In the name of Christ Jesus, dear fellow redeemed people of God,

Every year we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday just before the Lenten season. Lent is not only a season of repentance, it is a season when we review and remember the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. During the season of Lent, and particularly in holy week, Jesus will appear to be weak and helpless. That new movie, "The Passion," opens this week, and it is likewise about our Savior's suffering and death. But before all of the suffering, and before the crucifixion, we need to remember who this Jesus is. He is the Son of God! He is true God and true man in one person. He was not the helpless victim of circumstances. He was willingly permitting himself to suffer for our sins. And so, before Ash Wednesday, and before we review our Savior's agony, let us...

1. OUR SAVIOR'S TRUE IDENTITY;
I sometimes have to laugh when I think of how Superman used to disguise himself. Basically, all he did was wear glasses. That clever reporter Lois Lane could never recognize him because he wore those glasses. She simply could not tell that Clark Kent was Superman until he revealed his true identity to her. Jesus revealed his true identity on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus went up the mountain to pray and took Peter, James and John along. We read, {29} "As He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning." Our Savior's appearance changed. He and his clothes became blindingly bright. And so, the three disciples saw the glory of God's Son. This was something they would never forget. Peter later wrote: "We were eyewitnesses of His majesty..." (2 Pt 1). John later wrote: "We have seen His glory, the glory of God's one and only Son" (Jn 1).

The disciples realized that Jesus was not just a man. He was and is true God in the flesh. He had to be true God and true man to save us. He had to be true God be perfect, and "to destroy the devil's work." Yet he had to be true man to live under the law in our place, and then suffer and die. And he had to be true God so that his death would be a sufficient payment for all sins of all people of all time. Jesus had to be true God and true man in one person to save us. Now, everyone could see that Jesus was true man. And when people watched him suffer and die on the cross, he looked like an ordinary man. But never forget, he always, always remained true God. Jesus always was true God, even when it didn't look like it.

He just didn't always let his glory shine forth. But on this occasion, he did. Here, on this mountain, Jesus let his glory shine, and the disciples were enabled to see our Savior's true identity. And today, through Scripture, we see this glory too, with the eyes of faith. Fix your eyes on this picture today, dear friends, because we are not going to see this kind of glory again until Easter.

When some people read or watch the sufferings of our Savior, they might say, "It's so sad that he couldn't stop them." But the truth is that, at any moment, he could have stopped them. If Jesus had come down from that cross, he would have saved himself, but he would not have saved us. As we review our Savior's suffering and death in coming weeks, do not forget our Savior's true identity. He is God's Son! And do not forget our next lesson, for this account of our Savior's transfiguration also reveals...

2. OUR SAVIOR'S MISSION
{30-31} "Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which He was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem." Moses and Elijah are two towering believers from the Old Testament. Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt in the exodus. Elijah was a great prophet of God. Wouldn't you like to have been there? Just imagine, there they were! Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus on the mountain. And we even know what they were talking about! They spoke about his "departure." The word "departure" is talking about his death which would take place in the city of Jerusalem.

Moses and Elijah were talking about Jesus' death. They knew his mission. They knew that he had come to pay for all sin. Another Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, wrote, "We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." God would place all sin on Jesus. He came to save us from sin. He came to die for us.

After all, we are all sinners. And so we deserve God's temporal and eternal punishment. But, Jesus came to save us from that punishment. He came to take our punishment upon himself at the cross. He came to rise from death with our victory and our forgiveness so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

These great Old Testament prophets knew what it was all about. Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about he would die in Jerusalem to save us from sin. Isn't that remarkable?! They knew our Savior's mission. Let us be sure that we know it well, today, before we enter the season of Lent. Jesus was going to suffer and die in Jerusalem to atone for your sins, and my sins and the sins of the whole world. Which brings us to our third lesson for today from the Transfiguration. This section of Scripture also reveals:

3. GOD THE FATHER'S WILL
{34-35} "While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him.'" This is similar to what happened at Jesus baptism. God the Father said, "This is My Son." Let there be no doubt about that. Jesus is God's Son! And he has been "chosen" by the Father for this mission of saving us from sin and its eternal punishment. Then God the Father reveals his will for those disciples when he says, "Listen to Him." God the Father wanted those disciples to listen to Jesus! And Jesus was talking about his upcoming death.

Can there be any doubt that this is also God's will for us? Jesus calls listening to his Word the one thing needful. It is the one thing that we truly need. It is God's will that we come to church regularly for worship. It is God's will that we study our Bibles to learn what Jesus says. It is God's will that we focus on our Savior's word. It is God's will that we listen to what Jesus says in the Scriptures!

That is exactly what we plan to do in Lent. We are not only going to listen to Jesus, we are going to focus on what he was talking about right here on this mountain. Jesus and Moses and Elijah were talking about our Savior's death that was coming up in Jerusalem. That's what Lent is all about! And, as if that were not enough, just before this account, Jesus had been talking very pointedly to his disciples about his upcoming suffering and death. {22} He said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." That's what Lent is all about! Won't you join us? What more could God do but speak from heaven and say, "Listen to him"?

On the mountain, Peter said, "It is good for us to be here." This was kind of like a picture of heaven. One day, we believers will be in heaven. We will be with Jesus, and Moses, and Elijah, and all the other believers. How great it will be to be there! Look forward to that! And never forget that Jesus paid our ticket to get there. He had to be God's Son, and he had to die on the cross to save us. But he did save us. In coming weeks, let us follow him, step by step. Let us, "listen to him." Amen.