The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Hymns: 126, 135, 37, 36
Matthew 17:1-9 — “To No One Tell the Vision until . . .”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today we observe the Festival of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. The appointed Gospel reading is Matthew 17:1-9:
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Introduction
Today is the observance of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. This event is one that the Lord brought to pass. It is entirely His doing. For what reason? Why is this important to us today? Is it merely an observance of an event in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, or is it something more? Does it actually have significance to us today beyond a historical and traditional recounting of this event? What does the Transfiguration of our Lord mean?
I. And after Six Days
Our text begins with St. Matthew telling us:
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Six days after what? To what is Matthew directing our attention? Does he mean for us to look back to the text that precedes this? Is there something there that is important in connection to this event of the Transfiguration? Is the sixth day important?
The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us the Holy Scriptures. He works through men but what stands written for us is the Holy Spirit’s property. The Holy Spirit does not make jokes. The Holy Spirit is not trivial in what He does. Everything in the Scriptures has significance in some way or another. Moreover, the Scriptures are consistent in what is declared.
Six days earlier, the Lord Jesus asked His disciples: “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” The disciples answered, saying, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked them: “But whom say ye that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:17-19)
This was not from flesh and blood but from the Father of Jesus, who is in heaven. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God! Upon this rock the Church of Jesus Christ is built. To Peter, on account of this confession that he blurted out as the confession of all of the disciples, Jesus gave the promise of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the keys by which people on earth are either bound or loosed in accord with what is decreed in heaven. Just as the knowledge and confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, is not from flesh and blood but from the Father in heaven, so also the authority to bind people to their sins and to loose them from their bondage is from the Father in heaven. Jesus asked whom the disciples say that Jesus is and St. Peter blurted it out without hesitation. This is how it is for those through whom God speaks. God puts it into the heart and it comes out through the mouth.
But God is not the only one at work in those whom He calls to confess Him to the world. There is another who comes and sows words in the hearts of men, too.
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matthew 16:21-23)
Just as the first was not applied to Peter alone, neither this statement. All of the disciples are included in this just as they were in the commendation that preceded this. Rejection of the cross comes from the devil and from our sinful hearts.
On the sixth day Jesus called apart three witnesses to go up the mountain with Him to witness the Transfiguration. Does the sixth day bring anything to mind? In six days God created the heavens and the earth. On the sixth day, God took the ground into His hands and formed man and breathed into him the breath of life. This Creator is the Word. Jesus did this.
What else is in connection with the sixth day? How about the crucifixion? It was Friday when Jesus was tortured, condemned, and executed as the world’s criminal. It was this day that Peter said would never be. It was this day that Peter faithlessly rebuked his Lord for proclaiming. Now, on the sixth day after the Lord called Peter back from his wayward false confession that the Lord brings Peter and two other witnesses to see the Transfiguration. Peter made two confessions six days earlier, one was from God and one was from men. His first confession, the one from heaven, is the power by which the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life are given. The second, the false confession, is the sinful rebellion of man that rejects the way of the cross as the power that makes the first confession possible. Now, on the sixth day, the Creator of all things walks up the mountain with His three disciples to show them the true confession in its fullness.
II. Lord, it Is Good for Us to Be Here
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Peter is very quick to state the obvious. “Yes, Peter, it is good that you all are here. That is why I brought you all with Me. But do you know why it is good for you to be here? Do you have any clue as to the reason that I brought you?” Jesus did not actually say these words, but they ring out loudly from what transpired. Certainly the disciples later heard these things from their own consciences, especially after the resurrection.
Jesus brought with Him three witnesses. Then He was transfigured before them and two more witnesses appeared, Moses and Elijah, the two Old Testament prophets who worked mighty miracles by God’s command. These two mighty witnesses of the Old Testament stood talking with Jesus. In Luke’s account we are told what they discussed.
And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. (Luke 9:30-31)
They came and talked with Jesus, for the disciples to hear, the very thing that Peter vehemently rejected six days earlier. They came and talked with Jesus about His death that He would accomplish at Jerusalem. Is this not powerful language? How many times is a person’s death spoken of as an accomplishment? Only once, in the everlasting preaching of Christ crucified. On that day, Jesus cried out once and for all, “It is finished!”
But Moses and Elijah were only two witnesses. The third was still to appear:
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
Three witnesses went up the mountain with Jesus. Three witnesses came down from heaven to testify concerning who Jesus is. Two Old Testament prophets were sent and then joined by the Father in heaven, to proclaim Jesus as the Word that must be heard. Moses and Elijah spoke specifically of the suffering and death of Jesus that would soon be accomplished. The Father appeared and spoke of the necessity not only to confess Jesus as the Son of the living God, but to listen to Him concerning the reason that He was born into the world, and concerning all things that He should tell us.
After this was accomplished, Jesus approached His terrified disciples and touched them and raised them up again to stand unafraid in His presence. No more bright appearance, only the comforting presence of Jesus in flesh and blood.
Did Jesus change? Was He not the same as the one who stood before them bright as the sun only moments earlier? No one can bear the fullness of God’s glory except through Jesus. In Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. (Colossians 2:9) Jesus is Immanuel, with us God. In His Communion we commune with almighty God and are not destroyed but rather we receive life. Today He comes to us in the same way, under the forms of bread and wine, making us to be partakers of His body and blood. He comes to us in these ways so that we may not be afraid, but rather, that we should give thanks as He pours out His blessings to us. He comes to us to comfort us and to strengthen us and to renew us.
III. To No One Tell the Vision until . . .
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
No matter how powerfully the Gospel is preached, no matter how clearly it is explained, apart from the resurrection it cannot be received and believed. The disciples did not understand until Jesus appeared to them and showed Himself alive. Even though the angel declared it at the empty tomb, it meant nothing until Jesus came to them in flesh and blood. St. Paul writes of this to the Corinthians:
But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.(1 Corinthians 15:13-18)
The resurrection of Christ from the dead is God’s ultimate testimony concerning the reality that He has declared us to be righteous in Christ. This is God’s testimony to the world that the Christ’s suffering and death are truly sufficient payment for the sin of the world. The resurrection of the body of Jesus is God’s declaration that in Christ He has reconciled the world so that through Baptism all the world is free to be brought into His communion once again. Jesus did not merely pay for the world’s sin. He took it. He destroyed its power. There remains only one cause for condemnation. God has forgiven all sin and now the only cause remaining for condemnation is unbelief.
Those who reject God’s declaration of forgiveness in Christ will surely be tormented everlastingly. People who trusted the bankers and now have lost their homes and their life’s savings feel the torment of their misjudgment. How much worse shall it be for those who at the last day learn that their sins were declared forgiven by God and that reunion with Him in everlasting peace and joy was theirs, except for the fact that they rejected that declaration for the declaration of the devil and his false prophets?
The bodily resurrection of Jesus is God’s seal placed upon the sacrificial suffering and death of Jesus as the full redemption price of all of mankind. The Church stands as the communion of the body of Christ. As the Holy Spirit works to bring us to the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, we are united with Christ both in His death and in His resurrection so that we are made to be dead to sin and alive in Christ. Those who for whatever reason do not receive this regeneration unto the life that is by faith remain dead in their sins, not because God has not forgiven them, but because they do not receive His forgiveness.
This is why Jesus charged the three witnesses: “To no one tell the vision until when the Son of Man out of the dead ones should have risen.” Apart from the resurrection this vision would be meaningless. First the redemption price had to be paid and the declaration of the forgiveness of the debt had to be declared. The resurrection is that declaration. Jesus took the sins of the world into His own body and died in our place of condemnation. He could not rise from the dead to live as our righteous brother and Lord unless our sin that He carried was destroyed and no longer counted against mankind. For sin is the cause of death. Jesus carried our sin and the death that it causes to the grave and God declared it to be removed as far as the east is from the west. The only thing left binding us to our sin is our rejection of this heavenly declaration.
This is why we continue to confess our sins, in order that God may remove all doubt for us through the words of absolution. Our doubt binds us again to our sins. To the Church Christ has given the keys of heaven so that we may proclaim this to the world. Our binding of people to their sins is simply an acknowledgment of their self-chosen bondage. Our loosing of people from their sins is simply the acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit’s work in generating faith in them so that they believe what God has declared to be theirs.
What is even more amazing is that this declaration was made for the saints of the Old Testament Church, before Jesus was born to suffer and die and rise from the dead. God’s declaration of forgiveness was made even to Adam and Eve and they rejoiced in hearing it so that Adam added to his wife the name of Eve. Now she was no longer merely Woman, which means of man, but now she was to be called Eve, which means Life. Adam listened to the voice of his wife and brought death to us all. But God came and condemned the serpent with the destruction that the woman’s seed would accomplish, and Adam and his wife received regeneration unto the life of God’s declaration of forgiveness. God declared it to be theirs. They heard it and faith was born in them and what was theirs by God’s declaration was apprehended by the faith that now lived in them. It works the same for us today. The only difference is that they preached and believed of the resurrection that was promised, while we preach and believe the resurrection that Christ has accomplished.
Conclusion
Six days after Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God without believing in the preaching of Christ crucified, on the sixth day he and James and John heard it preached to them with such power and glory that they could not deny it. It would not make sense to them until after Jesus should rise from the dead, but the miracle of faith was already born in them. They waited as the Lord Jesus charged them. They waited to tell the vision until after Jesus rose from the dead. At that time other witnesses came forth as well. Matthew tells us that the bodies of many saints that slept arose with the earthquake that occurred when Jesus died, and that these saints came into Jerusalem after Jesus rose from the dead, and they appeared unto many. (Matthew 27)
Six days after the confession of Peter of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus and His three witnesses went up the mountain. There Jesus was transfigured before them and Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Jesus about His suffering and death. The Father also appeared and testified concerning Jesus as His beloved Son whom the disciples should hear and believe. Three witnesses to observe and three to testify, with Jesus standing between them. Six witnesses gathered on the sixth day with Jesus in the middle. It was all about Jesus and the mighty work that He was about to fulfill on the sixth day. On the seventh day the Creator would rest from all of His work of recreation. On the eighth day He would rise to continue again, working to bring His work to all the world through the administration of the means of grace in His Church. This work has been carried to you and to me and we have received it. Is this not a glorious transfiguration for us to behold? Has Jesus not been gloriously transfigured in our lives just as He was for the disciples, and even more so? Truly we have cause for great rejoicing and thanksgiving! Truly we are empowered to speak of this to anyone and everyone! Most especially, we shall come to His distribution of His body and blood where we proclaim His death till He comes. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus forever. Amen.
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Hymns: 126, 135, 37, 36
The Introit (Ps.84:1-2a)
P: The lightnings lightened the world:C: the earth trembled and shook.
P: How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts:
C: my soul longeth, yea, even faintest for the courts of the Lord.
The Collect
O God, who in the glorious transfiguration of Thine only-begotten Son has confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers, and who, in the voice that came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful manner foreshow the adoption of sons, mercifully vouchsafe to make us coheirs with the King of His glory and bring us to the enjoyment of the same; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, and reigneth, ever one God, world without end.
The First Lesson Isaiah 61:10-11
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
The Gradual (Ps.110:1; 96:2,3)
P: Thou art fairer than the children of men:C: grace is poured into Thy lips.
P: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand:
C: until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
P: Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day:
C: Declare His glory among all people. Hallelujah!
The Epistle 2 Peter 1:16-21
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Gospel St. Matthew 17:1-9
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
Matthew 17:1-9 — “To No One Tell the Vision until . . .”
Introduction
I. And after Six Days
II. Lord, it Is Good for Us to Be Here
III. To No One Tell the Vision until . . .
Conclusion
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