Revealing the Divine Glory of Jesus

the title of my sermon this morning is the glory of Jesus and today we are going to go to the mountaintop with Jesus where he revealed his glory see Jesus has glory in heaven but while he was here on earth he hid his glory except for this one moment in time which we will see in our text today in our text we will see that Jesus chose three of his 12 disciples Peter James and John and together they were going to climb to the top of the mountain it was to be a place of divine revelation see Jesus wanted to show these disciples some truths [00:17:12]

and so these same three disciples would be singled out by Jesus three different times to bear witness to special events the first time was in the home of Jarius when Jesus brought his daughter back to life the last would be in the garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion of Christ and here in today's text these three men would be eyewitness to the majestic glory of Jesus now all three of these events had to do with death in the raising of the daughter of Jarius Jesus so showed that he had power over death [01:13:20]

and so we can picture the Lord and these three disciples ascending to the heights of Mount Hermon which towers some 9,400 ft above sea level and Mount Hermon or sacred mountain is the highest mountain in ancient Israel boasting majestic snowcap peaks it is visible from great distances and the mountain range is nearly 30 m long and 15 miles wide and Mount Hermon is located in the northeastern boundary of Israel on the border between Syria and Lebanon and it is here that Jesus and his three closest disciples have come [03:37:20]

and he was transfigured before them his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light the Lord Jesus Christ is transfigured right before their eyes and it was an earthly manifestation of Jesus's divinity so here we have a glimpse of how Jesus looked before he left heaven and a picture of how he looks today john will later write in Revelation 1 12-16 "Then I turn to see the voice that spoke to me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands." [04:15:59]

and Peter would later recall this event when he wrote in 2 Peter 1 16-18 for we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we have made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty for he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain [07:41:44]

and so the Lord was changed so that the glorious magnificence of his perfect sinless holy humanity could be displayed and this is the only time that the Lord's glory was revealed in this way while he was here on earth what a moment to be witnessed by Peter James and John it was a culmination of the Lord's life here on earth and now the Lord's human life was expressed in three stages innocence holiness and perfected glory and the process began with his innocence jesus was born perfect with the sinless nature [09:56:59]

paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 3:18 "But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord." Oh hallelujah we will be changed into the same glory image of Jesus that is described here amen amen in 1 John 3:2 John writes "Beloved now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is." [12:41:08]

and behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him so not only has Jesus done this remarkable change but now these three disciples witnessed the unexpected arrival of two new visitors and they appeared just before their eyes in the moment of a twinkling of an eye moses and Elijah materialize out of thin air can you even imagine the lawgiver and the prophet were both standing and talking with Jesus and there was no doubt in the disciples minds who these two men were and we too will know who they are when we see them in glory [13:49:39]

and Luke he tells us what Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus about on this remarkable occasion in Luke 9:es 29-31 as he prayed the appearance of his face was altered and his robe became white and glistening and behold two men talked with him who were Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory and spoke of his deceas which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem and that word translated decease here really really means exodus moses had made his exodus by dying alone in the arms of God and being buried by the angels [16:09:20]

and while he Peter was still speaking behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear him." Peter was still bumbling on with this irresponsible nonsense when the peak of Mount Hermon was suddenly enveloped by a cloud the text says it was a bright cloud and the implication is that it was the shikina glory cloud of the Lord God Jehovah in the Old Testament times that cloud once rested on the mercy seat of the sacred ark within the Holy of Holies [19:02:67]

but Jesus came and touched him and said "Arise and do not be afraid." When Moses and Elijah had departed a familiar and comforting hand reaches out for his disciples and John would have another similar experience revelation 1 17 and 18 and when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead but he laid his right hand upon me saying do not be afraid i am the first and the last i am he who lives and was dead then behold I am alive forever more amen i and I have the keys of Hades and death [24:32:12]

and when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus only and as they got up they looked around moses was gone elijah was gone the cloud was gone only Jesus remained and so we have the promise that Jesus will never leave us alone amen hebrews chapter 13:5 says "Let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have for he himself has said I will never leave you nor forsake you." Oh hallelujah and so notice that neither Jesus nor God rebuked Peter god simply said "Listen to him." [26:46:79]