The Only One

 

Luke 9:28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. ²⁹ As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. ³⁰ Two men, Moses and Elijah, ³¹ appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. ³² Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. ³³ As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters-- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.) ³⁴ While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." ³⁶ When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

How would you feel if you bought a dozen eggs and there were only 11 in the carton? How would you react if you purchased a dozen doughnuts and the bag held only 11?

Would you feel gypped? Bamboozled? Duped and Deceived? If so, you can understand why people in New Jersey and Chicago have begun a class-action suit against Subway sandwiches. One of the men went to 17 different restaurants and found that not a single one of the foot-long sandwiches he bought measured a full foot long. Most of the meals came in somewhere around 11 inches.

The argument is this: a sandwich which is an inch short may not be a big deal, but when you multiply that inch by millions of sandwiches sold, it is a nasty bit of false advertising.

Maybe those fellows have a point.

Maybe we shouldn't be so accepting of manufacturers' untrue claims. Maybe Subway ought to state, “A foot-long sandwich may fall somewhat short of being a foot long.” Yes, I know it loses its ring, but the advertising and the sandwich would match up, and the company would be keeping their promise.

Truth in advertising. 

On this day when we celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord, there is certainly truth in advertising. God keeps His promise. As the disciples would soon witness Jesus being betrayed, denied, deserted, arrested, beaten, scourged, humiliated and crucified, they could very well have thought that Jesus had been making untrue claims about Himself. That He really wasn’t the Son of God after all. That He wasn’t really the promised Messiah in the flesh.

That’s why the transfiguration on the mountaintop is so important. Consider how many other deities have said, “I will send my Son into this world to become a human being. He will live for you; He will suffer for you; He will carry your sins, and He will die your death. All this will happen, so all who believe on Jesus will be forgiven of their sins and receive my Son’s glory”?

Only Christianity can make such a claim. Only Christianity can say, “We have good news. The promises our divine Lord made to Adam, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have come to pass in the life, death and victorious resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus. Only our faith can say God has kept His promises because Jesus, having lived a perfect life, was condemned and crucified on Calvary’s cross. Only our faith can say, “A transfigured and triumphant Christ is proof that God has not advertised falsely.”

Jesus is the only one about which any of this can be said. I think it safe to say that on this day, Peter, James, and John saw Jesus in a whole new light! For how could one see such a sight on the mountain and not think differently?

Moses and Elijah that help us understand this. For they were there with Jesus for a reason. They weren’t just the first two in heaven to volunteer, because God needed somebody from heaven to appear with Jesus and guys like Able and David and Isaiah were slow to raise their hands! No, it is precisely Moses and Elijah who help us understand the work that Jesus has come to do, and how He was going to accomplish it, and what that means for us. That is why Luke tells us that as the three of them stood there, they weren’t just showing off their glory, they were talking. They were talking about this work that Jesus was about to accomplish: His departure – or, as the original Greek words says, His exodus.

An exodus is something Moses knew a thing or two about! It was Moses who led the people of Israel in their exodus out of Egypt – the rescue from their long, hard slavery and bondage. And this was such a monumental event in the lives of God’s people that it was rightly understood as the defining moment in the lives of Israel.

But as great as Moses was, he could not finish the job. Leading the people into the Promised Land would be left to another: to Joshua, son of Nun. And as great as this exodus was, it did not last. The people eventually fell into bondage again – to the Assyrians, to the Babylonians. Another exodus would be needed. A greater exodus. A permanent and lasting exodus. Jesus’ exodus!

This is what Moses and Jesus were discussing that day in glory – this last and final and greater exodus by the One greater than Moses. An exodus not from any powers of this world, but from the eternal powers of sin and death. An exodus that would take place with Jesus’ own sacrifice and death.

And sacrifice is something the prophet Elijah knew a thing or two about! Specifically when Elijah stood alone in a contest of sacrifices against the prophets of Baal. When Elijah alone prayed for God to accept the sacrifice he offered. When Elijah alone interceded for an adulterous and idolatrous nation. When the fire of God came down and consumed Elijah’s sacrifice, and the altar it was on, and the ground all around it. The fire of God that should have consumed the rebellious and sinful people ... but didn’t, consuming the sacrifice instead. A sacrifice offered in faith.

It was a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus on the altar of the cross. As Jesus hung alone with the sin of the world. Alone interceding for an adulterous and idolatrous world. Alone against Satan and his minions. Jesus offering His life in our place, taking the fire of death that we deserved, and being consumed instead of us.

What a conversation that day on that mountain! Not for Jesus’ sake, but for Peter, James, and John’s sake. For our sake. To know that what Moses’ exodus fell short of finishing on the top of Mt. Nebo, and what Elijah’s sacrifice pictured on the top of Mt. Carmel, would now be accomplished once and for all by Jesus. But not in His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, but in His suffering and shame on Mt. Calvary.

That is why the voice of the Father from the cloud that day says, “Listen to Him!” For the glory is not in what you see, but in what you hear. Not in the vision, but in the Word made flesh. Not in your works, but in the Father’s words.

Just as in Moses’ day, we today are in bondage – to sin. The sin in the world that causes heartache and pain. The sin in creation that causes disasters and disease. The sin in us that we cannot tame, no matter how hard we try. The sin that causes you to believe, “I know this is bad for me, but I need it to survive.” The sin that makes you think, “I know my parents would disapprove of how I’m living right now, but if I don’t, I’ll lose my boyfriend.” We are in a bondage even stronger than the Egyptians.  

Just as in Elijah’s day, there are false gods and false prophets today who promise us everything we want and all that we need, if only we follow them, if only we do what they say – then we will be happy, then we will be victorious, then you will have the life that you always wanted. I don’t believe I have ever heard anyone say, “Well, today I worshiped my idol again.” But an idol is the controlling force, the decision-making factor in your life. Do you need children’s athletics more than worship? Do you need your girlfriend more than God? Is money more precious than divine forgiveness? Is your life organized around acquiring and using alcohol or social media or video games?

But there is One who frees you from your bondage. One who releases you from your false gods.  Only One who does not wait for you to pull yourself up to Him, but who came down to you. Only One who does not demand a pound of flesh and sweat and blood from you but feeds you with His own. Only One who promised you rescue, and delivered. Only One who does not leave you in the dark, but is the Light of the world. Only One who does not leave you lost and confused, but sends His Spirit of wisdom and life. Only One who knows this life will always fall short, and so had provided you eternal life.

There is only One. Greater than Moses and Elijah. Greater than you and me. Greater than sin, Satan, and death. The One who offered Himself on the altar of the cross. The One who leads us in our exodus, through the waters not of the Red Sea, but the waters of baptism, and not into the Promised Land of Canaan, but the Promised Land of Heaven. Moses led an exodus into a land of milk and honey but Jesus is the One who leads an exodus to green pastures and quiet waters, where the eternal banquet feast is already prepared. As Elijah had the 450 prophets of Baal slaughtered on Mount Carmel, so the Jesus is the One who crushed the Ancient Serpent’s head upon Mount Calvary. There is only One. Who hung on the cross in your place and who died your death, that when He rose, that would be your resurrection, too. The sacrifice complete. The exodus complete. The glory complete.

How many other gods have claimed, “I will lift you up to my glory by entering into your shame”? Who else has said, “You may gain access to the Father and become a cherished son and daughter of God by God’s only begotten Son being denied access to that same Father”? What other deity can claim, “I will clothe you with my brightness by letting my Father clothe me with your sin”?

There is only One. He is the One who visited with Moses on Mt. Sinai. He is the One who sent down fire from heaven upon Mt. Carmel. He is the One who revealed His glory in a kind of reunion on the Mount of Transfiguration. He is the One who died on Mt. Calvary. Jesus was upon all of these mountains so that He might one day take you to the glorious mountain of God in heaven. Though you are right now living in the dark valley of the shadow of death, your beautiful Savior will shine a whole new light into your life. He will lead you to the new city of Jerusalem upon the mountain of God where you will be spending the rest of eternity. Though your life might seem as if it is at times drifting meaninglessly through time, you have a life that is worth the life of God’s own Son. Though you may not see any glory in your life right now, that’s OK, because what is now hidden in you will one day be revealed. The Father calls us not to see, but to listen. Listen to His Word of promise, His Word of truth, His Word of life. Listen to the Word made flesh. 

Listen to that Word. For there is truth in advertising. There can be only One. One who we see today shining in all His glorious splendor upon the Mount of Transfiguration. One who we see through the solemn season of Lent shining in all His glorious gore of the crucifixion upon Mount Calvary.

There is only One. Amen.