Lon Solomon Ministries
People Jesus Met Part 17
Hey, you know a while back, I ran into a lady that I knew here from McLean Bible Church, and her name was Becky, and she was with another lady who looked just like her, and this other lady, as soon as we met, said to me, she said, "You know, Lon, she said it's so good to see you again." She said, "We met once before at McLean Bible Church," and I said, "Yes, ma'am, you're Becky's mom, aren't you? I'm so glad to see you again." And she said, "Lon, I'm Becky's sister." And she said, "The last time we met at McLean Bible Church, you called me Becky's mom then, too." Oh, not good, not good at all. Really not my finest hour. Talk about sticking your foot in your mouth. Anyway, today we're going to look at an incident in the Bible where Peter does these exact same thing. During an encounter between the Lord Jesus Christ and two fellows, one named Moses and the other named Elijah, today we're going to continue in our series entitled People Jesus Met, and we're going to look at an event that is commonly called the Transfiguration. We're going to talk about, well, what happened 2,000 years ago, and then we're going to bring all of that forward and we're going to talk about, well, what difference does that make to you and me today? So here we go, Luke chapter 9 in the Bible, verse 28. The Bible says, "And eight days later, Jesus took Peter and John and James and went up to a mountain to pray." Now, this mountain traditionally is Mount Tabore, just south of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. And if you look very carefully, you can see a church up on the top of the mountain. This church is called the Church of the Transfiguration, and it commemorates this great event inside the church up on the ceiling is this amazing mosaic that shows the Lord Jesus being transfigured and that shows Moses and Elijah sitting on clouds to the side of him, and of course, Peter and James and John down below, it's a staggering, beautiful sight. Verse 29, "And while Jesus was praying, the appearance of His face was changed and His clothing became white and flashing like lightning." You say, "Hey, Lon, what was happening here?" Well, friends, what was happening is that Jesus was pulling back the curtain of His flesh and showing these three disciples His true divine nature, the glory that belonged to Him as the second person in the Godhead. Verse 30, "And behold, two men were there talking with Jesus, Moses and Elijah, who also appearing in splendor were speaking with Jesus regarding His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." The Bible says, "Suddenly, two other individuals appear on Mount Tabore, Moses and Elijah, also in glorious splendor." And the Bible says that they were having a most interesting conversation with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says they were talking to Him about His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. That is, they were talking to Him about His crucifixion. They were talking to Him about dying on the cross for the sins of mankind, which is something He was going to do in just a few months. Now friends, this is intriguing to me that the people in heaven were talking about the cross, that the people in heaven were focused on the cross. I mean, you would think people in heaven would have lots of other things to focus on, wouldn't you? But no, of all the things that might have commanded the attention of the inhabitants of heaven, their eyes were riveted on the cross. And what this tells us is how pivotal and how monumental the cross is in the eyes of Almighty God. It tells us how central the cross is in God's plan for the ages, and the Bible goes on to tell us why. Colossians chapter 1, verse 19, "Through Him," that is Jesus, "God was pleased to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace with us watch through the blood of His cross." Colossians 2, 13, "When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive in Christ, forgiving us for all our sins which He canceled," praise the Lord, "and took out of the way, having nailed them to the cross," Ephesians 2, 14, "for He Himself, Jesus is our peace who reconciled both Jews and Gentiles to God through the cross." My friends, the cross of Jesus Christ is the climactic event of human history. Without the cross, mankind's sickness is incurable. Without the cross, every hope of mankind, for peace, for healing, for mercy, for forgiveness, for reconciliation with God, for heaven, for eternal life, all of it can never come true without the cross. Which explains why the Apostle Paul said, Galatians 6, 14, "May I never boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and may that be true for us as well today." Amen? All right. There you go. Now, let's go on with the story. Verse 32, "Now Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep up on Mount Tabore, but when they woke up, they saw Jesus' glory and the two men who were standing with Him. When his Moses and Elijah were leaving, Peter said to Jesus. He said, "Master, it's good that we're here. Please let us make three tabernacles, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. But Peter did not realize the Bible says what he was saying." You say, "Well, on, I'm just curious, just curiosity. How did Peter know that this was Moses and Elijah?" I mean, Moses and Elijah had been gone from the earth for a thousand years each. I mean, certainly Peter had never met them personally. There weren't pictures of them hanging in the synagogues. We couldn't Google them on his iPhone. How in the world did he know that this was Moses and Elijah? Well, that's a good question. Some commentators have suggested that God, the Holy Spirit, fell on Peter and revealed it to Peter in some kind of a supernatural action, and of course, that's possible. However, and I think it's far more likely that when Peter first woke up before he ever opened his mouth, he listened and heard Jesus call them by name, Moses, Elijah, and he said to himself, "Aha, this is Moses and Elijah. Why don't we stick with the simpler answer here, huh?" Well, however, Peter knew it, and I don't know how he knew it. Once he figures that out, he immediately proceeds to enter the scene mouth first. Watch. He says, "Master, it's good we're here. Please let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." But the Bible says in saying this, Peter didn't realize what he was saying. You say, "Yeah, why does the Bible say that exactly?" Well, because by offering to build these three men, Jesus and Moses and Elijah, equivalent tabernacles, what Peter was doing was that he was placing the Lord Jesus on an equal footing on a par with Moses and Elijah, saying all three of them are great religious leaders, all three of them deserve the exact same kind of tabernacle. Now, we should mention that this is precisely how our world today wants us to see the Lord Jesus as a great religious leader who is simply co-equal with every other great religious leader, Muhammad and Buddha and Confucius and whoever. But folks, this is not at all how God sees the Lord Jesus, and Peter's about to find that out right now. Verse 34, "While Peter was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my son, my chosen one, the other gospels add in whom I am well pleased, listen to him.'" It's as though God the Father suddenly interjected himself into this scene and said, "Hey, Peter, my son is above Moses, my son is above Elijah, my son is above every being that has ever lived pay attention to him." When the voice had finished speaking, verse 36, Jesus was found alone, and the three disciples kept quiet and reported to no one at that time any of the things which they had seen. Now friends, God's declaration here on top of Mount Tabore that Jesus is a different being than every other being in the universe, that he is a higher being than any other being in the universe, that he is a superior being to any other being in the universe. This declaration, this truth is the central theme of the Bible, and nowhere is this truth explained to us more clearly than in Hebrews chapter 1. Look, Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, "In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, God has spoken to us through His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world." Verse 3, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of God's nature, and He upholds all things by the word of His power. When the Son had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of God on high, being much better than the angels, for to which of the angels did God ever say, Psalm 2, "You are my Son, today I have begotten thee." Now here in Hebrews chapter 1, the Bible tells us five things that make the Lord Jesus Christ superior to every other being in the universe, not just every human being in the universe, but every angelic being in the universe. Let me highlight for you what those five things are. Number 1, Jesus, according to Hebrews chapter 1, is superior to every being in the universe because first of all, Jesus owns the universe. This is what verse 2 says in Hebrews 1, it says, "God appointed Jesus the heir, the owner of all things." This is why Jesus said, Matthew 28, 19, all authority, not some, all authority has been given to me, both in heaven and here on earth. Now everybody here on earth right now doesn't recognize this authority, but you know what folks, when the Lord Jesus comes back, they will, they will. This is why Philippians 2, 10 says that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and the universe belongs to Him. Number 2, the second thing that makes Jesus superior to every other being is that number 2, Jesus made the universe and everything in it. Verse 2, Hebrews chapter 1, the Bible talking about Jesus said, "By whom also He, that is God, made the universe." Colossians chapter 1, verse 16, repeats this, "For by Him, Jesus Christ, all things were created. Things in heaven and things on earth, things visible and things invisible watch, all things were created by Him and for Him." You see my friends, Jesus owns the universe because Jesus made the universe. Number 3, what sets Jesus apart as superior to every other being in the universe? Number 3, well, He sustains the universe that He made. He upholds it. He causes it to stick together. Verse 3, Hebrews 1, says that He upholds all things by the word of His power. Colossians 1, 17 says, "In Him, Jesus Christ, all things hold together, every molecule, every atom, every meson and gluon and lepton and quark, all of them stick together." Why? Because of the sustaining power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of Christ that caused them to stick together every moment of every single day. Number 4, what sets Jesus apart as different from every other being in the universe? Well, Hebrews 1 says, number 4, it's because He's the revealer of God to man. Verse 3 of Hebrews 1 says, "He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of God's nature." Colossians 1, 15 says, "Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God." And you know, folks, when we stop and we understand what the Bible's saying here, it is positively staggering. The Bible is telling us here that in Jesus Christ, we have a portrait of God painted on a canvas that you and I can understand. You and I can't see God with our naked eyes. We can't touch God. We can't, you know, see God's heart. But friends, by observing Jesus Christ, we can know what God thinks and how God feels and where God stands on every issue in life. This is why Jesus said, John 14, 9, "He who has seen me has seen God the Father." Finally, number 5, what sets Christ apart from every other being ever in the universe? Number 5, because Jesus is the redeemer of mankind. Hebrews 1 verse 3 says, "When Jesus had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of God on high." You know, sin wreaked havoc on God's creation. It had caused the whole world to be put under a curse. It had caused every man and woman to be alienated and separated from God. Hey, in order to see his plan for mankind restored, in order to see his plan for creation restored, Jesus had to deal with sin. And you know what I love? I love the fact that Jesus didn't delegate this to somebody else. I love the fact he didn't say to some angel, to some seraph, to some cherub, "Hey, you go take care of the sin problem, will you?" No. Jesus came and did it himself, and you know why? Because Jesus handled it himself, because nobody else could handle it. God's justice demanded that there be a perfect, sinless, human, lamb, as the ultimate sacrifice for mankind's sin, and only Jesus Christ could satisfy these qualifications, which is why he came and he did it himself. And then, after he paid for our sins on the cross, the Bible says Hebrews 1, "He sat down at the right hand of God on high as proof that his sacrifice for sin had finished the job once and for all." Let's take a breath and let's summarize. What have we seen so far? Well we've seen that the Bible declares that Jesus Christ, number one, is the owner of the world, number two, he's the creator of the world, number three, he's the upholder of the world, number four, he's the revealer of God, the mankind, and best of all, number five, he is the redeemer of mankind who offers to anyone who will embrace him as their personal Savior. He offers that person a full and free pardon for sin. Is it any wonder then that up on Mount Tabore, God said to Peter, "This is my son who is superior to Moses, who is superior to Elijah, who is superior to the very angels themselves, Peter, you only need one tabernacle son built to the Lord Jesus Christ, listen to him." Now that's as far as we're going to go in our passage, because now it's time for us to ask our most important question. I want to hear all you guys on the internet and it loud and in the edge. I want you guys to be with us so nice and loud. Come on now, here we go, one, two, three. Yeah, you say, "Lawn, so what?" Say, "Woo, man, you are wound up today, you have too much caffeine or something, I don't know." But you know, God bless you up there, man, but what difference does any of this really make tomorrow morning when I go ride the Metro, tomorrow morning when I drive on the Beltway, I mean you dumped all the hay on the horses, but I'm not sure what practical value all this has, well it has a lot, let me tell you about it. Not too long ago I was having an appointment in my office with a Jewish gentleman and he said to me, he said, "You know, sometimes," he said, "I think all this stuff about Jesus being the Messiah just might be right." He said, "But then my mind begins to say, 'Well, but how do you know for sure this is not just some big fairy tale?' How do you know that it's not just a bunch of stories that somebody made up and they strung together? But none of it's really true that it's just a gimmick, that it's just a con. How do you know that? Well, I think that's a great question, don't you? And I think we better have an answer to that, don't you? And so the answer is, let's answer that, how do we know that Christianity isn't a hoax, that it isn't just some kind of first century religious gimmick that Peter and all of his buddies dreamed of? How do we know that? What proof can we give? Well, number one, we can give the proof of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which confirm both the integrity of the biblical text and also the legitimacy of Messianic prophecy, to what he mean by that, I mean it proves that all of those Messianic prophecies that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled, that they really were written centuries before he ever lived, that nobody went back and retrofitted or changed or tampered with the Old Testament. And I've told you before that a mathematician figured out for me that the probability of one person satisfying all 30 of those prophecies is one times 10 with a hundred zeroes after it. I'd say that's pretty decent proof. Number two, we've got the proof of archeology, which confirms again and again the historical accuracy of what those biblical texts say and the logic is, the Bible wasn't written for history or chronology, it was written to teach us how to get salvation, but if the Bible is right on subjects that are not even its main focus like history and chronology, it only makes a certain logical sense that it would certainly be right on the things it was written to defend. In fact, when we go to Israel and I show people case after case after case, where the archeologists have confirmed the Bible, we have a little mantra, we all say together as we travel around Israel that goes like this, the more they dig out of the ground, the more the Bible proves to be right, to be true. Third, how do we know Christianity isn't a hoax? Well, we've got the proof of changed lives. People who've simply accepted Christ the way the Bible says to accept Christ and suddenly they end up becoming transformed creatures, brand new people. They go through a metamorphosis that no psychiatrist can explain, that no sociologist can explain. It's a supernatural transformation and I'll offer you my life as proof of that and many of you could offer your life as proof of that, but I got a fourth proof for you and it flows out of what we've studied today and that is the proof that comes from human nature. You go, I'm not sure I got that one. Well listen, it's human nature, right, to go along with a con, with a hoax, as long as it's working, but as soon as it starts to go bad, it's human nature to do exactly what John Dean did of Watergate fame to roll and cut a deal, yeah? We understand this. We all watch law and order. We get this. We know. You said, "Well, Lana, I don't understand how this relates to the trustworthiness of the Bible." Oh, it does because in 66 AD, the Roman Emperor Nero arrested Peter, the very same Peter, you know, who was up on an amount to bore, the one we just looked at, and he offered Peter a deal. He said, "All right, Peter, here's the deal. Either number one, you deny that Jesus Christ is really God and you renounce the Christian faith and I'll let you live, or you continue to espouse that Jesus is God and the Christian faith is correct, and I'll kill you. That's your deal. Pick. What do you want to pick? Well, you know, let's be honest and say that Christianity up to this point had been good to Peter, huh? I mean, it had taken him from a poor fisherman and exalted him to a worldwide personality. I mean, because of Christianity, he had had the chance to travel and see the world. You know, it had been good to him, but you know, now looking at Emperor Nero straight in the face with his life on the line, "Hey, if all of this was a hoax, if all of this was a gimmick, if all of this was a con game, anybody in their right mind would have given it up right then and there at that moment and cut a deal." But the great church historian, Eusevius tells us that instead of doing this, Peter actually asked Nero to crucify him upside down because he did not consider himself worthy to be crucified in the same position as the Lord Jesus Christ, and of course, Nero was happy to oblige. Now friends think, Peter was in at the very inception of Christianity, right? Peter was in at the very beginning. If this was a hoax, if this was a sham, if this was a con, he of all people would have known it. So how do we explain the fact that Peter went to the cross upside down rather than deny it? I mean, do you really think Peter would have agreed to be crucified for a sham, for a con, for a hoax? I mean, this goes against every rule of human nature, something had happened to Peter that had convinced him beyond all doubt, that had convinced him to the point of death that Jesus Christ and the whole Christianity thing was not a hoax. And what was it that convinced him? Well, why don't we let Peter answer the question himself, shall we? Let Peter 1, verse 16, Peter writes, "For we did not follow cleverly devised fables. We didn't follow a hoax. This is not a con game. When we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty." Stop. Where were they eyewitnesses of His Majesty? Well, up on top of Mount Tabor, when He transfigured Himself in front of Him, right? Okay, now watch. Next verse, Peter says, "For He," that is the Lord Jesus, "received honor and glory from God the Father, when the voice came from God's majestic glory, saying, 'This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well,' please," this is what Peter heard on top of the mountain, verse 18, and we ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on that holy mountain. Here in 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter says, "Hey, you know what? I know the Christian faith is no hoax. I know that Christianity is not a cleverly devised fable. I know that Jesus Christ is who He said He is, because I was up on that mountain in Luke chapter 9, and I saw Him transfigured with my very own eyes, and I heard the voice of God coming from that cloud with my very own ears. So Nero, you know what? You do what you've got to do, son. You need to kill me, you kill me, but there is no way in the world. I'm going to recant Christianity. There is no way in the world. I'm going to deny that Jesus Christ is God. There is no way in the world that I'm going to confess that this is a hoax or a con game, because I know it's true with every ounce of my being. I stood on that mountain, and I saw it for myself, amen. Listen folks, there's a lot of people in the world that's going to let you down, and there are a lot of things in our world that are going to let you down, but Jesus Christ and the Bible are not one of them. What Peter saw up on Mount Tevore convinced him that he could trust Jesus Christ with his life, he could trust Jesus Christ with his death, he could trust Jesus Christ with his eternal destiny, and he was willing to die rather than deny it. You know, the same thing happened to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. He saw the living, risen Christ with his own eyes. He heard the voice of the living, risen Christ with his own ears, and he became convinced, just like Peter did, that this thing wasn't a hoax, that it wasn't a sham, that it was real, and you talk about a skeptic to begin with. Well, that was Paul, but he became so convinced that when Emperor Nero arrested him in the very same year, 66 AD and offered him the very same deal that he had offered Peter, either deny Christianity and live or stick with it and die. You know what the Apostle Paul did? The Apostle Paul said, Nero, you do what you need to do, and they cut his head off at the third mile post on the Austrian way, just outside Rome, where he's buried today. Why would Paul do this? Because he knew this is no hoax, this is the real thing. Now, friends, look, look here. These were men who saw Jesus Christ themselves with their own eyes. But I'm reminded of the words of the Lord Jesus when he said, John chapter 20 to Thomas, he said, "You have seen me, and you believed, hey, Thomas, blessed are those who have not seen me, and yet they still believe, hey, I got to tell you, I have never seen Jesus Christ with my physical eyes. I have never heard him speak to me with my physical ears, but I want you to know that I still believe with all of my heart that every single thing the Bible says about him is utterly true. And I believe it so deeply that if Emperor Nero were here today and said, Lon, I'll offer you the same deal I offered, Peter, and the same deal I offered, Paul, I'll tell you, I would choose the same thing they chose, why? Because this is no hoax, this is no sham, this is the real deal. And I'll tell you a big part of why I believe that. It's because I accept the eyewitness testimony of men and women who have seen Christ with their very own eyes, who had heard him with their very own ears, and who were willing to die rather than deny what they knew to be true. I accept that testimony, and you know what? I stand with that testimony. Friends listen, this is no hoax, this is no gimmick, this is no con. Jesus Christ is everything he claimed to be, and just like Peter, and just like Paul, you can trust him with your life, you can trust him with your death, you can trust him with your eternal destiny, and I promise you, if you do, when all the dust clears in eternity, you will be eternally glad that you did trust him with those things. I hope you can stand with me and say if Nero was here and offered me that deal, I do just what these men did, I am that convinced that this is real, let's pray together. Lord Jesus, you know we live in a world full of people who are anxious, in some cases who are obsessed with trying to undermine people's confidence in the Bible, undermine people's confidence in the Christian faith, Father I thank you for reassuring us today that this is no hoax, it's not a con game, it's not a gimmick, people gave their lives from the very beginning because they knew this was truth. And so Lord today, fortify our faith and deepen our confidence in the Bible and in the integrity of the Christian faith, because we came and sat under the teaching of the eternal word of God today and the spirit of God ministered to our spirit and communicated to us, this is real, and we know it so deeply that we'll give our life for it. Lord change our lives because we were here today and we pray these things in Jesus' name and God's people said amen. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]