Transfiguration Pt.2: Proof—listen Confidently - Mark 9:2-7 Series

Mark 9:1 And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters-- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" 8 Suddenly, when they looked round, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what "rising from the dead" meant. 11 And they asked him, "Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?" 12 Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him."

Introduction: Attitude Governs Listening

Have you ever noticed how much your attitude toward a person governs the way you listen to that person? I might hear a statement in the news, and if I find out it came from Hillary Clinton I’ll have one reaction, but if it was from Ted Cruz I might have the opposite reaction because I hear it with completely different ears because of my attitude. Attitude is everything when it comes to how you listen. If you ask someone a question, and just before he answers, you find out he is one of the leading experts in the world in that field, how does that change the way you listen? Think of the different ways you listen to people who have hurt you or lied to you, compared to people who have sacrificed much to do good for you. How do you listen to people who have suffered horribly and responded in a godly way, or if they are endorsed by the person you respect the most? What if you’re listening to a lecture on the Nazi concentration camps, and halfway through the lecture you find out the instructor was a prisoner in one of them? How does that change the way you listen? What if you find out the preacher you are listening to is pro-abortion, or believes in evolution, or doesn’t accept the inspiration of the Scriptures? Your attitude toward the person you are listening to has a massive impact on the way you listen. And that’s never more true than when it comes to listening to Jesus Christ.

The Reason to Listen

We’re studying the Transfiguration, and last time we looked at the OT background (which was the giving of the Law through Moses on Mount Sinai) and the main point of the Transfiguration (which is that we should listen to Jesus). But it’s not just that we should listen to him. God didn’t just say, “Listen to him,” he said, “This is my Son whom I love, (therefore) listen to him” (v.7). We are told to listen because of who Jesus is.

Learn His Nature to Improve Your Listening

The implication is, if you want to become a better listener to Jesus, learn more about who he is and what he’s like. That will change your attitude, which changes everything. The more you learn about what Jesus is like, the more fine-tuned your ears will be when you listen to him. You’ll be more receptive, more insightful, more enthusiastic, more curious, you understand more, remember more, put it all into practice more, persevere longer—all of that will improve the more you learn about what Jesus is like.

And that’s great news for us because if we’ve learned anything from watching the disciples in the book of Mark, it’s that listening to Jesus is a lot easier said than done. There is a lot that can go wrong in listening to Jesus. You can fully intend to listen to him and still fail miserably. So it’s great news to find out that there’s something we can do that will bring us to be better listeners, namely, to see Christ’s glory. The more you see of his glory, the more it will sanctify your ears.