February 7 Sermon: Astonished at the Majesty of God
Consider these questions as you listen to this message from Exodus 34:29-35 and Luke 9:28-36:
1. How does the concept of God delivering His covenant to His people connect the Old and New Testament lessons in this passage, and what role does Moses play in mediating the covenant in the Old Testament?
2. What is the significance of Moses' face radiating light after being in the presence of God, and how does this relate to the authority and mediation of the covenant?
3. In the New Testament lesson, what do the events on the Mount of Transfiguration reveal about Jesus' identity and His role in fulfilling the Old Testament covenants? How does this relate to the upcoming events of His crucifixion?
Transcript:
Our God is a God of covenants. He comes to his people and makes a way for them to know who he is and to have access to him and his glory. These promises made by God show us His desire to be in communion with his people. In both our lessons this morning we see how God delivers his covenant to his people.
As we start out in our Old Testament lesson this morning it is important that we do a little background work. I don't believe I've mentioned the three most important rules for Biblical interpretation from the pulpit here yet, but I am certain you will hear them from me on multiple occasions. The three most important rules for interpreting and understanding your Bible are: context, context, and context. In other words, if we don't understand what a particular passage of the Bible is referring to it is easy for us to miss out on why things happen and what God is revealing to us through his holy word.
As we come to our passage from Exodus this morning we read that Moses is coming down the mountain. This is significant because this story follows another significant journey of Moses down the mountain. It is likely that you know the story. Moses was up on the mountain for a long time and the people think that it is likely that he isn't coming back. They know that they need someone to go before God for them and so they convince Aaron to throw their gold into the fire and out comes the golden calf. As Moses comes down the mountain he hears the sound of singing. There is a party going on in the Israelite camp. When Moses sees the people and the golden calf that has been created, Moses takes the tablets of the Ten Commandments and he throws them down and they are broken. God engraved his commands of the covenant on the tablets of stone and the people had already forgotten the first two commandments. As we read this morning God had said that he was the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt. He was God and him alone. They were to have no other gods before him and they were not to worship an idol. Even though Moses brought the tablets with God's commands on them, the people had broken the Commandments before Moses had even brought them into the camp.
The Israelites are spared but they are punished. Soon after, Moses goes back up the mountain and there is a second set of tablets with the Law on them. As we see in our lesson this morning things are much different when Moses comes down the mountain. This time the face of Moses is shining. It is important to note that the original language is clear that it was the skin of the face of Moses that was shining. It was not that Moses had a shining glory or holiness that was coming out from him. Instead the skin of Moses' face was radiating what he had received being in the presence of God.
Now, imagine that you are among the Israelites when Moses comes down the mountain. If it was me I would be pretty freaked out. I would probably wonder if Moses had been involved in some sort of nuclear spill. Maybe Moses needs to shut the microwave a little tighter and take a few steps back when heating up his servings of manna and quail. Aaron and the Israelites have the same reaction that you or I would have if we saw someone with a glowing face and they were afraid to come near him. It is interesting in this passage that it repeats Aaron and the people or Aaron and the leaders. Aaron is lumped together with the people in their sin of idolatry. Even though he is the brother of Moses and of the lineage of priests he also questioned the authority that God had given to Moses in the golden calf incident.
Once Aaron and the people realize that this glowing faced figure coming down the mountain is actually Moses they are ready to hear what he has to say. This really gets at the core of what this story here about the radiating face of Moses is really all about. This is a sign to them that Moses has been in the presence of God and the words that he is speaking are ordained by the declaration of the Almighty. Moses is the mediator of the covenant with the Israelites. He is the one who goes between God and his people. Moses is the one who delivers this information about God’s promises to the people. The people know they cannot go before God on their own. They cannot bear him and so Moses is the one who delivers the word of the Lord to the people. God is making a covenant with his people and Moses is the one who speaks with authority to them so that they know that this is the word of the LORD. We can see this in the fact that Moses uses a veil over his shining face. When he finishes speaking the word of the LORD to the people he puts the veil over his face. It would seem that the veil is of benefit to both the people and Moses. It keeps the people from fearing his face but it also indicates when Moses is speaking for God and when he is speaking for himself. Moses is able to have casual conversation with people without them thinking that everything that he says is from God. When Moses went in before the LORD to speak to him he removed the veil. When Moses was done speaking the word of the LORD the veil was put back on.
This story is important in understanding that the entire debacle surrounding the Golden Calf has been taken care of. Not only is God continuing in relationship with his people but the careless act of Moses in destroying the tablets has also been repaired. With this radiating glory, God does for Moses what he could not do on his own. God shows the people that Moses is speaking for him. He is the one who is bringing the details of this covenant that God is making with them to the people. The continued glowing of the skin on the face of Moses was a continuing reminder that the presence of the word of the LORD was among the people. God was making a covenant promise to his people and Moses was the messenger delivering it to them.
This theme of God bringing a covenant to his people continues in our New Testament lesson for today. Once again it is important that we understand the context in which this story stands in the Gospel of Luke. Only a few verses prior to this passage we see Jesus asking a question of his disciples. First Jesus asks what the crowds have to say about who he is. The disciples respond with John the Baptist, Elijah, or another one of the prophets who has returned from the dead. Then Jesus asks an important question. Who do you say that I am? Peter speaks up and says "The Christ of God". Jesus then goes on to talk about his impending suffering and tells them to make sure that they do not inform the crowds that he is the promised Messiah.
So when we read in our lesson in Luke it says "after these sayings" they went up the mountain to pray we see where this story sits in Luke's gospel. Through the confession of Peter, Jesus has informed the disciples that he is in fact the messiah. We then see Jesus going up the mountain and we have what is known as the Mount of Transfiguration. This is always a bit of a fascinating story. It is recorded for us in Matthew, Mark, and Luke but we don't really see any other events like this one in any of the gospel accounts. We have Jesus, Moses, Elijah, shining light, and the voice of God. We see here though that this is a significant event as we see Jesus beginning to journey to the cross.
As we have seen Jesus has confirmed his identity, we are now going to see a confirmation that he is in fact the messiah and he has a particular mission. As Jesus is praying we see that his face is altered and his clothes are dazzling white. Not only do we have a visual spectacle going on but we have two guests making an appearance. Moses and Elijah are present and they are speaking of the departure of Jesus. They aren't talking about his departure from the mountain. They aren't talking about getting out of the region. They are talking about what Jesus will soon accomplish in Jerusalem and it isn't going to be pretty. Jesus is not going to go down the mountain from this transfiguration to a celebration. He is going to go down this mountain with his face set towards the cross. As we have seen over the last several weeks this is the focus of the ministry of Jesus. All of the miracles and teaching of Jesus are pointing in this direction.
Moses and Elijah are there as a visual witness to the authority of Jesus as Messiah and as representatives of the two major eras in the Old Testament: The law and the prophets. As we have seen Moses was the one who delivered the covenant of the law and Elijah is the high point of the prophets who spoke, calling the people to return to the LORD their God, and pointed to the coming messiah who would fulfill the law. Standing there, on that mountain, we have the fulfillment of what was promised from the third chapter of Genesis. The one who would crush the head of the serpent and make a way for God's people to return to the garden and be in communion with God is standing there…………and the disciples are asleep.
I'm not going to dwell on it much but isn't this just like the disciples. They just don't get it. Even when Jesus makes things clear for them they don't understand. Our text his morning even points out that Peter has no idea what he is talking about. It says right there that he had no idea what he was saying. He wanted to build three shelters for them as if Moses, Elijah, and Jesus were all on the same level but we see a message from God the Father informing them Jesus is the one who is chosen and they must listen to him. The disciples have heard a difficult message from Jesus recently. He is the one that they believe him to be, but that doesn't mean what they think it means. It doesn't mean earthly glory in an earthly kingdom. It means suffering and death. Here on the mount of transfiguration we see the confirmation of the message of Jesus from God the Father. Jesus is ushering in a new promise from God, a new covenant. A covenant in his blood. A covenant in which the wrath of God towards sin is satisfied. A covenant for God's people. This moment on the mountain is a sign to the disciples that they are in the presence of God and the words that Jesus is speaking are ordained by the declaration of the Almighty. Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant with God's people. Jesus is now the one who goes between God and his people. Humanity cannot go before God on its own. They cannot bear him and so Jesus is the one who satisfies the wrath of God for sin and delivers the word of the LORD to the people. God is doing a new thing with his people and Jesus is the one who speaks with authority from God the Father. As Jesus heads towards the cross this is the ordained way in which God is going to bring his people to himself.
The disciples still wouldn't get it. They would argue over who should get to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in his kingdom. They would argue with Jesus over whether he would suffer and die. They would ultimately scatter when Jesus was arrested and crucified but as we see in this text this was what God ordained and when Christ came out of his grave they understood who he was and that he spoke for God and had authority. We are like the disciples and the Israelites. In our sin and unbelief, we are naturally idolaters and we don't understand just how badly we are in need of God to come near to us. We are asleep until God comes to us with the law and we see that we are sinners and we cannot go before him on our own. He is holy and we are not. We need a mediator who goes between us and God because we cannot bear him on our own. Jesus came as one who delivered to us a new covenant. Not a covenant of works that we need to do to please God and make ourselves right before him. Instead Jesus is the deliverer of a covenant of grace. Christ is the one who the law and the prophets pointed to. The one who would satisfy the law, live a sinless life, and die to bear the punishment for my sin and yours. This promise….this covenant is ours through the gift of faith, given to us by God.
Today, we have before us a sign and seal of that promise. A sign and seal of the covenant that God has made with us. A visible, tactile reminder of the covenant of grace. It comes to us in a way that we can understand. As we touch the bread we are reminded of Christ's body broken for us. As we see the dark color of the fruit of vine we are reminded of his blood shed for our sins. But these things are not merely a reminder. They are a means of grace by which God works in us. God has promised to be in our celebration here and together with the preaching of the word God creates and builds up faith in our hearts. At this table we commune together and with our God as a foretaste of the feast to come in his kingdom. At this table we all get the same portion and it transcends culture, gender, and generations as God comes to us in it. In a few moments you will hear in the liturgy that this is a feast of remembrance, communion, and of hope. What we are about to do here points us backwards in remembrance of the work of Christ, it unites us together here as we commune together in the present, and it points forward to our hope in the consummation of all things when we feast in the new heaven and new earth. Come to this table knowing that Jesus has died for you and your sins have been forgiven. Come to this table knowing that he has not abandoned us here but continues to build us up in faith and he has blessed us with one another. Come to this table knowing the sure promise of salvation and the hope of the resurrection of your body. And now to our great God and king whose covenant is sure, be all glory, dominion, and power forever and ever. Amen.
