As we continue to make our way verse by verse through Mark's gospel we find ourselves now this morning in chapter nine. So if you will take your Bibles and turn their Mark chapter nine, and we will be looking at verses one through eight to this morning, under the heading "The Promised Preview of Kingdom Glory." Before I read the text I must say that these are very dark days in which we live. I think you all realize that, my heart is heavy because of this. There is an ominous cloud of evil that has enveloped our country, frankly the world. As I thought about that, even this week and prayed for our country, I, I was reminded of Jeremiah's warnings to Judah. That because of their persistent disobedience and immorality, God was going to judge them unless they repented and came back to him. In Jeremiah 13, verse 16. He says, "Give glory to the Lord your God, before He brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. And while you are hoping for light, he makes it into deep darkness and turns it into gloom." In the Hebrew deep darkness is the same term used in Psalm 23 in verse four, for the "shadow of death." My heart is heavy for our country, our culture. I was at a graduation commencement. I guess you call it ceremony celebration for one of my grandsons. And some of your people were there as well. And when I looked around at the people, especially the young ladies and I saw the way they were dressed, and I saw the way their mothers were dressed, it just brings you to a place where you realize that there is absolutely no moral compass whatsoever in our country, in our culture. God has truly given us over to the consequences of our iniquity, what the Bible calls the wrath of divine abandonment. Death is indeed casting its shadow over our country. People can't see it. When retailers sell swim wear designed for men to look like women and women to look like men, the darkness has encompassed the culture. When retailers sell a t shirt that says quote, "Satan, respects pronouns." And another one that has a skeleton draped with a Rainbow, rainbow colors that says, "trans witches for abortion." When you have a culture that has sunk to that level of depravity, the shadow of death is over that kind of culture. I think of Ecclesiastes nine and verse three, "the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards, they go to the dead." And in Psalm 74, verse 20, the Psalmist says the dark places of the land are full of inhabitants of violence. So this is nothing new. This has been rather commonplace down through the centuries. And a day of judgment is coming. Biblically, darkness is always a symbol for ignorance, for satanic deception, and for divine judgment. In fact, we're told in Ephesians six and verse 12, that" our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." We could go to Second Peter two, we could go to Jude, chapter one and verse 13. And in both of those texts, we see that there's a special place in hell reserved for those who teach these things and preach these things in pulpits, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. But I might say, dear friends, on a positive side, against the contrast of this darkness, the light of the gospel of Christ shines ever more brilliantly. What a joy it is to occasionally go into a restaurant and see a family actually sitting there talking with one another, rather than doing this the whole time. No, I'm not saying they're Christian families. But I mean, just that gives you some sense of wow, isn't it great to see that, but then to see truly godly families, my what a rarity, and what a joy. We have to immerse ourselves in the light of the truth this morning. We must remember, as First Peter two verse nine says, "We've been called out of darkness into His marvelous light," right? Colossians 1:13 says "For, he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son." First Thessalonians five and verse five, the apostle Paul says that we are "sons of light and sons of day and we are not of night, nor of darkness." And in Ephesians, five, beginning in verse eight, the apostle Paul says, "You were formerly darkness." I mean, that's, that's that was what your nature, your character was, it was just dark. But he says, "now you are Light in the Lord, so walk as children of Light, for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness, and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them." Dear friends if you're here this morning, and you are craving the glory and the greatness of God, and you have a desire to immerse yourselves in the magnificent truth of His Word, so that you can more know of who Christ is and become more like Him, than that is a profound manifestation of regenerating grace that God has performed in your life, a clear testimony of God's grace, so that you would actually have an appetite for his word. And for those of you who might be new to Calvary Bible Church, we hold to a biblical position, which is sometimes called in the Latin "sola scriptura." You see the five Solas around the sanctuary here, that means "scripture alone," which therefore means to every true believer that the Bible is our sole source of faith and practice; our sole authority. And therefore we refuse to accommodate the depraved whims of our culture that now dominates quasi and apostate evangelicalism, people that have sacrificed biblical truth on the altar of cultural relevance. We reject all of that. In fact, by embracing secularism and syncretism, and moral relativism, much of evangelicalism has now embraced what we might call the woke cult of just unrestrained depravity, a call to the demands, unquestioned allegiance, which I might add is the poison fruit of both theological and political liberalism. And as a result, the true church that will not bow the knee to Baal is going to experience more and more hostility. And unless the Lord intervenes, our plight will eventually mirror what happened, especially in the first and second centuries, with respect to Christians and during Roman persecution. And this brings us to our text this morning, this historical narrative. In Mark nine, Jesus knew that his disciples were absolutely shocked to hear him predict his coming murder that did not fit into their theology concerning a conquering Messiah. That's who they thought he was. In fact, in Luke 18, beginning in verse 31, we read this, "Then he took the 12 aside and said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished, for He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged Him, they will kill him, and the third day He will rise again.' But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of the statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said." Now we know later on, they understood. In fact, later on, according to First Corinthians one beginning in first, verse 23, the apostle Paul said, and "we preach Christ crucified, to Jews, a stumbling block, and to Gentiles, foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." Jesus told them that self denial and cross bearing and joyful submission was what was required if they were going to truly follow him. And that was a hard pill for them to swallow. Imagine learning that Jesus is indeed your long awaited Messiah, and you're thrilled, you're euphoric with that knowledge and then to hear that he is going to be murdered. Or worse yet, that you too, if you follow Him, run that risk. Well, the lover of their souls and of our souls understood their consternation understood their frustration, their bewilderment, and their sadness. And his grace is always sufficient, right? And it's always right on time. The Lord knew how desperately they needed to be comforted, how desperately they need to be encouraged and strengthened for their journey and the battle ahead. And so what does he do? He allows them to witness with their own eyes, a manifestation of His divine glory, known as the Transfiguration of Christ. And therefore what we have in our text this morning, is a preview of the kingdom glory that they belong to that we belong to that we all share. And I trust that what we study here this morning will whet your appetite for the glory that is to come and encourage your heart, even as we live in these days of increasing darkness.

With that, let me read the text, Mark nine beginning in verse one. "And Jesus was saying to them, 'Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death, until they see the kingdom of God, after it has come with power.' Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them. And His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on Earth can whiten them. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.' For he did not know what to answer for they became terrified. Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them. And a voice came out of the cloud, 'This is my beloved Son, listen to him.' All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone." I hope it will be helpful to you to look at this passage under three headings number one, we will see as I said earlier, the promise preview of kingdom glory, secondly, the ineffable majesty of Christ's transfiguration, and finally, the divine rebuke from the Shekinah cloud.

Now, once again, Jesus previous description of those who are truly willing to follow him means that they must be willing to take up a cross; a terrifying concept, intentionally so depicting a march to a public execution on a Roman cross. That's what it might cost you. Certainly, crucifixion was often the fate of those who followed their masters. Often, they would crucify the master and some of their key disciples along with him. And Jesus added in verse 35, of chapter eight, "for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake in the gospels will save it." So in other words, count the cost, live in light of eternity, when the Lord brings His rewards with him, and gives to those who follow him. And I must say, if you live for yourself, and for this life, only, you will lose your life eternally. But if you live for Christ, and His heavenly rewards, you will gain your life eternally. So we must ask, ask ourselves, Am I willing to lose my life for the cause of Christ? And if the Lord has truly transformed your heart, the answer will be a full throated, Yes, because that is the power of the Spirit. Jesus said in verse 38, of chapter eight "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father, and His holy angels. " So in other words, live your life with an eternal, not a temporal perspective. Think often about the day when the Son of Man returns, in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. That's the idea. And now again, in an effort to encourage his bewildered and frightened disciples, The Lord gives them a glimpse of future glory, a mental miraculous revelation, that should thrill every believer. Now let's pick up the narrative. Verse one, and Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death, until they see the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God speaks to the super terrestrial realm ruled by Yahweh, also speaks of the royal power and triumph of Christ, the royal splendor of the Redeemer King. So he speaks here of the Kingdom of God and, and he says, You're not going to taste death, until you see the kingdom of God, after it has come with power. And this brings us to our first little point in the outline here, we're going to see the promise preview of Kingdom glory. And this now is going to include a visible manifestation of Christ's glory in His Transfiguration, but it will also include his resurrection from the dead later on. As a footnote, the transfiguration is what is called a "prolepsis," of the resurrection. In other words, it's a it's a representation or an anticipation of the resurrection presently existing even before it actually occurred. That's what it's speaking of here, it assumes that it's going to happen, as if it already has, and what a magnificent reality that we now can look back and see how all of these things played out. So Jesus is telling them that some of you will not die, until you see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. So I'm promising you now a preview of Kingdom glory. I know you're depressed, I know you're confused, but hang in there. My, talk about encouragement. I'm sure they're ecstatic with expectation, wondering what's going to happen. And think about it, we not only know what they witnessed with their own eyes, but we also know about the transforming power of regeneration in our own heart. Plus, we know the details concerning His glorious return and his glorification So dear Christian, don't miss this. What we are about to examine in the Transfiguration of Christ is an affirmation of His deity but also a preview of Kingdom glory for all who follow Him. Now, as we will see, Peter didn't know what to make of all this, even when he sees it. Now, he's not going to know what's going on for sure, until later on in his life. In fact, we read his inspired testimony in Second Peter one and verse 16. By the way, this is kind of like when you start reading this, the this this novel, and you're wondering what in the world is going to happen and you have to go back to the back because you just kind of want to see how it turns out. This is how it turns out. He says, it's second Peter one, verse 16. "For we did not follow cleverly devised tales, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, 'This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased' and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain."

So first of all, we see Jesus making this promise, this preview of Kingdom glory. Secondly, we see now the ineffable majesty of Christ's transfiguration. Ineffable, it's indescribable, it's inexpressible. It's unspeakably beautiful and glorious. Verse two, "Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter, and James and John, and brought them up on a mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them." Now, first of all, according to Mark, and Matthew, the transfiguration took place, six days after Jesus made the promise, whereas Luke nine and verse 28, says that it happened, quote, "some eight days later." Now, there's really no contradiction here. Luke is merely including the day of the promise and the day of the Transfiguration, rather than the six days between the two events that Matthew and Mark, use. Now notice what happens. And we learn more about this in Matthew's account in Matthew 17, beginning in verse one, "Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter, and James and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves." Now we know from the context of the history that they were in the region of Caesarea Philippi, where that's where Peter made his confession. And that's right at the foot of Mount Hermon, that's about 9200 feet in elevation. So that's probably where they went. And Matthew goes on to say, "And He was transfigured before them and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light." The word transfigured translates the Greek verb "metamorphoo," we get metamorphosis from that. And it means to change into another form, to be transformed. Luke's Gospel says, in Luke nine beginning in verse 28, "Some eight days later, after these things He took along Peter and James and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different. And his clothing became white, and gleaming."

So this is what happens, Jesus is praying, and all of a sudden, all of this glory begins to appear upon him, in fact, in Luke's gospel in verse 32 of chapter nine, we learned that they were asleep while the disciples were asleep during this time, and then all of a sudden, they awake, and they see His glory. And he's talking with two men. Imagine waking up and seeing that. So that's what's happening here, it's astounding. Dear friends, here we have the effulgence of the divine glory, that is revealed to humanity suddenly shining forth. His earthly form was transformed into this supra terrestrial heavenly form. And his closest disciples witnessed this with their own eyes. I mean, can there be any better way to bolster their faith and encourage them with anticipation than sharing in this glorious scenario? Could there be any greater way of sustaining Jesus as he faces the agonies of the cross? I think not. Later the disciples were able to better understand that only through Christ's suffering and through His sacrifice, and through His death, could his glory be permanently displayed to his kingdom citizens. Moreover, this pictures the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, in the life of a believer, whereby, because of His indwelling presence in power, he progressively conforms us into the likeness of Christ. Paul spoke of this in Second Corinthians three beginning in verse 18, "But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

I might add that the context of that analogy is most glorious. It's, it's speaking of the time when Moses looked upon God with an unveiled face, upon the mountain, and he was only allowed to see a fraction of His glory. But now because of the new covenant, believers are able to behold the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face. That's the analogy that Paul is using. So what was once concealed and, the mysteries of types and symbols and, and ceremonies, all of it becomes perfectly clear, because of the new covenant. The new covenant explains what was once only a shadow of what was to come and now we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. The apostle Paul says in Romans 12 And verse two, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed." Well, how does that happen? By the renewing of your mind, it's in the present tense, it means that there must be a continual process of biblical understanding that results in spiritual discernment. That's how transformation works. And he goes on to say, "so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. And Jesus said, Father, Sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." That's what he uses to conform us into the image of Christ. That, frankly, is what's happening right here. As believers hear the word they understand it better, they begin to apply it more in their life. And the Spirit uses that to make us more like Christ.

I might add that your spiritual maturity is directly proportional to your understanding and application of the Word of God. Folks, the more we see Christ for who he is, in all of his glory, the lower we will bow and humble adoration and live to the praise of his glory. Let me put it in a way that is consistent with what's going on in our culture. This means that the Lord Jesus Christ is not some smiley face God that winks at sin. He is not some woke, social justice warrior, whose word can be altered to somehow accommodate the culture. He is the thrice Holy God, the sovereign of the universe. In fact, in John chapter 12 and verse 41, we learned that it is Jesus that Isaiah spoke of, in Isaiah six, beginning in verse one, Jesus is the one "sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with a train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him." Later on, it says that they say, "Holy, Holy. Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him, who called out while the temple was filling with smoke." When you truly understand who God is, and all of his glory, that he is the one that is high and lifted up the only one and true God, then you will respond even as Isaiah did when he beheld his glory. The text goes on to say, "Then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips. And I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts."

So with this background, think about this, think how amazing this is. Peter, James and John, are allowed to have a glimpse of Christ's unveiled majesty.Verse three tells us "and His garments became radiant and exceedingly White is no launderer on Earth can whiten them." There's not enough bleach in the world to get your garments that white, right? That's the point. Matthew 17 Verse two, "and he was transfigured before them and His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light." Luke says in nine, verse 29, "and while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming." Folks, this is so exciting. All through Scripture, we know that God describes the glory of His presence by using the concept and the reality of resplendent, brilliant, dazzling, unapproachable light. In fact, it was called the Shekinah in Daniel chapter two, verse 22, we read that he emanates light without shadow, saying light dwells with him. Psalm 104, verse two, he covers himself with light as with a garment. And Paul described Jesus our Messiah to Timothy, as dwelling in "unapproachable light," First Timothy 6:16, whom no man has seen, or can see to whom be honored and everlasting power. No one has ever seen the fullness of His glory and lives only a glimpse of it. First, John one of verse five, we read that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. You will remember that in Matthew, one in verse 23, we read, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means God with us." Emmanuel is not a proper name, but a title or a description, first given to the covenant people in Judah through Isaiah the prophet, and it reiterated to them and reminded them that indeed, he will be the one that makes good on all of his covenant promises to his people, and even dwell amongst them. And often then, he is manifested in the Shekinah, the presence of God's glory. And when we see this biblically, we see that God who is immaterial will materially materialize himself, in this resplendent dazzling light. You will recall, that the presence of God was housed within the tabernacle and the temple. In fact, the Hebrew term for tabernacle is "mishkan" , and is derived from a root word "shakan" which means to dwell, or to rest or to abide in from "shakan" came the term Shekinah, denoting the glorious presence of God. Light is therefore a fitting metaphor to describe the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, all of this is steeped in Old Testament allusions. We see this light, for example, in the burning bush with Moses, we see the light of His presence as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, that led his covenant people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Again, at the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, in Exodus 33, we read Moses saying, "show me your glory." And remember, the Lord says, You can't you can't see my glory. You can't see my face. For no man can see me and live but I'll tell you, you hide over there in the cleft of the rock, and I'll cover you with my hand, you can see a little of my backside. His shekinah hovered at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Remember when Moses would enter the tent, the glory would be there, in front of it, Exodus 33. And it was the Shekinah glory, the presence of the living Christ, that hovered between the chair of them over the mercy seat, the golden lid of separation that sat above the Ark of the Covenant. Within the ark was the tablets of stone, representing the law that we have broken. And between the cherubin was the Shekinah that glowed that the people could see glowing even up through the tent of meeting later on and in the temple. And the symbolism there is very clear that no one could ever enter into the presence of God apart from the shedding of blood that would happen on the "hilasterion" the, the place of propitiation. That's what the high priests would do at Yom Kippur. He would sprinkle the blood and that would symbolically propitiate the sins of the people temporarily, all of it pointing to Christ. We can see the luminous cloud of the glory of God demonstrated in his approval of Solomon's temple. Remember in First Kings eight, beginning of verse 10. "It happened that when the priest came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand a minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord fill the house of the Lord." And I love that passage in Ezekiel one, where Ezekiel is trying his best to somehow describe the glory of the Lord seated upon his throne. Ezekial one, verse 26. He says that "on that throne, high up was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of his loins and upward, something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it. And from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw something like fire and there was a radiance about him." That clears it up, doesn't it? Moreover, we know that the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ was prophesied as the one who would one day come in light, and both his first and second comings. In his first coming, we see it was predicted in numbers 24, verse 17, that "a star," a kokab, a blazing forth, would come forth "from Jacob." And in Second Samuel 23, verse four, and "He shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises a morning without clouds." We also know that because of idolatry and apostasy that the glory of Christ presence, departed from the temple. And after 400 years, without any of the Jewish people seeing the light of the Shekinah, it suddenly appeared to some humble shepherds in Bethlehem. We read about that, in Luke two "and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them." And here it is "the glory of the Lord shown around them. And they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy. Christ the Savior is born.'" It appeared again to the Persian kingmakers, the Magi, they saw a star and the east in Greek an "aster", a blazing forth something that not everyone could see, something that would appear and then disappear and appear again, and even eventually hover right over where Jesus was. And all of that pointed to the person of the Promised Messiah King. And in John one, John the Baptist, was the one who was sent. It says in verse seven, "to bear witness" of the what? "of the light of the glory of Christ," saying Jesus was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. And in His incarnation the shekinah was revealed in a child, veiled in human flesh, Emmanuel, God with us, the Lord Jesus Christ. Later in John one, verse 14, we read "And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." And you will recall how Paul recounted his conversion in Acts 26 Verse 13, he says," At midday along the road, I saw a light from Heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and those who journeyed with me." And dear friends, today we see a glimpse of the glory of God and the person and the work of Christ. It's just a glimpse, but we see it. In fact, we read in Hebrews one beginning in verse two, that God "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world and He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of his nature." Radiance, "apaugasma" in the original language, it means a effulgence. It means the that which flashes glorious light. This is who Christ is. Is it any wonder that Jesus said in John eight and verse 12, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life." And in John 12 and verse 46. He said, "I have come as light into the world that everyone who believes in me may not remain and darkness." Peter, James and John saw a glimpse of that light. I might also add that a day is coming when all those who are alive upon the earth, will see his return in power and great glory. Matthew 24, beginning in verse 29, the Lord Jesus says, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man," there it is, the Shekinah presence of Christ Himself will appear in the sky, "and then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." Because of sin, they cannot see it now. Plus, Satan has blinded the minds of the unbeliever so that they might not see the light, the glory of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, but one day, no one will miss it. He came the first time in obscurity, the next time he's coming in glory. And even the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, beginning in verse 22, we read what John sees, he says," I saw no temple in it for the Lord God, the Almighty and the lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated and its lamp is the Lamb." And here on the mountain, Peter, James and John, see the ineffable majesty of Christ's Transfiguration, a preview of coming glory. I can only pray that each of you see it as well.

But notice what else in verse four of Mark's gospel, chapter nine, "Elijah appeared to them, along with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus." This is a fascinating statement. And we know biblically that Old Testament saints do not receive their glorified bodies until the end of the tribulation, according to Daniel 12, and verse two. So somehow God must have supplied them with that body, or somehow made them appear in such a way that they knew who they were, now how to Peter, James and John know who they were, they didn't have any pictures of them. I can't answer that. I guess Jesus introduced them. I don't know. Maybe they introduced themselves. Hey, hey, guys. I'm Moses. Hey, I'm Elijah. By the way, doesn't this give us a little glimpse of the heavenly fellowship that we're going to be able to enjoy? And the heavenly fellowship that those who have gone on before us are currently enjoying with Jesus and with others? Now, why Moses and Elijah? I mean, I mean, why not? Abraham, Daniel, or Isaiah, maybe Jeremiah? Well, the text doesn't say, but perhaps it's because Moses and Elijah represented respectively, the Law and the Prophets, that Jesus came to perfectly fulfill. According to Matthew five and verse 17, perhaps that's part of it. So I think about it, both men also experienced mysterious deaths, didn't they? Remember, God buried Moses body in a way that it could never be found? And Elijah, which is taken up alive into heaven, not sure how all of that fits in there. But God knows. Certainly both were supernatural means to provoke repentance during their ministries on Earth. In fact, the death of Jesus we know is going to bring salvation, even repeating the exodus that Moses led. And both of them are associated with the second coming of Christ in the inauguration of His earthly kingdom. Remember Malachi four beginning of verse four. And maybe Peter was thinking of this, I'm not sure what was going on in his mind. But there in that text we read, "Remember the law of Moses, my servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." In fact, there is strong evidence to indicate that it is Moses and Elijah, that are the two witnesses described in Revelation 11. It's interesting, both were given supernatural power to strike down their enemies while they were on Earth with the plagues, and so forth, the same kind of plagues that they will pronounce upon the wicked during the time of the tribulation. And even according to Revelation 11 six, "having power to shut heaven so that no rain falls." That's exactly what Elijah did. So maybe all of those things were a part of this.

And notice what they were talking about, according to Luke nine and verse 30. "And behold, two men were talking with him. And they were Moses and Elijah, who appearing in glory, we're speaking of his departure." In other words, his bitter suffering and his death. That's what they were talking about, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. And he goes on to describe a rather comical scenario, if you think about it, in Luke nine, beginning in verse 32. "Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory, and the two men standing with Him." And then a very interesting statement. "And as these were leaving Him," as Moses and Elijah are starting to walk away after this conversation, "Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, let us make three tabernacles, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." And then we have this profound statement, "Not realizing what he was saying." Mark's gospel in verse five says, "Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah," verse six, "for he did not know what to answer, for they became terrified." Now, Peter, who reminds me of me a lot of times, was a ready fire aim kind of guy. I mean, think about it. He has seen the glory of Christ, He knows who he is. Now he sees Moses and Elijah. And he was thinking, oh phew there for a minute, I thought the kingdom wasn't going to be coming. But now it's here. It's here now. So naturally, that's what he's hoping, isn't this great, he must not be going to suffer and die in Jerusalem. Maybe that's what he was thinking, I think so.

Plus, I find it interesting, this astounding event took place during the month of Tishri, which is six months before Passover. And this was the time when Israel celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths, "Sukkot" It's called, and that commemorated the great exodus from Egypt. And they would take leafy branches, and they would build temporary shelters, and so forth. In fact, many Jewish people still do this. I've seen lots of pictures of them in Israel. And this, of course, celebrated the time when God tabernacled with Israel, in the wilderness. And it pointed to the time when the Messiah's presence would once again dwell amongst the people in the joyful restoration of Israel and the end gathering of all of the nations during the Millennium. So he's probably thinking, my, maybe now we're going to be delivered from Rome. And after all, the Feast of Tabernacles, along with the Feast of the new year, and Passover are going to be celebrated during the kingdom age. We read about this, for example, in Zechariah, 14, maybe Peter's thinking of this a bit, beginning of verse 16, "Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went up against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem, to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, they're the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, the no rain will fall on them and it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths." So maybe all of this is going through Peters mind; I think that is a tenable hypothesis. He doesn't want Jesus to suffer and die plus he wants the kingdom now. So he's basically seeing them walk away off, stop, stop. Let's build some tabernacles right here. That's what he's thinking.

And then notice what happens in the midst of all that. Verse seven, "Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them and a voice came out of the cloud. 'This is my beloved Son, listen to him!'' All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus alone." This brings us to the final point in our little outline, and that is the divine rebuke from the Shekinah cloud. Luke tells us in Luke nine, beginning in verse 34, "While he was saying this," talking about Peter, while he's trying to do the whole tabernacle thing, while he's trying to frankly establish the Kingdom, all right. "While he was saying this, a cloud formed began to overshadow them." In fact, Matthew tells us that it was a bright cloud. Once again, we see the glory of the presence of God. Matthew goes on to say, "and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came out of the cloud saying, 'This is my son, my Chosen One, listen to Him." Matthew says, "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him." If I can paraphrase what I believe is going on here. God is basically saying to Peter, please, don't start this again. Stop demanding your own way. It's not time for the kingdom. This is almost like what happened in Mark 8:33. When Jesus or when Peter rebuked Jesus, Jesus said, "Get behind me satan you're not setting your mind on God's interest, but man's." That's what's going on here. It's a divine rebuke. And then in verse eight, we read "All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus alone." Matthew 17, verse six, "When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, and were terrified." But don't you know, I would be too. You know, I'm in the midst of trying to get my own way here and make things work my way. And all of a sudden, I'm rudely interrupted by glory cloud. And then I hear this voice from heaven. I mean, I'm facedown you would be too. "When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, and were terrified." And then I love this next statement, isn't this just like Jesus? "And Jesus came to them, and touched them, and said, 'Get up, do not be afraid.' And lifting up their eyes," in other words, getting their face out of the dirt and terror, "they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone."

Dear Christian, what an exhilarating hope of glory that we have in Christ. And I wish to leave you with these thoughts this morning. Yes, we live in days in which the dark blackness of Satan's kingdom is just getting darker and darker, but our hope is in Christ, the one who conquered the darkness on the cross, and today we merely await his triumphant return. And we've seen a glimpse of this in the past. In fact, in Isaiah, verse nine or chapter nine, verse two, the people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. But sadly, we know that most people and I have them in my family, and you have them as yours as well. They don't want anything to do with the light. In fact, Jesus spoke of this in John three, verse 19. "This is the judgment that the Light has come into the world. And men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil." And certainly the light has come into the world. That light has come through the incarnation of Christ and through the word to the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the revelation of God in the very image of His divine holiness, but people don't want anything to do with that. Then Jesus said, "For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

So, beloved, please hear me. Don't let all of this darkness depress you. Yes, it is depressing in so many ways. It's frustrating, it's infuriating, but oh to see the glory of Christ, and to know what he has done for us, because were not for His grace, we would be wearing those T shirts, right? We are people of light, not people of darkness, we need to celebrate that every day. And I want to close with the Apostle Paul's words in First Thessalonians five. Because it speaks to this, beginning of verse four, "But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light, and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith that love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God is not destined us for wrath, but for attaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him." Therefore, this is my challenge to each of you. "Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing." Let's pray together. Father, we are deeply humbled by the glory of Your grace and the power of your word that reminds us of these magnificent events that have occurred in the past and what they speak about concerning the future. And to think that somehow we are all part of that even though we as believers are only incidental to your glorious plan of redemption. Because we know that ultimately, it's all about you and your glory. But we thank you for your word. I pray that it's magnificent trues will lodge deeply in each heart and will will bear much fruit to the praise of your glory. And we will be careful that in all things Christ will have the preeminence for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.