46. Luke 9 v27 36
THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 46. The God of Glory on A Cross Luke 9:28-36 As we pick up in our study of Luke’s Gospel we find Jesus with the 12 apostles in Caesarea Philippi. Like everything in His life and mission Jesus was super intentional about that trip. That geographical location was infamous as a center of gentile culture and pagan idolatry. Jesus knew that Jews would have been reluctant to venture into that area — leaving Him a window of uninterrupted alone time with the 12 that was necessary for the things He wanted to teach them. It was there at the massive granite base of Mount Hermon that Jesus revealed to them His identity. He made it clear that He was the promised and long awaited Messiah of Israel — the True King; the Real King, who would conquer evil, do away with injustice and make everything right. Then Jesus revealed to them the way He was going to accomplish His messianic mission. He said that He must suffer many things, must be rejected and must be killed! Jesus made it clear that He is a king like no other! He made it clear that He is the King on a Cross! That left them totally unhinged! How could the Messiah possibly defeat evil by being killed? How could the Messiah put end to injustice by being unjustly condemned and executed! Then Jesus shifted from the nature of His identity and mission — and with no room for negotiation — the True King started to define the identity of the disciple and define the terms/the cost of being a follower of the True King.
Luke 9:23-25 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? We spent 2 Sundays walking around in those words that define the disciple as a person whose life is an absolute contradiction to life as fallen culture defines life — whose value system is an absolute contradiction to the value system of fallen culture. One of the big observations for us is how Jesus didn’t lay out the identity and terms of following Him until He laid out His identity and His mission! The identity and mission of Jesus is the only thing that lends sense to the identity of the disciple. It’s also the only thing that justifies the cost of being a disciple. Beginning in Verse 28 Jesus shifts the subject matter again. He shifts from the subject of suffering to the subject of glory!
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Luke 9:27-36 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” FIRST — These words of Jesus are also found in Matthew’s account (Matthew 16) and in Mark’s account (Mark 9). SECOND — WHAT does Jesus mean by this? QUOTE: Dr. John Walvoord — If the plain sense makes sense, make no other sense of it. The plain sense of it would be that some of them would never die until Jesus returned to the earth at the end of the Great Tribulation. The fact that all of the 12 died in the 1st Century A.D. eliminates that possible interpretation. So there is another sense to those words. The ONLY way to interpret Luke 9:27 is by seeing that it’s connected to the very next event in the life of Jesus. In Matthew’s, Mark’s and Luke’s account the perplexing promise is immediately followed by the account of what is known as the “Transfiguration of Jesus”. The “Transfiguration of Jesus” was the fulfillment of that perplexing promise. It was a miniature preview of the Second Coming of Jesus to establish His Kingdom — a miniature preview of the glory that will be revealed to the world when He comes to reign. Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 28
Mark wrote that the event occurred after six days (Mark 9:2). The apparent contradiction is resolved if you consider that Mark could speaking of the days between the teaching of Jesus and the Transfiguration while Luke included the day that Jesus taught the content of verses 19-27 as well as counting the day on which the transfiguration took place. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 29
WOW! his face was altered — his clothing became dazzling white. Here’s how Matthew and Mark described the appearance of Jesus at the moment of His Transfiguration.
Matthew 17:2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 2
Mark 9:2-3 NIV There he was transfigured before them. 3His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. THIS MOMENT had a lasting impression on these men.
John 1:14 NLT So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.
2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Matthew said that Jesus was transfigured before them. The word translated transfigured gives us our English word “metamorphosis.” A metamorphosis is a change on the outside that comes from the inside. QUOTE: J. Dwight Pentecost — Jesus was “transfigured,” NOT by means of an EXTERNAL light focused on Him so that He reflected the glory of God. Rather, this was the OUTSHINING of the ESSENTIAL GLORY that belongs to Jesus Christ. The brilliant glory didn't come down — it comes out from Jesus. The brilliant glory didn't flash down like lightening from the sky. The brilliant glory shined forth from Jesus. Jesus is the source of it. The eyewitnesses tell us that from the body of Jesus this super brilliant glorious light shined forth in a sustained way. Jesus was the source of that brilliant glory. These three men — Peter, James and John — were eyewitnesses to the only moment in the earthly ministry of Jesus when Jesus allowed the glory of His divinity to shine through the veil of His humanity! The apostle John began His account of the life and mission of Jesus with perhaps the most profound 18 verses in all of Scripture. The whole of John’s account of the life and mission of Jesus is tethered to those 18 verses. In that prologue John reaches back into eternity to tell us that Jesus is the pre-existent God of glory — the creator of all things — the source of life itself.
John 1:1-4a In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4In him was life, 3
Then John paints a word picture that is the backstory of what happened here in Luke 9. That word picture is tied to something Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:1 where by inspiration of the Holy Spirit he refers to our bodies as tents. As John reaches the climax of his prologue he says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The phrase, dwelt among us, literally means — pitched His tent among us. That is so mind-blowing. The Old Testament points to and anticipates the Word becoming flesh and pitching His tent among us. We find it in picture form in the real history of Israel. In the book of Exodus we have the story of how God delivered the descendants of Abraham from slavery and death in Egypt to a new life in the land He had promised to Abraham. Along the way God commanded Moses to build a tent — and He commanded Moses to pitch that tent right in the middle of the nation whenever they stopped to. Every tent was to face that tent. But here’s the deal about that tent: Lots of people dwelled in tents on that journey. Abraham, the father of their nation, lived in a tent. The tent Moses made was made of common materials; materials that were portable and suitable for life in a harsh environment. It was nothing glorious to look at. You would look at that tent from the outside and you wouldn’t be impressed by it. No glitter! No flash! No glamour! No outlandish fashion for sake of an identity. There was no big flashing high resolution digital billboard outside of that said, “The God of Glory Who Redeemed You Lives Here!” But that tent that was outwardly so humble is where God and man met.
Exodus 25:22 There I will meet with you, When the priests entered the Tabernacle — they would first step into what was called the holy place. In front of them was a massive curtain made of one piece of material — and on the other side of that curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies. Only one priest — the high priest — could enter the Holy of holies. And that was only on one day in the year (Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement). There were no windows and no lamp stands in the Holy of Holies because there was no need. It glowed with the visible presence of God – the Glory of God! That glow was known as the Shekinah Glory of God. The Glory of God was veiled in a tent. That tent was a significant piece in the story of our Rescue that began in Genesis 3. From Genesis 3 forward the Old Testament was pointing to and anticipating the time when God Himself would come to rescue us from our great
4
enemies of sin and death! That tent in the book of Exodus was a picture of the Incarnation. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that the pre-existent God of Glory pitched His tent in our fallen world. The glory of His divinity was veiled in the tent of His humanity. A teenage Jewish woman gave birth to a little boy in a back alley in the town of Bethlehem, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid her little boy in a dirty stone feeding trough. But wrapped up in that little infant was the God of glory! The Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us. The God of Glory had become man. His majestic glory (and I love that term – it’s the term Peter used to describe the glory that shined from Jesus here in Luke 9) — His majestic glory was now veiled in the tent of His humanity. He had a mother, He had to learn to walk and read and write. If you saw Jesus, He looked absolutely normal.
Isaiah 53:2 he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. The God of glory laid aside the expression of His glory — veiled His glory in the tent of His humanity so He to be with us — “Emmanuel”. He never surrendered His divinity — Check out this translation of John 1:14
John 1:14 And the Word, entering a new mode of existence, became flesh, and lived in a tent [His physical body] among us.1 (Kenneth Wuest’s expanded translation of the New Testament)
The incarnation is an act of infinite condescension! The God of glory took on a new mode of existence — He dove into this mess called humanity! The Tabernacle was the dwelling place of God among men in the Old Testament — and the Glory dwelt there. Jesus Christ is the dwelling of God among men. In the tent of His humanity Jesus had friends. He was happy. He was sad. He got hungry. He got tired. God incarnate even had to go to the bathroom. His glory was truly veiled! WHY? WHY this act of infinite condescension? WHY would the God of Glory veil His glory in a human tent? Because He wanted to be with fallen man. He wanted to be with us in our suffering. He wanted to be with us in our brokenness. Wuest, K. S. (1961). The New Testament: an expanded translation (Jn 1:14). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 1
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Jesus went to funerals. He wanted to be with us in our moments of joy in this broken world. One of the first things Jesus did in His public ministry was go to a wedding. He veiled His glory in the tent of His humanity so He might be with us to heal broken lives, give sight to the blind, enable the lame to walk, heal diseases, even raise the dead — and in each of those moments give a preview of a coming day when there will be no more sorrow, no more tears, no more sickness, no more death. All of those moments were a sneak preview of the day when mankind will once again with the God of Glory — just like he walked with God in the Garden.
Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” When Peter James and John saw Jesus shine like the sun — they were, for a moment, seeing the glory of the Kingdom! They were given a sneak preview of the day when the glory of Jesus will no longer be veiled.
Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. They were seeing the glory man was made for! They were seeing the glory we fell from! We were made to walk with the God of glory. But every one of us have chosen to put ourselves in the place of God. Our sin separates us from Him. We have chosen to set up our own kingdom and live for our own glory. We have tried to find glory in created things rather than the creator. We are utterly — and incomprehensibly lost — with no means or hope of saving ourselves from the catastrophe of sin! QUOTE: John Lennox — So serious is that moral infection that the business of restoring men and women to fellowship with their Creator will involve something much bigger than creation itself: Our rescue would require nothing less than God Himself doing the saving. THAT is why God entered a new mode of existence — veiled His glory in the tent of His humanity. The two men that appeared with Jesus, and their conversation with Jesus, explain this very thing.
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And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 30
Just a few days earlier Jesus revealed to the 12 that He is the Messiah — the True King — the Son of the living God. Jesus told them that He was going to be taken by force, handed over to the gentiles and put to death. Peter was unhinged by that! He actually took Jesus aside and rebuked Jesus for even thinking such a thing! Peter said that they needed to do everything within their power to prevent that from happening. Peter James and John were the most influential men among the apostles. They would become pillars of the early church. So Jesus took them to see the truth about His glory and His Kingdom! Moses and Elijah show up in the glory that was shining forth from Jesus. They have a conversation with Jesus — not about His glory that is shining through the veil of His humanity; they spoke with Jesus about the very things Peter said should never happen to Jesus. The ESV says that they spoke of his departure which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. The King James says they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. The word used by Luke that we read as departure / decease in our English Bible is the word EXODOS. That word means “outgoing.” The book of Exodus is the story of the outgoing — Moses was sent by God to lead the Israelites out of slavery and death in Egypt. Here in Luke 9 Moses, the man of the Old Testament Exodus, is speaking with Jesus about another exodus — another outgoing. Moses led the children out of slavery and death in Egypt. But there was a greater exodus that was necessary: the deliverance from sin and death and the grave. Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about the exodus that Jesus would accomplish in a few months — how Jesus was would set us free from the bondage and penalty of sin, and bondage to Satan. THIS IS MASSIVE! As the glory of His divinity was shining through the veil of His humanity, Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus about His death on the cross. THE GOSPEL IS SO AMAZING! The Gospel has its beginnings with God in glory (in the beginning was the Word). God moved from glory to meet and redeem inglorious rebels! He left His throne in glory — joined us in our humanity — veiled His glory in the tent of His humanity — so He could offer Himself as the wrath appeasing sacrifice for every act of treason against God! That’s what sin is! That’s what Idolatry is. It is (as D.A. Carson puts it) the “de-godding of God.” 7
Verse 31 KJV — they spoke of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. The God of glory pitched His tent among us for a reason! His suffering and death would not be an accident, it was going to be an accomplishment. Jesus wanted these men to witness the glory of His divinity shine through the veil of His humanity while He speaking about His DEATH. Jesus was showing these men (especially Peter) the glory of the cross! Peter had opposed Jesus going to Jerusalem to die. How could the glorious Messiah suffer and die? How could the Messiah establish his glorious kingdom by being rejected, by being killed? Jesus had to teach Peter that apart from His suffering and death there could be no glory. The very thing that Peter wanted Jesus to by-pass is the only way to our eternal Glory! THE CROSS is the REASON Jesus laid aside His glory.
Philippians 2:7-8 YLT but did empty himself, the form of a servant having taken, in the likeness of men having been made, {8} and in fashion having been found as a man, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death -- death even of a cross,
2 Corinthians 8:9 NLT You know how full of love and kindness our Lord Jesus Christ was. Though he was very rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. Without this VEILING of His glory in the tent of His humanity there could be NO CROSS. If there is no cross, there can be no redemption for you and me. In His INFINITE LOVE for YOU Jesus chose to HUMBLE Himself and veil His glory in a human body — so He could suffer and die on the cross in our place, for our sins. THE GOD OF GLORY ON A CROSS! That is our only way to be saved! There is no other way for sinners to be saved! We are all sinners — but there is only ONE SAVIOR — Jesus, the God of Glory on a cross! THE GOD OF GLORY ON A CROSS is what captures the heart of the rebel! It is what moves a man or woman to walk away from their inglorious kingdoms!
1 John 4:19 NKJV We love Him because He first loved us.
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Galatians 6:14 NLT As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world's interest in me is also long dead.
2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them. THE GOD OF GLORY ON THE CROSS is what makes the Gospel glorious!
1 Timothy 1:11 ….the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I want you to think about this — it is something that should leave us undone. There was a time in the life of Moses that Moses said, “Please show me your glory! I want to see your perfection! I want to see your infinite greatness and unimaginable beauty.” Here’s what God said —
Exodus 33:20 “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” Every place in the Old Testament where the shekinah glory cloud appeared, contact with it resulted in death. God couldn’t show up to rescue us without veiling His glory. God humbled Himself and veiled His glory so He could rescue us and return us to glory! CLOSE The Transfiguration of Jesus destroys any middle ground concerning Jesus. A lot of people think Jesus is a good teacher — a man who more than others had a lot of God-consciousness. They think that Jesus lived a life to be admired — a life to be imitated! Jesus is worthy of more than our admiration — worthy of more than our imitation. The Transfiguration blows all that up. Jesus doesn’t merely point to the God of glory — point to the glory of God. Jesus is the God of glory who came into human flesh. For those who question God — think He is indifferent to our suffering; the Transfiguration of Jesus tells us that He in infinitely removed from being indifferent to our suffering and our plight in a broken world. He veiled the expression of His glory so He could be with us in it!
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For those who question God — wonder if he cares; wonder if He loves us; the Transfiguration of Jesus tells us that His love for us is beyond comprehension! In an act of infinite condescension, He stooped to rescue us. His care for YOU is so great that He laid aside His right to express the glorious perfection of His nature, veiled His majestic glory in the tent of human flesh to rescue US — the very ones who wanted our own glory more than His — the very ones who ascribed ultimate glory to the created things that were intended to point us to the only true glory — the God of glory.
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Luke 9:23-25 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? We spent 2 Sundays walking around in those words that define the disciple as a person whose life is an absolute contradiction to life as fallen culture defines life — whose value system is an absolute contradiction to the value system of fallen culture. One of the big observations for us is how Jesus didn’t lay out the identity and terms of following Him until He laid out His identity and His mission! The identity and mission of Jesus is the only thing that lends sense to the identity of the disciple. It’s also the only thing that justifies the cost of being a disciple. Beginning in Verse 28 Jesus shifts the subject matter again. He shifts from the subject of suffering to the subject of glory!
1
Luke 9:27-36 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” FIRST — These words of Jesus are also found in Matthew’s account (Matthew 16) and in Mark’s account (Mark 9). SECOND — WHAT does Jesus mean by this? QUOTE: Dr. John Walvoord — If the plain sense makes sense, make no other sense of it. The plain sense of it would be that some of them would never die until Jesus returned to the earth at the end of the Great Tribulation. The fact that all of the 12 died in the 1st Century A.D. eliminates that possible interpretation. So there is another sense to those words. The ONLY way to interpret Luke 9:27 is by seeing that it’s connected to the very next event in the life of Jesus. In Matthew’s, Mark’s and Luke’s account the perplexing promise is immediately followed by the account of what is known as the “Transfiguration of Jesus”. The “Transfiguration of Jesus” was the fulfillment of that perplexing promise. It was a miniature preview of the Second Coming of Jesus to establish His Kingdom — a miniature preview of the glory that will be revealed to the world when He comes to reign. Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 28
Mark wrote that the event occurred after six days (Mark 9:2). The apparent contradiction is resolved if you consider that Mark could speaking of the days between the teaching of Jesus and the Transfiguration while Luke included the day that Jesus taught the content of verses 19-27 as well as counting the day on which the transfiguration took place. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 29
WOW! his face was altered — his clothing became dazzling white. Here’s how Matthew and Mark described the appearance of Jesus at the moment of His Transfiguration.
Matthew 17:2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 2
Mark 9:2-3 NIV There he was transfigured before them. 3His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. THIS MOMENT had a lasting impression on these men.
John 1:14 NLT So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.
2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Matthew said that Jesus was transfigured before them. The word translated transfigured gives us our English word “metamorphosis.” A metamorphosis is a change on the outside that comes from the inside. QUOTE: J. Dwight Pentecost — Jesus was “transfigured,” NOT by means of an EXTERNAL light focused on Him so that He reflected the glory of God. Rather, this was the OUTSHINING of the ESSENTIAL GLORY that belongs to Jesus Christ. The brilliant glory didn't come down — it comes out from Jesus. The brilliant glory didn't flash down like lightening from the sky. The brilliant glory shined forth from Jesus. Jesus is the source of it. The eyewitnesses tell us that from the body of Jesus this super brilliant glorious light shined forth in a sustained way. Jesus was the source of that brilliant glory. These three men — Peter, James and John — were eyewitnesses to the only moment in the earthly ministry of Jesus when Jesus allowed the glory of His divinity to shine through the veil of His humanity! The apostle John began His account of the life and mission of Jesus with perhaps the most profound 18 verses in all of Scripture. The whole of John’s account of the life and mission of Jesus is tethered to those 18 verses. In that prologue John reaches back into eternity to tell us that Jesus is the pre-existent God of glory — the creator of all things — the source of life itself.
John 1:1-4a In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4In him was life, 3
Then John paints a word picture that is the backstory of what happened here in Luke 9. That word picture is tied to something Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:1 where by inspiration of the Holy Spirit he refers to our bodies as tents. As John reaches the climax of his prologue he says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The phrase, dwelt among us, literally means — pitched His tent among us. That is so mind-blowing. The Old Testament points to and anticipates the Word becoming flesh and pitching His tent among us. We find it in picture form in the real history of Israel. In the book of Exodus we have the story of how God delivered the descendants of Abraham from slavery and death in Egypt to a new life in the land He had promised to Abraham. Along the way God commanded Moses to build a tent — and He commanded Moses to pitch that tent right in the middle of the nation whenever they stopped to. Every tent was to face that tent. But here’s the deal about that tent: Lots of people dwelled in tents on that journey. Abraham, the father of their nation, lived in a tent. The tent Moses made was made of common materials; materials that were portable and suitable for life in a harsh environment. It was nothing glorious to look at. You would look at that tent from the outside and you wouldn’t be impressed by it. No glitter! No flash! No glamour! No outlandish fashion for sake of an identity. There was no big flashing high resolution digital billboard outside of that said, “The God of Glory Who Redeemed You Lives Here!” But that tent that was outwardly so humble is where God and man met.
Exodus 25:22 There I will meet with you, When the priests entered the Tabernacle — they would first step into what was called the holy place. In front of them was a massive curtain made of one piece of material — and on the other side of that curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies. Only one priest — the high priest — could enter the Holy of holies. And that was only on one day in the year (Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement). There were no windows and no lamp stands in the Holy of Holies because there was no need. It glowed with the visible presence of God – the Glory of God! That glow was known as the Shekinah Glory of God. The Glory of God was veiled in a tent. That tent was a significant piece in the story of our Rescue that began in Genesis 3. From Genesis 3 forward the Old Testament was pointing to and anticipating the time when God Himself would come to rescue us from our great
4
enemies of sin and death! That tent in the book of Exodus was a picture of the Incarnation. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that the pre-existent God of Glory pitched His tent in our fallen world. The glory of His divinity was veiled in the tent of His humanity. A teenage Jewish woman gave birth to a little boy in a back alley in the town of Bethlehem, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid her little boy in a dirty stone feeding trough. But wrapped up in that little infant was the God of glory! The Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us. The God of Glory had become man. His majestic glory (and I love that term – it’s the term Peter used to describe the glory that shined from Jesus here in Luke 9) — His majestic glory was now veiled in the tent of His humanity. He had a mother, He had to learn to walk and read and write. If you saw Jesus, He looked absolutely normal.
Isaiah 53:2 he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. The God of glory laid aside the expression of His glory — veiled His glory in the tent of His humanity so He to be with us — “Emmanuel”. He never surrendered His divinity — Check out this translation of John 1:14
John 1:14 And the Word, entering a new mode of existence, became flesh, and lived in a tent [His physical body] among us.1 (Kenneth Wuest’s expanded translation of the New Testament)
The incarnation is an act of infinite condescension! The God of glory took on a new mode of existence — He dove into this mess called humanity! The Tabernacle was the dwelling place of God among men in the Old Testament — and the Glory dwelt there. Jesus Christ is the dwelling of God among men. In the tent of His humanity Jesus had friends. He was happy. He was sad. He got hungry. He got tired. God incarnate even had to go to the bathroom. His glory was truly veiled! WHY? WHY this act of infinite condescension? WHY would the God of Glory veil His glory in a human tent? Because He wanted to be with fallen man. He wanted to be with us in our suffering. He wanted to be with us in our brokenness. Wuest, K. S. (1961). The New Testament: an expanded translation (Jn 1:14). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 1
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Jesus went to funerals. He wanted to be with us in our moments of joy in this broken world. One of the first things Jesus did in His public ministry was go to a wedding. He veiled His glory in the tent of His humanity so He might be with us to heal broken lives, give sight to the blind, enable the lame to walk, heal diseases, even raise the dead — and in each of those moments give a preview of a coming day when there will be no more sorrow, no more tears, no more sickness, no more death. All of those moments were a sneak preview of the day when mankind will once again with the God of Glory — just like he walked with God in the Garden.
Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” When Peter James and John saw Jesus shine like the sun — they were, for a moment, seeing the glory of the Kingdom! They were given a sneak preview of the day when the glory of Jesus will no longer be veiled.
Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. They were seeing the glory man was made for! They were seeing the glory we fell from! We were made to walk with the God of glory. But every one of us have chosen to put ourselves in the place of God. Our sin separates us from Him. We have chosen to set up our own kingdom and live for our own glory. We have tried to find glory in created things rather than the creator. We are utterly — and incomprehensibly lost — with no means or hope of saving ourselves from the catastrophe of sin! QUOTE: John Lennox — So serious is that moral infection that the business of restoring men and women to fellowship with their Creator will involve something much bigger than creation itself: Our rescue would require nothing less than God Himself doing the saving. THAT is why God entered a new mode of existence — veiled His glory in the tent of His humanity. The two men that appeared with Jesus, and their conversation with Jesus, explain this very thing.
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And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 30
Just a few days earlier Jesus revealed to the 12 that He is the Messiah — the True King — the Son of the living God. Jesus told them that He was going to be taken by force, handed over to the gentiles and put to death. Peter was unhinged by that! He actually took Jesus aside and rebuked Jesus for even thinking such a thing! Peter said that they needed to do everything within their power to prevent that from happening. Peter James and John were the most influential men among the apostles. They would become pillars of the early church. So Jesus took them to see the truth about His glory and His Kingdom! Moses and Elijah show up in the glory that was shining forth from Jesus. They have a conversation with Jesus — not about His glory that is shining through the veil of His humanity; they spoke with Jesus about the very things Peter said should never happen to Jesus. The ESV says that they spoke of his departure which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. The King James says they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. The word used by Luke that we read as departure / decease in our English Bible is the word EXODOS. That word means “outgoing.” The book of Exodus is the story of the outgoing — Moses was sent by God to lead the Israelites out of slavery and death in Egypt. Here in Luke 9 Moses, the man of the Old Testament Exodus, is speaking with Jesus about another exodus — another outgoing. Moses led the children out of slavery and death in Egypt. But there was a greater exodus that was necessary: the deliverance from sin and death and the grave. Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about the exodus that Jesus would accomplish in a few months — how Jesus was would set us free from the bondage and penalty of sin, and bondage to Satan. THIS IS MASSIVE! As the glory of His divinity was shining through the veil of His humanity, Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus about His death on the cross. THE GOSPEL IS SO AMAZING! The Gospel has its beginnings with God in glory (in the beginning was the Word). God moved from glory to meet and redeem inglorious rebels! He left His throne in glory — joined us in our humanity — veiled His glory in the tent of His humanity — so He could offer Himself as the wrath appeasing sacrifice for every act of treason against God! That’s what sin is! That’s what Idolatry is. It is (as D.A. Carson puts it) the “de-godding of God.” 7
Verse 31 KJV — they spoke of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. The God of glory pitched His tent among us for a reason! His suffering and death would not be an accident, it was going to be an accomplishment. Jesus wanted these men to witness the glory of His divinity shine through the veil of His humanity while He speaking about His DEATH. Jesus was showing these men (especially Peter) the glory of the cross! Peter had opposed Jesus going to Jerusalem to die. How could the glorious Messiah suffer and die? How could the Messiah establish his glorious kingdom by being rejected, by being killed? Jesus had to teach Peter that apart from His suffering and death there could be no glory. The very thing that Peter wanted Jesus to by-pass is the only way to our eternal Glory! THE CROSS is the REASON Jesus laid aside His glory.
Philippians 2:7-8 YLT but did empty himself, the form of a servant having taken, in the likeness of men having been made, {8} and in fashion having been found as a man, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death -- death even of a cross,
2 Corinthians 8:9 NLT You know how full of love and kindness our Lord Jesus Christ was. Though he was very rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. Without this VEILING of His glory in the tent of His humanity there could be NO CROSS. If there is no cross, there can be no redemption for you and me. In His INFINITE LOVE for YOU Jesus chose to HUMBLE Himself and veil His glory in a human body — so He could suffer and die on the cross in our place, for our sins. THE GOD OF GLORY ON A CROSS! That is our only way to be saved! There is no other way for sinners to be saved! We are all sinners — but there is only ONE SAVIOR — Jesus, the God of Glory on a cross! THE GOD OF GLORY ON A CROSS is what captures the heart of the rebel! It is what moves a man or woman to walk away from their inglorious kingdoms!
1 John 4:19 NKJV We love Him because He first loved us.
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Galatians 6:14 NLT As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world's interest in me is also long dead.
2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them. THE GOD OF GLORY ON THE CROSS is what makes the Gospel glorious!
1 Timothy 1:11 ….the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I want you to think about this — it is something that should leave us undone. There was a time in the life of Moses that Moses said, “Please show me your glory! I want to see your perfection! I want to see your infinite greatness and unimaginable beauty.” Here’s what God said —
Exodus 33:20 “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” Every place in the Old Testament where the shekinah glory cloud appeared, contact with it resulted in death. God couldn’t show up to rescue us without veiling His glory. God humbled Himself and veiled His glory so He could rescue us and return us to glory! CLOSE The Transfiguration of Jesus destroys any middle ground concerning Jesus. A lot of people think Jesus is a good teacher — a man who more than others had a lot of God-consciousness. They think that Jesus lived a life to be admired — a life to be imitated! Jesus is worthy of more than our admiration — worthy of more than our imitation. The Transfiguration blows all that up. Jesus doesn’t merely point to the God of glory — point to the glory of God. Jesus is the God of glory who came into human flesh. For those who question God — think He is indifferent to our suffering; the Transfiguration of Jesus tells us that He in infinitely removed from being indifferent to our suffering and our plight in a broken world. He veiled the expression of His glory so He could be with us in it!
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For those who question God — wonder if he cares; wonder if He loves us; the Transfiguration of Jesus tells us that His love for us is beyond comprehension! In an act of infinite condescension, He stooped to rescue us. His care for YOU is so great that He laid aside His right to express the glorious perfection of His nature, veiled His majestic glory in the tent of human flesh to rescue US — the very ones who wanted our own glory more than His — the very ones who ascribed ultimate glory to the created things that were intended to point us to the only true glory — the God of glory.
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