Open your Bibles tonight to Luke, Matthew, chapter 17. We are going to be looking at all three accounts of the Transfiguration. We'll start here in Matthew chapter 17. Matthew 17. And if you have a bookmark, you might put a mark when we get finished with Matthew here, Mark, and Luke.
Now, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun. And his clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
Hear him." And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, and said, "Arise and do not be afraid." When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
Now, as they came down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." And his disciples asked him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist. All right.
Now turn to Mark chapter nine, and I'm not going to read the entire account of the transfiguration and the trip down the hill again. There, instead, I'm going to read as far as will serve for the purpose of the message tonight. But we'll begin with verse one. And he said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death, till they see the kingdom of God present with power." Now, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his clothes became shining.
Exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. As far as we'll go there in Mark, and now let's turn to Luke chapter nine. And what we're getting in these three different accounts. Is a are three different descriptions of what Jesus looked like, and our examination of those three different descriptions will form a part, a significant part of the sermon.
So. In Luke chapter nine, beginning with verse twenty-eight.
Now it came to pass about eight days after these sayings that he took Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
Well, that's new. And as he prayed. The appearance of his face was altered, and his robe became white and glistening. Find it interesting that it is as he prayed that this transfiguration takes place. That leaves me to muse: Is this the first time that this has happened?
I tend to think that it had happened before, but there was no one there to see it, and that in in the fellowship that Jesus was having with the Father while praying, that he began to he began to I don't know what to call it. Glow is not strong enough. Shine. The first thing that we're going to consider is just the wonder of it, but let's before we get to that, let's just think about: could this possibly be something that has happened before? I think it's likely that it had happened before.
And then that leads me to think about the development of of Jesus as a human being and his consciousness of who he was and what he was to do. You know, Jesus learned things. Jesus, Jesus was a a person. Who was comprised of two natures? He was as much God as if he were not man, and he was as much man as if he were not God.
He still remains—that's still true of Jesus. He still remains a man, and he still remains the second person of the Trinity. He's not half God and half man. And these natures are not intertwined in a, in a mixed up kind of way. He was completely God, and of course, the second person of the Trinity, being God, cannot learn anything.
An essential characteristic of God is that He already knows all things.
So, as the second person of the Trinity, Jesus could not learn anything. But as a human being, Jesus could learn, and he did learn. After the account of Jesus staying behind in Jerusalem when he was twelve years old, and it says that he went down to Nazareth with them, his mom and his mom and Joseph, and was subject to them. And then it says this: and he grew, he grew, in wisdom. And in stature, well, we're not surprised at that.
We know he grew up physically, but he grew in wisdom. He grew in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man.
So Jesus, as as the second person of the Trinity, he can't change. He knows everything already. He's also immutable. But Jesus, as a man, could change. He could grow in wisdom.
He could grow in knowledge. I think this gives us a key to understanding what the Book of Hebrews says more than one time concerning Jesus. And once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who believe in him. Once made perfect, how can that be?
Well, even though Jesus was always sinless, he had not yet achieved. He he had not yet passed all the tests that were necessary for him to pass, in order for him to be declared to be a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. He had to, he had to pass. All the tests that we don't read of in the first thirty years, and then in the commencement of his ministry, when the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, he he rebuffs the devil, and he. He proves that as the last Adam, he is doing what the first Adam could not do, and did not do.
And this, right before he goes out into the wilderness, God speaks from heaven when Jesus is baptized.
Well, actually, after he comes back from the wilderness, he, he, he. I'm confused. I can't remember if it's before or after that he's out in the wilderness. But anyway, you can correct me later. Anyway, God speaks from heaven at his baptism, and says, "This is my son whom I love.
With him, I am well pleased." So, at the commencement of his ministry, God the Father says concerning Jesus, "He up to this point is the one who is." The one that that I love, he's my son. I love him. I'm very pleased with him. And then follow these these three years of ministry that lead us up to the the time of the transfiguration that we've read about tonight. And here once again, God.
Places his stamp of approval on Jesus, and he does it not only verbally, but he also does it through allowing this manifestation of Jesus' glory, Jesus' divinity, Jesus' suitableness for the task for which he was ordained to be demonstrated by Jesus being transfigured. Moses was in fellowship with the Lord for forty days on the mountain, and when he came down, his face was glowing. He wasn't aware of it. His face was glowing. The Israelites were afraid of him, and he put a veil over his face.
And then, when he went back into the presence of God, he would take that veil off. But that glory that had saturated Moses was a borrowed glory. But this glory that emanates from Jesus is an intrinsic glory. I'm amazed at lightning bugs. That here is a little insect.
My yard is full of thousands of them, and they can glow. And it's it's marvelous, and there are other creatures, other things that have light in them. I remember when I was a boy, walking in the forests at night with no flashlight. Every once in a while, I would see some something glowing over here off the path, and go over there and investigate. And maybe it's a an old rotten stump or just an old piece of wood.
It's foxfire, and. I don't know if you've ever seen foxfire. I haven't seen it since I was a boy, but I used to see it every once in a while. I don't walk in the woods in the dark without a flashlight that much these days, but I did it quite a bit when I was when I was in my teenaged years, and just amazing. Here's something that.
That that glows in the dark. I know that there, there's phosphorescence that occurs in the sea, and there are sea creatures that glow in the dark. It's all marvelous. It's all amazing. But here is a man, a man who lights up.
I don't know how else to say it. He he he. And and even the Holy Spirit in leading Matthew, Mark, and Luke uses three different ways to describe what happened to him. And in the third point of this sermon, we're going to look at all three of those things. But right now, we're just considering the wonder of it.
It it's so easy for us to walk through this world of miracles and never be never be flabbergasted. By the fact that a little egg becomes a caterpillar, and turns into a pupa, and a chrysalis, and then something comes out of that little lump that can fly, and it's beautiful, and it's a different color than the caterpillar, and it's a different color than the chrysalis, and and we just act like. We just act like this is a normal thing, or we look at some enormous oak tree and see the little tiny acorns that are lying around it, and fail to be floored by the realization that this enormous oak grew out of that tiny little a little acorn, like the one that is around the roots. This whole world is full of wonder and marvel, and so is the Bible. There are just so many wonderful and marvelous things that are written about Jesus.
I, I, when I take the time to stop and and think about the miracles as I read about them, I'm just, I'm filled with curiosity. How did he do it? How did that? How did he walk on the water? What's what's the physics of that?
Is there some kind of physical explanation for it? Did he know something? How did he walk through walls? How's that happen? How how did he know that that fish had a gold coin in its mouth, and get it to come and bite that hook?
How did he raise the dead? What what what happened when the woman touched the hem of his garment, and he felt power go out from him? What what kind of a person is this? That he feels he feels it go out of him, and then this. Probably at night.
Can't say for sure, but one of these accounts—the one that I never read all of—says that the disciples were asleep. But when they became fully awake, they saw Jesus and Moses and Elijah.
So this adds drama to the scene that it was probably at night, and then Jesus begins to begins to shine. Feel the wonder of it. Think about the meaning of it. There are several times in the Bible when we read about heavenly visitors, and it is not unusual for them to be described as being clothed in white, or in being shining. And this is not unique to the Bible.
If you read ancient literature about the gods coming down, pagan literature about the gods coming down to visit the earth, they are often shining, impressively resplendent beings. And in in our in movies, when when there is a visitor from outer space, then when they step off the spaceship, then there's this bright shining light that comes. It just seems to be something that we have known, just by virtue of the inheritance that we have as human beings, that if some if something is shining bright, it is from another planet. It's from another sphere, or in the language of the Bible, it's from heaven. Jesus has been hiding something.
There's something about Jesus that the world has not seen. Peter, James, and John see it, but Jesus tells them, "Don't tell anybody." And apparently, they. Were one of the few people who obeyed him. Often Jesus told people, "Don't tell anybody I did this," and then they go out and start talking about it. But apparently Peter, James, and John did.
And Lord willing, in the next couple of nights, we'll look at why did Jesus tell them that. But tonight we're just looking at the the wonder of the transfiguration. What does it communicate? It it tells us that. He laid aside his glory; that he he was in heaven, a an incredibly glorious, indescribably glorious person, and he humbled himself, and he took upon him the body that the Lord had prepared for him.
It was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, born of her, yet without sin. And he was born in a low condition, made under the law, underwent the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross. He was buried, and in all of this, for almost all of the time, he was hiding something.
Now it may occur to us to say, "Why wouldn't he just let his splendor be made known? Surely, surely that would that would convince people. Would more people would have been convinced if Jesus had revealed himself all the time? If he had just walked around in the world as this this shining, resplendent being, we may think that for a few minutes." We may be helped to see the folly of that when we remember the story of the rich man and the poor beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate. They both died, and in the afterlife, in the place where dead people go, the rich man could see that Lazarus was in a pleasant location.
He was in Abraham's bosom. And he asked if Lazarus might come and put a drop of water on his tongue because he was tormented. And no, that can't happen. And then he asked, "Please send Lazarus back to speak to my brothers because I've got five brothers, and I don't want them to come to this place." And and Father Abraham says to him, "They have Moses and the prophets." And the rich man says, "Well, they won't listen to them. But if someone comes back from the dead, surely they will listen to him." And Abraham says, "No.
If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't listen even if someone comes back from the dead." The rich man was under a delusion, in the same way that we are somewhat under a delusion when we think that more people would have been converted if Jesus had walked around all his life in his resplendent glory. People do not come. People do not refrain from coming to Jesus because of lack of evidence. They refrain from coming to Jesus because they love sin, and nothing but the Holy Spirit of God can change a sinner's heart, so that he turns away from the sin that he loves, and turns to a Christ whose main business is to deliver us from the guilt, and power, and presence of sin. When I was in college, I was witnessing to one of my classmates, and we were just walking across campus, and I was urging him to repent of his sin, and he he liked me, and he said to me kindly, "Jim, you don't understand.
Everything that I love to do is sin." Yeah, and that's true. Most people are not so forthright about it and don't recognize it or acknowledge it so readily. But that is true. Everything that a a person who refuses to come to Jesus Christ, everything that he loves to do, the very the very bent of his mind, is a mind that is in rebellion against God. And so it would not have, I'm, I'm, it would not have convinced people if Jesus had walked around all of his thirty-three years in his resplendent glory.
But when he showed it to Peter and James and John, it was a confirmation. This is someone from heaven. He is deliberately. Hiding some things about himself, he has purpose in it, but now he has shown it to us. And years later, when they were permitted to talk about it, they did, and they wrote about it.
James died early, but Peter wrote about having seen the glory of Jesus in the holy mountain. And the Apostle John wrote about it, first chapter of his book that we have. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. It's a marvelous thing that Jesus was this. Intrinsically bright and shining and beautiful being, and he was clothed in frail humanity, in a body that could be beaten and was beaten, in a body that could be pierced and was pierced, in a body that could die and did die.
It ought to cause us to. Marvel at his humility and feel afresh what it says in Philippians chapter two. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has exalted him to the highest place, and given him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus had been living for thirty-three years in humiliation. While there may have been some private displays of His intrinsic glory, this is the only time that we know of that it was revealed lovingly to His disciples. I am curious what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas is leading the chief priests and elders with swords and clubs and staves, and they come and they say, and Jesus says to them, "Who are you looking for?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." And Jesus said, "I am He," and they all fell down. And we don't we don't read about any kind of bright light or anything.
But I just wonder: was this just a a poof, a poof of power, just a tiny little bit of what he could have done, just to say, I'm I'm not helpless before you. He told he told Peter when Peter cut off Malchus's ear, "Put away your sword. Don't you know that even now." I could ask my father, and he would send twelve legions of angels. Just think, having that that kind of intrinsic glory, and keeping it hidden. Having that kind of power, and only using it to help people, and heal people.
Having that kind of authority, and deliberately not using it for what.
So that he could get killed, so that he could be crucified in one of the most cruel means of execution that has ever been dreamed up by the perverted mind of man. Just feel the wonder of it! Such a glorious being, deliberately humbling himself so, so low.
So persistently and so lovingly to do what has what has avalanched down upon us as incalculable blessings.
Well, what did it mean? What did it mean when?
So I hope I've helped you to feel the wonder of it. Let's examine the meaning of it, and let's look at it under two categories. What did it mean for humans? What did it mean for Jesus? First of all, what did this transfiguration of Jesus mean for humans?
First of all, I think that this is a demonstration, an illustration, of what a sinless human being would look like and would be capable of. And so here, if you're paying attention, then you see that there's been a slight shift, and I'm saying that this glory that was in him was not strictly a divine glory, but that it was also the manifestation of a human glory, a glory of a sinless human being. The threat against our first parents was in the day that. You eat of the forbidden fruit. You are going to die.
And so they didn't die physically that day. They died physically. Adam nearly a thousand years later, but they died physically, and we're all dying physically. And everyone who's lived since since then, except for Moses and Elijah, has died physically. And But the but one of the reasons that is given.
Let me make sure I'm not leaving something out here.
So we we are living in physical bodies, and these physical bodies cannot inherit the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. And here's what I was getting ready to say.
So this is one of the reasons given for the resurrection of the body that is described in in First Corinthians chapter fifteen, and we'll we'll think about just in that in just a moment, what's going to happen to us at the resurrection. This one of the reasons that is given for the necessity of the resurrection of the glorification of the body is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. These bodies that we're living in are not suitable for the eternal life and the eternal pleasures that we will be experiencing in heaven.
So we're going to get we're going to get new bodies. These bodies are going to be remade. But I brought all this up to say, well, then what about Adam and Eve? What was going to happen to Adam and Eve because they died because of sin? But what if they had not sinned?
Then I think that a transfiguration would have taken place. I think that there would have come a time when would have happened to Adam and Eve and to all their offspring what we got a glimpse of in Jesus—that he is in a real human body with a beating heart and breathing lungs, and yet that body becomes resplendent with light and glory.
So I think that in the Transfiguration we're seeing the one sinless human being and the kind of glory that might have emanated from human beings had they remained sinless. I think that this also is an indication of what we are going to be. When we are raised from the dead, this is why I asked the pastor to read from Daniel chapter twelve, verses one through three, because it says there that then the righteous will shine like the firmament, and those who can't remember exactly what comes next, those who da da da like the stars in the sky. It's talking about righteous people. And then keep your keep your finger.
Well, it doesn't matter if you stay here and look, but look in Matthew chapter thirteen and verse thirty-four. You see something else here, something that it's easy just to kind of read over. But I hope, in the context of this message, will will take on fresh meaning for you. Matthew chapter thirteen. And I said verse thirty-four, but that's wrong.
It's verse forty-three. Verse forty-three. He's talking about what's going to happen at the at the end of time, and he says in verse forty-three, "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father." Maybe that you've just read that metaphorically and poetically all of your life, and thought they're really going to be obvious in their glory. But, but in light of the transfiguration, I think this is probably literal. That the righteous are going to, we're going to be bright, shining beings.
And then also in First Corinthians chapter fifteen, when it's talking about the resurrection of this body, it says is sown in weakness, but it's raised in power. It's sown in in it's some variety of the word shame, but raised in glory. And you know the Bible doesn't throw around the word glory. It it carries with it often the idea of of resplendent brightness.
So, what is the meaning of the transfiguration for humans? I think it's an illustration of what humans might have been had sin never entered, and it is an illustration of what what humans who are redeemed are going to be. In the resurrection, but what does it mean for Jesus? What's the transfiguration mean for Jesus? I think that it is a a confirmation from God, a demonstration to Peter, James, and John.
It's a confirmation from God. I don't know that Jesus needed this confirmation, but I think it was a demonstration for Peter, James, and John. Here is a sinless man, and he is qualified for what he is about to do. The the sacrifice that he is about to offer is in a fair way of being a an effective sacrifice, because up to this point he has remained sinless, and he is well qualified for what he for what he is about to accomplish.
So we've taken a look at the wonder of it. I hope we felt the wonder of it. Looked briefly at the meaning of it, and now I want us to look at the wonderful whiteness of it. And we're going to look at this from the perspective of people who actually believe in verbal inspiration. We say that we believe in verbal inspiration.
Many of us don't know what that means, so let me explain that. Verb is the Latin word for word, and when we say that we believe in verbal inspiration, we are saying that we believe that the very words of Scripture are inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Now we're not very consistent verbal inspirationists. Let me come back to that.
So, verbal inspiration can be held in contrast, of course, to those who don't believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures at all. But there are other people who believe in what might be called dynamic inspiration. And that would be that the general ideas of Scripture are, are inspired by God, and it's a book that we can learn from God. But, but we shouldn't pay attention to. Every single word, because after all, human authors were used, and the various flavors and talents and backgrounds of the respective human authors is obvious in their writings, and that last part is true.
There is a style that can be identified with Isaiah that's different from the style that Ezekiel uses. There's a style that John uses that's different from the style that Paul uses. Different word choices and different ways of saying things. And so that part is true, but what we disagree with is that it's only the ideas of Scripture that are inspired. Instead, we say no.
We believe in verbal inspiration that the very words of Scripture are inspired. The Latin word for word is verb. The Latin word for letter is grammar, grammatos. And I think that we we have some evidence in the Scripture that even the very letters of Scripture in the original manuscripts were inspired, because Jesus asserts that not one jot or one tittle will disappear from the Law until all is fulfilled. A jot is not a word; it's just part of a letter.
A tittle is not a word; it's just part of a letter. The apostle Paul makes a major theological point by whether the word "seed" in the promise made to Abraham is singular or plural, and he says it's singular. Therefore, it can't refer to all the Jews. It refers to Jesus and those who are united to Jesus. But it's just what in our In our language, would be the addition of an s, a similarly small addition to one of the words in Hebrew would make it plural.
We we believe we say we believe in verbal inspiration, but for the most part, we don't read the Bible like that. And I suppose that it's impractical to. Read the Bible like that all the time would be hard to ever get through it. But to never read the Bible like we think every single word is important is a practice that will leave us missing a lot of what is beautiful, a lot of what is full of meaning and blessing for us. And I hope to right now show you.
An example of that.
So, I'm back in Matthew chapter 17. If you will turn in your Bibles back to Matthew chapter 17, I want to show you how the Holy Spirit led Matthew to choose this word to describe what Jesus' face shone like. It says in Matthew 17 and verse two, his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
So Matthew says his face shone like the sun. Able, help us to make the most of this if we see what Mark used and then what Luke used.
So, turn quickly to Mark chapter nine, and we can see the description that Mark uses. And then we'll just take each one of them and and feel the power of it. It says in Mark nine three, his clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And the idea here is that it was like the light shining off of snow.
So Matthew says it was like the sun. Mark, it's like the sun shining off of snow. And then over in Luke chapter nine, we see that Luke uses yet another description to describe what it was like. In Luke chapter nine. Says in verse twenty nine, as he prayed, the appearance of his face was altered, and his robe became white and glistening.
And I looked online today at a whole bunch of translations, and there is only one translation that adds what really is in the Greek, and that is, glistening, like lightning.
So he's like lightning.
So we got these three little word pictures. I said that we are going to examine them like someone who really believes in verbal inspiration, and in doing that, we're also examining like someone who is reading poetry. The real skill of a poet lies in the use of words and the use of word pictures. On the drive down here, one of our daughters was with us, and she was asking us questions that she has compiled through the years to ask people as conversation starters. And so they were questions like, "If you if you had a warning label, what would it say?" Or, you know, "If you had if you had 15 minutes to talk with anyone dead, who would you talk to?" And then there was this.
Couple of questions. She said, "What do you wish that people would ask you less, and what question do you wish that people would ask you more?" And somewhat facetiously, I said, "I wish that people would ask me less to look at their poetry and tell me what I think of it." You know, since my since my graduate degree is in English, and I do love English, and I do love poetry, and wrote a book on poetry, then people think, Wow, will you take a look at my poetry? And through the years, I've had many people submit, and through all those submissions, I can only think of two that had any skill, only two.
Now it's possible that someone who submitted a poem to me is listening to this online, and so I did say that there were two that I thought were good, and it could have been you, if you're listening to me, and you submitted a poem. Most people have no idea. How hard it is to write good poetry, and there are some people who are naturally skilled at it, but not many, and. It just it takes a lot of work, and and then a lot of people think that just because it rhymes, that makes it poetry. And you know, if it's a blessing to you, I always try to find something nice to say about the poems that are submitted because people, you know, they really you put your heart into things like that, and it's hard to receive it's hard to receive harsh criticism from someone that you really want to like it, and.
But what what most don't realize is the importance of choosing the exact right word, and the use of word pictures to communicate your ideas. A a a question that I sometimes ask poets who really want to be instructed is, why is this better written in poetry than it is in prose? And how is it different from prose? And the answer is usually well, it rhymes, and well, that that's pleasant, and I enjoy rhyming poetry, but that's not the essential characteristic. I sometimes illustrate the importance of poetry and the importance of Christians attempting to learn something about poetry and read poetry by the following illustration.
I mentioned last night that about one third of the Bible is poetry. But one of my favorite short poems in the English language is "To a Waterfowl" by William Cullen Bryant. I'll just quote for you the first stanza. In this, in this stanza, he observes one waterfowl. He doesn't say if it's a duck or a goose.
He sees it flying across the sky, and it's evening. And the first stanza of the poem says. Whither, midst falling dew, while glow the heavens with the last steps of day, far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue thy solitary way?
So he's talking to he's talking to the waterfowl. Where are you going? It's late in the day. The sky is beautiful around you. Where are you going?
I mean, it could be boiled down to. Hey, duck, where you going? But that's different. Then, wither midst falling dew, while glow the heavens with the last steps of day, far through their rosy depths does thou pursue thy solitary way. And I know that's not a Bible poem, but the Bible is full of stuff like that.
So, like I said, one third of the Bible is poetry, and it is pretty impressive how the word pictures that the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible writers to use—word pictures that were relevant and meaningful in ancient cultures—remain meaningful and relevant in our culture. And we have an example of three of them right in front of us.
So when it says that Jesus' face shone like the sun, that's a word picture. But we have experience with the sun. What what should that tell us about what Jesus' face looked like? And then by extension, what should that tell us about Jesus, that his face shone like the sun?
Well. Anybody who thinks about it, I suppose any observant five-year-old would be able to sun say, we can see things when the sun comes up. The sun is a source of light. The sun is what makes things clear that otherwise remain shadowy and dark and, and sometimes scary. The sun brings things to light, and light is another word picture.
It is a word picture for the display of knowledge. He sends light. Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." And often in the scriptures, light is associated with the Lord. Not only does the sun bring light, but the sun also brings warmth, and the sun brings life.
Oh, we know that there are some things that can exist in the parts of the ocean that have no light, but they're all creepy things. We know that there are fish that live in the depths of Mammoth Cave, where no light ever comes. But for the most part, nothing lives unless it's got the light of the sun, and that's certainly true with the light that emanates from the Lord Jesus Christ. He's described in John chapter one as the light that gives light to every man. Was coming into the world, so there's a certain sense in which Jesus, as the light of this world, is is the source of all knowledge, and all knowledge is relevant only in light of His light.
And the proverbs say, or the psalmist says, "In Your light we see light." Jesus' face shone like the sun because he is the Son of Righteousness, as it says in Malachi chapter four, the Son of Righteousness, risen with healing in his wings, like the sun, he brings life. And then, as let's turn our verbally appreciative. Poetic eyes to the way that Mark describes Jesus' transfiguration as the sun shining off of snow.
Now, what does that mean? What does that tell us about Jesus? And I bet that all of you are thinking one of two things: either his beauty or his purity. Both things are true. We don't have to pick.
We don't have to pick which one it is because both things are true of snow, and both things are true of Jesus. That Jesus is remarkable for his beauty. I hope that you have taken time in your life to look at a new fallen snow, and watch how the light reflects all off of all of those incalculable billions of crystals. Because when the light reflects off of it, it's all different colors. If you look close enough, you can see all the colors of the light spectrum reflected off of a light—a light that is reflecting off of the snow.
It's beautiful. All of us have felt that, whose heart is so estranged from the world of of nature and beauty, that he can wake up on a a morning when the the the leaves and the power lines and everything has been coated with three or four inches of snow and not think, it's so beautiful. And we didn't always see the beauty that there is in Christ, and our hearts were. Occupied with other things, but then, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, we were enabled to turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face. And then the things of earth became strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace, and all the relevant beauties of this earth paled into relative ugliness in contrast.
To his beauty, fair is the sunshine; fairer still the moonlight and all the twinkling starry host. Jesus shines brighter. Jesus shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast. Fair are the meadows; fairer still the woodlands, robed in the blooming, blooming garb of spring. But Jesus shines brighter.
Jesus shines purer, who makes the woeful heart to sing. In the face of Jesus Christ, we see we see beauties of truth that, apart from Him, are not to be found. He is as beautiful as the sun glistening off of new fallen snow. And we also think of the purity when we look out on that field where no child has yet played, no snowman is yet made, no sled has yet run, and we just think it just looks so pure, that white. And that is, I think, a universal symbol of purity, is the whiteness.
And when Jesus' face and clothes shone like the sun glistening off of new fallen snow, it was a testimony to his beauty and to his purity. And then finally, we look at the way Luke describes it: that it was like a flash of lightning, so bright. And then, what does that mean? What does it mean that his face was like lightning? And how can we?
Apply the principles of poetry to that, and what does it tell us about Jesus?
Well, lightning is almost always sudden. It's one of the aspects of lightning. I looked up today various references in the Bible to lightning and suddenness. Is suddenness is one of the common characteristics that is associated, and there is a suddenness that is affiliated with the ministry of Jesus. Things that are important in time and eternity have happened and will happen with great suddenness.
It may happen with great suddenness in your life. But Jesus said, "There will come a time when people will try to get you to follow after false Christ's, and they'll say, 'Well, he's here or he's there.'" He says, "Don't be led astray by them." But Because when the Son of Man comes, he will be like the lightning, which shines from one end of the sky to the other. That's one thing about lightning: is that when it flashes, it just seems like you can see everything there for a brief moment. It illumines the sky. There's no mistaking if you are outside.
There's no mistaking that the lightning has come. And there will come a time in in this world when the Lord Jesus Christ will return with a suddenness and with a brilliance and with a splendor and with a universal, with a universal change. And he will come like lightning. Lightning is is somewhat frightening. I like thunderstorms.
And throughout my life, I've sometimes been foolish in the way that I've, I've run. I used to love to when I was a young man. I used to run for exercise when a thunderstorm was going on, and some of that was just foolishness. But I just I love thunderstorms. But one of the things that makes them so attractive is just the power of it.
Just the power. That lightning, and then it's followed by that, those deep rolls of thunder. And we mustn't, we mustn't divulge the lightning from the glory of Jesus. In the course of studying the life of Jesus, I am impressed with how many times the disciples were afraid to ask him about something. We need to learn from that.
That the disciples never thought Jesus is our buddy, and we can just run up to him and ask him anything we want to any time. There was there. They were afraid to ask him about some things. That beware of the eleven of the scribes and Pharisees.
Well, it's because because we forgot to bring bread. Are you so little? Don't you remember what happened with the five thousand with the feeding of the four thousand? I'm not talking about not talking about literal bread. They were afraid to ask him about it.
We read that more than once. Why? There was some lightning in his character, and there still is. But that makes his his gentleness and his kindness and his humility all the more. Lovely should mean so much more to us, in the same way that we we feel kind of flattered when we pet a really big dog who is gentle, because we know he could take our arm he could take our arm off if he were vicious.
The way that we feel when we pet a great big draft horse, or maybe even ride a big. Percheron or Belgian Shire, some kind of enormous horse that you think, oh, such power here. But he's letting me pet him, and there's lightning in the countenance of Jesus, and he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and yet he humbled himself. And humbles himself to receive us as his little children. And so I think of, in conclusion, what it says in Psalm one hundred thirty-one: "O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I." Have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother. Like a weaned child, is my soul within me. In the presence of this great, mighty, resplendent, majestic, powerful, Savior. Who gathers us like lambs in his arms, and gently leads those who are with young.
Amen.
