Sermon for Transfiguration, February 19, 2023
Grace to you and peace from Him who is, who was, and who is coming. Amen.
Exodus 24:9-18 9Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab,
Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet they saw what looked like a
pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky.
11The Lord did not lay his hand on the dignitaries of the people
of Israel. They gazed at God, and they
ate and drank. 12The Lord
said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain.
Wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the
commands that I have written, so that you can teach them.” 13Moses set out with his assistant
Joshua and went up onto the mountain of God.
14He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come
back to you. Look, here are Aaron and
Hur. They will be with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to
them.” 15Moses went up onto
the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16The Glory of the Lord settled on
Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses
out of the middle of the cloud. 17The
appearance of the Glory of the Lord looked like a devouring fire on the top of
the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18Moses entered into the middle of
the cloud and climbed up the mountain.
Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (EHV)
See the glory of God in
peace.
Dear beloved of the Lord,
It was a
foreshadowing, a foretaste, a hint of what was to come, when mankind will have
perfect peace with God, and we will dwell with Him without fear. Therefore, in this text, and forever going
forward, See the glory of God in peace.
This is now at least the second time Moses had
been called up the mountain to meet with the Lord. Previously, God had spoken His laws to Moses
to relay to the people, and the people had solemnly promised, “All the words
which the Lord has spoken we will do.” (Exodus 24:3) With their promise, God established a
covenant with Israel to lead them and to give them the land He had centuries
earlier promised to give to Abraham’s descendants. As long as Israel would remain faithful to
Him, God would be with them and protect them in the land He had promised to
Abraham.
God invited these seventy-four men to partake
of a meal confirming His covenant with Israel.
At that time, they saw the glory of God, yet they had nothing to fear,
for “The Lord did not lay his hand on the dignitaries of the people of
Israel.” In our times, when
seemingly everyone has lost all fear of God, that might seem unimportant. Yet, to see God means that something special
is happening. Later in this book, Moses
requests to see God, to which the Lord answered, “I will make all my
goodness pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord in your
presence.”…[But] He said, “You cannot see my face, for no human may see me and
live.” (Exodus 33:19-20)
To be able to see God in His glory, He must
make us clean of all sin and count us as holy.
Here, God had given His commands to the people, and they had responded
with faith. Therefore, in that faith,
God counted them forgiven, and welcomed them to celebrate His covenant with
them. Those men were amazed at the
glorious sight. Much like described in
the Revelation many centuries later, heaven is beyond human description in
glory, with God being the light of that glory.
Notice the contrast at the end, however. To the people below, “The appearance of
the Glory of the Lord looked like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain
in the sight of the people of Israel.”
This is the contrast between the law and the gospel. The law of God terrifies. That is one of its main purposes, to show us
our need for a Savior and how impossible it is for us to be perfectly holy
without God’s intervention. The Gospel,
on the other hand, is pure grace. It
tells of how God takes away the sins of the world so that we can be counted
holy in God’s eyes.
Martin Luther followed this example when he
wrote the Small Catechism. He first began
by teaching and explaining the Ten Commandments God gave to show us what
holiness looks like. Then, when those
commands have fully convicted us of our depravity and need for a Redeeming
Savior, Luther follows with the Apostle’s Creed which summarizes God’s work on
earth through His only begotten Son, Jesus, who lived, died, and rose again to
win forgiveness and salvation for even the worst of sinners.
In His mercy and grace, God made a covenant
with Israel, so that if they would follow His laws, they would be blessed here
on earth and eternally. As that covenant
is sealed with this meal, Moses is invited up the mountain for further
instruction. It is now after the law has
been given verbally that God would deliver His commandments on stone tablets
God Himself had engraved. As we read on
in the book, we also see God give detailed instructions for how Israel was to
worship Him. The sum of that ceremonial
law would point to the ultimate sacrifice of the Lamb of God, His own dearly
beloved Son, in a blood sacrifice for the sins of all people. The temple to be built would also emphasize
how the separation from God, mankind now feels, would ultimately be ended by
sacrifice. Not our sacrifices, but that
of Jesus on a cross.
As Moses went up to meet with the Lord, the
rest of the men would resume their service to God by leading the people and
guiding them through the days. For forty
days and forty nights, Moses met with God on that holy hill while the glory of
the Lord settled over the mountain giving the people that awe-inspiring view. As I said, all of this is a
foreshadowing. This number forty is
repeated throughout Scripture at various times and places. While we know nothing of how Moses might
survive that long without sustenance, we know that Jesus spent forty days and
nights in the wilderness without food or drink while being tempted by the
devil.
Today is Transfiguration Sunday when the glory
of the Lord again shines in our worship.
Though we don’t see it physically, we see God’s glory through the report
of Jesus’ disciples. Again, the Lord of
Glory, our precious Savior, met with Moses and Elijah on the mountain. Peter, James, and John were eyewitnesses of
that short visit. They were overwhelmed
with the glory and holiness. You and I
can only trust that what they saw is what we will see when we enter the
presence of our Savior in heaven. Thus,
by faith in Jesus, we too See the glory of God in
peace.
Still, like those Israelite leaders, we also receive
a taste of the sacrifice made to make us pleasing and holy to God. No, we don’t have to butcher lambs and bulls,
and the pastor doesn’t have to sprinkle the blood of those animals over the
congregation as Moses was instructed to do before this mountain meeting. Rather, Jesus, the One true Lamb of God,
sprinkled His blood over the world by taking our sins as His own and allowing
Himself, the only Man who is truly holy in and of Himself, to be whipped, beaten,
falsely accused, and finally nailed to a cross to suffer and die for the world.
Then, as foreshadowed that day on the ancient
mountain, Jesus invites us to partake of the blood and body of that precious
Lamb in a communion and covenant of peace with God that will not end. In the Lord’s Supper, forgiveness is given to
us, and we are again counted holy before God.
Think of how Israel so often sinned against God
in the years after they celebrated with the Lord that day. Is there really any reason to believe that we
are more faithful and less sinners than they?
The law forces us to admit that we are just as guilty as any other
person. We like St. Paul, that great
missionary for the Lord, have to admit, “Indeed, I know that good does not
live in me, that is, in my sinful flesh.
The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it
out. So I fail to do the good I want to
do. Instead, the evil I do not want to
do, that is what I keep doing.” (Romans 7:18-19)
In shame for our guilt, we often find it hard
to confess that we are guilty of sinning against God as well as our
neighbor. However, it is in that
confession faithfully admitted that Jesus opens His arms and welcomes us to
partake of His body and blood in the Supper.
Jesus’ knew our condition back then, and He knows our struggles still
today. But, “God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned,
but the one who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not
believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” (John 3:17-18)
Those men on the mountain were given a
foretaste of a much greater covenant God has made with us, not to give us a
piece of land here on earth, but to grant us forgiveness, righteousness,
holiness, peace with God, and a new home in the Promised Land of His glorious
heaven. As we come to feast with Jesus
in His Supper, we remember His promise,
that “God so loved the world that he
gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but
have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
When Peter, James, and John went up the
mountain on the day Jesus was transfigured before them, they didn’t know what
to expect, and the sight of His true glory overwhelmed them. That would be the same for us in this present
world. However, a day is coming when you
and I and all faithful Christian believers will stand at peace in God’s
presence as did Moses and Elijah. For,
just as Jesus was raised from the dead glorified and never to die again, so God
has promised that we too will be raised, and we too will be glorified, so that
we too will be with the Lord God of all in glory everlasting.
In the Revelation, we are shown a foretaste of
heaven, where “There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in
the city. His servants will worship
him. They will see his face. His name will be on their foreheads. There will no longer be any night or any need
for lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation
22:3-5) There, justified by faith and
sanctified by the blood and sacrifice of God’s precious Lamb, we, as His
glorified children, will for all eternity See the glory of God in peace. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life
everlasting. Amen.
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