Today we’re going to look at an amazing scene in the life of Christ—what we often call The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ. The gospel tells us about an incident on a mountain. The clothing of Jesus began to shine, and His glory was revealed. Why was that moment so significant?
In Matthew 16, Jesus explains who He is to His disciples. And He explains to them what lies ahead. Taking into consideration that He is Christ, the Son of the Living God, they’re saying, “You are God. You are the Messiah.” In verses 21 through 26 Jesus describes His humiliation. Remember, Jews on that day had an expectation that the Messiah would come and throw off all their oppressors and make everything right. Their king would come on a white horse and destroy their enemies. They were expecting the exaltation of their Messiah.
But before the exaltation, and glory, there must be humiliation—not just for the Master, but also for His servants. Look at verses: Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Luke 16:24-25)
So, first is humiliation, and then there's vindication—the return of Christ in glory and in final judgment. Look at verses "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom". (Luke 16:27-28)
What must the Master and His servants endure to receive vindication? So there's the suffering, the death, the cross—for the Master and for His servants. Then there is the vindication, the glory, the kingdom. But, we want the latter without the former. The disciples wanted Jesus to be this great, conquering Messiah without pain, suffering, and death of the cross. But it could not be. First the humiliation, then the vindication. Amen. Now, we’re going to walk through this passage, and I want us to see several things about the transfiguration:
I. The Glory of Christ:
This scene appears to have taken place at night. We read in Luke’s account that the disciples were heavy with sleep (Luke 9:32). It was nighttime. The sky was filled with darkness. But here everything is bright and filled with light.
Now, please do understand this. This is not like a spotlight shining on Jesus. This is the glory of God from within Christ shining out through the form of a human, He had taken in the form of a servant. Remember, He is God and man. Here the God-ness shines out through the human veil—the glory of God from within.
Luke’s account says that “As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening (dazzling and white)” (9:29). It was like flashes of lightning. So we have this blazing light and this dazzling whiteness.
Now, as I ponder this passage, it reminds me of the descriptions of the Old Testament where the glory and presence of God were manifested.How was the glory and presence of God manifested in the Old Testament? What was it like? The manifestation of God in the Old Testament was often accompanied by light, by fire, by brightness.
Think about how God first appeared to Moses. How did He appear? In a burning bush. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. (Exodus 3:2) Think about the Children of Israel in the wilderness. How did God lead them? With a pillar of fire at night and a bright, shining cloud by day. (Ex. 13:21-22)
As we turn to Ezekiel chapter 1. There’s a vision in Ezekiel 1 of the pre-incarnate glory of Christ. Before Christ came to this earth, this was the description. Listen to what it says: And seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance.
There was this bright, magnificent, splendorous vision of the pre-incarnate Christ. And Ezekiel says: Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking (Eek. 1:28).
Ezekiel was given this vision, this glimpse of Christ in His glory in heaven, but now Christ has come to earth. He’s walking in what we know now as Palestine. He goes up to this mountain and takes three of His closest disciples with him. The disciples are all given this glimpse of the fullness of the glory of God, a glimpse of the incarnate Christ in His glory.
This is the one time during His earthly life that the veil is lifted, the veil of His humanity, and they’re given a glimpse of the glory that He had before He came to earth, and the glory that would be Christ’s for all of eternity.
John chapter 1 describes it this way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory” (v. 14). The man who wrote that was there on the Mount for Transfiguration. They have seen His glory with their own eyes.
Another one of the men who was an eyewitness wrote in For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:17–18).
So here’s Jesus—He is God—but He veils it; He covers it in human flesh during all the thirty-three years that He lived and walked on this earth except for this moment on the mount where the veil comes off. So the Transfiguration points to the glory of Christ. Secondly,
II. His return in glory.
Jesus gave His disciples a foretaste of what was to come. Foreshadowing the glory they’d been hoping for. This is the glory that they’d expected of the Messiah. This is what they thought Jesus would come to earth to do. Jesus had told them there was going to be suffering, there’s going to be a cross, . . but after that, the Son of Man will return in His glory. Now He’s giving them a glimpse of what they can expect after the cross.
This Transfiguration points in a powerful way to the cross, to the passion, the death of Christ. Verse 3 tells us, “And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. (Matthew 17:3)
Now, you might wonder what they were talking about. Moses and Elijah and Jesus. What were they talking about? Luke’s account of this instance tells us what they were talking about. It says they “spoke of His departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (9:31). Now Jesus had just told His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem. And what would happen there? He would suffer, and He would be killed.
The Scripture now says that at his Transfiguration, Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah about His departure that He was to accomplish at Jerusalem. What were they talking about? His death.
The Greek word translated ‘departure’ is the word exodus—“to depart.” Now think about that. 1400 years earlier when the Children of Israel were in slavery, in bondage to cruel Egyptian slave masters, God had brought forth a deliverer. What was his name? Moses—to lead the Children of Israel out of slavery. They traveled from Egypt to promised land. What was that called? The Exodus.
Now, here is Moses, the deliverer, the one who presided over the exodus, as far as humans go, talking with Jesus about His coming, His exodus—the death of Christ—through which God would bring liberation to people who had been slaves all their lives, in bondage to sin. As you see, in the Old Testament, Exodus just pointed to the New Testament exodus. The death of Christ, His departure makes it possible for us to be liberated from our slavery to sin. So now the question is, What is our promised land?
The cross is in God’s central story. That’s what they were talking about—the death of Christ, which would prove to be our exodus, our deliverance from sin. That cross is the pivotal point in all of human history.
Look at verse 4: 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." In fact, Luke's gospel tells us that he didn't know what he was saying. How many times do we talk, not knowing what we are saying? (v 33)
We can understand Peter, wanting to stay right where they were, up on the mountain, in company with Jesus and Moses and Elijah. And Jesus says He's going to suffer and die? But God's plan was the cross. And Christ gladly chose to go to Jerusalem to die. He said, "I must go to Jerusalem." He chose to do that rather than to stay where he was on that mountain top, or to just at that moment ascend back to His Father in heaven. Verse 5 says, He 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" (Matt. 17:4–5).
Listen to Jesus. Listen to Him. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Now, we know that not only was God pleased with His Son, the sinless, spotless Son of God, but I think He’s also saying that He’s well pleased with the sacrifice that Jesus was getting ready to offer—the sacrifice of His own life for the sins of mankind.
God was saying, “I’m pleased with that sacrifice. It’s acceptable to Me. I will accept the sacrifice of Your life in the place of every single sinful human being who has ever lived on this planet. Jesus, what You’re going to do in giving Your life is enough. It will satisfy Me. It will satisfy My righteous wrath against sin. I’m pleased. I accept this sacrifice.”
You see the mercy and the kindness of Christ? They weren’t consumed by the holiness and the glory of God. Why? They were sinful. But in anticipation of the sacrifice that Jesus was going to make for their sin, Jesus touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid.”
Listen, if Jesus is not with us we would have a fear of living in this world. A righteous, holy God is with us every day of our lives and for all of eternity. We have no fear because Christ has made that sacrifice. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. 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" (vv. 8–9).
When we see His glory, not only to the glory of Christ, but to the cross of Christ. At the end of time, that outward, physical transformation of our bodies will take place. but keep in mind that transformation, that transfiguration, is something that is taking place right now within us, an internal change, not just of appearance but of actual essence. Who we are is being changed into His likeness as we behold the glory of Christ. I like that. Amen.
