The Transfiguration
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[Luke 9:28-36]
In our series Preparing for Easter we’re looking at several passages in the book of Luke about the life of Jesus Christ leading up to the Resurrection.
This event in Luke 9 is a very unique section. There’s nothing else quite like what takes place in the transfiguration in all of scripture.
So we should ask ourselves, why is this passage in the Bible? What is meant to teach us?
Well, in general I think we need to notice that this passage give us a picture of the future.
In all the gospel accounts, the writers put the transfiguration immediately after Jesus’ words:
Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Well, obviously, everyone standing next to Jesus at the time he wrote those words is now dead so what did Jesus mean? I think he most likely meant that they would “see the kingdom of God” in the transfiguration.
So the transfiguration gives us a glimpse into the future, but it also gives us a peek into eternity past and the glory Christ had with the Father since the world existed (John 17:5).
For the next few minutes let’s look at what this passage says about 1) Who Jesus is and 2) What Jesus came to do.
Who Jesus Is
First some Old Testament context: In the OT God’s presence was in a cloud. By day it looked like a regular cloud but one that moved vertically, but by night the cloud transformed to look like a pillar of fire. Exodus 13:21 says, “The Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night.”
So wherever the cloud was, God presence was there. And it was powerful. The cloud prevented the Egyptians from getting too close as they prepared to cross the Red Sea (Ex 14:19). God looked down from the pillar of fire and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion and destroyed them in the Red Sea (Ex 14:24).
When the Israelites arrived at Mt Sinai the mountain shook and the people heard God’s voice and his glory being displayed in a blazing fire (Deut 5:22-27). The people were afraid they would die so they told Moses to speak to God on their behalf.
So these Old Testament events sound a lot like what happened at the transfiguration. They’re on a mountain. Moses is there. Elijah who also saw God on a mountain is there (Ex 33:20; 1 Kings 19:11). Peter, James, and John hear a voice and are terrified.
Now, the cloud is there too (Luke 9:34) but with a significant difference. This time the infinite, brilliant presence of God is obviously coming from a person! From Jesus Christ!
As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Mark adds the detail: that his clothes became “dazzling—extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them.”
Literally, Jesus and his clothes became as “bright as a flash of lighting.” But it’s not like a spotlight was shone upon him. This dazzling light was emanating from Jesus himself!
After Moses’s came down off the mountain his face continued to shine but that was only because he was reflecting the glory of God. Moses was like the moon but Jesus is like the Sun.
Hebrews 1:3 (CSB)
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Jesus is the exact expression of God’s glory and nature but in human form. In other words, there is no better way to see the glory of God than to see Jesus Christ.
So, Jesus in not just another Moses or Elijah, he is the glorious one that Moses and Elijah and all the other prophets of the OT pointed to.
The implication of this truth is profound. It means that Jesus is our “ultimate reality” and if we want to have our lives aligned with the universe we have to be aligned with Jesus.
It’s conventional wisdom that if we want to be happy we shouldn’t resist reality. If we resist gravity we’re going to suffer. If we resist the fundamental nature of the universe we’re going to be miserable like spending our lives trying to drive a square peg into a round hole.
The world without God says that the Cosmos is all there is. The Greeks, the Romans and many intellectual thinkers of the present, taught that the intricate, harmonious, structure of the universe was the ultimate reality.
Carl Sagan is famous for saying “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us -- there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.”
In other words, study the Cosmos and bring our lives into conformity with it, and not only will we understand the greatest of all mysteries—we will reach our highest potential as human beings.
But Christianity comes along, and says: the ultimate understanding of reality isn’t the impersonal, abstract cosmos but the personal, person of Jesus Christ—and this truth changes everything.
This truth leads not just to salvation but to the western view of human rights and the value of individual people. It leads to ideas like the one in our constitution: “that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….”
See, without ultimate reality being established in a person, then people have no intrinsic value—all there is is the cosmos and ultimate despair.
So most importantly, if we have a love relationship with Jesus then our lives are aligned with reality and we’re set to achieve our ultimate potential. So if we have Jesus, we have everything.
So what does the transfiguration say about who Jesus is? It says that he everything. Jesus, himself, is ultimate reality.
Now—
What Did Jesus Come To Do?
To answer this question we need to understand what the Bible means by “glory.” Moses and Elijah appeared “in glory.” When the Peter saw Jesus glory he wanted to build the three of them shelters. So what is glory?
Glory is often defined as “weight” in fact that’s what the Hebrew word literally means. 2 Cor 4:17 says that “our momentary affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.”
So think of it this way: we’re walking through Kittredge and an elephant falls out of the sky and lands on us. What’s going to happen? We’re going to die. It’s a fact, a matter of science. The elephant weighs a lot more than we do and we’re going to die.
In a similar way, if we stare too long at the glory of the sun, we’re going to go blind. If we get too close to the sun we’ll burn up and die.
So physical objects can have a type of glory, or weight, but it’s even more true with God. When Isaiah came into God’s presence, he wasn’t inspired to say “I’ve got this and now I know everything will be alright.” He said “Woe is me for I am ruined!” (Isa 6:5). Why did he say that? Because he was a man of unclean lips—he was a sinner.
So, when we start to get close to God we can’t help but feel the moral weight of God’s glory because we’re sinners, too. Our existence, or being, can’t stand up to his being. The closer we get the more likely we will be crushed by him.
Ex 40:35 tells us that “Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud rested on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”
So that’s a problem for humans who were created to be in God’s presence. Remember, how Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden? But then they sinned—
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
God sent them out of garden but he still wanted to be near his people. So he built a tabernacle—a tent that would allow God to be a little bit closer to us. But people still had to be careful. If they entered the holy in the wrong way or at the wrong time they could die.
So, back to the Transfiguration. Peter is on the mountain and is pretty impressed with all he sees so he suggests that they set up three shelters, or tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. Why would he do this? Well, if history is a guide, when a person gets too close to God’s glory they end up dead. So Peter doesn’t want the experience to end but he realizes they’re going to need some protection.
But before they could build the shelters, Peter’s worst nightmare happens.
While he was saying this, a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. They became afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the Chosen One; listen to him!” After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They kept silent, and at that time told no one what they had seen.
Why are they terrified? They think they’re going to die. But they don’t die. Why? Because of Jesus.
Remember, this isn’t just a glimpse of the past but of the future kingdom of God. And in the kingdom of God, Jesus’s sacrifice protects us from being consumed by God’s glory. His sacrifice not only protects us but it enables his glory to enter into us. 1 Cor 3:16 says, “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”
Before Moses and Elijah disappeared they had been speaking with Jesus about his departure— about his journey to Jerusalem and the Cross (Luke 9:31).
See Jesus came to give up his glory by taking on humanity and going to the cross (Phil 2) so that we can receive glory and live eternally in his presence without any barriers.
James, Peter, and John as glimpse of the future are in middle of God’s glory, yet they are not consumed.
and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
The glory of Christ will be all the light we will need. The glory emanating from him will be more glorious than the sun yet we will be able to look directly into his face, into his tender loving eyes without being consumed.
How should we respond?
I think we should respond in the way the voice from the cloud tells us to:
Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the Chosen One; listen to him!”
Listen to him. Obey him because Jesus is the very glory of God. He’s not to be trifled with. Our lives need to revolve around him. He needs to be the very center of our universe.
So obey him, but also worship him because he’s gloriously beautiful and no longer a threat to us. His presence is among us. He dwells in us.
So let’s join with all creation in proclaiming—
Revelation 5:13 (CSB)
Blessing and honor and glory and power be to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!