"The Fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets" Sermon: Luke 9:28-36 (manuscript)

“The Fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets”

[Luke 9:28-36]

August 2, 2020 YouTube

            This week we remember the Transfiguration.

            At the end of the Galilean portion of Jesus’ ministry, the people are talking about Who Jesus might be.  (This is about three months before the crucifixion.) And Jesus asks the disciples Who they believe He is.  And Peter jumps forward as he usually does and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” And Jesus tells him that God has revealed this truth to him and to not to tell anyone – yet.

            It is about a week later that Jesus invites Peter, James, and John to go up on the mountain to pray with Him.  Jesus frequently went off by Himself – or in a small group – to pray.  Although He is God, He is also human, and He submits to the Father.  This is when the Transfiguration occurs.

            And we see, first, Jesus reveals a glimpse of His Glory to the three.

            “Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.”

            The four men go up on the mountain to pray as they have done many times in the past – and while they are praying – actually, Peter, James, and John are falling asleep – the appearance of Jesus’ face is altered – it is transfigured.  Matthew and Mark say that His face is metamorphized.  Luke spells it out more:  “the fashion of his countenance was another thing from what it had been” (https://ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5/mhc5.Luke.x.html).

            And His clothing becomes a dazzling white – it has the brightness of lightning.

            What is going on?

            We are reminded of what happens when Moses returns from receiving the Ten Commandments:

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

            “Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him” (Exodus 34:29-35, ESV).

            Why is Moses’ face shining?  Because he sees the reflection of the backside of the Glory of God while he is on Mount Sinai.  And even that slightest glimpse of the Glory of God is so powerful that it remains on his face for a period of time.

            Jesus is God.  And as He reveals something of His Glory as the Transfiguration begins – the Glory is of such power that it turns even His very clothes into what looks to be lightning.

            John tells us his vision of seeing Jesus:

            “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” (Revelation 1:12-16, ESV).

            Jesus brings the three up on the mountain to pray with Him and to see what happens – the Transfiguration.  Jesus pulls back the veil – just a little bit – and shows them a bit of His Majesty – His Eminence – His Worthiness – His Glory.

            Why?

            To prepare them for His crucifixion.  Jesus pulls back the veil to assure them that He is God the Promised Savior.  He wants to give them this encouragement – this equipping – for the terrible days to come when it would seem as though Jesus’ mission failed.

            And this testimony is left for us who live two thousand years later to help us – to assure us – that Jesus is God the Savior and all the promises He made about sending God the Holy Spirit – about going to prepare a place for us – about returning to take us to His Kingdom – all of it is true. The Transfiguration assures us that Jesus’ Word is true.

            Second, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

            “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.”

            Jesus is transfigured – He is shining as bright as lightning – and, suddenly, Moses and Elijah appear with Him – and now, Peter, James, and John, are fully awake!

            A few things we should notice:

            Moses and Elijah are alive as they speak with Jesus.  They are not ghosts.  Moses is disembodied – his body is in the ground – but they are alive.

            So, let us understand that death is passing through a veil from one world into another.  Our bodies and sprit/souls are separated from our bodies until Jesus returns, but in the moment of our death, we are still alive – conscious, able to communicate, able to understand.

            Jesus says, “But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.  Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him” (Luke 20:37-38, ESV).

            When we die, we remain alive, and we wait for the resurrection of our bodies at the return of Jesus.

            Notice, also, that Moses and Elijah are talking with Jesus about “His departure” – it could be translated, “His exodus.”  The Exodus of the people of Israel is a type – or a foreshadowing – of the exodus of the elect of God – the deliverance of the people of God from slavery to sin and the devil.  Just as God delivered the Israelites by His Mighty Right Hand, through the work of Jesus, God delivers His people – all those who will ever believe in the Savior – by His Mighty Right Hand.

            So, the question we still may have is, “Why Moses and Elijah?”  Why are these two the ones who meet with Jesus at the Transfiguration?

            The answer comes in understanding what theologians call “double imputation.”

            We very easily talk about how Jesus came to earth to die for our sins.  We understand that Jesus took on the penalty for all the sins of all the people who would ever believe savingly in Him.  So, every sin a believer ever commits is forgiven in Jesus.  What we sometimes forget is that being sinless – having been forgiven for all our sins – is not enough to be saved.

            We must not only be sinless; we must be righteous.  We must not only be forgiven for all our sin, but we must keep the Law of God perfectly.  That is why Jesus didn’t drop down out of the sky during Holy Week and simply die for our sins – He had to also live a real human life under God’s Law and keep all of it perfectly.

            So, there are two “imputations” for us to be saved – there are two “creditings” for us to be saved:  our sin must be credited – or imputed – to Jesus – so He can pay the debt for our sin, and Jesus’ righteousness – His perfect keeping of the Law – has to be imputed to us.  Jesus takes on our sin and we take on His perfect keeping of the Law – that is the surety of our salvation.

            So, back to Moses and Elijah – why does Jesus meet with those two during the Transfiguration – why does He discuss His work of salvation with them?

            For Jesus to keep the whole Law of God perfectly, He had to keep and fulfill everything that is written in the Law and the Prophets – everything that is commanded of humans and prophesied about the Savior.

            Moses is the representative of the Law at the Transfiguration – and that makes sense:  Moses brought the Law from Mount Sinai to the people of God, he wrote the first five books of the Bible – and they contain the vast majority of the actual laws of the Old Testament.

            Elijah is the representative of the Prophets at the Transfiguration – and we might scratch our heads at that.  Elijah didn’t write a book.  We don’t know a huge amount about him – though we do have several stories about his life and work as a prophet.  We might think that someone like Isaiah would be a more appropriate representative of the Prophets.

            But here’s the thing – Elijah is one of two people who we are told never physically died.  There is something unique in Elijah.

            We read the last sentences of the Old Testament:

            God says, “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).

            And Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:11-15, ESV).

            So, Elijah is the representative of the Prophets.

            And they are talking with Jesus about His impending death.  Why?

            Jesus is fully God and He is fully human.  Moses and Elijah, representing all that Jesus had to obey in His humanity and all He had to do as the Savior, are encouraging Him in His humanity that He has done and will accomplish everything necessary for the saving of the people that God gave to Him.

            Secondarily, they are a witness to the three that Jesus is accomplishing the perfect keeping of the Law and all the prophecies made about Him.  He is securing the salvation of His people.

            Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, so we are saved.

            Finally, we must listen to and obey Jesus.

“And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!’ And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.”

Moses and Elijah say their goodbyes to Jesus and Peter jumps up and says, “We can build tents!  Don’t leave.  We want to talk to you and learn from you.”

Immediately, a cloud envelopes them.

We remember that during the day, the people of Israel followed the pillar of smoke through the wilderness, and the glory cloud of God descended into the Holy of Holies.

And God says, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”

It would be fascinating to talk with Moses and Elijah, but that is not the point of the Transfiguration.  The point of the Transfiguration is that Jesus is God Incarnate, the Promised Savior, Who keeps all of the Law of God and fulfills all the prophecies of the Savior, so we are  sure in knowing that Jesus has saved all the people that the Father gave Him.  We can be assured of our salvation because of what the Transfiguration teaches us about what Jesus has done.

Our response to what Jesus has done in saving us through His life and His death and resurrection and ascension is to be to show our thanks to Him and our love of Him by obeying Him – and we remember that Jesus is God – so loving Jesus is obeying everything we are to obey in the Bible.

Jesus says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21, ESV).

So, let us be a people who are known for obeying all that God requires of us that others would see how much we love Jesus and be drawn to Him.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for the ways in which You assure us of our salvation.  We thank You that Jesus lived a perfect and holy life for us, and He died having taken on the punishment for our sins. Help us to remember to tell others that our salvation is based both on Jesus keeping the Law and the Prophets and taking on the Wrath of God for our sin.  And may this give us assurance through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in us that our salvation is complete.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.