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[0:00] It's an honest question, right? So thank you for being here. The gospel according to Mark, Mark chapter 9.! It's not an event that is unique to Mark's gospel, unlike some of the things we've seen.

[0:36] Yet we don't see the full revelation of it or the full view of it until we kind of reconcile it with the other gospel accounts. So we'll kind of do that as we make our way through it. We won't necessarily turn to them.

[0:47] But it is also an account that is referred to in many other places in Scripture. One that is really of utmost importance in the life of those who are present and in the life of the church today.

[0:59] We refer to it as the Transfiguration or the Mount of Transfiguration. So as we come to the Word of God found in Mark chapter 9, I ask if you are physically able and desire to do so, if you'll join with me as we stand together and we read the first 13 verses of Mark chapter 9.

[1:18] The Word of God says, And Jesus was saying to them, Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.

[1:32] Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his garments became radiant and exceedingly white as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

[1:48] Elijah appeared to them along with Moses and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

[2:03] For he did not know what to answer, for they became terrified. Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud. This is my beloved son.

[2:14] Listen to him. All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man rose from the dead.

[2:32] They seized upon that statement discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant. And they asked him, saying, Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

[2:43] And he said to them, Elijah does come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that he will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come.

[2:57] And they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the day. Thank you for the privileged opportunity we have of gathering together as your people for your glory.

[3:10] We pray now as we have seen your word and read your word and heard your word that you would speak to us through it. That we would come to an understanding of it. That we would not gain and collect information, but rather we would come before you for heart and mind renewal and restoration.

[3:26] May you mold us and shape us to become the people you want us to be, that you may be glorified and honored through us. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

[3:36] Amen. I want you to see this morning a witnessed majesty. A witnessed majesty.

[3:50] The text before us has to be taken within the context of that which immediately precedes it. We know that. We say that quite often. But this one even more so.

[4:00] It is because when we read this account, it says, And then Jesus said to them, or after these things Jesus said to them. And it is referring to what he had begun to say to them in the 8th chapter in verse 34.

[4:15] And it is there when Jesus had spoken to the crowd, not just to the apostles, but to the crowd that were gathered around him and said, If anyone desires to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow after me.

[4:29] And he had given the command that whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's sake will gain it. And he had spoken of the reality that if anyone did not come after him and yet were ashamed of him, that he would be ashamed of them when he came in the glory of his Father with his holy angels.

[4:50] And after declaring that he was going to come in his glory, then he begins to tell them, Some of you are about to see that glory. And he is going to reveal to them the majesty which he was currently possessing, for it is a majesty he has already and always possessed.

[5:11] That the glory he was going to come in was not a glory that would be given to him at a latter date, but rather was a glory which he was already a possessor of, for I know it makes our brains kind of smoke a little bit, that the glory of the Father is the glory of the Son and the glory of the Spirit.

[5:27] For what we refer to in Trinitarian talk, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we also know that there is but one God who is existent in triune form. I will not try to describe it nor define it.

[5:38] We just have to declare it because that is all we can do in Scripture. But we see that the glory of the Father is also the glory of the Son, and though that glory was veiled momentarily while he lived among them.

[5:49] And he has given them some challenging remarks. He has spoke of some realities that are difficult to accept, that you have to lose your life, then you will find it. That you have to take up a cross, something that was a symbol of shame and dishonor, and something to the Jewish mindset that curses everyone who hangs upon a tree.

[6:09] It is to be given the most cursed condemnation of any Jewish mind, not only to be hung upon a tree, but to be stripped of all clothing, to be naked before a watching world, to be ridiculed and shamed, not just by your countrymen, but by those who are ruling over you.

[6:28] And he said, yet this is the calling of everyone who desires to follow after me. But in order to undergird that calling and to encourage faithfulness in it, he allows some to witness the majesty on what we refer to as the Mount of Transfiguration.

[6:47] To be transfigured, the word in the original language is the same word that we get metamorphosis from. It is for something to change within itself. It is to have something not different put up on it, but something from within it come out of it.

[7:04] And yet, there was a very unique word used by Mark here, because he's writing to a Greek audience. And in the Greek audience, to metamorph is something that is very familiar to them, for they believed that many of their Greek gods, with the lowercase g, had morphed into a higher being.

[7:21] And he is not using that word to refer what's going on to Christ, so he kind of changes it to this word that we translate transfigure, and it just means to show what he has already been and always been.

[7:31] It is not a change of Christ, but a revelation of Christ. And I hope you understand that. We see from the other gospel accounts that the glory that shines and radiates, as Matthew says, is a glory that radiates from within him, not like Moses' face radiating from the glory that has shown up on him.

[7:49] It is the glory that radiates from him. Whereas Moses veiled his face so that no one would see the glory departing, Jesus veiled himself in humanity so that people could stand before the glory that was present.

[8:02] It's a big difference there. For we find in Scripture that everywhere someone called into the presence of God in all of his glory, there is but one response, and it is an accurate response.

[8:13] And we find it either happening in the book of Isaiah with Isaiah himself. We see Ezekiel doing it when he sees the wheels inside the wheels and eyeballs and everything going everywhere, those passages that kind of make you go, what in the world is going on here?

[8:25] But we see that there's a throne. And then we see John doing it in the book of Revelation. Everyone that is standing before the throne of God and the glory of God has but one response, and that is they fall on their faces. For man cannot stand in the presence of such perfect holiness and glory.

[8:42] And so when Christ came to dwell among sinful men of which all of us are, he veiled that glory with his humanity. But for a moment, for a brief moment on that mount, the veil is pulled back so that the glory is seen.

[9:00] And we have to ask ourselves, why does he do it then? What is the reasoning? The reasoning is because of the great charge he has just given them, take up your cross and follow after me.

[9:12] We need to count the cost and determine if he's worthy to be followed. He's already told them after the profession of Peter that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the long-expected one.

[9:25] They would also be the one who would be ridiculed, shamed, and eventually killed and placed up in a tomb. We have seen there are a lot of things that are going on around him, and he has begun to disclose his impending death to those who are closest to them, and he is calling them to the same life.

[9:44] And so for a moment, he gives them an opportunity to witness his majesty. And this witness majesty does a number of things.

[9:55] First of all, we see that it is an affirmation. Look at what the word of God says. And Jesus was saying to them, again, that's the crowd we find in verse 34, the crowds gathered around them, saying to the same ones that he's just given this great charge to, to you and I as well, that if you desire to follow after me or come after me, you must deny yourself and pick up your cross and surrender your life.

[10:21] So he was saying to them, truly I say to you. Some translations have it truly, truly, or verily, verily, the double standard. Truly I say unto you. This is an emphatic truth.

[10:32] There are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. Now, we want to be well-informed Bible students.

[10:43] We don't want to just be Bible readers. By the way, I don't want to be legalistic in this manner, but I want you to understand where your pastor stands. I hear things every now and then say, A verse a day is all you need.

[10:54] A verse a day is not all you need. You need to be in the word of God, studying the word of God. For if you take a verse a day, then you can make that verse say anything you want it to say today so that you may get away with anything you want to say today.

[11:06] Now, a verse a day, you say, Well, pastor, a verse a day is better than none. Well, lukewarm is really not good at all. Jesus said, I'll spill you out of my mouth. I don't mean to be judgmental in that nature, but get into the word, my friend.

[11:17] So when we read this, what does it say? We want to be good Bible students. And some Bible students would say, What does he mean by some of those who are standing here? Because clearly all of those died before the second coming of Christ.

[11:30] And that's what he's referring to when the Son comes in the glory of the Father with his holy angels, the second coming, which we refer to. And none of them are alive today. Christ has not come back yet. So we have to push ourselves to try to translate this.

[11:43] What are we, or interpret this accurately. What is he referring to? Some say, well, he's referring to the birth of the church. That some will be present when the birth of the church. But that's not really the glory of God in power, the kingdom of God in power.

[11:56] For the kingdom of God came then with the coming of Christ. But it doesn't come in power, as he says. And he also says, but some, not all of you. And if we're looking at the birth of the church, all but Judas Iscariot were there.

[12:07] But that would mean most, not some. I'm getting pretty deep with you for just a moment. But it's okay. Okay. And so we want to interpret this accurately. I believe that, and you are subject to believe whatever you want to, but I believe the greatest and simplest interpretation is to take the word of God literally.

[12:23] So what we see immediately following that is the fulfillment of what he has just declared. And only some of them see the kingdom in its power. For Jesus says, the kingdom of God is present where he is present.

[12:36] So I believe what happens on the mount is the fulfillment of this first verse. And the fact that only some of them saw it are because only three were gathered with him there. So clearly only some of them beheld it, and it came in power.

[12:50] So that helps us to understand what's going on here. Because what we find is an affirmation. Jesus says, I've just called you to make a great sacrifice. I've called you to deny yourself, to lose your life for my sake and the gospel's sake.

[13:04] I've called you to take up a cross and to follow after me, knowing that when you put that cross on your shoulder, you're faced one direction. There's no turning back. I've called you to put your hand to the plow and not look back.

[13:14] And I'm going to affirm that calling by revealing to a number of you, just three of you, the reality that the kingdom of God is not just some theory, but that it comes with power.

[13:25] And he displays that power to them up on the mountain. And you say, wow, friend, pastor, that seems a little unfair. Surely he could have done it for the benefit of them all. We'll get to that in just a moment, okay?

[13:36] But I want you to understand what's going on here. That when Christ gave a great charge, he also gives the ability to fulfill that charge by affirming and strengthening those he has just commanded to do what is humanly impossible.

[13:53] He has commanded them to bear the shame of the cross, to forget about themselves, and to follow after him. And now he's going to affirm them in their ability to do it.

[14:06] Now we bring that to application, that when Christ calls us to do that which we think is impossible, it is difficult, it is beyond our ability, that when he gives that call to our lives, he affirms that in our lives by a self-revelation of who he is.

[14:25] That is, he confirms it to us. Whatever it is, the Lord God is calling you to do. For we know that he does not call anyone to himself just so you can go into the glories of heaven.

[14:35] That is the end result. But it says that he calls us to do the works which he has prepared beforehand for us to do. So each of us have a glorious kingdom work to walk with him.

[14:47] And when we begin to understand that calling, sensing, oh no, I feel like he may be calling me to do this or he may be calling me to do that, it is an equally true statement that with that calling comes the affirmation to fulfill that calling.

[15:03] Even though we may look at ourselves and say, well, I'm the last person that anyone would ever ask to do that thing. God affirms us and tells us, he says, truly I say to you that some of you standing here will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.

[15:19] And what they will witness will give them the ability to fulfill what he's called them to do. Friend, listen to me. The same reality is true in each of our lives. Sometimes he calls us to things that make us scratch our heads and say, well, that doesn't make any sense.

[15:35] Sometimes he calls us to things that seem to run contrary to the culture of the world around us. But with that calling also comes the affirmation that is a further self-disclosure of himself to strengthen our faith in who he is so that we can respond to the calling he has put upon our lives.

[15:57] I do not believe that we live in a day where God is not calling anyone any longer, but rather I believe we live in a day that is so filled with noise and distraction that maybe we're missing the affirmation of that calling.

[16:11] That people aren't walking beside us and saying, you say, well, pastor, when God called you into the ministry, right, my heart was stirring and I knew my heart was stirring. But you know, I was setting, I know exactly where I was setting.

[16:23] I can't remember the exact date, but I know that I was standing in a four-door Ford automobile car in the driveway at 201 Canova Drive after an executive board meeting with the New Duck River Baptist Association.

[16:37] I was sitting in the passenger seat and I'd had this fire burning within my heart for some time and no one knew it. And I was sitting in that car and I was sitting beside what at that time was my pastor and it was dark and I was just wanting to go in because my wife and kids were in there and he said, Billy Joe, I've got a question for you.

[16:53] He said, have you ever thought maybe the Lord was calling you to preach? First time I'd ever been asked that in a serious manner. What he didn't know was that he was affirming a reality that was already present in my heart.

[17:06] And he just left it there. And as we went further along, we began to see other people would affirm that too. Friend, listen to me. Get so close to other believers that they can speak truths into your life that God is already imparting into your heart.

[17:20] We call that discipleship. And we call that being connected as a church family where someone could look at you and say, have you ever thought, I can assure you, my friend, if I ever come up to you and I'll give you this commitment, if I ever come up to you and I ask you to do something, it is not a flippant request.

[17:42] Because I make it my business to pray over the membership of the church knowing that God put the body together intentionally. And if I ever say, hey, have you ever thought about this? You'd be surprised how many times I've asked somebody then they say, I've been thinking about that for the past few months.

[17:59] We need those people in our lives to affirm what God is doing. You say, well, pastor, can I tell you what to ask me for? Maybe. I don't know. Can you put in a request? I don't know if that's how that works because I was requesting anything besides pastoral ministry, but it didn't work for me.

[18:13] I'm so thankful God had other plans. But it just leads in that there is an affirmation aspect to the calling God has upon his people. And he says, I want to affirm you so that I can empower you to do what I've asked you to do.

[18:30] So we see there's an affirmation. Number two, we see here there's an invitation. And this is the part that if we're honest, it kind of gets to us just a little bit. Because look at what it says. Six days later, the word of God says, Jesus gives this truth that there are some of you who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after his come with power.

[18:50] And six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John. Now notice the wording here, Jesus took with him. That is, it was an invitation by Christ and Christ alone.

[19:06] It isn't that Peter, James, and John thought that it would be a good idea to climb the mountain and see what happens up there. The initiative is always of Christ. And it's this reality that we see throughout Scripture.

[19:21] Any revelation of the Father and of the Son or of the Spirit is a self-revelation. That is, apart from God revealing himself to us, we would not know who he is on our own.

[19:37] For the heart of every man is desperately wicked. There are none righteous, no, not one. All of our minds are set on things that they ought not be set upon. And had God, not in his mercy and grace and loving kindness, revealed himself to us through his word and through creative works and through everything that he does, it is a self-revelation.

[19:59] We believe in a self-revealing God. And that self-revelation comes at the invitation of Christ. No one comes to the Father lest he be drawn and no one comes but through Christ for he is the way, the truth, and the life or the door as he refers to himself.

[20:16] And here we find that Jesus took with him. It was an invitation graciously extended to three individuals. Now I know what you're thinking because it's the same thing that I would think.

[20:28] Well, what if I'm not the Peter, James, or John? What if I'm Thomas and I'm just sitting over there doubting everything and no one's going to call me? It'd be a good time for Thomas to go up on the mountain, right? Because we know we refer to him as doubting Thomas.

[20:39] What if I'm Thomas and I have all kinds of questions? Well, we praise God for Thomas for the questions he asks in the Gospel of John are the questions that we stand upon today. And Jesus answers those questions when they're asked.

[20:51] Or what if I'm one of those others, right? There are 12 here. Or if Judas Iscariot had been called up there, wouldn't it have changed things for him? No, he's the son of perdition that had been written before the foundations of the world were laid. But why Peter, James, and John?

[21:03] Why the special invitation? Because just like when God chose Abram out of the land of the earth, the Chaldeans, and he formed a nation which we refer to as Israel himself, he was not choosing favorites. God was choosing an individual to reveal himself to a watching world.

[21:17] Abram would become a nation that would be a blessing to the nations that we understand. So the blessing to the nations is the coming of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And so he chose one that he may bless all.

[21:29] He chose one so that the revelation would be given to all who look upon him. In choosing the three, Jesus is doing a magnificent favor to the rest of humanity. For it is James that will become the first of the apostles, not the first martyr, but the first of the apostles to die for his faith.

[21:46] We find that early in the pages of the book of Acts when Herod beheads James and then imprisons Peter and wants to do the same. And James died in full faith, not denying the reality of who Jesus was.

[21:58] What gave James boldness early in the birth of the church? I mean, it wasn't a mega church yet and they were still kind of scattered about because the persecution from Paul had happened. Why would James have such bold faith to have his head chopped off by Herod and be a testimony to everyone there?

[22:15] It's because James had stood on the mountain one time and he saw the glory of Christ radiating from within him. And he had been affirmed in his calling. He had taken up his cross and he had followed after Jesus until he had denied himself and lost his life that he may found it.

[22:30] And it is Peter who not only unlocks the door but Peter writes in 2 Peter, we have beheld his glory. We have seen his majesty. I do not write to you about things that we have heard from circumstances or we have heard as fables.

[22:44] We write to you things we have seen and things we have beheld for we were with him on the mountain when he was transfigured before us. Peter is encouraging the church to walk in faithfulness because Peter says I'm not giving you some wise fable.

[22:57] I'm telling you a reality that I've seen with my own eyes. And Peter writes to the church and affirms the church and encourages the church take these matters seriously and take it from one who is an eyewitness account.

[23:08] John writes in the first John chapter one what we have seen, what we have beheld, what we have touched with our own hands, we write to you the truth that is before us. See, Jesus chose the three that he may be an encouragement to all for all of eternity.

[23:22] And if he had not invited some then none would have been encouraged. But what he did is he extended an invitation to a few and he brought those few along beside him and he raised those few to a different level and then those few could go down because he said don't say anything yet.

[23:38] But he didn't say don't say anything at all, right? He said don't say anything yet because he knew the day was coming when people would start doubting and going back and forth and wondering what if this is really true.

[23:49] Well, he had some eyewitnesses who were present upon the mountain who could say this isn't a fable it's a reality. I was there that day. I've seen it. I've beheld it. I've touched it with my hands. I tell you the truth of what I know.

[24:01] Friend, listen. When Jesus invites you and calls you to himself and he begins to disclose things to you, self-disclosure, it's never going to run contrary to scripture. But when you open up the word of God and the word of God starts speaking truth into your heart and you begin to see things and you're like wow, this is amazing.

[24:19] The word of God is living and active and breathing and sharper than any two-edged sword and you're beginning to understand things about who Jesus is and you're beginning to stand in the glory of his word.

[24:29] He's not doing it for you. He's giving it to you. He's extended an invitation to you that you may encourage others. That you may take the knowledge he's showing you on the mountain and you can go talk to some people down in the valley and say I'm not talking to you about something I think is so.

[24:46] I'm talking to you about something I know is so. The encouragement comes because we respond to the invitations he gives us and he calls us into his presence.

[24:58] Sometimes that presence comes in the moments of doubt. Sometimes it comes in the moment of pain. Sometimes it comes in the moments of rejoicing and joy. Read your Bible history. Read your church history.

[25:10] Every great movement of God has been formed and fashioned in difficult seasons and most times it is formed and fashioned in a time where God works in such circumstances in such ways in such manners that people were called to a deeper fellowship with him and that invitation was extended and they were dwelling in his presence and the manifestation of who Christ is became a reality.

[25:33] And out of that invitation the church was encouraged. People were strengthened. People could rise up and walk anew and take up their cross and follow after him for they were talking and meeting with someone who knew the things firsthand.

[25:50] It is an invitation. We have an affirmation. We have an invitation. Third, upon the mountain we have a correction. Notice the correction.

[26:01] It's something that needs to take place. Now I don't know which one of the apostles that you align with the most. I would think that within the twelve each one of us can say I'm a lot more like this one. Maybe you're like Andrew and always bringing someone to Christ.

[26:15] Maybe you're a little bit like John just continuing on in perseverance. I'm a lot like Peter. Okay, Peter's my guy. I pull the sword when I shouldn't. I cut people's ears off quicker than I should have.

[26:27] I step out of boats and start sinking. I talk when I ought not talk. So when I talk about Peter I'm not really just talking about Peter. I understand who I am. What takes place on the mountain is an amazing event.

[26:40] For it tells us that when they got there that he was transfigured before them and the glory began to redate from him. It tells us that his clothing became whiter than any launderer on earth could make it. And one thing you need to know is that they didn't take their clothes to the laundromat and get them washed.

[26:55] So this traversing back and forth throughout the dusty roads of Israel would have made this probably not completely white garment just kind of off-white garment really filthy and really dirty.

[27:05] This outer garment had been kind of dirtied by the world around them. But in that moment the glory of the Father began to radiate from within Christ and the glory of Christ had always been eternally present within him.

[27:21] The book of Hebrews says that he is the exact representation of God's nature. That he is the manifestation of the Father. And that manifestation became real for just a moment.

[27:35] Whiter than white. And the response of the three that had been given the invitation would be much like ours. They were scared to death.

[27:47] It tells us in our scripture that Peter said something for he did not know what to say for they were terrified. They had walked up the mountain with what they thought was a normal man.

[27:59] And all of a sudden things began to change. And in that fear and in that terror and in that misunderstanding they didn't know what to say. And this is why I radiate with Peter. But Peter had to say something. Because the silence was killing him.

[28:14] Elijah was there. Moses was there. That's the law and the prophets. It tells us I like the gospel. Luke tells us what they're talking about. Because it says that they were conversing with Christ.

[28:27] What are they talking about? It says that they were conversing the exodus that he was about to succeed in having in Jerusalem. Well it's not the word that you read in your translation is his departure that was soon coming in Jerusalem.

[28:40] But the literal word is exodus. They were talking about the exodus of Christ. And you know these people knew a little bit of stuff about exodus events. They had been caught up in glory and been caught up in God's presence.

[28:52] And they had seen him. Both of them have what we refer to as mysterious departures from this earth because Moses died. He went up on a mountain and died and was buried and no one knows because God buried him. Elijah was carried up into heaven in the chariots of fire and he never died.

[29:05] And they were communicating with Christ concerning the exodus. I love the word exodus because exodus implies that some other people are going with him, right? It's not just a one person event because you have an exodus because you are the first to go through and you are leading other people and exactly what Christ accomplished at Jerusalem was an exodus event.

[29:23] And so Peter and James and John are hearing this and they're there and Peter, nobody knows what to say. James and John, they're content in silence. Peter is not and Peter says, it's good for us to be here. But notice what he says, Rabbi.

[29:35] Rabbi. Here's your first correction. He says, Rabbi. Now Peter is just the one where Jesus says, who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Remember what Peter said?

[29:47] You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Do you know what the word Rabbi means? Teacher. Moses was a teacher. Elijah is a teacher. So the first correction is he had to be corrected in his view of who Christ was.

[30:02] Is he a rabbi? Sure. But he's not just a rabbi among rabbis. Because what does the voice out of the cloud say? This is my son.

[30:13] This is my son. The second correction is equally important. He says, Rabbi, it's good for us to be here. Let us build three tabernacles. We don't want to leave here. We want to hang out here.

[30:27] Well, it's not a place. You don't stay in the mountaintops, right? The invitations are but for a moment. The self-revelations are for a moment. You don't stay there. So that needed to be corrected. We're not hanging out on the mountain forever for there's work to be done in the valley.

[30:38] And then here's the third correction. Let us build three. He put Christ on the equal field with Elijah and Moses. Moses was faithful.

[30:49] What does the book of Hebrews say? As a slave in the house of God and Christ is faithful as the son of the builder of the house. There's a big difference it says between a son and a slave.

[31:02] Elijah is the forerunner of the Messiah but he's not the Messiah. And so Peter because he's terrified says, well, let's just build three and everybody up here will just hang out and the cloud overshadows them and the cloud says, this is my son.

[31:17] Listen to him. And that word, by the way, what does Peter say in 2 Peter? We beheld his glory and heard the words spoken from the cloud.

[31:31] This is my son. It is correcting the perception of those who have drawn close to Christ. He's not just one among many.

[31:41] He is the one that they are to focus and to listen to. Which brings us to this fourth and final thing. There's an affirmation and invitation to correction and a realization.

[31:54] Something changes on that mountain. It's kind of subtle that we may not see it. When Peter professes Christ, Christ tells him you're right and flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father which art in heaven and he begins to tell his apostles that he is going to Jerusalem and when he's in Jerusalem he's going to be handed over to the religious leaders and they will persecute him and mock him and hand him over to the governmental authorities and they will crucify him and he'll die and Peter chastises him.

[32:20] Remember, Peter says, you're not going to die. I'm not going to let that happen. He says, get behind me Satan for you're not setting your mind on the things of God but the things of man. And the only thing Peter kept getting hung up on which not just Peter but it was all the others was that Jesus said something about dying and they just couldn't wrap their mind around it.

[32:35] If he is the Messiah, if he is the Christ, the Son of God, he's not supposed to die and they're just focusing on dying, the dying part of it, right? We have to do something about keeping him from dying but notice what happens when they come down from the mountain.

[32:49] And as they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man rose from the dead. Okay? But notice this, they seized upon that statement discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant.

[33:05] So now the focus is not on the reality that he's going to die. The focus is on the fact that he said he's going to be raised from the dead. It's the focus of the resurrection.

[33:16] No longer are they caught up in the suffering and death of the Savior. Those that have been up on the mountain are trying to figure out what the resurrection is all about. Now the death is important.

[33:28] We know that. It's the sacrificial atonement for the sin of mankind. But the death's importance is seen in the glory of the resurrection. It's the realization that the death is not the end.

[33:42] It is the resurrection on the other side. And they're focusing on this. And then they say, well, we've got some questions because what about Elijah? And what about what the prophets say of Elijah? And we know that when we read this, Matthew tells us that when he declares them Elijah did come, they understand he's speaking about John the Baptist coming in the power and spirit of Elijah.

[33:59] But Jesus even here realigns their focus because it says in verse 12, and he said to them, Elijah does first come and restore all things and yet how is it written? Notice what he's doing. He's transitioning here from focusing on Elijah to focusing on something else.

[34:14] And yet how is it written of the son of man that he will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? See, so many people are trying to figure out what about Elijah?

[34:24] What about John the Baptist? Who's all this? And what Jesus is doing here is saying, all of those are only understood in light of me. What about me? How is it written about the son of man?

[34:37] You're worried about does Elijah come, but how is it written of the son of man that he must suffer and be handed over to those who will kill him? The realization is this, from beginning to end, Christ is the all and be all of scripture.

[34:55] The secondary issues of what about Elijah's coming and what about Moses and what about all these others, it's all about Christ. It's all about Christ. He is the focus of the whole story.

[35:09] And what he has done is he has let them witness his majesty so that for the remainder of their lives, James dies very quickly, Peter dies, a martyr's death as well.

[35:20] John, they try to kill him and they can't. He ends up dying of old age later on. But for the rest of their lives, it's all about Christ. We don't see John in the book of Revelations going into a great discourse of Elijah and the reality of the Old Testament prophetic minister of Elijah and it's all about Christ.

[35:40] Why? Because they have seen his majesty and they've witnessed it face to face. Friend, when we witness the majesty of the Savior, the secondary issues begin to fall in place.

[35:51] That's the realization we have from the mountain. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for our time together. We thank you for the truth of scripture. We thank you for the challenges and the callings that it places upon us.

[36:04] I pray, Lord, that we would draw closer to you each and every day in all of our ways and all of our thoughts and all of our actions. We pray that if there be one here today who does not know you, that today would be the day of salvation.

[36:15] That you would bring them to self-disclosure of who you are, the Lord and Savior of their lives. And that you would draw them closer to you. Lord, be glorified in all that takes place and we ask it in Jesus' name.

[36:28] Amen. Amen. Thank you.