THE RULE OF GOD COMES THROUGH JESUS CHRIST ALONE
Matthew 17: 1-13
INTRODUCTION
I am usually the first one up in our household. Jaimee is usually the
second one up. On occasion I will send her upstairs to wake up her brother
and sister. She will go up the stairs and go into their rooms and I can
hear her telling first Joelle and then Jordan that it is time to get up.
Without fail, she will come to the top of the stairs and yell down them,
"Dad, Joelle won’t get up. Dad, Jordan is telling me no!" So
then I will go up the stairs and tell them to get out of bed and within
a few minutes both of them will be up. Why do my children obey me and
not Jaimee? At the minimum they obey because they don’t want to be grounded.
They obey out of fear of punishment. They know that Jaimee can’t do anything
to them and so they don’t fear disobeying her. Sometimes, I hope, my children
obey me because they want to please me. They love me and so they love
to do what I ask. Sometimes they obey me because they trust me. They believe
that what I am asking them to do is for their good. They believe I have
their interests at heart and they believe that I am wiser than they, even
though they may not fully understand what I am asking.
Why do some people delight to obey Jesus Christ and others never think
about what he wants or actually despise and mock his commands? What is
it that made the difference between me as a junior in high school and
me as a junior in college? During my junior year in high school I first
understood that to be a Christian meant to trust in and love Jesus above
everyone and everything else. I remember quite clearly my refusal to trust
and love Christ because I didn’t want to do what Christ wanted me to do.
Then in my junior year of college, when I was again confronted with the
gospel of Jesus, I gladly submitted to him. What made the difference?
The difference was that in high school I did not see Jesus as anyone important
or necessary to my life and happiness. I didn’t care what he thought about
me. He was a nobody to me. He was unimpressive. I did not fear or love
him. But, in my junior year of college I saw him as the most central person
in the universe and the most important person in my life. I came to see
him and his death and resurrection as the most significant realities in
the world. My heart valued Christ and so I delighted to think about Christ
and to obey Christ.
The more impressive Christ appears to you the more you will delight
to trust and obey him. If there is a "key" to being a Christian
and living like a Christian this is it. The more you respect and love
Christ the more you will deny yourself, take up your cross and follow
him. The good news is that God has given us this book and he has sent
the Holy Spirit to us for this express purpose; to lift up Christ to us
so that we see him as the best and highest of all beings. Chapters 16
and 17 in Matthew’s gospel reveal the greatness of Christ and show how
God is seeking to reveal Christ’s greatness to the disciples so that they
will lose their life in order to have more of Jesus. We discover in Matthew
17: 1-13 that…
MAIN POINT
When Jesus Christ speaks we should listen because…
I. He is the climax of God’s revelation (vv. 1-3)
Frankly, as I studied and prepared this sermon I found myself somewhat
intimidated by the story of Jesus’ transfiguration because so much of
what happens here cannot be fully grasped without a thorough knowledge
of the OT. Almost every word in this entire passage alludes to things
in the OT. Let me just insert a little commercial here for the importance
of reading and rereading the OT. You will not be able to understand most
of the NT without a growing understanding of the OT. If you don’t understand
the NT, you don’t understand reality.
The first thing to notice is how graciously God is dealing with Peter
and the other disciples. If you’ll remember back at the beginning of chapter
16 the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus to give them a sign, an irrefutable
evidence that he was the Messiah. I pointed out several weeks ago that
what they were asking for was a sign like the ones that Moses performed
in Egypt or Elijah on Mt. Carmel. Jesus refused their request, saying
that their demand for a sign was sure evidence that they were wicked and
adulterous people. We also noted in vv. 5-12 that the disciples were just
as wicked as the Pharisees and Sadducees in their refusal to acknowledge
Jesus as the Messiah by arguing about bread. Then in vv. 13-20 we saw
that the crowds of people who followed Jesus had no idea who he really
was and that Peter only understood because the Father had freely chosen
to reveal the identity of Jesus to him. In vv. 22-23 we saw that Peter
and the other disciples, in spite of the enormous amount of kindness God
had poured out on them still did not get it. Peter’s mind was set on the
things of man and so he became an agent of Satan in the life of Jesus.
If we’re paying attention to how Matthew has put these chapters together
then this story of Jesus’ taking Peter, James and John away and giving
them such an amazing sign of his power and glory and divinity ought to
blow our minds. Why does Jesus do this for these men who are so persistent
in their refusal to believe him and obey him? He does it because he is
pleased to be kind and generous to sinners. He doesn’t do this because
of who these men are, but because of who he is. He knows that the disciples
do not understand how he can be a suffering Messiah and so he graciously
gives them a powerful incentive to believe what he says. Here again we
see God graciously pursuing people, not people zealously pursuing God.
He takes these three men away from the other disciples up a high mountain
just as the Lord brought Moses and Joshua out of the nation of Israel,
up Mt. Sinai to meet with him (Ex. 19-20 & 32-34). When he gets them
alone he reveals a portion of his divine glory in the transformation of
his body and clothing. We read that Moses face shone with the reflected
glory of God when he came down from the mountain. Jesus’ brilliance is
not the result of reflected glory but the glory itself. He possesses the
brightness of God’s glory because he is God. Then Moses and Elijah show
up and talk with Jesus. Why did Moses and Elijah show up? I am going to
give you three reasons they show up.
First, both Moses and Elijah, during their lifetimes were permitted to
see the glory of the Lord in ways that no other humans were permitted
to see. Both of them went up on a mountain and there the Lord revealed
his glory and spoke to them. We are to see in their standing before the
transfigured Jesus a repetition of their seeing the glory of God. In other
words, they show us that the glory revealed here in Christ is the glory
of God. It is a sign that Jesus is not merely human but he is also
God. Second, Moses and Elijah appear because they were both prototypes.
We are told in Deuteronomy 18 that God was going to send a prophet just
like Moses to take his place and to speak words that God’s people would
listen to. Moses was a picture of the Messiah and so his presence here
is his endorsement of Jesus as that greater prophet, like him, who would
come and speak God’s words to God’s people. Elijah, we are told in Malachi
4, is the forerunner before the coming of the Messiah. Malachi says that
Elijah would precede the Messiah and prepare the way for him. As we see
in the next few verses Elijah was the prototype of the ministry of John
the Baptist. His presence also endorses Jesus as the Messiah.
However, the third and most important reason that Moses and Elijah are
present is because they represent the entire OT revelation. The Jews regularly
referred to the OT scriptures as "the Law and the Prophets."
Moses is the author of the Law and Elijah is the first of the prophets.
So their presence here shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of the entire
OT. He is the pinnacle of God’s revelation to men. Their presence verifies
what Jesus said in Matthew 5: 17, "Do not think that I have come
to abolish the Law and the Prophets, I did not come to abolish them but
to fulfill them." Their presence is saying the same thing the apostle
Paul says in Romans 3:21, "But now a righteousness apart from Law
has been revealed to which the Law and Prophets testify." The apostle
John calls Jesus the "Word". Jesus is God’s final word to humanity.
Anyone who says they are speaking for God and about God without any reference
to Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, is lying. Jesus is the
most important thing that God has said to us. "In him are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." He is the truth. In his
light we can see light. If you do not live your entire life in reference
to Jesus you are living in a fantasy world. You are being completely irrational
and out of touch with reality if your whole life does not revolve around
Jesus because he is God’s primary, chief, highest revelation. I have exhorted
you over and over to get to know this book. But please do not misunderstand
what I am saying. We do not want to know this book simply for the sake
of knowing it. We want to know it because it is the way to know Jesus.
Jesus is the subject matter of the Bible. He is God’s supreme Word and
this written word is given to us so that we can know him.
When Jesus Christ speaks we should listen because…
- He is the climax of God’s revelation (vv. 1-3)
- And because…
II. He is the divine Son (vv. 4-5)
For the third time in 20 verses Peter acts as the chief spokesperson
for the disciples. He doesn’t seem to have lost his ability to stick his
foot in his mouth. A week before this Jesus had called him Satan because
of something he had said. You’d think he would be a little more cautious
about speaking up. To understand the meaning behind the words of Peter
we must think back to the last words Matthew records Peter speaking. Look
back at v. 22. Peter, after hearing Jesus say that he is going to suffer,
die and rise again says to Jesus, "Never, Lord! This shall never
happen to you!" As we saw, Peter’s mind is set on the things of men,
not the things of God. He is delighted with a Messiah who will destroy
all the bad people and save all the good people like him. But he has no
interest in a Messiah who dies so others might live. He has not interest
in a life of self-denial and dying to the pleasures of this world for
the sake of a suffering Messiah.
What we can hear in Peter’s words is something like this. "This
is more like it Jesus. I knew you were the Messiah. This is awesome. Wait
until the others see Moses and Elijah here to promote you Jesus! I tell
you what Jesus, let me set up some tents for you, Moses, and Elijah to
sit in and I’ll go round up as many people as I can so others can see
your glory and so Elijah can begin his work of restoring all things. Don’t
anybody move, we’ll have a revolution in a jiffy once people see this
and hear Moses and Elijah endorse you." Peter wants to live in
the glory of heaven without the pain of losing his life on earth.
He is convinced that Moses and Elijah are here to promote Jesus’ glory
and so start the revolution. He wants to preserve the moment, not because
he loves Jesus but because he loves the experience of heaven on earth.
He still has too high of an opinion of himself. He still is too taken
up with the idea of a conquering Savior. He still cannot see the need
for or delight in a Messiah who suffers and dies. As A.B. Bruce says,
"While Jesus is talking about crosses, Peter is thinking about crowns."
Does it sound like I’m being too hard on Peter? I know I’m not because
of what happens next.
While Peter is trying to organize a revolution and so promote his own
view of how God’s kingdom should work, God shows up and has a word with
Peter. In the OT, this bright cloud is the visible manifestation of the
glory of God. Dozens of times God came among his people and spoke out
of this bright cloud. When Moses went up on Mt. Sinai the second time
we are told, "Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there
with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord." Then, after describing
himself and promising Moses that he will go with his people he then says,
"Obey what I command you today." Here the bright cloud descends
upon Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John and God speaks, declaring
the name of his Son. At the end of his description of his Son he says,
"Listen to him." Do you see the implication? The parallel is
striking. Whatever Jesus says is what God says because he is the divine
Son.
God the Father is commanding Peter and all humans to listen to Jesus.
He is challenging Peter’s view and rebuking him. God is rebuking Peter
for three things. First, Peter treats Jesus, Moses and Elijah as equals.
He wants to set up three tents, one for each of these equally magnificent
persons. But God shows up and says, "This one, uniquely, is my Son
whom I love, with whom I am well pleased." You cannot treat Jesus
like Moses and Elijah. They are radically different kinds of persons.
The glory of Jesus is infinitely superior to that of Moses and Elijah.
It is blasphemous to compare the unique Son of God to mere humans, no
matter how great those humans may be. From the Jewish frame of reference
it would be hard to come up with two greater people than Moses and Elijah
and yet God is quite clear that even these great men do not hold a candle
to the greatness of the Son.
Second, God tells Peter that he loves and delights in his Son. The implication
is that Peter and the other disciples who profess to be worshippers of
God ought to love and delight in Jesus as well. This is the point that
is made repeatedly in the NT. If you love the Father you will love the
Son. If you worship the Father, you will worship the Son. If you do not
love and honor the Son, then you do not love and honor the Father. The
logic is inescapable. If you told me that you respected me and even loved
me but then told me that you hate my sons, how would I feel about you?
If you told me that you admired me and you bought me gifts but then treated
my sons like dirt, how honest are your professions? God is challenging
Peter, the disciples and every person who says that they believe in God.
If you believe in God then you will love Jesus. If you don’t love Jesus
then you don’t believe in the God who exists. You are worshipping a false
god.
The third thing that God is rebuking Peter for is contained in the command,
"Listen to him". Is there anything in particular that God wants
them to listen to? If you look at v. 1 you will notice that this story
is fixed as to its time. This is a very rare occurrence in the gospels,
especially Matthew. Notice, it begins, "After six days…" Six
days after what? A week after the Father reveals to Peter and the other
disciples the identity of Jesus. Six days after Jesus begins to tell them
he must suffer, die and rise again. Six days after Peter rebukes Jesus
and Jesus tells Peter that he is acting as Satan’s representative. Six
days after Jesus says that the only people who are his followers are those
who deny themselves, take up their cross and follow after him. So what
are they to listen to? They are to listen to and embrace Jesus as the
suffering Messiah. They are to abandon their hope in an earthly kingdom
and hope in the kingdom of heaven that is still to come. The Messiah must
suffer and die if God’s kingdom is going to come to this world. Peter
and the disciples should repent of their stubborn refusal to see their
biggest problem as their own sin rather than the sins of the Roman oppressors
and corrupt religious leaders. This is what makes the cross so offensive
to us. It forces us to see that the biggest problem we have is our own
sin.
Is Jesus more impressive to you than any other human being? Is knowing
him more necessary to you than knowing anyone else? Do you love and delight
in him because God loves and delights in him? Is it your practice to listen
to him? Do you embrace him because his death is the only way you can escape
God’s just condemnation?
When Jesus Christ speaks we should listen because…
- He is the climax of God’s revelation (vv. 1-3)
- He is the divine Son
- And because…
III. He alone has compassion on sinners (vv. 6-8)
When Peter, James and John heard the voice speak, they fell down on their
faces, terrified. Again we see a parallel with OT revelations of God.
When God shows up and speaks, people fall on their faces terrified. The
nation of Israel when they hear God speak from Mt. Sinai beg Moses to
ask God to not speak to them again or they will die. Their reaction to
the presence of God and his voice is so contrary to the flippant, giddy
approach most Americans have toward God. We treat God as if he were our
buddy and is happy that we pay attention to him. Most think of him as
a doting grandfather who is delighted when his grandchildren come for
a visit and sad when they stay away. But God does not need us. He is self-sufficient.
He is in control. When we sin we do not harm him we arouse his wrath.
He is not distressed by our sin. We are the ones who ought to be distressed
by our sins because "our God is a consuming fire."
Peter, James and John understand this when God shows up. All their giddiness
and lust for power evaporates under the fire of God’s holiness. They are
terrified by God’s presence and his declaration of his love and delight
in Jesus. God’s loyalty is to himself first, not to us and this ought
to cause us to fear. But now don’t miss what happens next. While the three
disciples tremble in fear with their faces buried in the earth, Jesus
comes to them and touches them. He says to them, "Get up. Don’t be
afraid." Every reference to Jesus touching someone in the gospel
of Matthew is for the purpose of healing, of restoring. Here we see Jesus
acting as our comforter and Savior from the wrath of God. He touches the
disciples and they look up, see only him, and tell them not to be afraid.
What a beautiful picture of conversion. Jesus saves us from the wrath
of God. He did not come to save us from loneliness, from the pain of sexual
abuse or from any other distressing psychological condition. Jesus came
to save us from the just wrath of his Holy Father. You will never know
the greatness of Christ until you know the greatness of your sin and of
God’s just anger against you because of your sin. The touch of Jesus
alone will heal you from the terror of God’s judgment. I’m so tired of
so much of the sappy Christian music. The only broken heart that Jesus
came to heal is the heart that is broken by the guilt of sin, not the
heart broken by your boyfriend. The only fear Jesus came to relieve is
the fear of God’s wrath, not the fear of going broke. O that God would
give us an increasing sense of our own sinfulness of his hatred of sin
so that we would find Jesus to be the source of all our comfort.
We’ve been singing "Amazing Grace" a lot these past three weeks.
The second verse begins, "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
and grace my fears relieved." That is exactly what we see happening
here. God comes, graciously fills the disciples with terror of his holiness,
and then, through Jesus, graciously relieves their fear of God by his
touch.
When Jesus Christ speaks we should listen because…
- He is the climax of God’s revelation (vv. 1-3)
- He is the divine Son
- He rescues us from the wrath of God
- And because…
IV. He is the only suffering Savior (vv. 9-13)
As the four of them walk down the mountain, Jesus commands them to not
tell anyone about what they have seen until after he is raised from the
dead. This is the fifth time in Matthew that Jesus has commanded people
to not tell about the miracles he has performed or to reveal his true
identity. It should be obvious as to why he gives this command. Humans
want a Savior who brings heaven to earth, not a Savior who makes them
fit for heaven. We’re in love with running our own lives and think
the earth would be a fine place to live if we could get rid of the disease,
war, hunger, poverty, and all those "bad" people. This is the
problem we see repeatedly in the disciples’ lives. Jesus doesn’t want
people knowing who he is and so trying to force him to give them a kingdom
of this world. The path to the cross is hard enough without adding the
problem of overcoming premature enthusiasm for his kingship. Only after
his death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit will his
disciples understand the nature of God’s kingdom and of his salvation
and only then will it be safe to let the people know who he truly is.
The disciples have quickly gotten over their terror and forgotten the
relief they experienced at the touch of Jesus and his command to not fear.
Their question about Elijah reveals hearts that are stubbornly refusing
to accept what Jesus is saying. The last OT prophet, Malachi, declares
that before the Messiah returns, the prophet Elijah, whom God took to
heaven in a chariot of fire will come and restore all things to prepare
for the Messiah. This is what the Jewish religious teachers have said
is the infallible sign that would point to the true Messiah. Most likely,
they are repeating this as evidence that Jesus cannot be the Messiah because
Elijah has not come. The question of the disciples does not simply want
Jesus to clear up a difficult issue. They are protesting Jesus’ whole
approach. Here is what they are saying. "It is quite clear to us
that you are the Messiah. However, you keep talking about dying and now
you command us to keep quiet about what we have seen. Since the OT says
so clearly that Elijah must come why is it that Elijah, who was just here,
has left without fulfilling the promise? Why didn’t you keep him here?
If you didn’t keep him here, why won’t you let us talk about the fact
that he was here? Another thing; since Malachi says that Elijah will restore
all things to prepare for your coming, how can it be that you will be
killed? The whole world will be ready for your arrival once he completes
his ministry and so who will be left to kill you?" They are not questioning
the fact that Jesus is the Messiah. They continue to question Jesus’ talk
of a suffering Messiah. How can it be that the Messiah is going to suffer?
Jesus responds by first telling them that the Jewish religious teachers
are correct in saying that Elijah will come before the Messiah and restore
all things. However, the religious leaders and they are wrong in their
understanding of what it means for Elijah to come and restore all things.
He then tells them that Elijah has already come and restored all things
but the people, both Jews and Gentiles did to him what they wanted to
do. They did not recognize him and so they mocked him, ignored him, arrested
him and killed him. Then he informs them that the fate of the "Elijah"
who has already come will be his fate. They will not recognize him and
so he too will suffer and be killed at the hands of the same people. Then
the disciples understand that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of the
Elijah prophecy. But note that they do not understand all this talk about
suffering. It is not until after the resurrection that the disciples finally
understand why Christ must suffer, die, and rise from the dead.
The suffering and death of Jesus sets him apart from every other religious
leader. The willing suffering and death of Jesus sets him apart as the
supreme and only Savior of human beings. His cross is the crossroad for
every human being. Human beings are offended by this cross for the same
reasons that the disciples were offended. We are only interested in Saviors
who promise us heaven on earth, we are not interested in a Savior who
wants to make us fit for heaven. We are offended by the suggestion that
we are not fit for heaven. We are offended by the claim of the cross that
the only way we can be made acceptable to God is by this bloody cross.
We are unwilling to accept that we deserve the treatment that Jesus took
upon himself for us. We want the crown without the cross.
It is this cross that makes Jesus the only trustworthy Savior. It is
the cross that makes Jesus alone worthy of our love and obedience. The
eternal, Son of God, who is fully God, renounced his right to be treated
as God. He made himself a nobody. He made himself a slave to sinful, rebellious
humanity. He took on human flesh and became one of us. Then he joyfully
obeyed his Father by dying a criminal’s death on the cross. He did this
so that his Father could justly pardon the sins of believing sinners.
He did this so that his Father could justly credit his righteousness to
unrighteous believers. He did this so that his Father could, without fear
of being mocked as a corrupt judge, send the Holy Spirit to change the
hearts of his enemies so that those who once hated him, now love him.
There is no one else like Jesus Christ. No one ever loved God as he loved
God. No one ever loved sinners like he has loved sinners. No one ever
humbled himself like he humbled himself. No one deserves your love, trust
and obedience like Jesus. The only thing that matters in life is living
as his follower. Regardless of the circumstances of your life the only
thing that matters is are you right now denying yourself, taking up your
cross and following him out of your delight in his greatness?
When Jesus Christ speaks we should listen because…
- He is the climax of God’s revelation (vv. 1-3)
- He is the divine Son
- He alone has compassion on sinners
- He is the only suffering Savior
© Copyright
2002 John Swanson.
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If you would like to post this material to the web, or if your intended
use is other than outlined above, please contact River Hills Community
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