Matthew 17:1-13

[0:00] Good morning all. It's so good to see you all. As Joe rightly says we're going to look at Matthew chapter 17.! Chapter 16 with having this kind of argument with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and he basically gives them a bit of a dressing down.

[0:42] And I'm not going to rehearse that again now but he gives them a bit of a dressing down and then he says to the disciples beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. In other words the doctrine or the teaching of the Pharisees which was quite an extreme thing to say to these disciples because they'd lived by those teachings all their lives.

[1:00] But the teaching of the Pharisees were full of unnecessary additions not taken just from God's word but taken from the thoughts of men and often the corrupt thoughts of men that sought to manipulate the people.

[1:14] They asked Jesus for a sign and once again not for the first time he said to them you're not going to get any more signs. If you remember back to chapter 12 what happened was they dismissed the work of Jesus as being the work of the devil.

[1:30] And so Jesus that they then said to Jesus after he had done one of the messianic signs that they had said anybody that does this is Messiah.

[1:41] And after he'd done that sign which was the casting out of the dumb spirit he they said this is not the work of God this is the work of the devil effectively.

[1:51] And then they asked him for a sign. And it was clear that it didn't matter what sign he gave they weren't going to turn to him. And so he said to them in chapter 12 you're not getting any more signs apart from the sign of Jonah which is the sign of resurrection.

[2:08] And so he's in chapter 16 he's come to that point again where they said give us a sign and he say no you've had all the signs you're getting no more signs. Continues to do signs for his disciples but not for the religious Jews.

[2:25] Then they reach this point where they go to this place called Banias or Caesarea Philippi where he takes them to a place of pagan worship.

[2:35] And says to them who do you say that I am. That's the truncated version. And Peter says as a spokesman for the group he says you are the Christ you are the son of God.

[2:51] And Jesus says that you only know this because my father revealed it to you. So this was a revelation from father God that Jesus was the Christ. But what we then learned is that they still didn't get it.

[3:04] They knew who he was but they didn't understand the significance of who he was. Because Peter then tries to tell Jesus off. When Jesus told him said look I'm going to be taken to Jerusalem.

[3:16] I am going to be harshly treated. I am going to be killed. And on the third day I'm going to rise again. And Peter says no no no no no. You get that can't happen to you.

[3:28] And he says to Peter get behind me Satan. You're a stumbling block to me. You've not got your eyes on the things of God but on the things of men.

[3:40] So they've worked out who Jesus is but they've also shown that they still don't get it. And as Malcolm said to us last week they kind of put the chapter division in the wrong place here.

[3:51] We finished at the end of chapter 16 in which he makes this awkward statement. Awkward only for us because they seem to have understood it more than we would.

[4:02] But in verse 28 of chapter 16 he says truly I say to you there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

[4:14] And there are people who say well this is a contradiction in the scripture. Or not a contradiction but a fallacy because Jesus didn't come back within their lifetime. In fact we're still waiting for him to come back.

[4:25] So how could they say he's coming in his kingdom within the lifetime of some of those present. There are lots of answers to that.

[4:36] The one I favour I'll talk about in a moment but some would say it was referring to the judgment of God falling on Jerusalem in AD 70. So the power of God destroyed Jerusalem and kind of sidelined the Jews for 2,000 years at that point.

[4:54] They were scattered and became dispersed and have recently in 1948 been called back to their land. Some would say it's that. And to be honest I'm not going to argue too hard against that.

[5:07] I don't think it's right but that's my view. There are others who simply say it was Pentecost. The outpouring of God's spirit on people at Pentecost that baptised them with the Holy Spirit.

[5:19] But that was God coming in his kingdom which happened within the lifetime of many of these disciples. So there are various views is the only point I'm trying to make. But I think what we uncover is had they not put the chapter division where they did.

[5:35] It then says and let's read chapter 17 verse 1 to 13. Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

[5:51] And he was transfigured before them. And his face shone like the sun and his garments became as white as light. And behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.

[6:03] Peter said to Jesus, Lord it is good for us to be here. If you wish I will make three tabernacles here. One for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.

[6:14] While he was still speaking a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold a voice out of the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

[6:25] Listen to him. And I don't think the tone of voice would have been quite what I've used. It would have been far more, you know, this is my beloved son. Open your ears and listen to him.

[6:37] When the disciples heard this they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, get up and do not be afraid. And lifting up their eyes they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

[6:51] As they were coming down from the mountain Jesus commanded them saying, tell the vision to no one until the son of man has risen from the dead. And his disciples asked him, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

[7:08] And he answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah already came and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished.

[7:21] So also the son of man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. Clear as mud.

[7:32] There's so much in this. You'll find the account is also given in Mark's gospel, chapter nine and in Luke's gospel, chapter nine.

[7:49] And I think I think there's a bleak reference to it. Really, John John's gospel doesn't talk about it much. But he does say in chapter one and verse 14, we beheld his glory.

[8:02] And that speaks of of an actual beholding. We didn't just see Jesus. We saw Jesus's glory. Now, John was there. And there's a whole other question about why he didn't write more expansively about that experience.

[8:17] I'll look at that in a bit. The first thing I want to approach and I haven't got any notes for this. I just want to try to. We've sung this morning about the magnitude and the magnificence of God.

[8:32] And to try and get a glimpse of what this actually meant to these men. When it says Jesus was transfigured before them, the Greek word used is the word metamorpho.

[8:48] Which from which we get our word metamorphosis. And the metamorphosis, the most common example used is when you get a butterfly coming from a caterpillar.

[9:00] And the amazing thing about that whole process, which evolutionists, by the way, cannot explain. Because when that caterpillar goes into its pupil state and comes out as a butterfly, the butterfly has none of the bits that used to be in the caterpillar.

[9:17] The caterpillar completely dissolves and reforms. And there isn't an evolutionary explanation for that. But the point that we need for this morning service is it means a total change.

[9:29] It means a total change from one state of being to another. And I read this in all three gospels that give an account. And all of them had a very similar description.

[9:41] His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white. One of them says, whiter than any launderer could ever wash them. But there's this sense of the language being inadequate to describe what they actually saw.

[10:00] It's like, how do you describe some things? When you look at an amazing sunset and you try to describe it to someone else, whatever you say isn't enough, is it?

[10:14] Or if you try to describe the concept of love, whatever words you use can't really describe what love really is. And I think these disciples were in this position where they're looking at something that they can't really get the language to describe.

[10:32] It was so utterly magnificent. And what has happened is that Jesus has cast aside everything that he was to put on human flesh.

[10:47] So he has become something that he wasn't, in a sense. But somehow he has also retained everything of the godliness that he had in heaven with the Father.

[11:01] So he's put on human flesh and become something that couldn't be told apart from his contemporaries. When they got at him and he decided to merge into the crowd, they couldn't follow him.

[11:18] They couldn't pick him out because he just looked like any other Jew. He just walked into the crowd and sort of disappeared because he was insignificant. But this day, they went up the mountain with him and suddenly, bam, there was this change.

[11:35] And they got a momentary inkling of what heaven is all about and what the Lord was really like. He actually, for that moment, put back on the heavenly garb, if you like, the heavenly look that he had when he was with the Father, mixed with his humanity still because they could still recognize him.

[12:01] So, you know, they still knew it was Jesus. I'm not sure how they knew Elijah and Moses were there, but we'll come back to that one. But they knew it was Jesus.

[12:12] And yet he was transformed, metamorphosed into something utterly different and utterly and indescribably magnificent. And you have to ask, why did he do that?

[12:26] Well, one reason is that they needed to be certain who he was. They had said that they believed who he was. But after this day, they could never doubt it.

[12:36] And they retained that, didn't they? In 1 Peter. Sorry, it's in 2 Peter. And I'll get to it in a moment. By the way, that same word, metamorphoso, is used in Romans 12, verse 2, when it says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

[12:56] So that's to Christians. The effect of Christ on your life should be a complete metamorphosis. And on the odd occasion, because I can't speak for you, I have to speak personally, but I hate to admit that I walk between these two characters.

[13:13] I can be so godly sometimes and so utterly heathen at other times. But when I'm being heathen, I need to remind myself that God saved me so that I would be metamorphosed, so that I would become a new creature in Christ.

[13:29] On this occasion, he became a new creation. And I can't find the scripture reference, but it's in 2 Peter, where you realise, we'll see if we can find it, because it reads very well.

[13:46] We turn to 2 Peter, from verse 16 onwards. For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[13:58] For we were, this is the bit, for we were eyewitnesses to his majesty. So this letter is written just before Peter's death, and it's probably 20 years or so after the event of the transfiguration.

[14:17] And he says, we were eyewitnesses to his majesty. So 20 years later, this is still with him. For when he received honour and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory.

[14:31] This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

[14:42] The thing is, this whole event, if you, when you tell of this event to unbelieving people, they would pick it out as a bit of fantasy.

[14:54] It's kind of like something you see at the pictures, where a man suddenly, cinema, movies, sorry, I'm showing my age.

[15:06] But they would pick it out as being a fantasy because it is just like a fantasy tale. This man was suddenly transformed into something other than he really was.

[15:16] And subsequent to that, developed superpowers. Well, Jesus had already displayed all his superpowers when he was in the clothing of a normal human being.

[15:29] And on this occasion, and only momentarily, the truth of him was revealed to these disciples. And they were blown away. And these men became fearful.

[15:41] These are men who don't do fear easily. These are fishermen who are used to storms and things like that. But they all became fearful. And this cloud enveloped them.

[15:52] It must have been a truly scary moment. And what we notice is that Jesus said to them, went and touched them and said, don't be afraid. And until he did that, they were afraid.

[16:06] They probably thought this is the end of life for us. And I think sometimes when we read the Gospels, what happens is we read them from a Western mindset.

[16:17] And we gloss over some of the language because it doesn't impact us the way it obviously impacted them. Plus, we don't appreciate that they ran out of words. This is just, what do you say about this?

[16:30] It was amazing. Yeah, but that didn't tell me enough. He was bright. That still didn't really tell me enough. Do you see what I mean?

[16:40] They're trying to describe something indescribable. Now, they were going to found the church. So they needed to be absolutely certain about who Jesus was and what he was capable of.

[16:57] And they'd already seen him do miracles of healing. They'd already seen him control the weather. They'd seen him cast out demons. They'd seen him perform every one of the so-called messianic miracles that the Jews had set aside and said, if someone turns up and does this, that's Messiah.

[17:12] He'd done all those things. But this transcended everything. There was no doubt. A small thought.

[17:23] Where did it happen? The traditional view is Mount Tabor or Tabor. That's the Jewish tradition. And there's a Franciscan church on Mount Tabor, which has become a bit of a shrine to this event.

[17:36] But we don't really know. There's a lot of others. One of whom is a preacher well known to many of us, Jacob Prash, who says it was almost certainly Mount Hermon or Hermon.

[17:50] We don't know. We don't need to know, really. But it was a high mountain. And so this metamorphosis takes place on a high mountain.

[18:02] You do wonder, because he got kind of as near to heaven as he could get when he did this. It was the highest point. And what they saw momentarily was the transformation of a human being into something superhuman.

[18:20] Supernaturally more than human. What we read in the scriptures is that when we see him, we will be just like him. And it does make me wonder, and I'm not saying this as a piece of dogma, because I could be wrong.

[18:37] The scripture isn't clear on it. But you do wonder if when we go to heaven, when we are, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 50 to 58, in that passage it says we will be transformed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

[18:55] The transformation of this body when I meet Jesus in heaven, that momentary transformation, is that what I'm going to look like? Will I be shining?

[19:08] What you're supposed to say at that point is, oh, you shine already, Ray? No. But there is this promise of a resurrection body that will be recreated in the image of Jesus.

[19:22] And when I see him, I will know him because I will be just like him. So part of this, I think, is to give them a window of what heaven is going to be like for them.

[19:35] And it blew their minds. They didn't know how to cope with it. In 2 Corinthians 11 verses 14 and 15, you don't need to turn there. There's a very closely related word to this, metamorpho, that speaks of Satan, who's able to transform himself into an angel of light.

[19:54] And what I just referred to in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51, where it says we will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, it uses a different Greek word, but it's the same concept.

[20:08] It's conceptually the same. So Jesus came to earth with his glory hidden from sight. We sing, don't we, you laid aside your majesty, gave up everything for me.

[20:24] When Jesus came, nobody could tell him apart from any other human being. And yet all the time he was different from every other human being. And he showed it at the Mount of Transfiguration. And he showed it to John and James and Peter.

[20:39] This was foretold. And you've got to remember that, always remember that the people with Jesus knew the scriptures. Often very, very large chunks, completely by rote and by heart.

[20:53] But if you turn to Isaiah chapter 53, and just verses 2 and 3 speaks of Jesus. For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground.

[21:09] He has no stately form or majesty that we should look on him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

[21:23] Like and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised and we did not esteem him. When Jesus walked the face of the earth, he was just a bloke.

[21:35] And he wasn't even a popular bloke. And hidden in that was this glory. Can I just make a passing observation? He has chosen to hide his glory today in you.

[21:53] That's a mind-focusing moment, if ever there was one. You're here to represent his glory on this earth.

[22:03] And not because we are special and stand out from the crowd, but actually because we're not special and don't stand out from the crowd. And when we give people the gospel, we become about as popular as Jesus was.

[22:17] But he provided these disciples with this window of opportunity to see the fullness of both his humanity and his godness, godliness, just for this moment.

[22:32] And they couldn't cope with it. In terms of John, by the way, some people infer that the high priestly prayer in John 17 was prayed at this point.

[22:44] I think the timing is all wrong for that. But it is something you might find if you Google it at any point. And the prayer of the high priestly prayer was prayed at the Last Supper, which is later than this.

[22:58] But in 1 John 3, verse 2, what you see, it says, Beloved, we are children of God, and it has not appeared yet what we shall be.

[23:11] We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. So how would John know that there was this alternative state of being for Jesus if he hadn't been at the Mount of Transfiguration?

[23:24] He's kind of saying, when you see him, he'll be different. And you're going to be just like him. Well, when he was here, he was just a bloke. So there is some sort of transformation predicted in this.

[23:39] And Peter, when he wrote what we just read, he wouldn't have been able to write that if he hadn't been there. One of the reasons why John probably didn't go into detail on this is that he wrote his gospel in 96 AD.

[23:58] The other disciples were long dead by then. I can't remember the exact dates, but round about the 50s AD, most of them had gone. So John seems to have made a practice of not just repeating everything that was in the synoptic gospels because it had already been said.

[24:18] It was already there for people to read. Plus, if you read John 20 and verses 30 and 31, you'll find that the purpose of his gospel was so that people would find Christ.

[24:30] So the account of the transfiguration was not really relevant to that. What he did, and if and when we do, if the Lord tarries, if and when we do a study of John's gospel, you'll realise that all of the miracles in John's gospel were handpicked to convince people that Jesus was the Christ.

[24:53] So John could well have thought, well, it's already been said. And John tends to pick things that haven't yet been said, not exclusively, but a lot of the time.

[25:06] The other thing is that scrolls were a certain length and John's gospel fits on a scroll. If he'd have written a lot more, it wouldn't have fitted on a scroll and he wouldn't have been able to because it needed to be contained in a single scroll.

[25:21] Now, this is only a pragmatic reason and it might not even be the reason, but it's often put out there as one possibility. He actually says at the end of his gospel that Jesus did many, many more works than this.

[25:38] But if we recorded them all, there wouldn't be enough books on the earth to contain them. So it could just be as simple as he ran out of paper because it was expensive in those days to write scrolls.

[25:55] So going back to Matthew 17, in verse 4, Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.

[26:09] Oh, that brings up so many questions. First of all, how did they recognize Moses and Elijah? I have not a clue, except something that I believe, which is not written in scripture, and therefore you can take it or leave it, is that when we are in heaven, our powers of recognition will be enhanced.

[26:29] And this was a heavenly moment. Now, it could be that Jesus said, hi, come be introduced to Elijah and Moses. But if that happened, it's not recorded by any of the three gospel writers.

[26:42] They just seem to know who they were. How? Who knows? But I do believe that when we enter heaven, we will recognize people we've never met, particularly the famous people from the Bible, like Abraham and Moses and Elijah and Elisha and others.

[27:00] I could be completely wrong. So please don't take that as a dogmatic statement. It's not. Why Moses and Elijah? Why did they turn up to this event? And it's clear that the disciples, I mean, Peter said, well, I can make three tabernacles, one for you, Jesus, and one for these two.

[27:17] And they had completely missed the point that Jesus was a different level of manifestation. Moses and Elijah were never anything more than just men.

[27:34] Now, were they shining? Did they have resurrection bodies? I don't know. But they'd missed the point that Jesus was God's son, the one to be listened to.

[27:45] And so when Peter, and you can kind of imagine the nervousness, the clouds come down, they're all scared. Jesus says, it's all right, don't be scared. Well, I could make us all shelters.

[27:56] I could make one for you and one for... And that's when God spoke and said, this is my son. In fact, it's, this is my son whom I love.

[28:11] Or some translations would say, this is the son of my love. So God was saying in that cloud to those disciples, Jesus is the son that I love.

[28:25] These other two, yes, they're fine, but they're not the son that I love. Jesus is the son that I love. And some of your versions will say, hear him.

[28:36] And some will say, listen to him. But the sense of the Greek is that you don't just hear him like a background noise, but you pay attention and listen to what he has to say.

[28:50] As it used to be said when you were learning something, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. It was a sort of phraseology that was used when you really wanted someone to pay attention.

[29:04] It's that kind of, listen to him. What he's got to say is more important than anything else you could ever bend your ear towards. Andy was also saying, by implication, Peter, shut up.

[29:24] You always open your mouth and put your foot in it, Peter. You know, this is not the only time he's ever done it. And this gives me comfort because God went on to use Peter to write chunks of the Bible.

[29:40] The whole of Mark's gospel, which contains one of these accounts, was actually Peter's gospel. But Peter was actually only semi-literate. So Mark was his penman, his amanuensis, his ghost writer.

[29:56] If he can do that with Peter, that awkward fisherman who was socially awkward and clumsy and always said the wrong thing in the wrong place, chopped off Malchus's ear at the crucifixion.

[30:13] Jesus had to put it back on. I mean, he was a maker of great mistakes, a bit like me. And God used him to write chunks of the Bible.

[30:24] So none of us is lost. However awkward or clumsy or stupid you think you are, God can use you. But in all the accounts, they were very much afraid and they fell on their faces with fear.

[30:40] And that's a common thing that happens when you're confronted with the presence of God. See, I look at the book of Revelation where people, well, John, for example, he says, and I fell on my face as though I was dead.

[30:58] And that's where people stay unless Jesus says, it's OK, you don't need to fear, get up. Because if he doesn't say, get up, oh, my, you're in trouble.

[31:11] And there's a whole other study which we're not going to do this morning. But this whole world has no concept of what hell is like. Where Jesus doesn't say, get up, he says, go to the lake of fire.

[31:25] And so many churches these days gloss over it. And you hear quips like, well, all my mates will be in hell. So that's where I'll go. No.

[31:38] If you even think that, you don't get it. There are no exits to hell. Once you're in, you're in. And it's eternally tormenting.

[31:49] And it's a doctrine that's not palatable. It's a doctrine people don't like. But it's one that Jesus spoke about a lot. And he didn't ever compromise on it.

[32:02] Now, these sudden appearances of the glory of the Lord. Turn to Exodus 33. Verses 18 to 20. And Moses said, I pray you show me your glory.

[32:17] And he said, and he being God said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.

[32:29] And I will be gracious to you whom I will be gracious. Sorry. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face for no man can see me and live.

[32:43] Then the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me and you shall stand there on the rock. And it will come about while my glory is passing by that you will put that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

[32:59] Then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back. But my face shall not be seen. The glory of the Lord when it's fully exposed. And it makes me realize that why maybe this transfiguration experience was momentary.

[33:13] Is when sinful man stands in the glory of God, he dies. I need that transformation that's talked about in 1 Corinthians 15. I need this corruption to put on incorruption in order that I can stand in the presence of God.

[33:29] As it is now, I wouldn't stand a chance. I'll be burnt to a crisp. And that is the Western society's dilemma is they don't appreciate who they're dealing with.

[33:40] On the one hand, they don't appreciate the utter magnificence of God. And they don't appreciate the utter, utter ghoulishness and awfulness of hell.

[33:54] And we are all faced with those two alternatives from which to choose. And it certainly makes me, when I'm in a position where I can share the gospel with someone, it gives me a sense of urgency.

[34:11] It's not just a good idea for them to get saved. It is crucial that they get saved. Because the alternative is just beyond consideration.

[34:21] In chapter 34, just turn over the page, verse 29, it came about when Moses was coming down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with the Lord.

[34:46] That being in the presence of the glory of the Lord changes you. They couldn't look him in the face when he came down off the mountain because his face was shining. I've heard charismatic churches do all sorts of things with this.

[35:02] Please don't expect that after your prayer time you will be shining around your neighbourhood. It's unlikely to say the least. But I have heard people who give that as a testimony.

[35:13] I'm not saying it's impossible. If God chose to do it, he could certainly do it. But on the whole, it's bunk. In 2 Chronicles 5, verse 14, you find that the men were unable to stand in the temple because of the glory of God in that place.

[35:30] And to some extent, I believe, although it's not expressly stated, the tongues as of fire that descended on people at Pentecost was a manifestation of God's glory.

[35:43] I can't be certain of that, but it just seems to me that the transformation that took place in those disciples at that time had something to do with God's glory that came down in those tongues of fire that you read about in Acts 2.

[35:57] So when we're in the presence of the glory of God, we will never forget it. But a point of application for us is that the day we got saved and from then till now, we have been in the presence of the glory of the Lord.

[36:11] Not in the same way quite that Peter, James and John were on this day. But our lives should have transformed when we got saved.

[36:23] And therefore, it should be unforgettable that on that day I met with the Lord. For me, I've never been able to forget it. And whenever I think back on it, I become emotional because it was a transforming time.

[36:36] And I know many people in this room for whom that is true. And many of us have walked a Christian walk since. And it's been punctuated with such times.

[36:49] So that brings us to the question, why Elijah and Moses? Why would Elijah and Moses show up at this event? The simple answer is always the best, I think.

[37:04] And the simple answer is that they represent. And I think there are two answers, probably. But the first is that Elijah was the figurehead of prophecy.

[37:15] He was the major prophet. Now, there were lots of prophets and they don't have a hierarchy. But when you think of the prophets, you tend to think of Elijah as the sort of figurehead of prophecy.

[37:32] And he's the one who did the most spectacular things. Like, I don't have a record of the others stopping the rain from falling for three years.

[37:45] And then, upon his word, releasing the rain to fall. He did a lot of the things that Jesus did. He raised dead people to life.

[37:55] He caused the widow's oil container never to run out until, you know, during the time of famine and things like that. He did notable and spectacular miracles.

[38:10] And so he speaks for the prophets. And Moses is the one through whom we got the law. And so Moses speaks for the law.

[38:21] And the law and the prophets are the two main pillars of what came through the Old Testament and what the Jews lived by. They lived by, in theory, a lot of them didn't carry it out in practice.

[38:35] But they lived by the words of the prophets and the law given by Moses. And the prophets told us about the coming Messiah.

[38:48] And they gave us. And so it's pertinent that they're there with these disciples because it was the prophets that gave us over 300 very specific prophetic utterances that would identify who Jesus was when he came.

[39:04] Moses brought the law. And it was through the law that we got quite a lot of things, a lot of rituals that speak of Jesus. But particularly the ones I mentioned this morning are some of the feasts. In fact, all of the feasts speak of Jesus, but some of them speak of his second coming and some speak of his first coming.

[39:21] And the ones that speak of his first coming tabernacles. Those of you who do celebrate Christmas will know probably that Jesus probably didn't come in December.

[39:33] He came probably in late September, which would be feast of tabernacles because he came and tabernacled amongst us at that time. The feast of Passover, the feast of first fruits, the feast of atonement, those feasts Jesus fulfilled in his first coming.

[39:49] So it was right for these men to be there. And the words of both men provided this foretelling of Jesus coming and what his coming would be like.

[40:05] For the most part, the Jews saw Messiah as someone who would deliver them from the oppressor. They've delivered them from Rome.

[40:16] They completely overlooked the Messiah that's described in Isaiah 53, the one who would die for our sins. And so what they were hooked on was there was in their in their heads.

[40:30] There was a coming of Jesus that would deliver them from the oppressor, which will happen. That's what his second coming will be like. But his first coming was to pay for the sins. And in Matthew 1 verse 21, we read he came to save his people from their sins.

[40:51] I'm going to wind this up here and I'm going to. For the sake of the children downstairs as much as anything, I'm going to I'm going to finish it next time. But one thing that's worth mentioning before we sign off, and that is in verse nine, he says to them.

[41:10] Don't tell anybody about this experience until I've been raised from the dead. And in Mark's account, it says. And they spent time trying to work out what he meant by being raised from the dead.

[41:22] And the Jews had this belief that there would be a general resurrection at the end of time when everybody would be raised. And they get that from Daniel chapter 12 verse two, that some will be raised to condemnation and some will be raised to blessing.

[41:38] But they didn't. That was general resurrection. They didn't have in mind this idea of a personal resurrection, which had been forecast for Jesus.

[41:49] So preview of coming attractions. We'll finish that next time. Father, thank you for this word. I was obviously a bit too long winded to beginning.

[42:01] So I ran out of time. And for that, I apologize. But Lord. Show us your transformed self. Through your word.

[42:14] Through our prayers. Through the results of when we share your gospel with people. Through the results of when we pray for people and see results.

[42:26] Father, I pray that this afternoon when I speak with a man who doesn't really yet know you. That he will see your glory somehow.

[42:42] Lord, the fact that we're not on the Mount of Transfiguration. Let that not prevent people from seeing your glory and the wondrous glory of this word that you have left us with.

[42:57] Father, sharpen us to understand who you really are and what you're really like. I ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.