A Greater Glory, Bigger Story, and Higher Authority
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If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Mark chapter 9.
Last week’s sermon was hard.
It was hard because Jesus’ words are hard in Mark chapter 8.
Jesus shocked his followers in Mark 8:31.
Look with me at Mark 8:31
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Peter objected to this plan strongly,
he took Jesus aside and even rebuked him.
to which Jesus responded,
Mark 8:33 (ESV)
...“Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Peter was letting all of his preconceptions about Jesus determine what he thought Jesus should do.
He was listening to his own ideas about Jesus more than the very words of Jesus right in front of him.
Then Jesus turned to not only correct their perception of what Jesus would do, but he began to correct their assumption of what following Jesus would be like.
He warns them that following him will mean denying self.
It will mean taking up a cross.
It could even cost them their own physical lives.
It will be costly,
and it will be worth it.
The disciples are stunned.
maybe confused, even worried,
how can the messiah be a man of suffering?
how can following him involve denying self and picking up a cross?
how can all this be truly worth it?
With those questions swirling in their heads, Jesus then makes an odd promise.
Look with me at Mark 9:1
1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
Verse 1 of Mark 9 is strange.
It is a peculiar promise.
What does it mean that before death some of the disciples are going to get to see the kingdom in power ?
Six days later Jesus takes three disciples, and he gives them a sneak peak of the coming kingdom.
He unveils for them exactly who they will be pickup up their cross to follow.
I think that the story that follows in Mark chapter 9 is intricately connected to the questions that were left swirling in our heads last week about following Jesus.
I think that in order to pick up your cross and follow Jesus… you need to catch a vision for the Jesus that is revealed in the passage we now turn our attention to…
So lets read, and pray that God would open our eyes to this Jesus.
1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
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. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
Lets Pray
We are going to work our way through this Transfiguration story, and a long the way, we are going to see three ways what we see in the transfiguration motivates us to follow Jesus in the sacrificial way that we walked through last week.
so look with me again at verse 2.
Mark 9:2–3 (ESV)
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Jesus chooses Peter, James, and John to go on a little trip.
These three out of the twelve are going to be the most influential leaders of the Christian church.
All three were going to suffer greatly for the mission of Christ.
All three in the years to follow would need an all consuming, soul gripping, life changing, confidence in the worthiness of Jesus and his mission.
So, Jesus leads them up a mountain.
Much like the great men of God throughout the Old Testament… they make their way up a high mountain to meet with God.
Just like Moses who poured out his life to lead the people of God,
and just like the prophet Elijah fleeing from persecution for proclaiming the truth of God, these disciples are now led by the Lord up the mountain to catch a vision of the one true God.
But instead of seeing God descend upon the mountain in a flame of fire or in a small still voice…
The disciples get to the top of the mountain and Jesus himself begins to change into something they could barely put into words.
Jesus himself “transfigures”
He transforms.
The Greek text says he, “μεταμορφόομαι”, from which we get our word metamorphosis.
I think it was likely hard for Peter to describe exactly what happened that day, but what we have here in Mark is his eye-witness account of a real historical moment, where Jesus pulled back his human curtain to expose is divine person.
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.
The first thing that is described is Jesus’ clothing.
It’s described as radiant, and intensely white beyond what any earthly bleach would be capable of.
Jesus is all of a sudden dressed in some sort of glorious, heavenly wardrobe beyond earthly comparison.
The disciples would have recognized this outfit only from their own imaginations from reading Old Testament prophecies about the coming Savior.
Consider the prophetic vision of Daniel 7 from which Jesus drew his title the Son of Man.
“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
What could possibly motivate us to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow Jesus?
Why Follow Jesus?
#1 A Greater Glory
#1 A Greater Glory
Surely Jesus is revealing himself here to be the one who came like a Son of Man.
The one to whom dominion is given.
The one to whom belongs glory and a kingdom
The one that all peoples, nations, and languages will serve.
The one who will establish an eternal kingdom of which there is no end.
King of Kings
Lord of Lords
He is Yahweh, the one true God, who reveals himself at the top of the high mountain.
In the transfiguration we see Jesus in all his glory just as he is seen in the prophets and in the book of Revelation.
Right now Jesus, has taken on the form of a servant. He has come to be a sacrifice for sinners.
But one day, we will see him in his fullness, as the triumphant Son of God that he is.
and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood
and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,
and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,
his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,
and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
So much of what motivates us in this life is a thirst for glory.
We want to be known.
We want to be known to be good, valuable, attractive, smart, capable.
We want to validate our own worth by our performance and our own ability to accomplish particular things.
So much of what humanity lives for is their own glory.
This is at least one of the reasons why the concept of a cross would have been so off putting to the disciples.
Roman culture especially saw the purpose of life to be one’s honor.
All of life was seen as a quest to securing for oneself and one’s family the highest honor…
yet Jesus has just asked them to give up that pursuit… and to embrace a device of humiliation.
He has asked them to become a people who deny self, rather than promote self..... because there is a greater glory to live for.
We were made to point others, not to ourselves, but to a greater glory.
The glory of our God.
The glory seen most clearly in the person and finished work of Jesus.
The old testament imagery is clear in this dazzling white picture of Jesus, but Jesus’ connection to the past is made even clearer in what follows.
look again with me starting with verse 3.
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.
As the disciples behold the shining transfigured person of Jesus… he is suddenly no longer alone.
Elijah and Moses are there talking with Jesus.
Elijah was one of the mightiest prophets in the Old Testament and in a climactic moment in his life he ascended a mountain to talk with a glorious God.
Moses was the great deliverer of the people of God from Egypt and the mediator of the Old Covenant and in the climactic moment in his life he ascended a mountain to talk with a glorious God.
But now in this moment… at the top of a mountain… the souls of Elijah and Moses are there directing their attention to Jesus the Christ.
Moses and Elijah’s presence in this revelatory moment was a sign to Jesus’ followers.
Everything that has come to pass over the history of the world was leading to what Jesus would soon accomplish.
Everything from the beginning of time was culminating in the person and work of Jesus.
Jesus’ plan to die on a cross and rise again was not a cosmic mistake.
It was not a divergence from the plan.
Jesus’ coming, living, dying, and rising again for the sins of the world has been God’s intention since the foundation of the world.
A thousand years earlier, Moses was looking forward to the day when Jesus would come.
Moses writes in Deuteronomy 18:15
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
again in verse 18
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
The prophets spoke of a day where an Elijah like prophet would come to prepare for his arrival.
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
John the Baptist was that Elijah like prophet crying in the wilderness that the promised one had come in the person of Jesus.
Some have thought that in this instance at the transfiguration Elijah represented the prophetic ministry of old and Moses represented the law of God since he was the author of the first five books of the Old Testament.
With both these representatives here directing their attention to Jesus, it is clear that Jesus is the fulfillment of both the Old Testament law and the Old Testament prophets.
now again I ask, how does this motivate us to pick up a cross and follow Jesus?
#1 A Greater Glory
#2 A Bigger Story
Each of us live our lives according to a narrative.
We live our lives according to a story…
For some of us, we live according the story that we want to write for ourselves....
We have our own version or vision of what the dream story is.
We have our own vision of what our happily ever after is.
And for most of us, we are the main character of our own story.
We want to live lives that are worth living and we have different definitions of what that life is.
Part of the reasons that Jesus’ call to self denial, and to give up your life is so shocking, is because it runs contrary to the story we have written for ourselves.
When our story is most important, things like our careers, financial stability, family vacations, relationships, and ultimate happiness on earth are the most important.
We are carrying out our own narrative, and anyone one or anything that gets in the way of our desired story, becomes the enemy in the story.
But the call to follow Jesus is a call to sacrifice your own little story, to take part in a far bigger story.
The transfiguration blows up and zooms out to show that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is the climax of a much bigger story… a story that had begun thousands of years prior and will continue thousands of years after.
Its a story that even the incredible ministries of Elijah and Moses were just a foreshadow.
Peter, himself, would later write...
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Peter knew first hand… that even the most impressive figures of the Old Testament like Elijah and Moses were simply small supporting rolls to the main character who was Jesus himself.
It is so important that we understand the Bible to be one big story that the God of the universe is weaving together from Genesis to Revelation…
And it is so important that we understand our own lives to be a part of that much much bigger story.
If you understand your life to be a supporting role to an eternal unraveling of God’s plan, it will absolutely change the way you live your life here and now.
So here is Jesus in dazzling heavenly garments, Moses the author of the first five books of the Bible, Elijah the great prophet.... and then there’s three scared to death fishermen...
In verse 7 the scene shifts your attention back to the the three.
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.
You gotta love the honesty here.
Peter did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
Peter is witnessing the glory of the one true God shining through the person of Jesus.
He is witnessing two of the most famous old testament heroes talk with Jesus.
And he doesn’t know what to do with himself.
He wants to be helpful.
He wants to be faithful with the moment.
He doesn’t know how long Moses and Elijah are going to be here residing with the radiant Jesus.
so he offers to make them tents.
Now he might be just offering to make them shelters for their stay there on the mountain.
Or he may be offering something more elaborate.
In Moses’ day, God instructed that a tabernacle be built to house the manifested presence of God.
There was an understanding that the absolute holiness and gloriousness of God’s presence was a dangerous thing for sinful humans to come in to.
The sin of humanity must be separated from the holy presence of God, thus the tabernacle was constructed with its large veil dividing God’s space and man’s space.
Perhaps Peter was afraid that if they were to stay in the presence of such raident glory without some sort of barrier, they were going to die.... so Peter makes an offer to build tents to house the glory he is beholding and thus protect himself from it.
You can almost hear the trembling voice of Peter interrupting the glorious conversation between Jesus and Moses and Elijah.......
....um.. excuse me… sorry to interrupt… is it a good idea for us to be here… I mean maybe we could build you guys some tents or some thing....
Peter asks Jesus how he can help.
He asks how he can be in the presence of such glory.
and then the voice of God the Father responds..
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.
Peter asks to separate himself from the glory he is beholding… and then he is swept up in the glory cloud of God’s manifest presence.
The imagery is familiar.
Consider Moses’ experience in Exodus.
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Peter and the disciples are overwhelmed by the presence of God....
and out of the cloud a voice booms with a declaration and only one simple command.
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.
While Peter frantically tries to figure out how he and the others can stay in the presence of such glory…
God declares what is most important.
This is my beloved Son; listen to him… and then suddenly in a moment,
the cloud, the dazzling clothes, Moses, and Elijah… all of it disappears
and there is Jesus standing there in his very normal clothes… in his unremarkable human stature… listen to him.
There is a lot that Peter, James, and John don’t understand yet.
but this message is crystal clear… listen to him.
What motivates us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus?
#1 A Greater Glory
#2 A Bigger Story
#3 A Higher Authority
There is a simplicity to how this vision of grandeur ends.
The disciples certainly still have a lot of questions.
They certainly still have a lot of worries and misunderstandings.
In fact you see that as they make their way down the mountain.
They still don’t understand how Jesus could die and rise again.
They ask clarifying questions about Elijah and the prophecies about his coming.
but even as they still have a lot to figure out.
There is still so much they don’t know.
There marching orders are clear.
Listen to Jesus.
He is the authority.
His word is the authority.
Its already been put on display in the Gospel of Mark.
By his word, he casts out demons.
By his word, he heals diseases.
By his word, he calms storms.
Listen to him.
The question for every Christian should not be, what do I want to be true, what do I think is best, what do I want to do,
the question should always be, what has Jesus said.
You can hear this emphasis later in Peter’s writings.
for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,”
we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Peter essentially says..
We were there at the transfiguration.
We saw the glory of Jesus.
We heard the voice of God.
And you have his word in the Scriptures… Listen to it.
IT carries an unrivaled authority....
and as you walk the cross-centered life under the authority of King Jesus… .he, the one with all authority over all things, walks with you.
When Jesus says follow me, deny yourself, pick up your cross, lose your life… he does not call you to a lonely walk to obey some cold distant scriptures.
He calls you to follow him, and be with him.
Listen to the final commission that Jesus gives his followers, most of which would give their lives listening to Jesus.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That authority of Jesus we submit to, we listen to, we teach about…, is the same authority that goes with us.
Don’t fear what you don’t know.
Don’t fear what you can’t do.
Don’t fear what you might endure.
Don’t fear the future.
Don’t fear what following Jesus might mean.
Just listen to him.
This is what it takes to be eternally saved by Jesus.
Listen to the good news message and trust it.
This is what it means to follow Jesus.
Listen to his word and follow it.
What motivates us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus?
#1 A Greater Glory
#2 A Bigger Story
#3 A Higher Authority
lets pray.