The Glory of King Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If I was to ask you, where are your ears? If I was to tell you, find them, to find your ears. I assume you can find them on your body, right? But can you actually find your ears in knowing how to use them?
This theme of finding your ears was part of a children’s show called Bluey in the an episode called Nits. Bluey is a show following a family of dogs known as the Heeler family around as they go through the adventures of life with children in games and attempting to teach valuable lessons.
In this particular episode, Nits, the Mom is trying to teach the oldest daughter, Bluey, to find her ears and listen to Bingo’s, the youngest daughter’s, ideas. Allowing Bingo to find her voice.
Bluey knew where her ears were from the beginning. She knew they were on her head. But the problem was, she had to learn to use them.
Like Bluey, we have a similar problem. We too need to find our ears. We need to find our ears and ensure they are being tuned in to listening to one voice, one King, one Lord. We need to find our ears and listen to Jesus.
We need to learn to listen to Jesus as the voice of the world is getting louder and louder. As it wants to deafen us from all its noise and drown out the words of God’s Forever King who is to lead us in his ways.
We need to learn to find our ears in listening to Jesus to define what is and isn’t the path to following him. We need to learn to find our ears in listening to Jesus rather than the cultural trends pressing against us. We need to find our ears and listen to Jesus and to obey all that he commands.
So this morning, I hope to point us from Matthew 17:1-13 in how to find our ears and listen to Jesus. Please then take your Bible and turn with me to Matthew 17:1-13. (Page #977).
For the last year and a half we have off and on been working our way through the Gospel According to Matthew. And this morning we come to our last passage before taking a break for a bit from Matthew as we prepare to look at a few Psalms before turning to the book of Daniel this summer.
As we have been making our way through the book of Matthew, we have been confronted with who is this Jesus, what it means to follow him. And over the last several weeks, we have been at the climax of the book in seeing a right confession of who Jesus is as the Messiah King and Son of God. We have seen Jesus foretell to his disciples about his coming death followed by his resurrection. Peter attempts to halt this plan, but was sharply rebuked, before Jesus teaching him and the other disciples about their own need to take up their own cross and carry if they are to actually live and save their soul.
Present suffering, future glory. A glory that is now put on display. A glory of the coming kingdom as promised in Matthew 16:28. Hear then the word of the LORD, from Matthew 17:1-13.
Main Idea: Jesus is God’s beloved Son and glorious King; therefore, we are to listen to him.
Listen to Jesus (17:1-8)
Gaining an Understanding (17:9-12)
1. Listen to Jesus (Matthew 17:1-8)
1. Listen to Jesus (Matthew 17:1-8)
Listen to Jesus is the main point of this passage, and even more so these first 8 verses. We see this command given down in verse 5. We again read there (V.5)…
Jesus is God’s beloved Son, the one who he is well pleased with, therefore we are to listen to him carefully with the intended purpose of obeying him. For does not this gospel account end with these words:
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We are to listen to Jesus as God’s beloved Son for the purpose of obeying him. Now, to understand how and why we are to obey him, we must go back to the setting of this command to listen to Jesus. Starting back up in verse 1…
Six days have passed since Jesus told his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem where he will suffer at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders and be killed, but be raised on the third day. He also taught that any who would come after him too must take up their own instrument of death in the cross as they deny themselves and follow Jesus. And six days after Peter went from the moment of praised for a right confession about who Jesus is to being rebuked as he tried to keep Jesus from the cross!
Six days have passed since Jesus told his disciples that some were standing there who would not taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
After all that, Jesus takes three out of his twelve disciples up another mountain. As Charles Spurgeon notes, these three were the elect of God’s elect. [1]
And he takes them up for a grand important purpose, to reveal to him his glory. And the three is significant. Yes, these three would become Jesus’ inner circle of disciples. They would be the same three who Jesus will take with him further into the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that he was betrayed. But that is not at this moment the point. Three are taken up which means there is enough to give credible and sufficient testimony!
Under the law of old, one witness was not enough to give a credible eyewitness account of what took place. In fact, we read this from the book of Deuteronomy:
15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
Two would have been sufficient, but with three we have the max eyewitness account needed for clear establishment of a credible testimony about what was seen on that mountain top! Credible testimony about the glory of God’s beloved Son with whom he is well pleased with!
This isn’t based on one person’s account. The three all saw it and tell the same story, for all of Matthew 17:1-13 is based on their account, their testimony together! A testimony that tells of Jesus’ glory. Verses 2-3…
Transfigured comes from the Greek word μετεμορφώθη, where we get our English word metamorphic. Think here of a caterpillar to a butterfly or a tadpole to a frog. These are examples of metamorphosis, of a change taking place.
The difference though, Jesus did not change from human form into some other pre-incarnate state. He remained in his human, bodily form. But his appearance changed. It changed first we are told in that his face shone like the sun.
A description of the brightness coming off Jesus in all his glory. A glory that he previously held before his incarnation, and a glory he would once again have following his resurrection and ascension. With Moses being mentioned here, the shining certainly should make us think of Exodus 34 where Moses got a glimpse of God’s glory in passing by him and Moses’ face shining. But Jesus’ face shining like the sun is even more splendid. In Revelation 1, we read more of this future glory:
16 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.
But not only did Jesus face shone like the sun, his clothes became white as light. A picture of what was said of the Father from Psalm 104 where we read:
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, 2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.
Jesus is transfigured into this glorious state! And this is visible to the three disciples who went up with him, his three eyewitnesses. But not only did these three see Jesus transfigured, they saw two others appear with him. Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus.
Moses being he who God spoke to through the burning bush. The Moses in which lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. He who the Lord used to part the Red Sea. He who the law was spoken and given to from God himself on Mount Sinai. Moses who was the great prophet!
And Elijah was there too. Elijah who was a great prophet of God. Elijah who was and then was taken by a whirlwind into heaven at the witness of Elisha.
These two have appeared with Jesus in his being transfigured. And the disciples are in complete awe of what they are seeing. Awe that is communicated through Peter’s hasty and uncertain words. Verse 4…
Peter, really the three together, sought to make a tabernacle for the three to dwell in. The three to stay and dwell in the midst of these three disciples just as God had dwelt with the people in the tabernacle all those years before.
Peter once more was missing the mission and the purpose of the appearance of Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah are not here as equals with Jesus. They are representatives of all that were pointing forward to Jesus. They represented what Jesus had come to fulfill. Remember back to:
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Not only that, Moses and Elijah were here to point to Jesus as the one greater as the Messianic age was being ushered in. For both were expected to appear in its dawning:
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—
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.”
Peter, and the disciples have missed this. But that brings us here to the emphasis of the text, for them to see even more clearly who Jesus is and what they are to do with him. Verses 5-8…
God the Father himself comes in his brightness, interrupting and correcting Peter in his haste to speak. A voice that causes the three disciples to fall down in fear. A fear that Jesus calms by placing his hand upon their shoulders and telling them not to fear as he is still with them. And yet, more importantly a voice that reveals further glory to King Jesus.
For the words of God the Father speak again of who Jesus is! Just as back at his baptism, the Father tells that Jesus is his beloved son, with whom he is well pleased!
And in this language of being well pleased in Jesus, we are being taken back to Isaiah where it is written:
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
Jesus is God’s chosen servant to usher in his kingdom. He is the one who fulfills all that Moses and Elijah represented. And therefore, he is not equal to them. He is greater! Jesus is the greater Moses in that he fulfills the law, he keeps what no one else could. Jesus is the greater Elijah in that he was not prophesying of another, but was the one to fulfill all prophecy!
This is the glorious purpose of the transfiguration! To reveal the glory of King Jesus! A glory that is to come, despite his going to Jerusalem in order to suffer.
In his part of the New Bible Commentary, R.T. France writes,
“Beyond death lies glory and already the three disciples are privileged to see the curtain temporarily drawn aside.” [2]
And so, we see this glory, but what are we to do with this glory? We are to listen to this glorious King!
We need not wonder how we are to take this call to listen and apply it. Peter, one of the eyewitness’s, would reflect back on this:
16 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. 17 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,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 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, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 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 here is applying the gospel for us. A future glory is coming in the kingdom of God through God’s glorious King! We have confidence of this because of the transfiguration. This is our hope even in the midst of the present darkness. It is our hope until this glory comes.
But until this glory comes, we must remember and listen to the word of the King. The words of the Beloved Son. The words of God’s chosen servant. For it is his words that are God’s final prophetic word.
We then need not cleverly devise schemes and myths of what it means to come to Jesus, to follow him, to gather as his church, to advance his kingdom and glory. We need only to listen to his voice! A voice recorded in the pages of Scripture. A voice recorded that is in the pages of our Bibles.
Further Application…
Let us then seek to open our Bibles and hear the voice of Jesus from every page of Scripture as it points to him and is fixated on his ushering in of God’s Kingdom!
2. Gaining an Understanding (Matthew 17:9-12)
2. Gaining an Understanding (Matthew 17:9-12)
Now that Jesus has comforted his disciples from their fear, they head back down the mountain as the path to Jerusalem and the cross draws nearer. But as they do, Jesus instructs his disciples regarding what they have just seen. Verse 9…
The disciples were not yet to tell of Jesus’ transfiguration and Messianic glory until after his resurrection. For he did not want others, including the other disciples, to be confused about who he was and what he had come to do. His death and resurrection were still the end goal, despite the future glory. For even as a question is now asked about Elijah, Jesus connects this to his own certain sufferings. Verses 10-13…
As we noted earlier, Malachi 4:5-6 predicted of Elijah’s return. And all expected this before the Messiah had come. However, Jesus tells them he had come, but he was not recognized. For here Jesus has connected the coming of Elijah with John the Baptist. And both, the coming of Elijah and the Messiah was to bring about God’s kingdom. But it was to come through lowliness and suffering.
And yet, God’s purposes would be carried out. Even his people would grow to understand these things as they learned to listen to God’s Beloved Son, Jesus. For the disciples themselves here are a glorious example of how we can begin to understand the things of God. Look again there at verse 13… the disciples understood…
As the inner group of disciples begin to listen attentively to Jesus, their King, they begin to be able to understand the things he is teaching them. And upon the arrival of the Spirit they will grow in that understanding. And they will begin to tell others about all the glory of Jesus that they have seen.
For the three are no longer bound to telling no one about the vision. Jesus has died and was raised on the third day as he conquered the grave as God’s perfect sacrifice. And so they told all that they had seen and heard as they listened. They spread the good news, the gospel so that many could hear and be saved through repentance and belief.
Those who do not yet trust in Jesus alone for salvation. Listen and hear how you too can be saved. Listen to Jesus’ voice as he invites you to come to him and find rest for your weary souls. Come and find rest in him as you have pursued lawlessness in thoughts of finding joy and satisfaction. Come and find rest in him for all you who think you must keep God’s law in order to earn his favor. Listen to Jesus invitation to come and find rest in him all who are weary from their fears. Listen to this gracious invitation and come, come to Jesus!
And beloved, may we too continue to listen to Jesus, our King! May we listen as he charms our fears and bids our sorrows cease. Listen as he tells us that we too have rest in him as he continues to work in us. Listen as he teaches us what it means to respond to him rightly by faith, to a life that works out our salvation with fear and trembling in light of a salvation that has already come in him. Let us listen as we follow him through the sufferings of pain and death and follow him to Gloryland!
Let’s pray…
Endnotes
Endnotes
[1] C. H. Spurgeon, The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Commentary on the Book of Matthew (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1893), 139.
[2] Richard T. France, “Matthew,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 927.
