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

The word, "Transfiguration," may not mean much to some, but those who experienced it would never forget it. Peter, James, and John never forgot what they saw on that mountain. It was just too amazing and impressive. But the Transfiguration of our Lord wasn't just for those disciples. God wants us to know and remember it too. That's why he had it written in his Word.

1. JESUS;

Every year, Transfiguration Sunday comes right before Lent begins. That is no accident. There is a reason why we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday every year before Ash Wednesday. It has everything to do with what the Transfiguration revealed about Jesus. Just pause for a moment to take an airplane view of Lent. Consider the basic message or theme of Lent? Yes, we are repenting of our sins, but the really important theme is the suffering and death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Every year, we remember how Jesus suffered and died for our sins. Every year, in Lent, we see Jesus getting pushed around by the Jews and Romans. They mock him. They spit on him. They flog him. And finally, they nail him to a cross and kill him. Jesus looks like such a helpless victim. He looks like he can't stop them. He looks like a poor weakling.

And that is exactly why we observe Transfiguration Sunday right before Lent. It is important that we know who Jesus is before we even begin reviewing our Savior's sufferings and death. Remember what the Transfiguration revealed about Jesus! It revealed his amazing and brilliant glory as God's Son.

Listen again to verse 3: "His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them." Try to imagine what that looked like. But it wasn't just our Savior's clothes. Mark's account is the shortest. Matthew tells us "His face shone like the sun." When I was little, I was told, "Don't look at the sun, because it will blind you." Well, Jesus was that bright. He was blindingly bright, too bright for the disciples to be able to keep looking at him. Luke tells us that the "appearance of his face changed." Mark says here in verse two that "he was transfigured." Clearly, it was a stunning display of our Savior's glory! So, then remember the point: Jesus is not just a man! Jesus is true God in the flesh. This is God's Son! This is no ordinary guy here! This is the almighty Son of God!

That is exactly what God the Father said too. He said, "This is my Son!" Make no mistake about it. That was the main point of the Transfiguration. This is God's Son here! This is no weakling. This is no victim. This is the Lord God here. And this is your Savior. And he was talking with Moses and Elijah. We don't have to wonder what they were talking about. Luke tells us that they were talking about his departure, his death in Jerusalem. They were plainly talking about what was going to happen, namely, that Jesus would go to Jerusalem and die on the cross.

When Jesus went down the mountain, Jesus revealed this to his disciples. It is very easy to miss this, but look at that last verse again. Jesus makes reference to when he would rise from the dead. That means that he would die, and then rise. He revealed very plainly to his disciples that he was going to die and rise again. And so remember the lesson. Jesus lets his glory shine out. And while he does this, he's talking about the fact that he's going to Jerusalem to die. And then, on the way down the mountain, he again reveals that he's going to die, but that he would rise from death!

This is our Savior! He was perfect! He was holy! He was going to the cross to pay for our sins. He was going to rise from death with our victory. We have forgiveness of sins in him. Believe in Jesus, because he saved you! Believe in Jesus, and you will go to heaven. That's right! You will live forever, just like Moses and Elijah! Only, remember what the Transfiguration revealed about:

2. BELIEVERS;

We see two sets of believers present at the Transfiguration of our Lord. We see a group of believers who are still on earth, and a couple of believers who are in heaven. The believers who are still on earth are Peter, James and John. They were "frightened." They were so frightened; they didn't know what to say. They seem lost there. And that shows that they still are sinners. While we are on earth, we still have a sinful nature. We still stumble and fall in many ways. We are not yet "perfect" through and through. And this shows up in the way Peter, James and John act on that mountain. Matthew reveals that they were face down on the ground.

Meanwhile, two heavenly believers were there with Jesus on this mountain: Moses and Elijah. Elijah was mentioned in our Old Testament reading. He never died. He just went straight to heaven. Moses died, but he went to heaven and appears here too. Both of these Old Testament prophets are there talking with Jesus. They aren't afraid. They aren't lost there. They seem right in place with Jesus. Luke reveals that they appeared in "glorious splendor, talking with Jesus" (Lk 9:31). That tells us something. We will have glorious splendor when we get to heaven. We won't be afraid of our holy Savior.

Notice something else. Elijah and Moses aren't dead. They are living! God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Believers really never die. We just go to be with God in heaven! No one sees Moses or Elijah or Abraham on earth anymore. They are in heaven, with Jesus. So are our believing loved ones. They aren't "dead," really. They live forever in heaven with Jesus. And we will too! We believers will live forever with Jesus!

From time to time people ask, "Will we know one another in heaven?" Well, this is probably our best answer right here. Moses and Elijah know one another. The disciples recognize them. Everybody seems to know everybody. We have no reason to expect that heaven will be any different. This is kind of a glimpse of heaven. And don't forget what Peter said. He didn't know what to say, but he did say this: "It is good for us to be here!" We might say, "This is great! I really like it here! This is a great place to be!" We will not be disappointed when we get to heaven, by faith in Jesus. It will be good to be in heaven. We'll say, "This is great!" But we aren't there yet. So we have one more lesson to learn. Remember what the Transfiguration revealed about:

3. GOD'S WILL.

Jesus was there on the mountain, revealing his glory, and talking with Moses and Elijah. The disciples were there, face down on the ground in terror. All of a sudden, {7} "a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: 'This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!'" We already learned that Jesus is the dearly loved Son of God the Father. That is an important lesson. But now let us focus on that last sentence. God the Father was speaking from that cloud, and he said, "Listen to him!" Listen to Jesus! All three gospel writer record these words, "Listen to him!" God the Father said it. Every account records it. It must be important! "Listen to him!" Listen to Jesus!

That is God's will for us. You might be thinking, "I am listening to God's Word." That is good. I will freely admit that I would like to address these words to all who are not here in God's house today, and who don't have a God pleasing reason for that. But we are gathered here today, so let us apply these words to ourselves. Dear friends, let us be sure that we listen to Jesus, and hear his Word! We are entering the season of Lent. There are many special services coming up. We're preparing worship services on Wednesdays and in holy week. Will you be present to hear the word of our Savior? Will you join us to recall in faith what an enormous price our Savior paid to purchase our way into heaven? But don't think that this is my idea. Look at what God the Father said! "Listen to him!"

There can be no doubt about what is God's will for us! Listen to Jesus! Hear God's Word! God the Father plainly said, "Listen to him!" How dare we ignore these words? It is a command of God. It is a gracious invitation from God Almighty to learn more about our Savior, and to grow in faith. Listen to Jesus...

By the way, what did Jesus say? More than once on this very day, he talked about his upcoming death and resurrection. That is the message that God wants us to hear. That is the message that we'll be proclaiming on Wednesdays and Sundays. You are invited to God's house to receive food for your soul. This is like the dinner bell ringing calling you to eat spiritual food that will strengthen your faith in Jesus. God's will is this: "listen to him!" Amen.