500 saw him at one time.

1 Corinthians 15:6 NIV

6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

The kingdom was coming in power on the Day of Pentecost

when the spirit came down and settle on the believers like flames of fire. (Acts 2)

And some of them would have seen spread of the church

to the disperse Jews

then to their neighbors the gentiles and

Then throughout the gentile world as seen through the Book of Acts and the epistles.

The power and the glory of God’s kingdom didn’t stop in the first century, it has spread over much of the word, even to obscure corners of the world.

How have you seen the kingdom coming in power?

I have seen God’s kingdom coming in power through

Changed lives

I have been fearful and fretful, yet I know and have seen God peace beyond understanding.

Some see the power of God in the birth of every child.

Others in the Beauty of God’s creation . . . or Sunsets

. . . . . . etc.

2. What Happened

After Jesus finished speaking about loosing ones life to save it

After he spoke of the cost of following Him

After he spoke of the Kingdom coming in power,

What happened?

Mark 9:2–4 NIV

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

Transfigured is not a word we use every day. In verse 2 the greek word is

Metamorphoomai which I am told means

Giving outward expression of one’s inner character

So, for however long it was, moments or hours, we see Jesus in all His glory

The glory He had with the Father before he was born.

Paul says this about the Pre-incarnate Christ

Philippians 2:6 NIV

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

Another place talking about the Glory of the pre-incarnate Christ is

John 17:5 NIV

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

Mark tells us that Jesus clothes shone

brighter then any bleacher could make them.

One translation said whiter than any Fuller could make it.

Do you know the noun Fuller?

I didn’t.

A fuller was a person who beat and washed wool fleeces to get them as white, as clean as possible before the wool is used in spinning.

But it wasn’t just Jesus clothes that shone bright, Matthew says Jesus face also shone bright

Matthew 17:2 NIV

2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.

His face shined like the Sun.

It was an awesome sight.

I wonder how long Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus?

What did they talk about?

Luke tells us

Luke 9:30–31 NIV

30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

They spoke about his departure in Jerusalem

Was he going to catch a plane there?

No, they were talking about Jesus coming Death and Resurrection that was going to take place in Jerusalem.

They probably talked quite a while because Luke goes on to say

Luke 9:32 NIV

32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.

They were very sleepy.

That sound like the disciples alright

Long discussion, they don’t quite understand and they are nodding off.

Why the transfiguration

To encourage Jesus.

The fact that he was fully god and fully man implies that he can get tired

That he might not feel like taking the hard road

That temptations to take the easy street could even pull on him.

If Jesus couldn’t be tempted

If he couldn’t have failed then

His victory over sin would have been meaningless

But since he was weak,

he needed encouragement

to go the whole way to the cross.

how much more do you and I need help and encouragement to stay of the road God has put us one, in easy times and hard times.

Let us be encourages of other and even

seek encouragement when we are low and need help.

Why else the transfiguration

For the disciples

These 3 guys were told to keep quiet about this until Jesus rises from the dead,

but then they remembered and told this story to the other disciples and to others

As we have heard it today, we can also tell others of this news.

If someone tells you Jesus was just a good man

why done you take them to Mark chapter nine and ask them

Does this really sound like Jesus was just a man?

How do we know it was Moses and Elijah?

We know it was Moses and Elijah because

Mark tells us so, and

his book, his gospel was included in the bible.

The real question was, how did Mark know.

Did Peter, James and John, just have a sense of knowing, who these guys were?

Did they look like the guys in a famous painting I’ll show you at the end where

Moses had a copy of the 10 Commandments and

Elijah’s robes had a hint of whirlwind to them?

Could they tell by what they heard of the conversation,

okey, this one is Moses and that one is Elijah?

Or did Jesus dell the disciples who those men were.

We don’t know, and if it was important for our salvation,

it would have been included in God’s word to us.

Learning to know when to stay silent and listen.

Many times in life, you gals will come to us guys

you want a listening ear, but we hate to hear you upset

We are geared to fix things, we interrupt your sharing with

what can I do

who shall I call

who should I yell at?

So here is Peter

He is tired,

He is scared to death

He doen’t know what to say

so he suggest

Let’s build something

that is how we fix things

Mark 9:5–6 NIV

5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Why did Peter interrupt them?

Didn’t he know, Jesus needed this encouragement?

I have often been too cautious,

too reserved and

too fearful of risks.

I’m learning that often some action is better than no action.

But in this case, Peter should have kept quiet.

Many of us

probably need to learn how to be still in prayer before God.

Listened and learned

Maybe, Peter wanted to build those huts, because

he wanted to keep this mountaintop experience going on.

We love our mountain top experiences were we are lifted up and encouraged.

We don’t want to go back to the low lands were people disagree with us

fight with us

misunderstand us.

So what happens when Peter tries to put himself in the conversation

When Peter tries to steer the conversation?

5. The Father steps in and puts the focus back on Jesus

Mark 9:7–8 NIV

7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

This Cloud, wasn’t like a fog bank that rolled in

This cloud was like the God’s cloud that led the Israelitse through the desert,

a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night

This cloud is like the cloud that filled the temple, the tabernacle or the tent of meeting from time to time making it impossible to do regular work,

It represents the presence of God the Father.

Now that He has their attention he says

“This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

Point made:

the cloud is gone

Moses is gone

Elijah is gone

No need to build shelters.

The experience was over.

Time to head back.

What did they need to know

Jesus was,

Jesus is

God’s Son

The disciples need to listen to Him

Focus on Him.

They don’t need to be

distracted by the celebrities of faith,

just listen to Jesus

Paul saw people distracted by heroes of the faith too and he wrote

1 Corinthians 3:4–7 NIV

4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Paul tried to move people focus back to Jesus.

Putting the pieces together

On the way back the disciples brought up Elijah preparing the way for the Messiah.

Mark 9:9–10 NIV

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

Blinded by pre-conceived notions of Christ work

The Disciples had no capacity to imagine

a suffering messiah

All there lives their culture pointed them to

a concurring Messiah.

I wonder what pre-conceived notions prevent us from being on track with Jesus

8. Precursor fulfilled

Mark 9:11–13 NIV

11 And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” 12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”

Elijah has come and prepared the way

There are some similarities between Elijah and John the Baptist

Elijah and John

Both great men of God

Both were hated by evil queens

God preserved Elijah but

John the baptist was killed.

If John the baptist, was arrested and killed

What can the Messiah expect?

slow

More of the same

Wrap up

Our understanding of Jesus must go beyond what He can do for us and develop into

what we can do for Him.

Today, you should know, better than ever, that Jesus was not just a man

but also God’s Son.

You should be encouraged that even Jesus needed supporters

and encourages in His life.

But you should also know that following Jesus has it’s ups and downs.

Your cross

My cross

Isn’t as heavy as Jesus cross but

to follow Jesus we all have crosses to bare

desires we have to say no to and

burdens we didn’t want to bare.

We all have heroes of the faith.

I like C S Lewis and some of George MacDonald writing

I like the Rocketer.

But our heroes,

of the faith

or otherwise

Should never remove our focus from listening to Jesus and following him.

Let’ s pray and then I’ll show you a picture painted a long time about

about the Transfiguration.

Father, the disciples could not imagine a suffering Messiah, they were blind to that part of Jesus ministry.

Father, overcome our blind spots

Help us to focus on you and your song and follow him in the little and great things you put in our lives.

Give us hearts to follow you this day and every day from now on.

Amen.

As today message from Mark 9 gave us a hint of Jesus glory and power,

next week’s lesson will begin with the disciples unable to cast out an evil spirit,

it’s quite a contrast to the power of Christ in these verse.

Raphael a famous painter was commissioned to paint the transfiguration of Christ. It was his last major work.

Unlike any of the other famous transfiguration painting he only used half the canvas to show the transfiguration.

Jesus is somewhat glowing and floating in the air, Moses is two our right,

we know that by the tables he is carrying and

Elijah is to our left with his robes looking twisted, reminiscent of the whirlwind that took him to heaven.

The lower half he showed the 9 other disciples

failing to cast a demon out of a possessed child,

the upset parents were there

and of course the pharisees arguing with them.