Monday, February 11, 2013

"Do Not Fear" Sermon: Matthew 17:1-13


“Do Not Fear”

[Mathew 17:1-13]

February 10, 2013 Second Reformed Church

            Today is Transfiguration Sunday.  In chapter sixteen of Matthew, we find that Jesus and the disciples had arrived at Caesarea Philippi, which was just north of the Sea of Galilee in north central Israel.  It was here that Jesus asked the disciples who the people believed Him to be, and Peter made his profession that “[Jesus] is the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16b, ESV).  Peter affirmed that – whomever anyone else believed Jesus to be – God had revealed to them that Jesus is the Savior – and not a mere man, but God Himself.

            After Peter made this confession and Jesus praised him and told him that he was right in asserting that Jesus is the Savior and God – that it was God Who revealed this truth to them and caused them to believe it in their hearts and confess it with their mouths, Jesus explained to them that to complete His Work – to save the people that God sent Him to save, Jesus had to be turned over to those who hated Him, be put to death, and then rise from the dead.

            Despite Peter’s profession of Who Jesus is, neither he nor the other disciples understood how it could be that the Savior needed to be put to death, and Jesus had to rebuke Peter and explain that this was the plan from the beginning, and anyone who wanted to follow Jesus would also have to be willing to lay down their lives for His Sake.  And then He made them the promise, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28, ESV).  This promise, as we see in this morning’s Scripture was fulfilled six days later.

            “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.”

            Jesus brought three of the disciples:  Peter and the brothers, James and John, up on a high mountain, and when they had reached a certain spot, Jesus was transfigured before them.  What does that mean?  We are told that Jesus shone brightly like the sun, so much so that His clothes even looked as white as light.  Jesus was “metamorphethon” – like our word metamorphosis – He was changed – not in His Being, but in what they saw of Him.

            Paul tells us that Jesus did not come to earth in the Incarnation, showing the fullness of His Glory, “but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7, ESV).  Although Jesus did not become less than God through the Incarnation, He divested Himself of His outward Glory – He did not allow His outward Glory – His Divine Nature to be viewed – even as mediated through His human body – until now.

            John explained, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2, ESV).  Although we have the promise that we will be like Jesus – in the sense that we shall be glorified in our humanity – we have not seen what glorified humanity looks like, but when Jesus returns, He will come in glory, and we will see Him as He is and know what we will be like in our resurrected bodies.

            The three on the mountain were allowed a glimpse of what the glorified Jesus looks like – with a light brighter than the sun – and we, then, have the hope and the assurance that we, also, will be like Him on the day of resurrection.  The imperfections and faults of our bodies – our sinful nature – will be utterly done away with, and our bodies will be glorious, like Jesus’.

            John was visited by Jesus on the island of Patmos, and John saw Jesus, and described Him like this:  “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 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.

            “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches’” (Revelation 1:12-20, ESV).

            It’s difficult to imagine just what they saw – what the Glory of Jesus – the Divinity of Jesus mediated through His Glorified body looked like – even with these descriptions, but we can understand that it was awesome – blinding – frightening in its holiness and glory.  But this is what they saw.

            Peter, one of the eyewitnesses of these events, looking to assure the early church and comfort them amidst their persecution wrote, “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. 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,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 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, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 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” (2 Peter 1:16-21, ESV).

            “And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”

            Why did Moses and Elijah appear?  Moses and Elijah – who really did appear – do we doubt that God can raise the dead? – were symbolic figureheads of the Law and the Prophets, respectively.  Moses was the chief lawgiver and Elijah was the head prophet of the Old Testament, and they appeared with Jesus in this pivotal moment as He readied to be tortured and killed – and by their presence, they affirmed that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

            But how did Peter, James, and John know that these two men were Moses and Elijah?  We can only assume that God revealed who they were to them.

            Why did they come?  Matthew only tells us that they talked with Jesus.  Luke says more—Luke tells us that “[they] appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31, ESV).  Moses and Elijah came to affirm that Jesus was fulfilling the Law and Prophets through His death – and they came to affirm both Jesus and the disciples that everything was happening according to God’s Plan.  

“And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’”

Peter – never one to think twice or to listen before he leapt – didn’t want the moment to end – he wanted to put Jesus, Moses, and Elijah in tents – perhaps to stay with them longer.  Mark tells us that one reason that Peter wanted to build the tents for them was that he was afraid and didn’t know what to do but to do something!  (cf. Mark 9:6).

 “He [Peter] was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’”

Peter was so afraid that he kept talking and God the Father had to stop him by causing a cloud to envelope them – which was an act of mercy – God came to them and spoke through the cloud – God did not show His Face to them, for that would have killed them.  And God told them that Jesus is the beloved Son of the Father – One Member of the Triune God.  He told them that Jesus was doing what God wanted – God was pleased with Jesus’ intention to submit to the Will of the Father and be betrayed and crucified, so He could rise on the third day to the Glory of the Father and for the salvation of everyone who would ever believe in Him.  So God told Peter to stop trying to out-think God – to stop trying to box Him in – to save Him for another time – to make Him safe – because God cannot be boxed in – and He is not safe.

Some of you will remember the wonderful line in C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Lucy asks the Beavers if Aslan (Lewis’ Kingdom Lion who symbolized Jesus) was safe.  And the Beavers replied, “Safe?  No.  But he is very good.”  That is our God – safe?  No!  But very good.  Our God is the Almighty Whose Presence, even mediated, causes men to tremble.

And God told Peter – and James and John – to listen to Him – listen to Jesus.  Stop jumping to conclusions and trying to make Jesus into what He is not and to say what He did not say.  Rather, listen.  And today – read.  Read the Word of God – see what God has said – and listen – hear – obey.

Christians are a curious people who say they believe in Jesus and in the Word of God, but don’t read it.  How can we know what God has said if we don’t read His Word?  Going to church is not enough.  Listen to TV preachers and other recordings is not enough.  We can all very easily read through the Bible in a year – a couple of pages a day.  God blesses the reading of His Word.

If you or I were madly in love with someone and he or she sent us letters, would we not read the letters – or just assume what was in them or think there was nothing to be learned through reading them?  God loved us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son to live and die and rise for the salvation of everyone who will ever believe.  Don’t we want to know what He said?  Do we need God to envelope us with a cloud and tell us to stop talking and start listening?

“When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.”

The very Majesty of God – even mediated through the cloud – as well as the Voice of the Almighty commanding His people to listen caused them to fall on their faces in fear and in terror.  They knew the power and the awesomeness of God – they knew God’s intolerance of sin – they knew they were sinners – and when they heard God speak, they did the only thing that made sense – they fell down before Him – as low to the ground as they could – with their faces to the ground – and they shook with fear because they knew that God could kill them with a word.

Coming into the Presence of God is not a “ho-hum” experience.  R. C. Sproul has commented that in the Scripture we find that people who come into the Presence of God shake and cry and fall on their faces, but never once do we fine their response to be bored.  Coming into the Presence of God ought to be an experience of fear – either the fear of awestruck respect and humility, or the fear of one who is confronted by the fact that he or she stands before the God he or she has unrepentantly offended.  We tend to have an imbalanced picture of God in the United States – we talk of God being our Friend – and He is a Friend of those who believe savingly in His Son, but He is still the Almighty God.  Just because Lewis’ Aslan (the Lion) was good did not mean that he was safe.

If you do not believe in Jesus savingly – fear on!  It is a good thing to be afraid of the Almighty God if you have sinned against Him and don’t care – if you have offended God and have no interest in repenting and believing in the Only Way to be right with God.  But there is another side to this coin, is there not?

“But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”

Jesus came to His disciples – He touched them to comfort them and encourage them – to lift them up in spirit, if not physically as well – and He told them to have no fear.  Notice, Jesus did not tell them not to be in awe of God.  He did not tell them not to respect the Power and Majesty of God.  He did not tell them to treat their relationship with God flippantly.  Yet, He told them to have no fear.  Why?

Because they believed in Jesus savingly.  They – and we – do not need to fear the Wrath of God, because Jesus took that Wrath upon Himself for our sins on the cross.  That is what He was heading for.  That was why Moses and Elijah came to talk with Him and confirm His Mission – and to do so before these witnesses.  Jesus frees us from the condemnation of God.  Though God does not become any less God – God remains God, because God’s Justice was satisfied in pouring out His Wrath on Jesus for our sakes.

Paul reminds us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4, ESV).

And the author of Hebrews reminds all those who believe, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV).

We do not have to fear God because Jesus – Who proved Himself to be God and Man through His Life, Transfiguration, Death, and Resurrection – has taken the condemnation on Himself and freed us that we who believe can now enter the throne room of God as co-heirs with Jesus of the Kingdom – His brothers and sisters – confidently, but seriously – and God will give us the grace that we need to be His people.

There are plenty of real and imaginary things to fear in this life.  Some we bring on ourselves; some are thrust upon us.  But, ultimately, we have no reason to fear, because in life or in death, we are the Lord’s – we are Jesus’ – He has saved us for Himself – the people His Father gave to Him – and we are eternally safe.  That should be no small relief to us – and it ought to be a great reason to give thanks to God over and over and over in praise and worship.

Jesus has done all the work and made us right with God, so let us not fear, but listen to what Jesus said and obey Him in faith, showing that we truly do believe and love Him.

            “And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.’”

            Elijah and Moses were gone.  Jesus had comforted the disciples and assured them of their status through Him before the Father.  The Transfiguration had ended, and they were witnesses to it.  If you and I had seen something so awesome, our reaction would likely to be to tell others, but Jesus tells them not to tell anyone until His had risen from the dead.  Why?

            Over and over in the Gospels we see the words, “because His time had not yet come.”  It was not God’s intention for Jesus to display His Divinity openly – except to these three – prior to the Resurrection.  God came in the Person of Jesus to fulfill prophecy – prophecy that would have been understood by all those who would believe in Jesus for salvation.  They were chosen to be witnesses after the fact – to the Glory of God.

“And the disciples asked him, ‘Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?’”

The disciples had their thinking caps on – and they remembered that the scribes taught that Elijah had to return before the Savior came – so they were puzzled and asked Jesus about this.  Indeed, the scribes were correct – in the book of the prophet Malachi, God said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 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” (Malachi 4:5-6, ESV).  The problem that some of the scribes had was they were looking for a resurrected Elijah – despite popular theology, the Jews believed in eternal life and resurrection.  But that is not what God meant.

“He [Jesus] answered, ‘Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”

When God spoke through Malachi, He was saying that a prophet would come in the spirit of Elijah – and the final prophet of the Old Testament, John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, was the fulfillment of the prophecy – which the disciples understood when Jesus spoke these words.  John the Baptist came to prepare the way of the Savior – just as Malachi said Elijah would do.  John the Baptist called the people to repentance – both Jews and Gentiles – and point them to the Savior Who had come.  He prepared and set the work in motion that Jesus – and only Jesus – could fulfill – that through Him, all those who believe would be saved from the Wrath of God for sin and have no need to be afraid.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for showing Your Divinity to the three on the mountain through the Transfiguration.  We thank You that through the Work of Jesus, we can be saved and not fear the judgment, for our sins are forgiven, and we have been made righteous through Jesus.  Help us to balance this confidence and this lack of fear of Your Wrath with the knowledge that You are still the Almighty God Who is worthy of all respect and honor and worship.  Help us to be Your people – give us the grace we need to be more like Jesus.  For it is in His Name we pray, Amen.

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