Today, a large portion of the Christian Church will observe Transfiguration Sunday. This observance recognizes the event depicted in; Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36, and 2 Peter 1:16–18, where Peter describes his first hand account of what he witnessed.
Our Church has no requirement for our observing Transfiguration Sunday, so why are we talking about it? It is important for each of us to know why we are attending a Baptist Church, out of all the churches available to us. Our recognizing what our brothers and sisters believe across the wide scope of Christianity, helps us to know who we are and why we go to the church of our choice. Plus knowing and respecting the various Christian traditions, is a very Christian thing for any congregation to be a part of.
Case in point, our Cross in our Sanctuary is adorned with the purity of the color white for today’s service. This reminds us of the purity and sacredness of our Lord’s mission to save you and me. Watch for future changes to the color reflecting the season and times, in our Church.
Today, I would like to reflect with you about transformation, alteration that aim outright to a Transfiguration physically and spiritually. The examples are of course our Lord Jesus, Moses, Celestial Beings, then mere people like you and me when we come to the Lord in repentance for a new life in Him. Which is the traditional hope… time immemorial in God’s Church.
Yes, this week literally millions of Pastors, Priests, and Worship leaders across our planet will try to make sense of this event which happened between God and Humanity. God’s Teachers will speak to congregations as many of God’s family prepare for the traditional season of self-reflection before Easter. Pastors will share with people of all walks the Transfiguration, as yet another example in scripture of God’s love for His creation. You, me, and all that you see, our Lord’s love ushers forth. But what is transfiguration, and what does it mean to us?
Transfiguration is kinda the meeting point of Celestial, and humanity. Peter, James, and John go up on the mountain to witness Moses and Elijah converse with Jesus, and observe Christ’s appearance radiate pureness. Additionally, our witnesses will see Moses and Elijah in a celestial state, with Jesus (all man, all God), representing all of the creation, that which He indeed created.
It seems that for God to be in direct communication with us, or in proximity to our location, in order for us not to just completely destruct, burn, decompose into nothingness; our Lord changes to protect us, and there is something that changes in the person, again to protect the fragile nature of the people involved. For conformation, we have Moses invited to be in the Lord’s presence. Reading again from today’s Call to Worship, Exodus 24:12-18;
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
*Interrupting to say; I am reminded when my dad would let me go with him to work. It meant everything at the time and I still remember 57 rears later. Well, that’s what this is but much, much more. What an honor given to Moses! Making Him the greatest of O.T. Prophets. Now verse 13;
13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
How did Moses survive 40 days and 40 nights? God provided! Just like He did for the children of Israel in the wilderness. God will even communicate to Moses in a way that won’t terrify and outright destroy him. Our Jewish brothers call God’s communication to us through the Shekinah (or presence of the Lord), by the term bat qol, or daughter of language. Simply stated, it’s the feeling that you get when God is speaking to you, or the prompting of understanding you receive from reading God’s Word. The daughter of language, the offspring of the word, bat qol, has also been called an echo of God’s word, that reverberates throughout all time. Well, Moses will be in ongoing communication with God at Sinai. Continuing now, I’ll read from Exodus 33:15-23;
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
All I can say is wow, and wow. That’s real hutzpah by Moses! I get the feeling after being in God’s purity of love, he wouldn’t mind leaving this behind to stay in the warmth of God! Next in chapter 34, Moses and God will continue their discussions. God communicating in ways that doesn’t destroy Mosses, and Mosses being altered in his state to be in the near proximity to the Lord without being devastated by his fallen nature. Reading now from Exodus 34:1, 29-35;
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke...
*Interrupting to Say; Our God can be biting in His sense of humor, sarcasm, and irony. This almost feels like fun loving banter, but truthful, like a dad. Thank you, Lord, for showing this side of you… to us… today! Now, verse 29;
…29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
*Interrupting to say; Just think if the children of Israel would have come to the Lord back in Exodus chapter 20:18-19, instead of using Moses as a middleman, maybe all of them would have radiated purity of God. Verse 33;
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
Moses has been more than just altered, his transfiguration of appearance reflects changes of his very being. He has been in God’s company, love, and purity.
When God and Man meet, it seems to me that both parties make adjustments to prevent our destruction, and our Lord from being unnecessarily drenched in our pollution of sin. And I know that I am not doing the Lord proper justice here with my analogies, because I plain just don’t know what its like to be in an enhanced presence of the Lord (but working on it!). While Moses does, and his appearance shows the experience afterward. And; More Than Variation, His Transfiguration!
Again, it appears to my feeble mind (and I’m not fishing for approval or compliments), for we are not on the whole, capable of knowing all the inner things of God, and how He operates, in this reality. But again it appears that when Divinity and humanity come together, both parties are altered. The one in order not to offend the purity and holiness of our Lord, the other to prevent the Moses from disintegration and destruction, through his fallen nature.
And those who do not understand the majesty, the greatness, and the grace of our God, walk in arrogant ignorance, and selfishness. How could it be anything else. They don’t know Him or have a relationship in and with the Lord, and so their very being is not receptive to God, and are like what the Psalmist shared with us in, Psalm 2:1-8;
1 Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
8 Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
And indeed, God did do this, resulting in our real freedom. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the core of humanity’s very being. God’s ongoing care for us is sustained and empowered from Heaven to the very ends of the earth! Confirming the statement in the Psalm. Here is Peter’s thought, so see if his account does not remind you of Moses on Sinai. Reading from 2 Peter 1:16-21;
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
*Please let me interrupt to say; Perhaps this is what our Jewish Brothers call the bat qol or daughter of language. God is speaking, but it is somehow converted, muffled, or calibrated not to destroy the hearer. That echo God’s breath reverberates within us today by hearing God’s word through Peter’s letter. Continuing now at verse 19;
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Again the Hebrew term bat qol (the daughter or even echo), of God’s word or prompting, reverberating through His scripture and into your heart today all these years latter! And God aids us in understanding Him through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit illuminates our minds as sunlight in darkness, and clarity in a world of confusion. To build on this thought, we have Paul’s words to the church in Corinth. Reading 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, then 7;
1Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
*Let me interrupt Paul to say; The god of this age is Satan, and he is empowered when we: build ourselves up instead of… praising God, using our own terms instead of…the Lord’s, cloaked in darkness instead of… revealing light of truth with God’s love, knowledge, and power. Who ultimately transfigures our very being; from nothing to something in God’s family. Additionally, we have Paul’s statement of fact about what we really are in the scheme of things, with verse 7;
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
For when we walk in our Lord’s footsteps, in a unique way, we are transformed, altered, no transfigured into a new person in and with Him, and His family. We may be clay, but God can Transfigure us into His vessel of clay showing goodness in a world of hurt.
For me, regardless of if we are Moses, James, John, Peter, Paul, or you and me, when we have had a life changing (“Come to the Mountain”) with our Lord, there will be a time when we will come down from that mountain that separates us, back to our day-to-day experience called life. To share, serve, and love in His name!
It is my hope that all of you will get a chance to know the Lord better through His Spirit. To praise, glorify, and magnify God with your very being, and then let Him Transfigure your soul! When you do, your light will so shine to reflect the goodness of our Lord in your day-to-day life. And then well will say that: More Than Variation, His Transfiguration, is… Our Transfiguration reflecting Him.
Amen!
Benediction; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, and Numbers 6:24-26;
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.