Pastor Tim Patoka Transfiguration
The Glory of the Lord February 19, 2023
The Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
2 Peter 1:16-21
1) Confirmed by Witnesses
2) Preserved in Word
“The Tortoise and the Hare.” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” These are two of Aesop’s famous fables that teach a lesson, how slow and steady wins the race and a liar is not believed, even when they’re telling the truth. Most of Aesop’s fables are impossible since they involve talking animals. Yet, not all fables are like Aesop’s. There’s the close cousin of historical fiction, where it’s difficult to know when true events end and exaggeration begin. And don’t the cunningly devised lie! As any good con man will tell you, you need just a bit of truth to make a lie believable.
When we read the account of Jesus’ Transfiguration, how did it strike you? As straight-up fiction like most of Aesop’s fables? As exaggerated, true events like historical fiction? As a bit of truth shrouded in cunningly devised lies? As what happened plain and simple? Though Jesus’ transfiguration can seem like a fable, exaggerated truth, or cunningly devised lie, there’s no reason to see it as so. For when we look at the Transfigured Christ, we truly see a glimpse of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as confirmed by witnesses and preserved in Word.
Confirmed by Witnesses
People typically saw a mere man when they looked at Jesus. Though God, he did not fully and freely show his glory. That changed on the Mount of Transfiguration. As we heard in our Gospel (Matthew 17:1-9), Peter, James, John, and Jesus climbed a mountain. At the top, Jesus’ glory shone. His face and clothes shined like the sun. He talked with Moses and Elijah, famous believers from the Old Testament. God the Father used a majestic cloud, to show his presence as he customarily did in the Old Testament, and spoke from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (2 Peter 1:17 EHV) And just like that, it all vanished! Leaving just four, regular-looking men at the top of a mountain.
If you were to write Jesus’ Transfiguration on a piece of paper with a pencil and then erase all the fable-like details, what would you have? Four men who climbed a mountain, a bunch of eraser smudges, and the four men coming down. You wouldn’t have anything showing the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Glory of the Lord February 19, 2023
There are many details in Jesus’ Transfiguration account that sound like a fable, exaggeration of true events, or cunningly devised lie. We don’t readily believe Aesop’s fables, historical fiction, or a con man’s lies. So why should we treat Jesus’ Transfiguration account any differently? Why should we believe that Jesus Christ is more than a mere man, that he has the glory of the Lord?
We do so because it’s confirmed by two witnesses: Peter and God the Father. As one of those four men, Peter saw just how glorious our Lord Jesus Christ is. While we don’t remember everything we see, but there are some things you never forget: when she said yes, when your child left the house, when you handed in your two weeks’ notice, when you said to your loved one, “I’ll see you in heaven.” Peter would never forget what he saw on the Mount of Transfiguration, not even when we wrote our verses thirty-some years later.
Let’s not forget the other witness, God the Father. With that cloud of Majestic Glory, he made his presence known as Peter, James, and John read in the Old Testament. With his voice, God the Father told us what he was thinking: he was well pleased with his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Up to now, Jesus had remained on task and maintained his credentials to be our Savior. Once Jesus went down the Mount of Transfiguration, he began his final trip to Jerusalem. As God the Father looked ahead in time, do you know what he saw? Jesus, entering the homerun stretch and knocking it out of the park to be our Savior. That’s why God the Father was well pleased with him! If Jesus was anything less than perfect or glorious as the Lord, the Father would not have said what he did.
Because Jesus’ Transfiguration is not a fable, exaggeration of true events, or cunningly devised lie. It’s the truth of what happened as confirmed by Peter and God the Father where we see a glimpse of the glory he has as our Lord Jesus Christ. Typically, he kept that hidden for he did not make full and frequent use of his power and glory as God.
We are well pleased with Jesus for hiding that glory. In service to us, Jesus became like us in human form so that he could live in our place. In service to us, Jesus came to us in hidden glory so that sinners would listen to his words. In service to us, Jesus died for us on the cross so that we could share in his glory one day. And through faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, he shares that glory with us by forgiving our sins and promising us a glory of our own in heaven and the resurrection of the dead.
The Glory of the Lord
Preserved in Word
It would be nice if we had some witnesses like this, an eyewitness of Jesus’ glory or the Father’s voice speaking from heaven, to confirm Jesus’ glory as the Lord. While we don’t expect either one, we do have something just as reliable: God’s written Word which preserves the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nowadays, we call God’s written Word the Bible. We hear how the Bible came to us in these words, “no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were being carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21 EHV) Though sinful humans wrote the Bible, it wasn’t their ideas they wrote down. Rather, it was God’s as those human writers were inspired and carried along by the Holy Spirit. As such, we call the Bible God’s perfect, infallible, and inspired Word for us to read and know!
You and I both know how often people challenge that claim. Some attack the very words in the Bible, saying they’re unreliable because we don’t know what was originally written down. They compare it to a game of Telephone, where you whisper a message from one to another to discover how quickly a message becomes garbled up. Apply that to the Bible. For nearly 2,000 years, that game of Telephone has been played crossing language barriers and literal copy and paste techniques. These critics ask us, how can you consider the Bible reliable at all?
Other critics go after the Bible’s content. Dismissing the supernatural, miraculous, and impossible because it can’t simply be. Interpreting God’s Word within human frameworks of science, history, and philosophy. At the end of the matter, we have to ask ourselves, “If the Bible’s written word isn’t reliable, how can we trust it at all? What do we make of Jesus and his glory of the Lord?”
Though we may doubt it, the Bible is the completely reliable written Word of God. We have a clear picture of the words that were originally written down. That game of Telephone isn’t an accurate illustration to how God preserved the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians and critics alike have studied the ancient and widespread evidence, ran the statistical analysis models, and concluded: these words are reliable! Only baseless, conspiracy theories say otherwise.
As for the Bible’s content, again it’s completely reliable. Look at the prophecies foretelling what would happen. There’s no way a human could have predicted that. Looking at the descriptions of who God is and what he does for us. Again, that’s not from humans. It all came from someone else. Who was that? As our verses said, “men spoke from God as they were being carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21 EHV) In this completely reliable written Word, God the Holy Spirit preserves the glory of our
The Glory of the Lord February 19, 2023
Lord Jesus Christ. As Peter saw and the Father declared on the Mount of Transfiguration, so it remains today. Our Savior Jesus is our great and glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter knew his life was ending soon. So he points his readers to the reliable written Word in his absence. He urges them to pay attention to it as they would to a lamp shining in a dark place. You need a light when you’re in the dark. Without it, you’re lost and unaware of the dangers around you. In the same way, this written Word of God acts a light by shining away the darkness of sin around us. It shows us our glorious Lord Jesus Christ so that we are never lost. The Bible also warns us of the dangers around us that threaten to take us away from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Given what the written Word can do, Peter urges his listeners to keep paying attention to it until the darkness of sin is no more, that is, when the Last Day finally dawns and we see the Morning Star, Jesus Christ himself, appear in his full glory. Peter urges you and me too. Until sin’s darkness is no more, we ought to pay close attention to the light that shines from God’s written Word.
We know where to go to find that light. Come to a church home like Grace whose sole existence is to gather sinners around God’s Word so they may grow their faith in their glorious Lord Jesus Christ and live for him in their daily lives. Come to God’s Word which has never been so accessible before whether it’s your printed Bible at home or app on your phone. Connect personally with your Lord and benefit from discussing his truth alongside your friends and family.
Concluding Encouragements
Because the Word we come to is nothing like a fable, exaggeration of true events, or cunningly devised lie. It’s the truth of what happened. At Jesus’ Transfiguration, we see a glimpse of the glory he has as our Lord Jesus Christ. Both Peter and God the Father confirmed it with their witnesses so that we are well pleased with Jesus who is our great and glorious Lord Jesus Christ. In the absence of eyewitnesses and spoken words, God has given us his completely reliable written Word in which he preserves the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. There’s nothing to doubt with its words or content thanks to God the Holy Spirit.
So let’s listen to Peter’s final words. Pay attention to God’s written Word as you would to a lamp shining in a dark place. It keeps sin’s darkness at bay because of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. It is accessible to you as never before. And it will never fail you. Amen.
