The Gospel of Luke 9:28-36 The Transfiguration
Luke 9:28-36 · Vern Peterman · Aug 2, 2015
Gospel of Luke, No. 36
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926511183811

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be investigating Jesus as we continue through the Gospel of Luke, looking at the passage Randy just read for us, Luke 9, 28-36. And this is a passage referring to what's often called the Transfiguration. It's reported in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as well as 2 Peter, as we'll soon see here.

Beginning with Luke 9.28, some eight days after these sayings, he took along Peter and John and James and went on the mountain to pray. Now, this is an interesting thing. Luke records eight days. You have Matthew and Mark recording six days. What's going on here? Likely the difference is Luke is counting the partial days on each end, whereas Matthew and Mark are just counting the days between. these events, so I think that accounts for the differences between the two.

While we don't know precisely which mountain it was that Dr. Luke is referring to here, Jesus and his disciples had been in the area of Caesarea Philippi, and Mount Hermon is close by, just to the north, slightly to the east of that. Mount Hermon is now Israel's only ski area. So that would be up in this general area. You have it on your maps here. As we've been pointing out, this area in this circle just above Beseda is the area, it appears, where Jesus had fed the 5,000. He moved from there up to Caesarea Philippi.

And if it was Mount Hermon, it would be just slightly north of there and a little bit to the east. Mount Hermon is, during the wintertime, snow covered. And like I say, Israel's only ski area. During summertime, it's cool but not snow-covered. Another possibility is Mount Arbel on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee. If you look down from Mount Arbel, you look down on Magdala. Magdala is right below there. So that is another possibility and would be allowed within the time that they've talked about. And a couple other suggestions have been made, but those two are likely.

Now what did he go up there for? He went up there to pray. Jesus would oftentimes take time to pray. At times he would do it on the mountain. The mountain is noted. He did that right before selecting the twelve disciples, as we saw back in Luke chapter 6, or when he walked on water.

This is out of Mark 6.46. Right before some momentous event Jesus would frequently go off to pray first. And this is in pattern with that. It was a bit unusual, however, for him to take someone else along with him when he went away to pray. Usually he went off to get by himself.

He took Peter and James and John this time. That's similar to what he had done with the raising of Jairus' daughter, as we saw in Luke chapter 8 verse 51. He took in Peter and James and John with him, but not the other disciples. So here's Luke 9, 27, which kind of gives us the preface to this. Jesus had told them previously, I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. So what he did here, he did on purpose. Roughly a week's time later, Jesus brought Peter and James and John up on this mountain here. Contrary to his usual pattern, bringing those three up along with him when he took the time to pray.

These three were the sum of Luke 9.27.

We're about to see the preview of the kingdom of God. So they're going to get an advanced look, if you will, into the kingdom of God. And it's not something, however, that they seem to be counting on or understanding. The preview of the kingdom of God that's here in this passage is also recorded similarly in Matthew 17, 1-8, Mark 9, 1-8.

And in addition to this passage, 2 Peter 1, 16-18 also has this account in shorter version. The accounts are not identical, but they are harmonious. That is, they can be harmonized side by side. And so the differences, and Luke does have some differences from the others, the differences are well within a consistent account.

Now, in the parallel passage to Luke 9.27 in the Gospel of Matthew, it says this. This is the verse right before this account of the transfiguration. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

So that's Matthew 16.28. For those who view the kingdom as a literal earthly kingdom, and that seems to make good sense, in which Christ will reign as the King of Israel over the land and people of Israel, Luke 9, 28-36 are the fundamental words, excuse me, the fulfillment of Christ's words in Luke 9, 27. Daniel 7, 13, and 14, which we'll be looking at shortly, also has the Son of Man, the clouds, and his kingdom as terms in the passage here. So here's Luke 9, 29.

And while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming. So Jesus' face changed appearance. His clothing shined brightly. As Peter put it later on, we were witnesses of His Majesty. We saw Him. And we saw this transformation take place.

2 Peter 1.16.

Matthew and Mark also wrote of this, Matthew 17.2 and Mark 9.2, Jesus was transfigured before them. Here Jesus was just praying just like he always was and then all of a sudden this great change took place. It means that he was changed as a transformation. They went and put a little makeup on there. This is a drastic, huge change in his appearance. Now one of the words to bring up here is glory.

Glory is the radiant essence of who God is. On into the new heavens and new earth, where is the light going to come from? There's not going to be any more sun. Where will the light come from? It will come from the Lord Himself. That's because glory is the radiant essence of who He is. So we can say that Jesus looked glorious. He displayed that radiant essence of who God is, that is, His divine glory. So here Jesus is outwardly expressing the glory that He has.

When Christ does in fact come again to conquer and rule and reign as the King of Israel, which could be as soon as seven years from now, and as the King of Kings over the Gentile nations, people sometimes get that confused. He is the King, singular, of Israel, of the nation and the people of Israel. And He will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations. So those titles have different significance and meaning. He will come in great power and glory. People won't be able to just kind of, ah, wonder what that was. It will be massive power and glory, undeniable. Here is Daniel 7, 13 and 14 that we referred to previously. It says, I kept looking, this is Daniel, in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, here are the clouds, right?

One like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the Ancient of Days, that is an Old Testament term for God the Father, and he was presented before him. And to him, that is Christ the Son of Man, was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, and there's a distinction, the Israelites are called the people and the nation, singular, okay? And the Gentiles are called the peoples and the nations, as ethnos, or Gentiles even sometimes directly, and the men of every language that they might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

So this is the second coming of Christ described in Daniel 9, 13, and 14, and it contains elements of this account here and talking about him being in the clouds, talking about the kingdom. We have it here also in a diagram. We show on the left hand side the first coming of Christ where he died, was buried and resurrected and ascended. the beginning of the church age which starts at Acts chapter 2 and continues on until the rapture when the Lord calls the church home and by the way both those who are alive at that time and those who have died asleep as Paul puts it all will be raptured if you're a Christian believer you are not going to miss the rapture you will be raptured taken up Then following that, and there could actually be even a space of time between the rapture and the start of the tribulation period. Because the rapture is not what starts the tribulation period, it simply must go before it. The tribulation period is begun because the Antichrist makes a treaty. There is a seven year period of tribulation followed by Christ's second coming.

Heaven will empty, so to speak. The armies of angels will come with him. We will come with him. The Old Testament saints will be resurrected then. The tribulation saints will be resurrected then. And so there will be this grand heaven coming to earth and resurrection taking place. at this second coming. That will begin the millennial kingdom, the thousand-year reign of Christ. Christ will reign for a thousand years, and then will be the end of this present heavens and earth. After that, the new heavens and new earth.

Here is the description, the outline of which, the perimeter outline of which is given in Genesis 15, as you have in your handout there. Then the allotment by tribe, which looks like a series of stripes across the land of Israel. Now, Israel right now is a little tiny country. It doesn't take long to get from one end to the other. But Israel during this coming millennial kingdom will extend north into what is now Lebanon. It'll extend east all the way to the Euphrates River, be a much larger country. So this is the physical allotment that Christ will reign over as King of Israel.

Here's Luke 9, 30 and 31. And behold, two men were talking with him, and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. So here's Jesus, he's having a conversation with Moses and Elijah and talking about the things that are soon to take place in Jerusalem that Christ himself will accomplish. They're talking about it.

There may even have been an element of encouraging Christ, strengthening him, because he is, after all, looking forward to this huge travail that is about to come upon him. So Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus. They're described by Dr. Luke as being in glory. I believe that that was the Lord's glory that was making this great light and they were being next to him, being enlightened, if you will, by Christ's glory. The coming reign of Christ in the earth will include resurrected Old Testament saints.

In Matthew 8.11, Jesus talks about being in the coming kingdom at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Imagine the coming kingdom will have people who live in bodies like these, both Jews and Gentiles. Initially, all of them will be believers entering the Millennial Kingdom. After the rapture, all the believers are taken out. Starting the Millennial Kingdom, only believers are entering. Believers still in these kinds of bodies. Aside from that, there will be angels, and aside from that, there will be different categories of resurrected saints, ourselves included.

So why Moses and Elijah? Why not pick Noah and Adam or something? Well, God had taken care of Moses' body secretly and privately. Nobody knew where the body was buried because he walked away from the people of Israel and God himself, miraculously and privately, buried Moses.

So that was one. God had handled the departure himself. And now when it comes to Elijah, he was taken up alive. Elisha was watching. Elijah was taken up into heaven alive. So both of their ends of this life on this earth were handled by God miraculously.

And I think that this is also implying something about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, which those are all miraculous events. Only Dr. Luke here as opposed to the other accounts, only Dr. Luke talks about the conversation between Moses and Elijah and Christ. That's a very interesting insight that Dr. Luke put in there. So they're talking amongst themselves.

Moses' departure was miraculous in that God took him, buried him somewhere, and handled the whole thing himself. Elijah's was as well when Elijah was taken up. Christ would be miraculous also, however it would accomplish a great deal more than Moses and Elijah's departure. Christ's departure would impact the whole world for all time and beyond time because he would have his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension. That's what his departure includes, all those things, and all of what Christ's departure would accomplish.

Now, let's take a look at this word accomplish. The word translated accomplish is actually most often used in the New Testament as fulfill or fulfilled. So the Greek word behind it typically translated fulfill or fulfilled. To give the fullest sense of the word here, the context is to accomplish as a fulfillment, which is exactly what Christ would do.

He would accomplish things in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension. He would accomplish things and those would be fulfillments of prophecy. Jesus when he was on the road to Emmaus remember explained things to two of the disciples that were walking on the road to Emmaus with him and He told them about the things he accomplished that fulfilled scripture So it's the idea of accomplishment and fulfillment in the same word Here's an example of how that word is used in Luke 24. So this is after Christ's resurrection Now he said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be, and then this word, fulfilled.

That's the word translated accomplished. So it has both ideas. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and he said to them, Thus it is written that Christ would suffer, that's told about in the Old Testament, and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name for all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem." That word repentance, very important to understand what that is. That's not, oh, I feel so bad for what I've done, right? That's not what it's about, right? It's not, I feel really bad, I've got to sing the blues, you know, I feel so bad, nah, nah, nah, none of that, right? This repentance is a change of mind that ends in belief. That's the way the word repentance is used in the New Testament. A change of mind that ends in belief. That's what it means in the New Testament sense of repent.

Now, one more question. Were Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus about our identification with his death? burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. What do you think? Actually, I think it could be, and here's why. In 1 Corinthians 10.2, the Apostle Paul wrote that the Israelites were baptized into Moses under the cloud and through the sea. So identification would have been something that would have been understood way back there by Moses. So it is even possible that they were discussing this, but we don't know.

Here's Luke 9.32. Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. Now I want you to put yourself in the place of Peter. and James and John, okay?

You're really sleepy and you just crashed out there, you know? It's quiet up here and we're just kind of tired, you know? And they're kind of crashed out. Now, you open your eyes. You ever have your eyes open and you're not expecting to see what you see?

Years ago, there was a friend of mine that came up to my folks' ranch to visit. And one of the things we would do is go out to different parts of the ranch and just lay out a tarp and lay out some sleeping bags and sleep out under the stars. It was kind of fun. Well, it so happened that that morning my friend was just starting to wake up and a horse had put his nose right down in front of his face. And so he wakes up and there's this horse with his nose about two inches and he goes, And the horse was scared, too.

Anyway, so these guys, they're waking up, but boy, they're not at all expecting. They're figuring, okay, we're up on a mountain here. They're just starting to wake up to this thing. And instead of seeing, oh, the Lord's over there praying like He usually is and everything's fine, the Lord is just beaming. His face, His clothes, everything. It's just bright and you got two guys talking to him and somehow they got it figured out. We'll see here in a minute. Somehow they got it figured out that one's Moses and the other's Elijah. I don't know exactly how that is.

But, waking up to glory here. Here's Peter, James, and John. They've been sleeping as they would later be in the Garden of Gethsemane. They've overcome with sleep. That's going to happen in the Garden of Gethsemane. These guys always fall asleep at the worst times. But anyway, that's what they do. Of course, people fall asleep in church at the worst times too. In this case, they awaken to seeing Jesus' glorious appearance and Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah about things to come. And not things to come far off, but things that are going to happen pretty soon.

Now, we know that Peter could never handle just keeping quiet. That's just not Peter. You know that. That's just not Peter's style. As these, Moses and Elijah, were starting to leave him, Peter said to Jesus, now you get the idea, okay, here's Peter, he's got to say something. Look at what he says.

Master, it's good for us to be here. Ah, yeah. Okay, let us make three tabernacles. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Not realizing what he was saying at all. Of course, this was, let's speak first and let's think later, right? So here's Peter, and One mistake he's made is that he has some kind of an assessment to make of Jesus glorified and Moses and Elijah. You know, hey, it's good we're all here, right? His judgment on it is probably not going to be of any value. The other thing is, is Christ on the same level as Moses and Elijah? Not at all. Does Peter put them on the same level? Yes. Oops.

So Peter just had to say something. He went from dead asleep to opening his eyes and talking in a brief span of time. What Jesus was talking to Moses and Elijah about was something that the disciples didn't understand. They wouldn't understand it for quite some time later, the things that were going to happen in Jerusalem shortly. Peter made an assessment. It's good to be here. It's good we're all here. Us buds, you know. And he just had to say something. Then he offered to do something. Hey, let's pitch some tents. Let's make it a camp out. Right?

He had no clue what he was saying. Engage mouth, you know, brain later. It's not clear from this how Peter knew that one was Moses and one was Elijah. It'd really help if Moses had the Ten Commandments, but I kind of doubt that. Elijah, who knows, but somehow he figured that out. They probably didn't have Hebrew name tags or photo ID cards. I kind of doubt that.

That was as much as Peter got out. He got out that one blurt that we just talked about here, and James and John were apparently speechless, and later Peter probably wished he had been too. Anyway, so Peter got that one little blurt out that's recorded, and then, Luke 9, 34, while he was saying this, Peter, right, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Matthew records they were terrified.

Hey, wait a minute, I just woke up and there's this really bright appearance and then two guys leave and then this cloud comes down over the top of us. I can't see very well. This is a little alarming to them. The cloud was likely a naturally occurring cloud that happened at a divinely appointed time. So as Peter was finishing his brief observation and offer, this cloud formed amid the brightness. As the cloud formed amid the brightness of Jesus' glorious appearance, the three disciples became frightened. Terrified, it says.

So Luke 9.35, Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to Him.

See, one of the things that Peter did first off, hey, let's make booths for all three of you, right? And he didn't distinguish between one for Christ and one for Moses and one for Elijah. And really what Peter was talking about is, let's kind of extend our time here with these guys. This is really special and unique. And God says, nope, I'm doing something else.

And the other guys take off and this cloud comes and now this voice, this is my son, my chosen one, listen to him. And my guess is that didn't come across as, this is my son, my chosen one, listen to him, but probably more like, this is my son, you know, but anyway, lots of volume. So the Father spoke upon the formation of the cloud, that's 2 Peter 1, 16-18. Peter said, this is the Father. He identified that. Identifying Christ as His Son. The Father also said to listen to Christ the Son, as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. All three of them record that. Listen to Him. Listen to Him. So the voice of the Father may have been rather intense, maybe even booming.

A similar set of words was spoken by the Father at Christ's baptism by John the Baptist. And that's John the Baptist, not John the Bioptist. Alright, so now, 2 Peter 1, 16-18, here's how Peter says it here, For we did not follow cleverly devised tales 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, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory. this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain so here's Peter's description of it over three decades later this is really stuck in his memory only now as he writes he understands what's going on instead of just blabbing Here's Isaiah 42, that phrase, my chosen one, is not incidental or accidental.

Isaiah 42, 1-4, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. That word, the nations, that means the Gentiles. He could even translate it to the Gentiles. Then verses 2 and 3 talk about him helping those who are weak. Verse 4 says, he will not be disheartened or crushed until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands will wait expectantly for his law.

The world will be dominated under the principle of law when Christ reigns. The Jews will be empowered to know and live out the law when Christ reigns. You and I will be a part of the body and bride of Christ in the island of grace in a world ruled by law. But here is Christ, my chosen one. That's where that phrase comes from. Luke 9, 36, And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.

Imagine these guys Okay, we're sleeping. Now we're waking up and Jesus is really shiny. And he's talking to these two other guys and somehow we figure out it's Moses and Elijah. And then Peter, he's coming up and, hey, this is great, let's continue it. And so I'll make some tabernacles so this can keep going on. Because this is really cool. And God says, nope, not doing that.

And then all of a sudden the other guys are taken off and the cloud comes down. And then they hear this probably booming voice. This is my beloved son. And when that's all done, the cloud lifts and here's Jesus. So these guys have been through quite an experience. They might have even said something like, what was that? Right? Okay.

So Moses and Elijah seem to disappear with the voice of the father. since the focus was to be on what the father said with nothing to distract the disciples. So here's Peter, let's make tabernacles for you and you and you, and the focus is to be on his son.

That was a mistake that Peter was making. Jesus told the disciples to tell no one about this event, zip it, until after he was raised from the dead. Matthew 17 9 records that. They didn't tell anyone, not just because they didn't know what to say, but because he told them, don't tell anyone until after I am resurrected. Now there's some take-home from this.

One thing is, prayer is certainly a good thing, and being in the presence of the Lord is a good thing. The Apostle Paul even said to pray without ceasing. But prayer and all that we say and do is even better if we have listened to what God says and reveals first. Prayer that's directed so that we're not simply talking to God randomly, unguided.

Peter made the proposal to Christ that was totally outside of what God was doing and what God was communicating at the time. God does not need our unguided proposals. When we're praying, we're not informing God of something He doesn't know, right? We're not telling God, did you know that? Of course He knows. So then why does He want us to pray? It's not because He would be ignorant if we didn't tell Him.

Did you hear what John did? Then, in addition to that, don't just do something, stand there. Peter's problem, of course, he spoke before he understood what was going on. He didn't understand what was going on at this time until some time later. Isn't that interesting? Ever have that happen where something goes on and it isn't until later that you figure out what was really going on? That's what happened here. you know, waking up, having these various things happen, trying to say something intelligent, nothing was coming out quite right, it kept changing, right? He didn't figure out what was going on until sometime later. And we can be in that situation too. What Peter was proposing shifted from speaking, and he was ready to get doing, right? Hey, let's build these tabernacles, and making tents for everybody present, so we can keep this thing going. What was most important then was what God was doing at this event. It's about what God was doing, not what Peter was doing.

Often times we get focused on what we're doing instead of asking what God's doing. Do you know that for eternity, we're not given a lot of detail as to what we'll be doing for eternity, but we are given detail as to what God will be doing for eternity. It's what God's doing that matters.

The same is true of us. Our top priority is what God has either already done or is doing. We spend the rest of our lives catching up to what God's already accomplished. We're just growing into what God has already done. Example. We spoke earlier about we've been identified with Christ and His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. When was that implemented in our lives? The moment we believed. Did you know that when you believed? Probably not. We spend the rest of our lives catching up with and growing into what God already accomplished the moment we believed and were saved.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that even in this, we can chuckle at Peter and we can look at the situation and think, wow, these guys had quite an experience, one that they, as evidenced by Peter, could not forget. And yet, Lord, it's true. It takes us oftentimes a lot of time to figure out what was really going on and what was really happening. And that's true of our lives. And so we just ask, Lord, that you would help us to catch up to what you already have done and are doing. And we just pray in Jesus' name. Amen.