God's tent of glory
Matthew 17:1-9 After six days Jesus took with him Peter,
James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by
themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone
like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just
then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4
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." 5 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!" 6 When the
disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7
But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be
afraid." 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 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."
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is
good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three [tents] shelters-- one
for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."”
Tents, Peter?
Have you ever lived in a tent while in the military?
Or slept in a tent for the weekend while camping? Or set up your tent in the
backyard for you and your little kids in the summer? It’s not very nice,
really.
You can purchase tents that house 6-8 people
comfortably. These tents have weather resistant fabric and waterproof floors.
They have a mesh roof and windows for ventilation. They have fiberglass poles
and wind-responsive frames. Even the biggest and best tents can be set up in
under 20 minutes.
But with all the modern day improvements and
craftsmanship … a tent is still a tent. No matter how resistant the fabric is
to weather, the weather always seems to win. Bugs are hard to keep out, heat is
hard to keep in, plus it always gets dirty and musty in there. Which is why it
always feels so good to get back home, and into your nice, warm, clean,
comfortable bed!
So tents, Peter?
Actually, Peter was not that far off! His suggestion
here actually shows some good theological knowledge. For yes, God did dwell in
a tent. In the Old Testament, with the people of Israel , wandering around the wilderness for 40 years. They
called it a Tabernacle – which is to say that it was a fancy tent! And sometimes
they called it a tent, too – the tent of meeting. For that tent/tabernacle was
where God visibly dwelled here on earth, and it was the place Moses went to
meet with God and speak with Him.
In Exodus 24, Moses goes up onto Mt. Sinai to receive the instructions on how to build this
tent/tabernacle. For God desires not to be a far-off God, but a God who comes
near and dwells with His people. Who lives with them. Who is visibly present
among them in the cloud of smoke emanating from the tabernacle. An intimate and
close God. So when Moses goes up onto Mt. Sinai, He receives not only the Law
written on tablets of stone, but what is even greater than that – He receives
instructions for God’s tabernacle and the Divine Service that will happen
there. This is how God will dwell with His people. This is how God will bless
them and forgive them. This is how God will be our God. Pretty good theological
stuff!
And so when Peter suggests tents here, it’s not as
silly a suggestion as it first may have sounded. For He has just seen Jesus in
His glory. Jesus, who is really “tenting” and “tabernacling” here on earth. God
is not a far-off God, but a God who comes near and dwells among His people. He
lives with them. He is visibly present among them. God comes to dwell among His
people in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. If you have seen Jesus, you have
seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus who is God, comes to humanity in the “tent”
of human flesh and blood.
This is what the Apostle John (who was also on the
Mount of Transfiguration that day) spoke of in describing the birth of Jesus
when he wrote in his Gospel: “the Word became flesh and made its dwelling among
us” (John 1:14 ). The word translated “dwelling” is really the word
for “tent” or “shelter.” In Jesus, God was once again “tenting” among His
people.
Perhaps when John wrote his Gospel by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, he was thinking of the transfiguration he had witnessed on the
mountain so many years earlier. For the transfiguration demonstrates that Jesus
is more than just a man, more than just a prophet, more than just a miracle
worker – He is Immanuel; He is God with us. God did not come to dwell among His
people this time in a tent or tabernacle made by human hands held up by tent
poles and stakes. But God would dwell among His people in the flesh and blood
of Jesus Christ, both true God and true Man. He is God tenting among His people
to save.
Pretty deep theological stuff!
After the disciples headed down the mountain, they
would be faced with opposition and persecution. We head down the mountain and
prepare for a world that hates us and opposes Christianity. We, like Peter,
James and John, need to remember this vision of Jesus in His glory as we head
down the mountain into the valley of oppression and opposition to Christ.
Shortly after Jesus walked down the mountain of
transfiguration, He willingly walked into the city of Jerusalem . There the people mocked and ridiculed Jesus. They
rejected Him as their Lord and King. They spit on Him and beat Him. They
whipped Him and crowned Him with thorns and fastened Him to a cross, pounding
spikes through His hands and feet. All they could see was the human tent of
Jesus as Man. But through it all He still remained the tabernacle
of God.
Even through all this blood and suffering and beating
and mockery, God was dwelling among His people, blessing and forgiving them.
Our God was saving sinful humanity. God was being our God in laying down His
life for us. God was being our God in enduring our punishment. God was being
our God in taking our shame and humiliation. God was being our God in suffering
our death and grave.
And if you think a tent is not very nice, how about
all of that? Yet this is how God is our God. Jesus is in all His glory, shining
like the sun on the Mount of Transfiguration. But Jesus is also in all His
glory, as the sun refuses to shine on Mount Calvary .
You see, we like to find glory elsewhere. We glory in
our team’s victory on the athletic field. Or we glory in a raise or a job
promotion. We glory in health and wealth and well-being. We much prefer glory
over a cross.
We don’t like troubles or heartaches or difficulties.
We shy away from illnesses and hardships and adversities. We can’t handle long
hospital stays or short trips to the emergency room or big piles of bills. We
prefer that there not be any bumps in the road or deviations from our plans or
problems we have to deal with. Basically, we want to stay as far away from the
cross as possible.
A cross-less God is the way of the world. False
theologies proclaim a theology of glory, of wealth, of fame, of happiness. They
think it is better – more attractive. Successful people want a successful God.
And this false thinking permeates even our Christian culture and thinking. We
thank God for the birth of our child, but don’t thank Him when our child gets
sick and we have the opportunity to be a loving parent to our sick child. We
applaud God for His good will in letting us buy a new house, but we don’t
believe it was God’s will that we lost our previous home to bankruptcy. We feel
that when things are going well for us that is God’s sign of approval and when
things are going poorly for us that is a sign of God’s displeasure. And so we
often pray: “God, if you really loved me …”
No! The God of the cross, of blood, of shame, of death
– that is your God. The only God. He is a suffering and dying God. And it is
glorious!
God the Father was well-pleased when His Son was
revealed in glory and splendor on the Mount of Transfiguration. God the Father
was also well-pleased when His Son was revealed in gore and glory at His death
on Mt. Calvary .
Three days after His death on the cross, Jesus revealed
His glory by rising from the grave. Then forty days later He ascended to His
seat of glory at His heavenly Father’s right hand. But Jesus continues to
“tent” and “tabernacle” among His people here on earth.
Jesus dwells among us in His Word contained in our
Bibles. Here He reveals His blessing and forgiveness. A tent of words that may
not look like much, but it is glorious.
Jesus dwells among us in His Word joined with water in
holy Baptism. Here He washes us clean from our sins and makes us His own dear
children. A tent of water that may not look like much, but it is glorious.
Jesus dwells among us in His Word joined with bread
and wine. Here He feeds us with His own body and blood so that He might
strengthen us and also live within us. A tent of bread and wine that may not
look like much, but it is glorious.
Jesus dwells among us in His tabernacle of our local
church. This is where we come to meet God face to face in Word and sacrament,
absolution and blessing. We come in weakness and leave once again strengthened.
We live for six days in the valley of the shadow of death, but then come on the
seventh day to dwell in the green pastures and quiet waters with our Lord. We
come with our sins weighing us down and receive the forgiveness of our sins,
new life and eternal salvation. We come to witness Jesus in all His glory as
our Savior on the cross and witness Jesus in all His glory as our King who
reigns supreme. We come and meet our God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We
speak to Him in prayers, confessions and hymns. He speaks to us in absolution,
Scripture lessons, sermon, sacrament and benediction.
The tents of our bodies need to come into the tent of
the church so we might experience the tent of Jesus in Word and Sacrament.
And though we cannot see it now, what we are will one
day be made known and made visible. For we are being conformed into the image
of our Savior, Jesus Christ. So while this tent of our bodies may not look not
very nice, pretty grimy and dirty with sin, pretty tattered and torn with the
struggles of this life; while we here live under the cross and bear the crosses
we have been given; while we may be rejected and persecuted and mocked and
ridiculed – that’s okay. Actually no, it’s good! For we should not cling to
this world and its things and its supposed glory. And just as with Jesus, while
our earthly tent will one day be destroyed in death, it will be resurrected.
And it will be glorious. With a glory far surpassing all the glory of this
world. Far surpassing anything we could imagine.
God the Father came and dwelt among His Old Testament
people in the tent of the tabernacle. God the Son came and dwelt among His New
Testament people in the tent of His human body. One day the human tents of our
bodies will be covered by the tent of our Lord in heaven, for “He who sits on
the throne will spread His tent over them” (Revelation 7:15 ).
Tents, Peter? He seemed to get it oh, so, wrong. But
he got it oh, so, theologically right! Tents, glorious tents. Amen.
Watch the YouTube video of God's Tent of Glory.
Watch the YouTube video of God's Tent of Glory.
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