WHO WAS JESUS’ TRANSFIGURATION FOR?

How glorious do you think God is? Can you imagine it? We get an idea of it in Exodus 34. It says that when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, “the skin of his face shone, and all the children of Israel were afraid to come near him.” It was because Moses had been talking with God. The glory in Moses’ face was only a reflection of God’s glory, less than God’s, but they still couldn’t look at him and were afraid to be close to him. So Moses would put a veil over his face.

This prepares us to hear about when three of Jesus’ disciples saw the glory of God shining in His face. However, this wasn’t a mere reflection of God’s glory, or a glory that He was receiving from God. It was His own glory, which most of the time remained hidden. But now the disciples get to see it.

Sermon Text: Matthew 17:1-9 (v. 1-2). Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. By Your Word of truth, lead us to Your glory; so let the light that springs from Thee be ours through all eternity. Alleluia! Amen.

In the name of Jesus, who reveals His glory to give us glory, fellow redeemed:

What catches your attention in Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain? It’s how brightly Jesus was shining: “He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.” You know how you can’t look into the sun for more than a moment? That’s how bright Jesus’ face was. Not just His face, but also His skin, His whole body.

It also catches your attention when it says that “Moses and Elijah” were suddenly there, “talking with Him.” So the saints of heaven are there too, and Peter knew immediately who they were without ever seeing a picture of them. Suddenly there’s no gap between earth and heaven on that mountain!

Then comes the “bright cloud.” That certainly caught their attention, the disciples knew what this was. The Old Testament Scriptures are full of this, the bright cloud that filled the tabernacle and later the temple. This is the Shekinah, the glori­ous presence of God. When the bright cloud appears at this mo­ment, and out of it they hear, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”, obviously the speaker is God the Father. They are face to face with the eternal glory of God.

This is the glory Christ shares with the Father. He is equal with the Fath­er and the Spirit in this glory. Each Person of the Trinity has this same glory. Christ has had it from eternity. From the moment He became man and took on human flesh, this glory was hidden and veiled, but now it shines through His skin and it’s so great that they “were greatly afraid.” It isn’t just the words they heard. It’s the Glory of God. The disciples – who knew Jesus is the Son of God – seriously underestimated what this means, as we all do.

But the question is: Who was Jesus’ transfiguration for? We’ve talked about what the transfiguration is, now we talk about the “why.” Jesus didn’t do this Himself. Matthew uses the passive tense, “He was transfigured.”

Jesus’ transfiguration was done for Him. We might think He didn’t need it so much. For we know that Jesus knew He had this divine nature dwelling in Him all the time. He could do a miracle anytime He needed one, right?

But His power and glory as God wasn’t going to win our salvation. No miracle would be part of what He did to redeem us. He wouldn’t get Himself out of suffering, or make it less, by summoning divine strength. Although He was without sin, every day He was tempted to sin, and faced temptations without the use of His ability as God. The temptations would get more trying.

He knew very well what was swirling around Him – the devils attacking, the Pharisees assailing His teaching constantly, His disciples’ own weakness. Just six days before this, Jesus had to say to His disciple Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” after Peter tried to dissuade Him from going to Jerusalem to suffer and die. Was He tempted not to trust in God? Was He tempted to lose heart? Did He need to be strengthened against despair, or encouraged? Yes.

This shows again that He really entered our suffering. He shared in our suffering so we can share in His glory. This transfiguration, Jesus needed it. Because He was tempted not to trust in God. Because He was tempted to lose heart and had to be encouraged, strengthened, against despair (as He would in Gethsemane). Jesus needed this transfiguration, to strengthen Him. Also:

Jesus’ transfiguration was done for us. This was why Jesus brought Peter, James and John with Him for the transfiguration. They were eyewitnesses to this. We heard in the epistle lesson written by Peter why this is important. The last verse in that reading is the one that says “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” It teaches that all the words of the Bible are from God, every word is something the Holy Spirit guided men to write down. Even though Peter saw it with his own eyes, the necessity to write it down is directed by God. God knew that you needed to know and hear this.

Unlike Jesus, you are not without sin. You get tempted and you give into it and you commit sins against God in your thoughts, words, and actions. You don’t trust in God as you should. You were only thinking of yourself. Your words hurt others. Your anger got out of control. You didn’t show concern. Romans 3:23 connects this to what we see in Jesus’ transfiguration: “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” The disciples are face to face with the glory of God, and they fall short of it. All they can do is fall, face-down.

This is a picture of how it is for you every day, every hour. Yet we don’t see it this way. We aren’t up on the mountaintop. We’re in this world. We get complacent. You don’t see the glory of God, and the bright cloud, and the face of Jesus shining, right in front of you revealing how you fall short and how you’re face to face with how you fall short of God’s glory every minute.

And yet the main reason to show you this isn’t a Law reason, not to rip you for falling short and make you feel worse. It’s to show you Jesus. The Gospel, that’s why Jesus’ transfiguration was done for you. It’s a gift. The glory in Jesus’ face, His purity, righteousness, holiness, loveliness – it’s not just something He has, it’s not just about who He is. It’s something He gives. He gives it to you. If you confess that you are not holy and pure, you fall short of the glory of God, then you are the one He gives His holiness to.

This returns us to Romans 3:23, to hear the next verse, verse 24: “being justified freely by His grace which is in Christ Jesus.” That is what we’re seeing in Jesus’ transfiguration: true, you fall short of the glory of God, BUT you’re justified – declared by God to be not guilty of anything. How is this possible? Because of Jesus: who He is, and what He’s done to save you.

Where does He give this to you? On a mountaintop. The preaching of His Word, of the Gospel, is such a mountain peak. God the Father says: “Hear Him!” and this what it means. In the preaching of His Word, Jesus is there, He is the one preaching. This is glorious!

It doesn’t feel glorious to me, and maybe not to you either. But when you look at your sins and how you fall short of the glory of God, He says – and commands His preachers to say in His name – that you are justified, not guilty at all. You are His beloved child. It’s a fact, not a wish. Your sins don’t change it. For Jesus’ sake the Father says you are His beloved child, and what He says is true and real. That’s a mountaintop gift!

Another such mountain peak is the Lord’s Supper. You see the humble forms of bread and wine, and do something so common, eating and drinking them, just as they saw Jesus in His humble, familiar form as a man – actually this mountain peak of the Lord’s Supper reveals that the very body and blood of Jesus, fully God and fully Man, are being offered to you.

Your Savior dwells within you now, in all His glory and all His grace. In eating and drinking with faith, nothing less than His complete forgiveness, eternal life and salvation come into you. In His Supper, you’re as close to Him as the saints in heaven are. You are united with them on this mountain peak.

The last thing to notice in the transfiguration is that in their fear, Jesus came and touched them, and said, “Arise and do not be afraid,” and when they looked up they saw “Jesus only.” We go down the mountain – into our lives – like that. Transfigured yourself. Already made glorious, by His gifts, for He dwells in you. Seeing Jesus Only instead of your sins, instead of your fear. Going with Him, confident of heaven. Amen!