Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Terrifying Glimpse of Glory Msg 1021 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Terrifying Glimpse of Glory Msg 1021 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: All right, we are working our way through Matthew's Gospel,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and we've come to one of the most significant, albeit
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  Speaker 1: brief moments in the training of the twelve and in
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  Speaker 1: the earthly ministry of Jesus. Whatever else you may have
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  Speaker 1: heard about the transfiguration, which is what this passage is
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  Speaker 1: on about, try your best to kind of shift that
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  Speaker 1: out of your mind, and let's just let this section
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  Speaker 1: of scriptures speak to us as if for the first
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  Speaker 1: time we're hearing this. So turn to Matthew sixteen. I'll
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  Speaker 1: look at the last two verses of that chapter, and
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  Speaker 1: then the first thirteen verses of the seventeen chapter. I
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  Speaker 1: think they go together. So we'll bypass the chapter break
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  Speaker 1: and act like it isn't even there as we move
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  Speaker 1: from Matthew sixteen twenty seven down through seventeen thirteen. Once
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  Speaker 1: you find that, please stand for the reading of the
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  Speaker 1: scriptures together. For the Son of Man will come with
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  Speaker 1: his angels in the glory of his father and will
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  Speaker 1: judge all people according to their deeds. And I tell
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  Speaker 1: you the truth, some standing here right now will not
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  Speaker 1: die before they see the Son of Man coming in
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  Speaker 1: his kingdom. Six days later, Jesus took Peter and the
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  Speaker 1: two brothers James and John, and led up a high
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  Speaker 1: mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus' appearance
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  Speaker 1: was transformed so that his face shone like the sun,
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  Speaker 1: and his clothes became as white as light. Suddenly, Moses
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  Speaker 1: and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: it's wonderful for us to be here. If you want,
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  Speaker 1: I'll make three shelters as memorials, one for you, one
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  Speaker 1: for Moses, and one for Elijah. But even as he spoke,
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  Speaker 1: a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the
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  Speaker 1: cloud said, this is my dearly loved son, who brings
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  Speaker 1: me great joy. Listen to him. The disciples were terrified
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  Speaker 1: and fell face down on the ground. Then Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: over and touched them. Get up. He said, don't be afraid.
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  Speaker 1: And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone,
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  Speaker 1: and they saw only Jesus. As they went back down
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  Speaker 1: the mountain, Jesus commanded them, don't tell anyone what you
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  Speaker 1: have seen until the Son of Man has been raised
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  Speaker 1: from the dead. Then his disciples asked him, why do
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  Speaker 1: the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return
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  Speaker 1: before the Messiah comes. Jesus replied, Elijah is indeed coming
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  Speaker 1: first to get everything ready. But I tell you Elijah
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  Speaker 1: has already come, but he wasn't recognized, and they chose
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  Speaker 1: to abuse him. And in the same way they will
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  Speaker 1: also make the son of Man suffer. Then the disciples
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  Speaker 1: realized he was talking about John the Baptist. Our hope
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  Speaker 1: is that this passage will blend together in a way
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  Speaker 1: that we understand what transpired as recorded in the narrative
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  Speaker 1: and how it speaks to us on this very day,
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  Speaker 1: Please be seated, your father, as we step into a
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  Speaker 1: week that includes a day to reflect, to remember, and
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  Speaker 1: to respond with gratitude. We want you to know this
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  Speaker 1: Lord's Day, how grateful we are for you, for all
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  Speaker 1: you have done, for your son Jesus and all that
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  Speaker 1: he sacrificed, and for your spirit who lives within your people,
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  Speaker 1: your children, to enlighten us and comfort us and encourage
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  Speaker 1: us and direct our steps. On this Lord's Day. We
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  Speaker 1: give you thanks, especially for your word that guides us
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  Speaker 1: in tumultus and otherwise confusing times when there is this
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  Speaker 1: enormous amount of voices that are shouting and arguing, and
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  Speaker 1: claiming and denying, demanding our attention. Give us the ability
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  Speaker 1: to filter out the essential from the non essentials, the
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  Speaker 1: truth in the midst of all the erroneous information that's
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  Speaker 1: out there. What I really ask, Lord, is that you
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  Speaker 1: enable us to focus on what you have written, that
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  Speaker 1: we might live as you have prescribed. We remember others
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  Speaker 1: who have been laid aside, would love to be here
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  Speaker 1: but cannot be. We remember those who take care of them,
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  Speaker 1: the caregivers, the nurses, the staff of places that assist
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  Speaker 1: those who are unable to care for themselves. We thank you,
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  Speaker 1: our Father, for the law enforcement that surrounds us, providing
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  Speaker 1: safety and watching over the citizenry of this country. Protect them,
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  Speaker 1: encourage them. Some work late into the night when it
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  Speaker 1: is even even more dangerous, and we pray for their safety.
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  Speaker 1: We pray for those who represent your name in difficult
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  Speaker 1: places today, our missionaries, our military men and women who
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  Speaker 1: serve the country. How grateful we are, Lord that there
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  Speaker 1: is this large body of people serving and working behind
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  Speaker 1: the scenes as Your will unfolds. Maybe be of encouragement
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  Speaker 1: to them. May we remember that we are better people
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  Speaker 1: because of our knowledge of them, and relationship with them. Findly, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: I thank you for the blessing of family, for those
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  Speaker 1: who have gone before us and have passed into Your
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  Speaker 1: presence on whose shoulders we stand, from whom we learned
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  Speaker 1: great principles regarding life and the importance of obedience and
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice and commitment and faithfulness. I pray, as we gather
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  Speaker 1: together around our tables, that you would give us a
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  Speaker 1: sweet spirit of gratitude, slow our pace, silence our lips
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  Speaker 1: from needless talk, calm us from overreaction. And may we remember, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: that you are the one who sovereignly watches over our lives. Now,
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  Speaker 1: as we've gathered together to ask your blessing, we pray
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  Speaker 1: that you will be pleased with the offerings we place
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  Speaker 1: before you. We do so full of gratitude. In the
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  Speaker 1: name of Jesus. We give and we pray. And all
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  Speaker 1: his people said Amen. I didn't know what the word
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  Speaker 1: glory meant, and it bugged me because I just sung
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  Speaker 1: about it for over an hour, but now here I
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  Speaker 1: was sitting in the middle of the back seat of
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  Speaker 1: our forty seven chivy in Houston on a cold, rainy
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  Speaker 1: winter night in early December, as our family making our
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  Speaker 1: way home back to East Houston, having just sung in
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  Speaker 1: the First Methodist Church the magnificent oratorio of George Frederick Handel. Messiah.
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  Speaker 1: You understand that my mother sang beautiful soprano, my sister
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  Speaker 1: in a lovely contralto voice, my brother beautiful bass, and
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  Speaker 1: I pitched in a little tenor. We had gone. It
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  Speaker 1: sounded like a country Western group, doesn't it. But we
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  Speaker 1: had gone through the process of trying out for the
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  Speaker 1: for the choir that sang there every year, and we
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  Speaker 1: had all passed. My dad called him self our designated driver,
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  Speaker 1: so he drove as we did the performances. There were
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  Speaker 1: about four or five of them, as I recall, singing
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  Speaker 1: under the renowned Walter Jenkins, who led the entire orchestra
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  Speaker 1: two hundred boys, choir and massive pipe organ without a
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  Speaker 1: piece of music in front of him, long since memorized
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  Speaker 1: it all the score, so he knew what he was doing.
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  Speaker 1: If you know the piece, you know that it begins
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  Speaker 1: with a lyrical tenor recitative comfort ye comfort, ye, my
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  Speaker 1: people speaking comfortably to Jerusalem, and it comes out of
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah forty and then he moves into the aria. Every
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  Speaker 1: valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill made load,
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  Speaker 1: the crooked places straight, and the rough places plane beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: beginning to this magnum opus of handle. And then doctor
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  Speaker 1: Jenkins had the choir stand, and here I stood. I
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  Speaker 1: was about fifteen, standing alongside real singers. And then he
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  Speaker 1: began as he brought the baton down, and the glory,
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  Speaker 1: the glory of the Lord, shall be revealed. I'll never forget.
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  Speaker 1: I've never sung in a group like this, and I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: and I got real quiet, and I just mouthed it
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  Speaker 1: so they could sing, and I couldn't hold back the tears.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you, but there was this glory
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  Speaker 1: that was a major part of that first Chora Coral,
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  Speaker 1: and I didn't know what it meant. So I said,
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  Speaker 1: my sister's sitting here, my brother's sitting here, and daddy's driving.
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  Speaker 1: I said, Daddy, what is glory? And he quickly used
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  Speaker 1: the fame us father words. There are only three of them,
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  Speaker 1: but they're perfect. Ask your mother, so I said, mom,
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  Speaker 1: what is glory? And her answer was like many mothers.
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  Speaker 1: When we get home, I want you to get the
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  Speaker 1: dictionary and I want you to look up the word
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  Speaker 1: glory and By the way, when I did, I realize
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  Speaker 1: later in my life that's the first time I ever
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  Speaker 1: became acquainted with truly a theological word. Magnificent word. Webster
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  Speaker 1: states that glory is great, honor, praise, or distinction given
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  Speaker 1: by common consent. It goes on adoration, praise, and thanksgiving
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  Speaker 1: offered in worship, mastic beauty, splendor, resplendings. It gets better,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't it resplendent? Well over a decade later, I found
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  Speaker 1: myself sitting in a classroom at not a seminary, beginning
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  Speaker 1: my studies as a young theological student, and we came
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  Speaker 1: across some nineteen for the heavens declare the glory of
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  Speaker 1: God without a sound, without a voice, neither is ever heard,
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  Speaker 1: and it's heard around the world. And I learned that
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  Speaker 1: the glory of the heavens represents general revelation. Learn a
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  Speaker 1: little theology here, regardless of your geography, culture, language, regardless
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  Speaker 1: of your religion or lack of such. The heavens declare
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  Speaker 1: the resplendence, the magnificence, the majestic beauty of their creator.
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  Speaker 1: You look up at any place around this earth and
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  Speaker 1: you realize there is someone who has put all of
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  Speaker 1: that in place. It could not have just happened. It
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  Speaker 1: speaks without a word. The stars make no sound, the Moon,
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  Speaker 1: the Sun, all of those planets, they're there in their
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  Speaker 1: unique orbit, and without a word, their voice is not heard.
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  Speaker 1: And yet the heavens announced the creator, God is here
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  Speaker 1: in all of his glory. He made it all. I
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  Speaker 1: learned when I got into the depths of the New
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  Speaker 1: Testament language that the word in the New Testament for
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  Speaker 1: glory is dosa. We get our word doxology from it.
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  Speaker 1: It means bright, shining, radiance of brilliant light when applied
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  Speaker 1: to a person clothed in majestic splendor. Would be another
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  Speaker 1: way of putting it. Walter Chalmers Smith captures it in
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  Speaker 1: the closing one of the closing verses of his wonderful
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  Speaker 1: hymn Immortal Invisible, Oh praise we would render, Oh help
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  Speaker 1: us to see. Tis only the splendor of light, height
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  Speaker 1: of thee. That's the glory of God. The Charkaina that
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  Speaker 1: burned from heaven into the holiest place was the glory
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  Speaker 1: of God. I'm filling this holiest place on the earth
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  Speaker 1: in the tabernacle. The Hebrew word I learned later was
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  Speaker 1: is cold havo it means heavy, which is a hippie
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  Speaker 1: word for wow or hey, that's profound. But seriously, it
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  Speaker 1: has in mind the profound totality of God's nature, character
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  Speaker 1: and attributes that is his glory. Now hard to get
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  Speaker 1: our arms around all of that. We almost need it personified.
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  Speaker 1: And that is why we're grateful, so grateful for this
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  Speaker 1: magnificent transfiguration. Jesus speaks of this, I believe, at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the sixteenth chapter of Matthew when he says
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  Speaker 1: that the Son of Man will come with his angels
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  Speaker 1: in the glory of his father and will judge all
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  Speaker 1: people according to their deeds. Obviously a reference to that
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  Speaker 1: time when he will come yet future, when he will
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  Speaker 1: come and establish his kingdom and fulfill the promises to Israel,
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  Speaker 1: set up his rule and reign. And then he adds
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  Speaker 1: a verse that can be confusing if you link it
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  Speaker 1: with that rather than the transfiguration. Look at the next verse,
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  Speaker 1: and I tell you the truth. Some I'm standing here
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  Speaker 1: right now will not die before they see the Son
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  Speaker 1: of Man coming in his kingdom. Look at that. We
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  Speaker 1: could render that in his kingly splendor or in his glory. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you make that only the Second Advent. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: make sense because all of the disciples died before he
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  Speaker 1: would come. It's still future to our day. So I
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  Speaker 1: believe it fits best to think of it as what
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  Speaker 1: follows You are You're going to live to see glory
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  Speaker 1: appear before your very eyes. I would suggest he had
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  Speaker 1: his transfiguration in mind, and they are about to witness
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  Speaker 1: it before we go there just a little more information
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  Speaker 1: that I think will help, because our focus on Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is almost always on his earthly being as a man
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  Speaker 1: conceived birth, reared, trained at home, worked alongside Joseph and
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  Speaker 1: the carpenter shop, and around the age of thirty was
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  Speaker 1: baptized and began his ministry, which went on for those
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  Speaker 1: three three and a half years, during which time he
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  Speaker 1: healed the sick, and he cast demons, and he performed
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  Speaker 1: miracles and walked on water, and on and on and
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  Speaker 1: on the list goes. But he also slept and ate
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  Speaker 1: and talked and walked and looked just like another Jewish adult.
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  Speaker 1: It's his humanity. It is easy to forget when focused
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  Speaker 1: on only the humanity of Jesus, that he is also
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  Speaker 1: undiminished deity. Well. At the same time, true humanity, two
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  Speaker 1: natures that do not mix, but remain in one person forever.
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  Speaker 1: That's why he's known as the God Man, undiminished deity,
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  Speaker 1: true humanity in one person. The disciples are walking with
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  Speaker 1: the one they could easily think of as simply true humanity.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, they've seen miracles that only God could do,
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  Speaker 1: and they've heard words God could only God could have
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  Speaker 1: said and act carried out that only God could have
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  Speaker 1: carried out. But it is easy when you are walking
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  Speaker 1: with someone, eating with them, sleeping beside them, becoming very
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  Speaker 1: familiar with them, that you forget there is that other nature.
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  Speaker 1: So Jesus decides, now is the time for them to
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  Speaker 1: see evidence of My full person, which is what the
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  Speaker 1: transfiguration is all about. Now the glory becomes manifested, displayed.
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  Speaker 1: Let's see how it unfolds as we get into chapter seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: Follow along. Six days later, Jesus took Peter and the
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  Speaker 1: two brothers James and John, and led them up a
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  Speaker 1: high mountain to be alone. They were incessantly of Philippi.
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  Speaker 1: The mountain nearest that would be Mount Herman, further north.
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  Speaker 1: I rather suspect it was there rather than Mount Tabor,
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  Speaker 1: as some teach. I believe he went up the slope
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  Speaker 1: of herman. Notice it was for the purpose of being alone.
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  Speaker 1: I want to highlight throughout my message the value of
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  Speaker 1: time alone, time of silence, time to drink in the
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  Speaker 1: full scene, which could not have been done in the
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  Speaker 1: busy streets with the crowds and all down where they
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  Speaker 1: had been. So he deliberately takes these these three with him.
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  Speaker 1: They go up the mountain side to be alone. Watch
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  Speaker 1: just as the men did. As the men watched, meaning Peter, James,
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  Speaker 1: and John. Notice it came without an announcement. He is
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  Speaker 1: transformed before their eyes. As the men watched, Jesus' appearance
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  Speaker 1: was transformed meta morpho. Oh is the word. We got
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  Speaker 1: a word metamorphosis from it. It means to change into
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  Speaker 1: another form, just simply defined that way. He changed into
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  Speaker 1: another form, still a man, but now his face shone
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  Speaker 1: like the sun, and his clothing became as white as light.
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  Speaker 1: Remember earlier the comment about the effulgence, the resplendence of
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  Speaker 1: God's lightlike presence. Here this one who has walked with them,
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  Speaker 1: talk with them, been teaching and training them, now emerges
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  Speaker 1: in this glowing, glowing presence, and that isn't enough. Moses
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  Speaker 1: and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. I have
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  Speaker 1: I figured correctly. Moses has been dead about fourteen hundred years.
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  Speaker 1: Elijah has been dead about nine hundred years, which helps
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  Speaker 1: reassure all of us that though we may pass through death,
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  Speaker 1: we continue to live death only in the sense of
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  Speaker 1: our earthly bodies perish, but our eternal insights, our eternal spirit,
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  Speaker 1: so live on. So and Elijah come and now appear
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  Speaker 1: alongside him. I don't want to rush through this. I
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  Speaker 1: want you to see him as he is transformed in
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  Speaker 1: your mind. We have artists renderings of Jesus when he
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  Speaker 1: walk this earth, many of them from ancient days where
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  Speaker 1: the only way they knew to do it to reveal
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  Speaker 1: the two natures, was to put a halo over him.
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  Speaker 1: You've seen them pictures like that, or to put a
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  Speaker 1: glow around him. They're trying to depict both natures, many
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  Speaker 1: of them, and here there is no depiction. This is reality.
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  Speaker 1: He shines brightly, and his clothing is blinding in brightness.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, if there's ever a moment to stand and
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  Speaker 1: let the wonder in, it's now now. But of course,
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  Speaker 1: when you're addicted to talking, as one of them was,
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  Speaker 1: you got to say something, so Peter exclaimed, Lord, it's
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  Speaker 1: wonderful for us to be here. If you want to
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  Speaker 1: make three shocks, one for you, one for Moses, and
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  Speaker 1: one for Elijah, just to put it on a street level,
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  Speaker 1: talk comes across like that. Now you know what we
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  Speaker 1: need is more information. First of all, we read that Moses, Elijah,
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  Speaker 1: and Jesus are talking, but we're not told what they
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  Speaker 1: said to each other. What were they talking about? You
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  Speaker 1: can't know from Matthew's account, So you need to correlate.
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  Speaker 1: You need to look for a perilel passage in another
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  Speaker 1: of the gospel writers that covers the same event and
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  Speaker 1: fills in what Matthew doesn't mention. Ah, I found it.
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  Speaker 1: There's a parallel in Mark nine and in Luke nine.
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  Speaker 1: So with me, go back there, or go ahead to there,
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  Speaker 1: find Mark nine. Hold your place will come their second. First,
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  Speaker 1: let's look at Luke nine. I do not hear one
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  Speaker 1: page turning? Is anybody got a Bible? Are you all
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  Speaker 1: using your app? Will turn on your app to that
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  Speaker 1: wherever however that works. Find Mark nine and then Luke
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  Speaker 1: nine and locate verse thirty one. They were glorious to see,
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  Speaker 1: meaning Jesus, Elijah and Moses, they're the they, and they
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  Speaker 1: were speaking, here we go. Matthew didn't tell us this,
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  Speaker 1: Luke does. They were speaking about his exodus from this world,
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  Speaker 1: which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem. They're talking
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  Speaker 1: about what's laying at He's just ahead. See when you're
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  Speaker 1: in that eternal state, everything is in one panoramic view,
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  Speaker 1: you see it all. That's another subject. I knew if
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  Speaker 1: I said that, you'd go what and then you want
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  Speaker 1: to go there? But we won't go there right now,
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  Speaker 1: some other time. But they knew what's coming, and so
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  Speaker 1: they're talking with Jesus about what's coming when he gets
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  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem, namely his arrest, the trials, the death, the resurrection.
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  Speaker 1: They're talking about all of this. And notice also that
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  Speaker 1: Luke gives us a little more information about the disciples.
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  Speaker 1: Peter and the others had fallen asleep, so unlike all
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  Speaker 1: of you, most of you you're wide awake and you're
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  Speaker 1: very aware of where we are with this. There sound asleep,
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  Speaker 1: But they awaken with a start, and we read when
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  Speaker 1: they woke up, they saw Jesus glory and the two
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  Speaker 1: men standing with him. As Moses and Elijah were starting
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  Speaker 1: to leave, Peter Watch, not even knowing what he was saying,
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  Speaker 1: blurted out, Hey, why do not build three memorials, one
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  Speaker 1: for you, one for you, one for you? Okay, before
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  Speaker 1: I see anything more, let's look at Mark nine verse five.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Got that? Both of you that are looking in your Bible,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: say you got Mark nine, verse five? Can you find that? Good?
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Peter exclaimed, Rabbi, it's wonderful for us to be here.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Let's make three shelters as memorials, one for you, one
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: for Moses, and one for Elijah. He said this because
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: he didn't really know what else to say, for they
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: were all terrified. Okay, you know I'm not going to
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: just go on beyond that. We got to stop right
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: here first. I want to just use these two words,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: oh Peter. Another way. One expositor describes the scene. What
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: an amazing sight, luminous, dazzling. Jesus is talking to Moses
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: and to Elijah. If ever there was a time for silence,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: this was it. But enter Peter, a man who always
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: had something to say when there was nothing to be said.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: What in the world was Peter up to? He asks,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: we do not know, but we do see that the
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Lord's only answer to him was silence. Silence. Now you
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: see the value of correlation. Plus you understand why we
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: pause here to draw upon it, because this is this
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: is an unusual moment that required absolute silence. Just take
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: it in. If anyone should speak, it's the one being transfigured.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: If anyone has something to say, he's the one to
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: say it. I've noticed that cloud appears while Peter is talking.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: The cloud interrupts Peter as if to say, if something
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: far more important than what you have to say. But
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: before I go there, let me pass along some key
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: advice regarding listening. Never miss an opportunity to shut up.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Just put bluntly. Or as one lady said to me afterwards,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: she said, my dad used to say, do not speak
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: unless you can improve upon the silence. What good words?
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Peter stop? The cloud overshadows them, and a voice from
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: the cloud says, I love this. This is my son,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: the dearly loved one. There's a restrictive attributive. Remember missing
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: that last time. Some of you may remember that here
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: is where they where the description is highlighted. A little later,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: this is my son, the dearly beloved one. This is
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: my one and only, this is the one I give
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: you as a gift from glory. And then he adds,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: he brings, he brings me great joy. Listen to him. Listen.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Even in the silence, Jesus is speaking. His change of
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: countenance is a message. And this awesome. Truly, I use
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the word rarely, but it fits this awesome interruption as
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: God breaks on the on the scene, as Peter is speaking,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: and God says, listen to the one I've sent. They're
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: finally terrified. We read and they and they fall on
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: their faces. This is a great use of the word terror.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: We often think of it as having a negative connotation,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: not necessarily. It's like the word awful. You read some
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: of the divines of old and they will talk about
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: the terrible majesty of God, the awful holes of God.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: The words are used differently than we commonly used them,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: and when shaped by the theology of the setting, you
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: understand why I love it that Jesus came over, found
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: them on the ground, on their faces, and touched them
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: and simply said, get up, don't be afraid, don't be
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: a free When they looked up, Moses and Elijah were
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: gone and they saw only Jesus. Well, it is about time,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: you would have thought, and we would have wished that
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: on the way up the mountain, they would have anticipated
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Jesus just whatever he has to teach us, whatever he
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: has to say, however he wishes to speak or reprove
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: us or inform us. We're here to listen, We're here
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: to learn. And when they finally were silent, it was
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: all about Jesus. Kate Wilkerson, one of the twentieth century
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: writers of him, wrote, this marvelous hymn made the mind
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: of Christ my savior. She closes it. It's really a prayer,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: a series of prayers, and she ends the him. May
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: his beauty rest upon us as we seek the lost
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: to win. And may they that's the lost. May they
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: forget the channel seeing only him. That's a great prayer.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: When will we ever learn, in this narcissistic era, in
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: this self centered world, that it is not about us.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: It is all about him. Regardless of what you are
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: going through, it is all about him, regardless of the
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: depth of pain. It is all about him, his plan,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: his hand, his touch, his message, the things he will
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: teach is all about him. When you begin to cultivate
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: that concept. You go deeper, and you weary of the
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: superficiality of so much talk. You tire of the evening news,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: so much talk, so much advertisement, so many images, too
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: many words. They saw only Jesus, And you know what,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: I really believe. I believe they are, for the first time,
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: caught up in the moment as we wish they would
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: have been from the very start, Jesus says, get up.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: When they looked up, they saw only Jesus. Now we
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: find them in verses nine through thirteen, coming down the mountain,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: and there's a brief dialogue when they remember their days
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: in synagogue school and what they were taught by their teacher.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: So it's a good time to mention this because they
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: had just seen Elijah and they want to know. They
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: went back down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, don't tell
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: has been raised from the dead. Sh keep us to yourself.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: First of all, it'll simply make people more inquisitive. They'll
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: jump to conclusions, they'll imagine all kinds of things. Furthermore,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: some will think it's an evidence that christ Is is
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: beginning his work of conquering, and and that's why the
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: effulgence of God's presence, don't don't, don't go. I just
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: wanted you to get a glimpse between us of the
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: full presence that often isn't revealed. So they asked him,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: what are the teachers of religious law? Insists, Elijah must
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: return before the Messiah comms. It's a good question. They've
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: been taught that, but they were never given it in
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: context and how it fit into the scheme of things
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: over the chronology of the eschatology of events, the plans
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: for the future. What is all this about? Jesus replies,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. But
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I tell you, and this is so like Jesus in
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: his teaching. He switches a little bit of the subject.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: It makes you think deeper and you realize later what
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: it was he was getting at. He says, but I'll
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: tell you, Elijah has already come, but he wasn't recognized,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: and they chose to abuse him in the same way
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: they will make the son of Man suffer. He uses
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: that as an analogy to his own suffering. That's in
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: the future when they get to Jerusalem. And then we
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: read then the disciples realize he was really talking about
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: John the Baptizer. Interesting how Jesus switched to that without
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: telling them what he was doing. But as they may remember,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: we read a bit in Luke One's seventeen speaking about
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: John who was to be born. He will be a
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. And
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Jesus says, that's the role the baptist the baptized are filled.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: And they finally put it all together. Now I understand
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: how you must be sitting there wondering how this ties together.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I've wrestled with this application, wondering how to shape it
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: for our times, and I've come to realize it really
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: has something to say for us in this day. I
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: want to stand against three long standing habits of our
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: times as I apply what we have just gone through.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: The habits are moving too fast, talking too much, and
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: reacting too quickly. It's a habit easily formed when you
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: operate in the press of the crowd and in the
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: midst of a busy city life, which is ours to live.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Moving too fast, you soon discover that you are staying
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: too shallow. The Lord wants us to go deeper. He
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: wants us to think deeper. He wants us to be
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: men and women who think his thoughts after him, and
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: none of them come naturally take time to work that
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: into our thinking. And so I'll remind you today to
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: slow down. We so happen at this time to be
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: facing a good season to do that. But if you're
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: not careful, it'll be all about gifts you buy, crowd,
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: you have to deal with, trips, you have to take plans,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: you have to make people, you have to feed, hold it,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: slow down deep. People are that way because they've learned
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: to pace themselves. Even in the press of our day
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: and talking too much, we listen to little and therefore
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: learn less than we could. So be quiet, say less.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: I often say to people whom we bring to Israel
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: and enjoy the tour with us, often begin the journey
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: with an opening little discuss devotion, where I say, while
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: we're together, let's walk a little slower, let's talk a
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: little less, let's think a little deeper, let's uh write
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: a little more, let's let the wonder in. Because God
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: doesn't hurry up to catch up with us, we slow
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: down to walk with him, and as you know he's
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: in no hurry, and when you walk with him. To learn,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: you must not talk, just learn to listen. Third, our
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: tendency in this fast paced lifestyle is to react too quickly,
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: and we wait, therefore to seldom take time. Slow down,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: be quiet, take time. Let's commit ourselves for the next
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: several weeks to those three priorities. Some time ago, I
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: wrote some things out that I want to read to
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: you as I close. I don't want you to think
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: about leaving. I want you to think about listening. So
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: here I worked on my words carefully. Boisterous noise, hectic schedules,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: and constant talking dull our senses. They close our ears
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: to what God is trying to say to us in
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: his still quiet voice. They make us insensitive and numb
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: to his touch. I added this. For twenty three years
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: my family and I lived in the Los Angeles area.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: We truly enjoyed those years of greater freedom, numerous opportunities,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: personal growth, and many unexpected, undeserved blessings from God. For
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: all those things, I'm forever grateful. However, I found myself,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: as did Cynthia, becoming weary of the noise, the incessant
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: crowds at every turn, the accelerated pace, the endless rush
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: of traffic, the relentless press of activities. Probably thoroughly enjoyed
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: close friendships and expansion of ministry involvements, there were times
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: we longed for relief, for the enviable presence of silence
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: and stillness. We would occasionally escape to the mountains, to
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: a retreat about an hour and a half from our
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: home where we lived in the busy city. Where we
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: went was removed from the blare of horns and the
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: grinding roar of the freeways, and the constancy of too
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: much shallow and superficial talk. Sitting together up there in
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: the mountains at about six thousand feet, we often leaned
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: against a massive ponderosa pine or a hundred year old oak,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: and we would absorb the therapy of the forest, saturating
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: our souls with majestic stillness. Quiet rains of autumn washed
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: away the dust of summer, inviting the cold winds of winter,
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: which turned overnight into soft, falling snow that blanketed the
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: forest floor with a white so brilliant our eyes would hurt.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Such visual feasts, mixed with the inemitable sounds of silence,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: made both of us more sensitive to the spirit's presence
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: and leading more thankful for God's matchless grace, more aware
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: of his majestic glory. In a word, those soul calming
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: excursions drove us deeper, deeper than we would ever have
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: gone without such times. Last night, alone in my study
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: with just a lamp burning, I turned to a couple
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: of sections of what Clarence Edward McCartney has written. One
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: is this piece, he writes. There's nothing so impressive as silence.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: He writes, I like to wander into some great cathedral
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: and standing alone in the nave, listened to the silence
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: of the immense pillars, the soaring arches, the angels and
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: saints looking down upon me from stained glass windows above me.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: And finally, from his book Bible Epitaphs, I have no
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: dread of a cemetery. Sometimes it's better to be there
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: and have fellowship with the dead who are buried, than
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: to walk down the streets of our cities and meet
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: the unburied dead. That is, those in whom faith and
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: hope and love and purity have long been dead, leaving
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: only the animal alive in the cemetery. The Bible of
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: Life is open, and a passionless voice reached to us
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: the great lessons and tells us to apply our hearts
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: unto wisdom. Sometimes we can learn more from the silence
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: of the dead than from the speech of the living.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: Whether it be a little churchyard where under ancient elms
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: the dead lie close to holy walls, or the dark
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: spaces of some cathedral where the dead sleep under sculptured
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: sarcophagus and lettered marble, Or some wilderness battlefield where the
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: nation has gathered the bodies of the soldiers who there
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: gave their last full measure of devotion. Or some rural
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: hillside where the wind blows free by the banks of
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: a river that flows silently and swiftly away like man's life.
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: Wherever it may be, the resting place of the dead
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: has always something worthwhile to say to the living. Slow down,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: be quiet, take time, maybe bow together in this quiet place.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: This may be the first time for you, in most
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: of your adult life to be this quiet. When you're quiet,
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: and always when you're alone, your thoughts reflect on where
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: you've been, what your life has been like. If you
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: look back over the pages of your past and cannot
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: find a time when you truly gave your heart and
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: soul to Jesus, the Master, the Savior. Do that now.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: You don't have to say a word. You don't have
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: to do a thing in your mind acknowledge. I come
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: before you, Oh God, distant and lost, and I realize
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: my need for Jesus, please occupy my life. I receive
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: him now into my soul. I take him into my heart.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: If you've been moving a too fast a clip, I
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: suggest you slow starting today. If your tendency is to
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: talk too much, I suggest silence, the discipline of silence
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: for an extended period of time. And if you're the
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: type to react to whatever, I suggest you take time
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: to let the wonder in drive a little slower, think
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: a little deeper. Look only to Jesus, Oh Father. Made
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: the mind of Christ, our Savior, live in us from
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: day to day. And may his beauty rest upon us
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: as we seek the loss to win. May the Word
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: of God become our diet, be time with you, mark
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: our lives. We leave this place different than when we came.
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: May that difference continue through this week and through this season,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: for jesus sake. Amen.
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: The preceding message a terrifying glimpse of Glory was copyrighted
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: in twenty sixty and twenty twenty one, and the sound
• 55:02
  Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty one by Charles rswind All.
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: In all rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: for commercial use is strictly prohibited