The Lutheran Hour
-
"How Did Moses & Elijah Get On That Mountain?"
- No Sermon MP3 No bonus material MP3
-
Text: Matthew 17:1-9
-
PRAYER: Gracious Heavenly Father, the Christian church throughout the world is about to enter into the holy season of Lent. Before we journey with Your Son Jesus Christ into His passion, give us a glimpse of His glory. Give us, O Lord, some encouragement from the mountaintop as we walk through the valley of the shadow of this world’s sorrows. Give us the strength that comes from tying our lives to eternal hope that is ours in the life, death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose strong name we pray. Amen.
In the New Testament the disciples saw Jesus in His glory transfigured on a mountain with Moses and Elijah. How Moses and Elijah got there gives us real hope for our own glory.
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John, the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters — one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Don’t be afraid.”
When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
When my father died in 1988, my mother and sister and I made arrangements for his burial. Those of you that have lost loved ones have made arrangements for their funerals in the midst of your sorrow. That’s the role of family — to make arrangements. But there are at least three people in the history of the human race whose family didn’t make the arrangements. God did. Permit me to briefly share with you these three great stories. They can all be found in the Old Testament.
The first is a story about a man named Enoch who lived before the days of Noah in the Old Testament. He lived a total of 365 years and we are told he walked with God. That’s what Enoch was famous for. The Bible says he walked with God. That’s not so unique by itself. After all, many people through the ages have walked with God.
But what makes Enoch unique is that the Bible says he didn’t see death, but simply “God took him.” It’s almost like they were out walking one day and walked further than they had ever walked before. God said to Enoch, “You know, you’re closer to My home than we are to yours. Why don’t you just come home with Me?” And God took him home. “And Enoch was no more” the Bible says. God made the arrangements for his farewell. And just like that, Enoch was in heaven. You can read about it in Genesis 5 and Hebrews 11.
The second man God made final arrangements for was Elijah, the great prophet of God in the Old Testament who had been so faithful in his defense of the Lord. On one occasion on Mt. Carmel, he had a face off with 450 prophets of Baal. He called upon the Lord’s mighty power and He defeated them all. How’s that for odds?-450 to one. Only one had God on His side.
Shortly after that incident Elijah appointed his successor prophet Elisha. Elijah asked Elisha what last request he might have and Elisha asked for a double share of the spirit of Elijah. He wanted to be as bold for the Lord as his mentor. As they walked along, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind straight into heaven. Like Enoch, Elijah’s earthly farewell and arrangements were handled by God.
The third Old Testament hero that has a special end is Moses — the great deliverer of the nation of Israel. Most of you have seen the great Hollywood movie “The Ten Commandments” or the animated special “The Prince of Egypt.” If you have, you know the story of this man of God — and what a story it is. But when his life was near the end, the story takes an interesting turn. Moses and the people of Israel had wandered for 40 years in the wilderness and were finally camped at the edge of the long awaited promised land. But before they went, the Lord took Moses to the top of Mt. Nebo and let Moses see a glimpse of the land he had given his life for; which had been promised 500 years earlier to Abraham; and which, in 500 more years would be under King David, the greatest nation on the face of the earth.
The Lord wanted Moses to see it from a distance, but Moses was not going to cross the Jordan into that promised land. The Lord had a far better promised land in mind for Moses. So the Bible tells us:
“And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there on Mt. Nebo. The Lord buried him and to this day no one knows where his grave is.” Moses was 120 years old.
God made the final arrangements for Enoch. God made the final arrangements for Elijah and He made the final arrangements for Moses. As a matter of fact, in the little book of Jude in the New Testament it says the Archangel Michael and the devil fought over Moses’ body. You know full well who is going to win that fight. And so Christian tradition says Moses’ body went straight to heaven and nobody will ever find his grave.
Now those are the three great stories I wanted to share with you. Three stories about how God made the final arrangements for Enoch, Elijah and Moses. I share these stories with you because they all lead to another great story.
In the New Testament, just before Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the last time to give His life for the sins of all humanity, Jesus goes up a mountain and takes three of His disciples, Peter, James and John. On that New Testament mountain, Jesus gives these three disciples a glimpse of His glory as He is transfigured. That is to say, His figure changed. It became brilliant with light and glory, and there standing with Jesus in glory was — guess who? Elijah and Moses standing with Jesus. With Peter, James and John looking on, we are told, “Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about His departure which He was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).
So, you see, God the Father was about to make arrangements for one more earthly farewell– His only Son’s.
Throughout the Christian church, this coming week begins a season called lent. It is ushered in with traditional parties called Mardi Gras — the world’s perversion of an old European tradition called “Fat Tuesday” in which people would eat all the sumptuous foods around the house before Ash Wednesday and before their six weeks of self-denial and fasting began.
The church throughout the years has always read this story of Jesus, Moses and Elijah transfigured on the mountain on the Sunday before Lent starts. Why? For a couple of important reasons.
First, the disciples were just about finished with their three-year training. They were soon to be on their own. They needed some encouragement for which was to come. That’s why the Lord took Peter, James and John and gave them a glimpse of the “glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That’s the way Peter described his experience later when he wrote to the churches.
Friends, this year before we go into the season of Lent, we, too, need a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. These may be difficult days. They are for many of your neighbors and friends. There are layoffs and loneliness, depression and divorce, addiction and abuse and anxiety. Aren’t there times in all our lives when we wish we could go to the mountaintop and get a glimpse of the glory of our God in the face of Jesus Christ just to encourage us?
And the Lord is with us today. It is indeed in the face of Jesus Christ that we can be raised up by faith to get a glimpse of the glory of God. And for Peter, James and John, it was so wonderful on the mountain they wanted to just stay there. But Jesus would say to Peter, “No, we can’t stay on this mountain. We must go down to the plain,” and we are told, “Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem.”
You see, as Moses was taken to Mt. Nebo to see the Promised Land, Jesus from the Mount of Transfiguration saw your sin and mine. The Christian church observes a Lenten season because of sin. The great prophet Elijah, at one time, wanted to resign as God’s prophet. He wasn’t perfect. Moses couldn’t go into the Promised Land because of his own lack of faith and sin. You, along with everyone, and the one who is recoding this today, need a Savior from our sin.
We need to come to honesty — face to face with our failures — if we are ever to be set free. The Bible says, “If you say you have no sin, you deceive yourselves and the truth is not in you. But if you confess your sin, God is faithful and just and will forgive your sin” (1 John 1:8-9).
Before we get a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we need to face our greed and our selfishness; our immorality and bigotry; our lack of faithfulness to God and His Word; and His claim on our lives — all of our lives.
Yet, so many in our land want nothing of Jesus in their lives. They want Christ out of public places. They want any kind of moralistic judgement away from their freedom to choose. They want Christianity out of politics, out of schools, out of the media. Today’s contemporary lifestyle has no room for Jesus — not in the one night stands, the “shacking-up, the gambling, immorality, drugs, revenge, gossip, excessive leisure, cheating, the dubious pleasures of this lavish world, and the spiritual arrogance that seeks to find salvation in human achievement. We seek glory, all right, but not in the face of Jesus Christ.
As Jesus looks down from the mount of His transfiguration, He sees nothing but the valley of our failures and just beyond that failure, He sees His cross. We are told He set His face toward Jerusalem to His cross — there, willingly to take these sins of ours upon Himself.
And that’s what He and Moses and Elijah talked about that day-that day the Father made arrangements for the death of His Son.
Here is the Good News for you and me. No one can ever find the grave of Enoch. No one can ever find the grave of Elijah. No one can ever find the grave of Moses. More importantly, the grave of God’s Son, Jesus Christ cannot be found today, either. Why? Because it is empty. The body of God’s Son would see no decay. Why? Because He rose victoriously on the third day. The tomb in which they laid His body could not hold Him. He rose in glory and ascended into heaven — there with Enoch and Moses and Elijah and all the faithful.
Oh, by the way, I have more Good News: the Father has made some final arrangements. He has made them for you. That little glimpse of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ is what’s able to get us through the world’s wilderness until we cross over into our “promised land.” But until then, as Moses laid his hand on Joshua, and Elijah laid his hand on Elisha, so Jesus lays His hands on you which empowers you to move from this mountain down into the valley, confident that the Lord walks with us.
And to this Good News we must call you all to simple child-like repentance, faith, and obedience. Repentance that enables us to change — to turn around our lives of sin. Faith — the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts that gives us the assurance of that which we hope for; the confidence in that which we do not see. And, obedience enables us to follow the will of the Lord in our life, and in so doing, we discover meaningful purpose.
For us with repentance, unrepentance is impossible. With faith, unbelief is unbelievable, and with obedience, disobedience is unthinkable. Why? For we have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have been to the mountain of faith and we are encouraged and empowered for our journey through the wilderness.
Mother Teresa once said, “You will never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you’ve got.” When your final arrangements are made, Jesus is all you’ll need. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for February 10, 2002
ANNOUNCER: I’m Mark Eischer speaking today with Dr. Fred Baue about his new book “The Spiritual Society,” published by Crossway Books. Dr. Baue, glad to have you with us.
BAUE: Thank you.
ANNOUNCER: Dr. Baue, your book offers a way of looking at social change. You say that society (western civilization) has been oscillating back and forth between two different modes of operation. What are those modes?
BAUE: These modes are in the terms of the social philosopher, P.A. Sorokin, whose work I am drawing on largely for conceptual framework — the difference between the sensate and the ideational. These are Sorokin’s terms. You can substitute for the sensate a kind of materialistic preoccupation of most of the people most of the time in a given culture over an extended period of time. For example, in the Roman empire where there was concern with how to administer large tracts of governmental property and administration, road building, things like that.
ANNOUNCER: But the other mode is a spiritual pre-occupation.
BAUE: Yes, a predominantly spiritual pre-occupation. In the book I looked at a couple different periods of civilization. I looked at the Greek culture. But what we would be most familiar with as Christians is that period of Western civilization, which we call the Middle Ages. The church was at the height of its power and you find that most people most of the time were preoccupied, not with making a living in the here and now, but with making it to heaven in everlasting life. The Middle Ages would be a good example, Mark, of a spiritual society that existed in the past.
ANNOUNCER: Where are we today?
BAUE: I would say we are on the verge of another emerging spiritual society. Post-modernism really can describe most of the 20th century. I make the point in my book, Mark, that if modernism is exemplified by the theories of Marx and Freud and Darwin and other thinkers, and if modernism is secular and optimistic, then post-modernism is secular but pessimistic. But what I see forthcoming in our civilization is a spiritual society that is spiritual in its preoccupation, but optimistic. However, something intrinsically opposed to Christianity which insists that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and that no man comes unto the Father except through Him.
ANNOUNCER: Dr. Baue, how is history determined by both the past and the future?
BAUE: As Christians we live between two epochal events. The first is the first Advent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the meantime, we are looking forward to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. Lots of people think history is determined by the past. That’s true to a certain extent because the only way we can look at history is by examining the past and seeing what events led to other events to produce something that happened in the present. But I would argue that just as the people before Jesus were participating in the history that moved inexorably toward that climactic historical event of the first Advent of Jesus Christ, so events today are moving in a mysterious way by God toward the second Advent of Jesus Christ. And when it happens we’ll say, “Oh yes, why didn’t we see it coming? It was so obvious.” In other words, the future determines the present as much as the past. I would add that this period of time between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ, in which we live is termed, “The Age of Grace.” The time of the church, the age of the Gospel in which the Gospel is preached far and wide, is a period in which Christians, as individuals and the Church as a whole, is under the cross. And Christians are being persecuted and killed for their faith in unprecedented numbers, even today.
ANNOUNCER: We’ve been talking with Dr. Fred Baue author of “The Spiritual Society.” Dr. Baue, thanks for being with us.
BAUE: Thanks, Mark. It’s been a pleasure.