The Transfiguration of Our Lord (2024)
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2 Peter 1:16-21
2 Peter 1:16-21
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is transfiguration already, when the disciples who were ascended with Jesus shook the sleep from their eyes and beheld Christ in his glory. This was a sight that Moses had seen on Mt Horeb, and even though Peter was there on that mountain and thought at first that they ought to remain there, years later as He reflects on that experience He emphasizes not just this magnificent experience but something else to which we ought to pay attention.
Witnesses of Jesus’ Majesty
Peter reflects on the Transfiguration.
He was one of the few that got to see Jesus transfigured along with Moses and Elijah. It was an amazing experience after witnessing all that Jesus had done in his ministry, the miracles he had performed and how he had fed thousands and saved so many lives.
What a glorious sight!
This was something that few in the history of mankind had beheld. Moses saw this on the mountain top, and when Moses came back down from the mountain after speaking with God his face shone. He was there and saw Moses and Elijah, two great and mighty men from the days of old, who had been blessed richly by God and served God’s people, and they are speaking with Jesus about his coming departure.
Then they heard the Father speak.
Peter didn’t know what he was saying, but wanted to stay there on the mountain with Jesus and Moses and Elijah. Imagine you in that same situation, isn’t that what we would want, if suddenly these men whom we had heard about, were suddenly before our eyes, and we saw Jesus in all his magnificence, but the Father speaks to them, to correct their expectations.
The disciples were terrified.
Which is entirely fair, if you had just seen the glory of God in Christ, and the cloud that had accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness enveloped you, and God was speaking, this would be terrifying. For if they have sinned in anyway their lives would be forfeit.
The Voice of the Father
Peter doesn’t record everything.
He speaks of Jesus receiving the glory and honor from the majestic glory, and saying this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased, words that were heard at the baptism of Jesus as well. The Father affirms again on this mountain that Jesus is His Son, but
Each Gospel records, listen to him!
This is important in the Gospels for it is the Words of Jesus that we are to trust and have faith in. His promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation, and that He will be the one who makes things right with God by fulfilling the Law for us.
That is why Peter points us to the Word.
Peter has not forgotten that, rather he emphasizes it in the verses that follow. He saw the majesty of Christ on that holy mountain, but Peter points us back to the very same place that we were pointed to, the Word of God. For the prophets came to share the Word of God with the people. Without those words we would not know what it meant that Jesus performed all these miracles, we wouldn’t know what he had come to accomplish, we wouldn’t have even known to look for him, it is the Word that is important.
Did Peter listen in the Gospels?
We are working through the Gospel of Luke, and we find that even though Peter had heard this, he did not listen, and did not understand yet why Jesus had come into the world, or why He must go to jerusalem. He had an idea in his mind about who the Messiah would be for Israel, and for him, but that idea did not come from the Word.
The Prophetic Word Confirmed
Jesus fulfilled the prophecies.
Many Christians don’t delve into the Old Testament prophecies, there are some weird names, weird places, and at times weird events. Whereas the New Testament is a bit more approachable and more familiar to us. We justify it because the Old Testament was primarily about Israel, and their hardships, and everything so do we as Christians really need to know it? We do!
For all the Bible is about Jesus.
Jesus doesn’t just become important at the Gospel of Matthew. Not at all my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, where does it talk about the suffering servant? In Isaiah, what about the coming of the Son of man? That’s Daniel, where is it first promised that God would send Jesus, Genesis 3, it isn’t just the New Testament that we ought to read, but the Old Testament as well. Because it is all about Jesus
People often focus on the gifts.
This was one of the sins of the Pharisees they were only looking for eternal life in the Scriptures not realizing that the Scriptures aren’t about the gifts, but about the Son of God who would be born to save His people, not just Israel, but all mankind from their sins.
Glory is meant for the giver.
For how can gifts be given if there is no giver of the gift? To focus only on the gifts is to ignore entirely the Son, and the Father who sent the Son. If we want to know all that He has done, we ought to crack open the Old Testament, because if you love Jesus, you love the Old Testament just as you love the New Testament. For it is all the
Work of The Holy Spirit
He inspired the prophets and apostles.
We use that word inspire, but what does it exactly mean? Well what does Peter say here, no prophecy was ever produced by the will off man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the holy Spirit. They are inspired, because the Spirit is in them.
This is why the Bible is the Word of God.
It comes from the Holy Spirit, who is the 3rd person of the Trinity. Peter could have said to focus on his personal and great experience on the mountain top, but that isn’t what the faith is built upon.
The Word is a lamp shining in the darkness.
For that Word became flesh for our sake. He is the one through whom all things were made, and by which we are saved. So why do we treasure and hold on to the Word because without the Word we wouldn’t know who Jesus is, and his love for us.
Christians Are In The Word
God doesn’t deal with us apart from the Word.
He does not just grant faith to people, but rather works through the Word. Now that Word is spoken for faith comes by hearing, and that Word is joined with elements to give to us the forgiveness, life, and salvation that Jesus accomplished. Jesus tells us that no one comes to the father except through Him.
The Spirit works through it.
He works through it to create faith, for you cannot have faith if you do not know what God has promised to do. For faith that has no object to take hold of is meaningless that is why here on a Sunday morning it is important that we hear again and again what Jesus has done for you, that you might say amen.
This is why we treasure the Bible.
For the Spirit works through the Word to create faith in our hearts and to save us. The Spirit is what grows faith in our hearts, and He works through the Word and Sacraments that is why it is vital that as Christians we are immersed in the Word.
Sanctified in the Truth
Jesus prayed for you at Gethsemane.
In John 17.20 he prays for all those who will believe in him through the Word that the disciples carry forth. That we too might be sanctified in the truth for God’s Word is truth. Peter did listen to the voice and brought that word forth into the world that all might know Jesus.
We gather around the Word.
That is the most important part of our Service that we gather to hear the Word of God and to treasure it, learn it, and hold it close for it points us to Jesus who out of love for us laid down his life.
It isn’t about family, or friends.
When we are growing up that is typically what binds us to a church, and many denominations used that as building relationships to try and bring people to church, but what happens, when family or friends are gone, or the pastor that brought you leaves, then you would leave too. It’s a poor foundation.
We are rooted firmly in the truth.
For the Word is a sure and certain foundation that will remain when everything else fails. This the lamp that shines in the darkness as everything else falls away and unites us not just with our neighbors, but with brothers and sisters around the world, and most importantly with Jesus. For he is the way, the truth, and the life.
So my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us gather together around the Word of Truth, for God’s Word has been given through the Spirit of God to the Apostles and Prophets that we may be united with Jesus. Spend time in that Word, for the Bible is more precious than other book, and will light our path until the day of Christ’s return dawn and the morning star rises in our hearts with great joy. For the Word told us that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem to lay down his life to save us and so he has, and the Word has promised that He will return again to take us to be with him.