I remember it like it was just a few moments ago. It was a beautiful clear, sunny Tuesday morning and I had a meeting with Jay and Colette about their mission work in Poland.
Jay came running into my office and told me to look on the internet because something big was happening in New York City. We caught glimpses of what was happening between moments when the internet actually stalled with too much activity. That’s the first time I remember the internet stalling. None of us could believe what we were witnessing.
My next most vivid memory was of walking home that day and not seeing or hearing one single plane in the sky. Planes are usually background sound. You see them up there in the sky and often don’t even notice, but when there are absolutely no planes anywhere, their absence is profound. It was truly an end of the world kind of feeling that I didn’t shake for a long time afterwards. Then there are times, like today, when the feeling comes back and I am reliving the feelings and the fears of that awful day.
Today marks the tenth anniversary of events that were so shocking and so life-changing that we just have to utter the date 9-11 and everyone knows and feels and remembers the events to which we are referring.
Before 9-11 terrorism was, at most, a headline buried in the world section of the newspaper or it was merely a brief news feature in the five minute overview of international news in our nightly news broadcasts. Terrorism is what happened somewhere else—to someone else. If Americans or Canadians ever became the victim of terrorism, it was because they were travelling abroad to some volatile spot in the world. Now terrorism, or at least dealing with the possibility and the threat of terrorism, is a part of everyone’s reality. In one way, shape, or form, terrorism has impacted every one of our lives.
On Friday, the Discovery Channel’s ‘Daily Planet’ Science magazine had a special episode dealing with the things we have learned since 9-11. There have been studies. There have been investigations. There have been inventions to aid emergency workers and changes in building codes and construction methods to make sure that any future terrorist event will never have the same measure of success it did on that morning ten years ago.
All you have to do is look at the changes in building design between the twin towers that fell and the new 1 World Trade Tower that is presently being built. Those who designed the 1 World Trade Tower designed it to withstand suicide car bombings at its base. It has been designed to withstand the crash of a fully
fuelled jet airliner and more. The elevators will now go up and down 110 floors in less than 30 second and they will even learn to do that faster as their computers constantly monitor elevator use and fine-tune movements according to usage patterns. The entire tower is actually surrounded with concrete and it also has a concrete core that protects the stairways. Never before has there been a building like this in the world and what makes this building different than any other are the things we learned from what happened in 9-11.
One of the problems for the fire department during 9-11 was that the radio repeater stations failed in the towers so the firemen on the ground could not communicate with the firemen on the higher floors. New regulations and radio improvements have removed that problem.
Before 9-11 no one was trained to handle the extreme circumstances of an event as large as a building collapse brought on by natural or man-made disaster. Now there is a training facility designed to give first-response people the hands on, practical, real-world training to make them effective in what has to be one of the most stressful, emotional, and disorienting situations anyone can be asked to work in.
Airports have change. Air travel has changed. The way we look at an unattended suitcase or a backpack in a mall or on a street corner has changed. Life is different. Why? Because in the matter of an hour or two, the events of 9-11 opened our eyes to what had always been possible, but for one reason or another, it was never really imagined as part of our North American experience.
On September 11th, 2001 all of our eyes were opened to a different world that we had never seen before and we are forever changed.
Please turn with me to Matthew 17:1-8 as we continue in our Mountain Moment Series this time by looking at “The Mountain with the Best View”. You’ll find Matthew 17:1-8 on p. 829.
As you turn there let me give you the context. In Matthew 16 we have a couple of very important events. First, we have Peter’s good confession. You’ll remember that when Jesus asks who people think that he is, Peter mentions various possibilities like John the Baptist or Elijah, or one of the other prophets. Then Jesus asks Peter his own opinion on His identity and Peter says: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” (Matthew 16:16). This is kind of a big moment, don’t you think? Peter knows who Jesus is! In fact Jesus declares that Peter’s knowledge had come from a text message directly from God.
Peter must have been smiling with that kind of a performance evaluation from Jesus. He was probably walking around to the other disciples and saying something like: “Hi I’m Peter, God tells me stuff!”
So Peter understands, at least on an elementary level, who Jesus is, but that doesn’t mean that his picture of Jesus is as clear and as true as it needs to be. There are lots of details to be ironed out in Peter’s mind, and more importantly, there is a lot of baggage that needs to be drop from Peter’s understanding of the Christ in order for Peter to really see God’s big picture.
Jesus wastes no time and immediately gets to work on correcting Peter’s understanding of His ministry when He says in verse 21: “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Matthew 16:21)
Of course Peter counters that revelation by rebuking Jesus and saying, “No way Jose! You aren’t going to die” (Isn’t that what he said Jose?) There was no way that Peter was going to hear anything about Jesus dying. Of course, Jesus’ does Peter one better by calling Peter ‘Satan’.
I don’t know about you, but I think it takes a unique talent to go from being told by Jesus that you had been a conduit for God’s revelation to a little later having Jesus then call you ‘Satan’. Sometimes I feel like I have similar communication skills!
Now we pick up the account with verse 1: ‘After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." 8When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.’
There are a couple of things that immediate jump out at us as we begin chapter 17. First of all, notice Matthew’s careful account of the timeline. Timelines aren’t always so clearly defined. This alerts us to the fact that there must be something significant about the six days that Matthew wants us to pick up on. Notice also that we are told specifically that Jesus separates James, John and Peter away from the rest of the disciples and He takes them up on a high mountain. Most likely this was Mount Hermon, but we aren’t really told which mountain it was.
So far we are told that, at a specific time, Jesus takes these three men to a place of isolation and when he has them all alone, Jesus is transfigured. Luke’s account gives us the detail that it was while Jesus was praying that His appearance changed (Luke 9:29).
The word translated as ‘transfigured’ is the Greek word from which we get our word ‘metamorphosis.’ Metamorphosis is a change in appearance brought on by an inner reality. The change in Jesus’ appearance isn’t based on anything that is reflected. It is based on what is within being revealed. It is radiance—not reflection.
We are now basically into my favourite season of the year. I love the fall because the air is clear and crisp, but mostly it’s all about the leaves changing. But, the way it happens isn’t so much that the leaves change colour as it is that the true colours of the leaves are revealed. What was always there is made known.
In the fall, the lessening light and cooling temperatures and the restriction of flow in the leaves cause the green chlorophyll to dissipate. Soon that green covering is gone to reveal the true appearance of the leaf. In other words, all those brilliant colours we see in the fall were always there as part of the leaf—it is just that you couldn’t see their glory because they were covered up by the chlorophyll.
What James and John and Peter are invited to see up on that mountain when Jesus was transfigured is much the same. The glory was always there. The divine light was always there. It was just covered up. There was a change on the outside that came from within as He allowed His essential glory to shine forth.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3)
And John might very well have been thinking of his time on the mountain of transfiguration when he wrote at the beginning of his gospel: “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
It is interesting to look at how the various gospels describe Jesus’ transfiguration. After all, how do you describe something so amazing and unusual?
Sure Jesus fed the 5,000 and He healed the lame and cleansed the lepers. He even raised people from the dead and walked on the water! All of these actions are amazing, but they aren’t as amazing and impressive as God giving the boys a glimpse of Jesus’ true glory! There is absolutely nothing that touches the incredible nature of this one indescribable event.
It had to be frustrating to describe what it was like up there. Matthew’s account reads “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” Mark’s gospel says “His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.” (Mark 9:3) And Luke says, “As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.”(Luke 9:29) You can almost sense the frustration as the gospel writers attempt to describe the indescribable.
Max Lucado gives it a try in his book “Fearless,” he writes: “Light spilled out of him. Brilliant. Explosive. Shocking. Brightness poured through every pore of his skin and stitch of his robe. Jesus on fire.” Not bad. Better than I could write, but still I don’t think it begins to describe the real thing.
When Sheila and I were at the Grand Canyon this spring, I remember thinking to myself, “So this is what it is like to be in a place so amazing that you take pictures knowing that they are just going to remind you of what you saw instead of really capturing what you saw.”
Often I can make a so-so place look pretty good in a picture. I can take an average subject and tweak it in the computer and make it far better than what it really was, but that wasn’t the case with the Grand Canyon. I actually considered just putting my camera away because I knew what I experience being present there could never be captured in a picture. You REALLY had to be there! This is what the Gospel writers were up against when they were trying to describe Jesus’ appearance as His inner reality shone through in divine, holy, pure, perfect, powerful glory.
Let’s move on. Matthew tells us that Jesus has some company up there on the mountain. Moses and Elijah showed up and talk to Him. Elijah most likely represents the prophets and Moses represents the Law. If we put them both together we have the witness of all that God has done in the past connect to the work He is presently doing in Christ.
The message that James and John and Peter would have received was simply this: Jesus is not some contingency plan of God’s. Jesus isn’t Plan B. Jesus is the culmination of everything God had been doing for thousands of years. Paul in Ephesians even explains that the plan to bring us grace by sending Jesus to earth was set into motion even before creation (Ephesians 1:4). So everything prior to Jesus, including the Old Testament law and prophets pointed to Jesus.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.”(Hebrews 1:1-2)
But there is more going on here when we think of Moses and Elijah because both Moses and Elijah were figures connected to the coming of the Messiah.
In the book of Malachi God proclaims: “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.” (Malachi 4:4-6)
Both Moses and Elijah were connected to the coming of the Messiah. So having both of them show up for a chat with the revealed, glorious Jesus makes a pretty bold statement about Jesus’ ministry and identity. But there is even more going on.
To the first readers of Matthew’s Gospel there would have also been a clear connection between what was going on with Jesus and His transfiguration and Moses on Mt. Sinai. Here are some of the similarities between Jesus’ transfiguration and the experience of Moses on Mt. Sinai.
1. Timeline—First of all, this is where Matthew’s careful attention to timeline comes in because both Jesus and Moses ascend a mountain, and after a “six day” interval the glory of the Lord is revealed (Exod 24:15-16, Matt 17:1).
2. Three Men—secondly, both events include three men that are specifically named. With Jesus’ transfiguration we have Peter, James and John. In the case of Moses we have “Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu” (Exodus 24:1; Matt 17:1).
3. Clouds Mentioned—next we have both scenes mentioning the presence of a cloud and the glory of God being revealed (Exodus 24:15-16; Matt 17:5).
4. Change in Appearance—another similarity is that both Jesus and Moses experience a change in their appearances. However, while Moses’ shining face reflected God’s glory, Jesus’ transformed appearance radiated from within (Exod 34:29; Matt 17:2).
5. Voice of God—finally in both instances the voice of God was heard (Exodus 24:16; Matt 17:5).
Matthew, writing to Jews, would have known that his reference to six days and climbing a mountain, and all these other parallels would have connected this event to Moses. Now, is there any significance in this besides the fact that Moses represents the Old Testament Law? Absolutely!
In Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses tells the Israelites: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”
And what does the voice of God say from the cloud in the Transfiguration? “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)
So it isn’t just that Moses represents the Law being connected to Christ. This entire transfiguration experience was designed to connect Moses to Jesus as the one who Moses, as a prophet, had promised would come.
The message is very clear: Jesus was that prophet that was like Moses, but in what way was He like Moses? Well as Moses brought in the Old Covenant, the Old Law. The Old agreement between God has His people, Jesus would bring in the New Covenant, the New Agreement between God and His people and He would do it through His death on the cross for our sins.
We’ll come back to this idea in a moment, but let’s look at Peter’s contribution to this passage. In verse 4 we read after Moses and Elijah have appeared that Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
Now we really don’t know exactly what it was that Peter was thinking. Was he just drinking in this fantastic moment and not wanting it to end? Perhaps that was behind his idea, but what I find interesting is that it is a bad enough idea that God speaks from the cloud and cuts him off in mid-sentence. Verse 5 says: While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him Iam well pleased. Listen to him!"
What is going on here? It is pretty bad when God interrupts what you think is a great idea! Actually sometimes I wish He would do it more often. I could use that kind of help!
Now, this cloud wasn’t just a cloud. It is what we call the ‘Shekinah’ glory of God. It is a visible representation of God’s transcendent glory. It is the same cloud that was visible on Mt. Sinai with Moses. It is the same cloud used to guide Israel in the wilderness. And then, out of the cloud God speaks, interrupting Peter’s idea before he even finishes pitching it to Jesus. And what is the message that God uses to interrupt
Peter’s building project? It was the proclamation that Jesus is His Son. It is the same proclamation that accompanied Jesus’ baptism with one difference: the phrase, “listen to Him!”
I think we have a clue here. The problem with Peter’s suggestion is that he wants to build three shelters. In other words, Peter’s focus has moved away from just Jesus and now he is looking at Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He sees that as a team with equal billing.
But that is entirely contrary to the point of why Jesus took them up on that mountain in the first place, so God interrupts Peter and says, “Wait a minute! Forget the condo for three—this is my Son, listen to Him! You may have both Elijah’s and Moses’ rookie cards in your ‘Heroes of the Faith’ card collection but that doesn’t mean they are equal with Jesus. If you are going to lump Jesus in with anyone, lump Him in with me— not Moses and Elijah!”
Luke gives us one other bit of information that I think is important for us to understand before we start to wrap things up and figure out what this mountain with the best view has to say to us. Luke writes: “Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendorous, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:30-31)
The word that the NIV translates as ‘departure’ is actually the Greek word for ‘Exodus’. Moses and Elijah spoke about Jesus’ exodus. What a wonderful image! The Exodus of the Israelites was God’s rescue of His people from the bondage of slavery to Egypt. Jesus’ Exodus would be God’s rescue of His people from the bondage of sin.
Ultimately though, the point that I want you to see is that the transfiguration is connected to Jesus’ death. Matthew tells us, by his timeline, that Jesus’ announcement about His death and resurrection was connected to him taking the boys up on the mountain for a light show.
Then we have Luke telling us that Moses and Elijah weren’t just talking about the weather, or the view, or what needs to happen with the Leafs this year if they are going to win the Stanley Cup. They were talking about Jesus’ upcoming death in Jerusalem.
Then immediately after the transfiguration, we read: “As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." (Matthew 17:9)
So talk of Jesus’ death is what prompted this meeting on the mountain. Talk of Jesus’ death was the topic of conversation with those who represented the Law and the Prophets, pointing out that Jesus’ death had always been God’s plan. And Jesus ends this transfiguration trip with another reminder of His death. The reason for the transfiguration was connected to Jesus’ upcoming death on the cross.
In one way, both of these events are connected because both are necessary to reveal God’s glory. The transfiguration revealed the inner reality of Jesus’ divine nature and perfection, but the cross revealed the outward reality and glory of God’s love. The blood spilt at the cross was just as much a revelation of God’s divine glory as the changing of Jesus’ outward appearance was on the mount of transfiguration. Both go together.
But there is something else going on here. Look at verses 6 and 7. Immediately after God’s announcement from the cloud we read: “When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid."
You might get the idea that Jesus’ light show was designed to impress the disciples. Clearly it was about getting their attention. The message was clear: Jesus is the culmination of everything that God has been doing. Jesus is the one Elijah and Moses were waiting for. Jesus wasn’t someone to contradict or ignore. He was God’s Son who needed to be listened to. Everything that God had planned for His people was happening in Christ, but this revelation wasn’t designed to terrify the disciples into obedience—it was designed to prepare them for what was about to come.
When the Father says, “Listen to Him!” You could take that as just a general statement. Obviously there isn’t a time when listening to Jesus is a bad idea. But the context tells us that what God is really saying here is: “Listen to what Jesus is saying about His death. Don’t discount it. Don’t contradict it. Don’t ignore it. Listen! You need to understand and accept Jesus message about His death!”
Jesus isn’t trying to impress the boys. He isn’t trying to instill fear in them. He is trying to help them come through the greatest terrorist act of all time—His death on the cross.
So when they get terrified, Jesus doesn’t say, “Good, now maybe you’ll listen!” No, Jesus comes over to them and he touches them and says, “Don’t be afraid.” And when He says “Don’t be afraid, it’s as if Jesus is saying, “Don’t be afraid! The reason I brought you up here was so that you wouldn’t be afraid when your world is turned upside down and everything you see and experience makes you feel like everything you thought you knew about me was wrong. When that happens, remember my glory revealed on this mountain.
Remember who I really am and remember why I really came. I came to fulfil God’s plan, just like Moses and Elijah predicted, through my exodus, through my death. So, when my exodus comes remember that evil is not in control, God is! In fact, God’s plan is actually being fulfilled in what will seem like your greatest moment of chaos and loss—when you feel the most insecure and uncertain in your faith.”
9-11 forever changed us. Now we are more prepared to deal with evil, but I am not sure there is a bunch more hope in our world and I know there is a lot more fear. On the Mountain we looked at today, Jesus was trying to prepare His disciples to deal with evil, but in a way that would bring eternal hope through His sacrifice on the cross.
As we close today, I want you to remember God’s glory. Remember who Christ is. Remember that the Mount of Transfiguration is connected to the cross. It isn’t enough to know that He is the Christ, the Son of God. You also have to come to terms with the fact that Jesus was also God come to reveal His glory through suffering.
And, Scripture is full of this very same message for us. It is in the times of weakness, trial and pain that God’s glory is best revealed in us—transforming us more into His likeness. In those moments of the greatest chaos and loss when you ask yourself, “Is what I know about Jesus really real?” know that God is right there, with you, working. So, if you look hard enough, His presence and His glory will be revealed, and you’ll hear His voice say, “Don’t be afraid.” And you’ll feel His touch and see Him at work with new eyes that will forever change your world.
