Your Savior’s Glory Shines!

Last Sunday after Epiphany, Transfiguration, 3/3/19
2 Corinthians 4:3-6


Your Savior’s Glory Shines!
I. In spite of Satan’s blinding efforts
II. In you through God’s gracious power


Are you familiar with the term WYSIWYG? Maybe those of you who are as old or a little older than I am are.

I first heard that term in the early 1990s when the Windows Operating System for computers became popular along with its Word for Windows word processing program. One of the many advantages of Word for Windows is what you saw on your word processing computer monitor was basically what you got when you printed out that document.

Some of you may find it hard to believe that anything else was ever used, but that was actually the case. For instance, if you wanted a word to be in bold print, you entered a code before and after the word, but the word on your computer’s monitor was not bold. What you saw was not what you got. Word for Windows enabled you to enjoy WYSIWYG—what you see is what you get.

Today we join Christians around the world in celebrating one of the most visually stunning events in the life and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Imagine seeing Jesus transfigured in all his glory on top of the mountain and appearing with two of the great Old Testament heroes of faith, Moses and Elijah. It was a visual that was literally out of this world. Jesus appeared in all his divine glory. And now, ever since his resurrection from the dead on Easter, Jesus has enjoyed the full use and display of that divine glory. He possesses it now. But we don’t see it, at least not the way his disciples did on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And there are times in our lives as we struggle in this sinful world that we have our doubts about the glory of our Savior. Where’s his power? Where’s his glory? Why am I struggling so much? Why am I so miserable? Is the glory of Jesus a figment of my imagination? Since I can’t see his glory, do I fail to enjoy any aspect of it? Is his glory even real? We get the impression that what we don’t see is what we don’t get.

Our celebration of the Transfiguration of Our Lord gives us the opportunity to see his glory and be convinced of it. Even though we can’t physically see it, your Savior’s glory shines. Let’s see how and what it means for us as we focus on these words about Christ’s glory as Paul shares them with us from 2 Corinthians.

Part I.

Have you or someone you know been ill in the past month or two? Likely so. We’re in the depths of the cold and flu season. If you’re fortunate, you can take a medication that helps you ease the symptoms or an antibiotic that kills the bacteria which are causing you to suffer. But I’m guessing you’ve also had the experience in which the medications didn’t work. They didn’t help at all. You needed a different antibiotic or a stronger pain reliever.

The Apostle Paul wrote these words of our text to people who complained that Jesus didn’t work for them. They tried believing what Paul said, but for one reason or another, they decided that Christianity, as Paul had proclaimed it to them, wasn’t doing them any good.

But how could God’s eternal truth about Jesus being the world’s only Savior from sin not do them any good? Paul explains why. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers.” The problem was not that Jesus had failed to be the all-glorious Savior that Paul had proclaimed him to be; the problem was that the god of this age—Satan—had blinded the people to that saving truth. How did that happen? Because they chose to believe that they could be good enough for God on their own without Christ. They felt no need to trust in a Savior who lived for them and died for them because they were under the impression that they were doing what God required of them—you know, being a good person and doing to others what they would have others do to them. They considered themselves to be keepers of the Golden Rule.

Without question, that is Satan’s biggest and most deceptive lie. He has used it countless times to keep countless sinners in his hellish hold. “I’m not perfect, but I’m pretty good.” Do you hear the self-adulation in that lie? The person who believes it believes in his or her own little idol, the god called “Self.” By nature, people think more of themselves than they should. And, therefore, it doesn’t take much effort for Satan to convince them that they have no need for Christ and no need for his saving gospel. “They cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

And God doesn’t pin such people down, pry the eyes of their souls open, and force them to believe the gospel. God doesn’t force his grace on anyone. If they choose to believe the lie about themselves, God is pained, but he doesn’t cram his salvation down their unbelieving throats. “They cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

But you have! You do! You’re seeing the glory of Christ right now by the grace of God! You’re here in worship this morning because you believe that Jesus has made an eternal difference in your life. He has rescued you from the hell you deserve for your sins, redeemed you with his death on the cross, and has destined you for eternal glory with him in heaven. Every one of us came into this world in the blindness of unbelief, but God has caused the light of salvation to shine in our hearts and lives.

Your Savior’s glory shines, in spite of Satan’s blinding efforts.

But how’s that working for you? Are there some dim spiritual moments in your lives? In fact, are there times when the darkness of unbelief seems to be lurking in the shadows around your heart? Are you uncertain at times of God’s saving power in your life? Does it at times appear to you that your life is no different from those who don’t profess Christianity? Do doubts and despair seem to haunt your life as much as anyone else’s? Or, is it sinful pride that lurks in those shadows? Do your sins bother you so little that worshipping a Savior seems so needless, at least at the moment?

People of God, go back to the Mount of Transfiguration! If we didn’t need a Savior so desperately, then Jesus wouldn’t have left his heavenly glory in the first place. If our sinful condition wasn’t so tragic, Jesus never would have left that mountain to climb the one called Calvary. He came back down the Mount of Transfiguration to live in our sinful world for us. He came down to die for us. He did that, not so that we can live in eternal happiness and glory now, but forever with him in heaven. Do you see that, dear Christian? Then your Savior’s glory shines in spite of Satan’s blinding efforts.

Part II.

“Christianity is a crutch for the weak.” I’m not sure about the origin of that statement, but many “great” modern thinkers espouse it. They consider Christianity to be a myth that offers unenlightened people some hope for a few unhopeful years on this earth.

I Goggled that statement the other day and I was surprised what I found. Dozens of Christians have taken that phrase and turned it back on Christianity’s opponents. In one life story after another, the authors state what a difference Christianity has made in their lives, even from some who doubted its power at first.

You are one of those people. Listen to Paul describe you, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Perhaps you’ve heard it stated that church isn’t a haven for saints; it’s a hospital for sinners. That’s why you’re here. You’ve taken to heart God’s damning condemnation of sin—your sins. You’ve come to grips with the reality that you have nothing to offer God for your guilt and sin.

But what a difference your God has made! You now live in the confidence that you’re a redeemed child of God. At your baptism God placed his name on you to bless you—bless you now with daily forgiveness and bless you eternally in heaven. He’s broken Satan’s power over you and empowers you live for him.

In fact, you live in the reality that you have an eternal relationship with Jesus. Your Savior isn’t some mental force existing somewhere out in the vast universe. He’s a real flesh and blood Savior who has made your body his divine home. He lives within you and wants to be a part of every day of your life. He guides you with his word in your life as a Christian and he empowers you with his love to accomplish it. He sends you his Holy Spirit through word and sacrament to keep you in your faith and guard it from Satan’s assaults. He’s made an eternal difference in your life. That difference might be hidden and even denied by those who live in this world, but it will be eternally apparent when your Lord Jesus returns in glory on the Last Day—the same glory he displayed at his Transfiguration. And he’ll share that glory with you. That’s no crutch for this life. That’s an eternal difference that God has worked in you.

Your Savior’s glory shines! It shines in you because of God’s gracious power.

That’s what our Lord’s Transfiguration is all about. That’s what Lent is all about and we’ll begin it in three days. It’s what our Savior experienced in order to share eternal glory with us. That’s not some Christian pipedream or spiritual crutch to help us through life. That’s spiritual reality based on historical events that changed your life forever. You have seen the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

So refrain from measuring your life’s happiness or satisfaction in what surrounds you now. Stop longing for glory here on earth. Realize that the Savior’s glory shines. It shines with eternal brightness in you by faith in a real Savior. A living Savior. A dying Savior. A risen and ruling Savior.

Your Savior’s glory shines. Behold it today. All through this coming Lenten season. Every day of your life. Behold it forever! Amen.