Jesus' Transfiguration Is Revelation!

Last Sunday after the Epiphany, The Transfiguration of Our Lord, 3/6/11
Matthew 17:1-9


Jesus’ Transfiguration Is Revelation!
I. Of his divinity
II. Of life in heaven
III. Of the Father’s approval


I’m sure that it’s happened more than once in your life that you looked back on an invent that occurred some time ago and realized now that it happened for a reason. That event may have brought sadness or even tragedy at the time, and it may have been devastating to you emotionally or financially, but now you see that some blessings, maybe even many blessings, occurred in your life because of it. Or maybe it was an unexpected difficult decision you had to make. You were wishing at the time that God hadn’t put this decision in your life at just this time, but there it was and you had to make it. So you prayed about it fervently and made a decision and asked God to bless it. And that’s just what he did. You look back now and see all those blessings that he brought into your life. Things happen for a reason.

If that’s true in our lives—and so often that’s the case—then how much more so it’s true in the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ! We saw it in his birth. God used the Roman census as the vehicle to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy about the place of his birth. He used the festival of the Passover to get Jesus to Jerusalem so that he could fulfill this ancient shadow of the Savior by becoming the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Things happened for a reason.

And the same can be said about the event that we celebrate on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, the Transfiguration of our Lord. God had this all planned out for Jesus. It wasn’t an accident. This event was critical at this point in Jesus’ ministry for him and for us.

It was critical, because just a few weeks after his transfiguration Jesus would suffer and die for the sins of the world. The transfiguration occurred to reveal things about Jesus and to Jesus. It’s revelation. Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation. For our daily confidence and our eternal comfort may the Holy Spirit reveal them to us again this morning.

Part I.

Just who is Jesus Christ? People have been asking that question for millennia. During his days on earth his own people were asking that question and coming up with various answers—the son of Mary and Joseph, a great prophet, a tremendous miracle worker, even an agent of Satan. People are still asking that question today and coming up with many of the same answers.

To be sure, it’s the most important question in the world. Who is Jesus Christ? Each individual’s answer to that question determines their eternal future. The answer to the question is loaded with eternal implications. So, just who is Jesus Christ?

Jesus settles any debate over the answer to that question right here at his transfiguration. For years his miracles had pointed to the great truth that he was the Son of God. Sure, other prophets among God’s people—men like Moses and Elijah and others—had been doing miracles for centuries. But they received that power from God. Jesus had that power as God.

And he shows it right here. Our text says, “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” For a time Jesus displayed the glory that was his for all eternity as the Son of God. It’s the same glory he possesses now as the Son of God. The fact that Jesus later would allow himself to be brutally tortured and finally crucified didn’t deny who he was and still is, the Son of God. And he reveals that about himself right here on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation—revelation of his divinity.

One amazing aspect of that truth about Jesus is that it cuts both ways in our lives. We joyfully witness and confess his divinity now, but time and again we fail to honor him as divine in our lives. Whenever we place our own feelings or ideas about his, we fail to honor his divinity. When we justify our sinful feelings and actions, we fail to honor his divinity. We make him out to be no more than advisor in our lives whose opinion for the moment we choose to ignore. Thus his divinity reveals our self-idolatry. But it also reveals our salvation. Our only hope of forgiveness and salvation lies in the truth that Jesus is true God. For that’s what separates his death on the cross from all others. As the sinless Son of God his death was the payment for the sins of the world, yours and mine included. His divinity is our eternal comfort. His transfiguration is revelation—revelation of his divinity.

Part II.

“This is heaven!” No doubt you’ve spoken those words before. Maybe you said them about your favorite vacation spot. Or maybe you thought, “This is what heaven must be like,” as you enjoyed a rare blissful moment with a loved one. But how do you know? After all, none of us have ever experienced heaven here on earth.

But Peter, James and John did. What they experienced on the Mount of Transfiguration was as close to heaven on earth as it gets. Matthew tells us, “Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’” What made this heaven on earth for Peter, James and John?

First, they watched as two of the greatest figures of the Old Testament appeared and talked with Jesus. Luke informs us that they spoke with Jesus about his impending death. In other words, they talked about God’s plan of salvation. And this conversation wasn’t lost on the three disciples. Imagine being in on that conversation, even if only to listen to it! How amazing!

We need to be careful how much we take from this event and use it to state, “This is what heaven is like,” but from the way Matthew and the other gospel writers convey this account, there didn’t seem to be the need for any introductions here. Again, the text doesn’t state, “The disciples immediately knew who these men were,” but don’t you get the sense that this was the case? Without a doubt, knowing these men was a part of heaven on earth for the disciples.

The experience was so wonderful, that Peter wanted to build shelters so that this slice of heaven on earth would continue indefinitely. In one of the greatest understatements in all of the Bible he said, “It’s good for us to be here.” And he simply wanted it to continue. He didn’t want to return to the grind of life at the bottom of the mountain. He wanted to stay right there because now he had a good idea of life in heaven.

Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation—the revelation of life in heaven.

We’ve all had experiences like that—it’s so good we don’t want to leave. We don’t want it to end. But how often are we feeling that way about some joyful aspect of life here on earth and how rarely do we consider the glory that awaits us in heaven? Are we so preoccupied with living here that we fail to pay sufficient attention to our spiritual lives? Is heaven some distant goal or do we daily cling to the truth that heaven is our home? To be sure, we’ll never experience anything close to what these disciples did at Jesus’ transfiguration. But heaven is just as much a reality for us as it was for them. The journey to heaven’s eternal glory involves confessing our misplaced priorities along with all other sins and then placing our full confidence in Christ’s forgiveness, a forgiveness won for us by his death on the cross. He came to suffer hell for us so that we could enjoy eternal heaven with him. Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation—the revelation of life in heaven.

Part III.

Approval from loved ones is an important aspect of our emotional and psychological wellness. The child who grows into adulthood thinking and feeling unaccepted by one or both parents often spends a lifetime overcoming it.

Can you imagine if that had happened with Jesus? And I’m not talking about his relationship with Mary and Joseph. I’m talking about his relationship with his heavenly Father. Can you imagine a Jesus who was afraid to engage in a heart-to-heart talk with his heavenly Father? Can you imagine him spending his earthly ministry daily wondering if he was doing the right thing in the world’s most important work?

Can you imagine the impact on us?! If the Father had his doubts about his Son, wouldn’t we have ours all the more? What spiritual confidence would we have? Not a shred, to be sure!

So thank your God that nothing of that sort occurred! Instead, Jesus spent every day—every moment—of his work as our Savior with his Father’s approval. Recall the event of his baptism which we celebrated less than 2 months ago. As Jesus came up out of the water he heard his Father’s voice proclaim, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17). He started his work receiving the assurance that he was carrying out God’s plan of salvation to the letter.

And now, as he faced the most crucial aspect of that plan—his death on Calvary’s cross, Jesus received his Father’s approval again. Matthew writes, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’”

Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation—revelation of the Father’s approval.

And how comforting that approval is for us! Where we fail, Jesus succeeds! We can’t seem to follow God’s holy will for our lives for an hour, let alone a lifetime. But Jesus followed God’s plan—his holy will—perfectly for us. Thus he received his Father’s approval and, as redeemed children of God, we can close our eyes in sleep at night, knowing that we have that approval by faith in Jesus. Jesus’ transfiguration reveals it to us! Amen.