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Fall Asleep to The Transfiguration _ When 3 Men Saw Jesus Shine Like the Sun · truthunedited

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Close your eyes, let the weight of the day fall away,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: like dust settling after a long journey to night. We
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: are climbing a mountain, not with our feet, but with
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  Speaker 1: our hearts, a mountain where, for a brief moment outside
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  Speaker 1: of time, three ordinary men saw something no human eyes
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  Speaker 1: were meant to see. They saw Jesus as Heaven sees him.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Not the carpenter from Nazareth, not the teacher with calloused
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  Speaker 1: hands and dusty robes, but the Sun of God, clothed
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  Speaker 1: in light brighter than the sun, standing between the Law
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  Speaker 1: and the prophets, between Earth and eternity. For centuries, this
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  Speaker 1: moment has been called the transfiguration. The word means to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: change form. But what changed that night was not only
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  Speaker 1: Jesus's appearance. It was the way his closest friends understood
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  Speaker 1: who he really was. This is not a story of magic.
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  Speaker 1: It is a story of reality breaking through a glimpse
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  Speaker 1: behind the veil, a moment when divinity could no longer
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  Speaker 1: be hidden. So breathe deeply. Let this story carry you
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  Speaker 1: gently toward rest, And as you listen, may you find
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  Speaker 1: what Peter, James and John found on that mountain. Not
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  Speaker 1: answers to every question, but the presence of the one
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  Speaker 1: who is himself the answer. Let us begin chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: the Shadow before the Light. To understand the light, we
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  Speaker 1: must first walk through the shadow. Six days before the Transfiguration,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus had spoken words that shook his disciples to the core.
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  Speaker 1: He had gathered them in the region of Caesarea Philippi,
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  Speaker 1: a place where pagan temples stood carved into the cliffs,
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  Speaker 1: where the gods of Rome and Greece were worshiped in
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  Speaker 1: stone and fire, And there, in the shadow of false idols,
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  Speaker 1: he told them the truth. He said, the son of
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  Speaker 1: Man must go to Juriusalem. He will suffer many things
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  Speaker 1: at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and
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  Speaker 1: the teachers of the law. He will be killed, and
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  Speaker 1: on the third day he will be raised to life.
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  Speaker 1: The words hung in the air like a storm cloud. Peter,
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  Speaker 1: bold and impulsive as always, pulled Jesus aside. His voice
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  Speaker 1: was urgent, almost desperate. Never, Lord, he said, this shall
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  Speaker 1: never happen to you. But Jesus turned to him, and
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  Speaker 1: his eyes were filled not with anger but with sorrow.
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  Speaker 1: Get behind me, Satan, he said, quietly, you are a
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  Speaker 1: stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind
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  Speaker 1: the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. Peter stepped back, stunned.
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  Speaker 1: He did not understand. None of them did. They had
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  Speaker 1: left everything to follow this man, their boats, their nets,
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  Speaker 1: their families. They had seen him heal the sick, cast
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  Speaker 1: out demons, and feed thousands with a few loaves of bread.
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  Speaker 1: They had watched him walk on water and calm the storm.
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  Speaker 1: With a word in their hearts. They had begun to believe, perhaps,
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  Speaker 1: just perhaps, this was the Messiah, the one who would
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  Speaker 1: restore the kingdom of Israel, the one who would overthrow
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  Speaker 1: Rome and sit on the throne of David. And now
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  Speaker 1: he was talking about dying. It made no sense. How
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  Speaker 1: could the Messiah die? How could the light of the
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  Speaker 1: world be extinguished? How could God's chosen king be handed
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  Speaker 1: over to his enemies like a common criminal. The disciples
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  Speaker 1: walked in silence after that. The joy that had once
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  Speaker 1: filled their journey now felt distant, replaced by a heaviness
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  Speaker 1: they could not name. They were heading south toward Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: toward the city of kings and prophets, toward the Temple,
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  Speaker 1: but now every step felt like walking toward a grave.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus walked ahead of them, his face set like flint.
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  Speaker 1: He did not speak, He did not explain. He simply
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  Speaker 1: kept walking, as if drawn by an invisible thread, towards
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  Speaker 1: something they could not yet see. At night, they would
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  Speaker 1: make camp by the roadside. The fire would crackle softly,
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  Speaker 1: the stars would appear scattered across the heavens like seeds
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  Speaker 1: of light, and Peter would sit apart from the others,
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  Speaker 1: staring into the flames, replaying those words over and over
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  Speaker 1: in his mind. He will be killed. How could he
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  Speaker 1: protect Jesus? If Jesus would not protect himself, how could
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  Speaker 1: he fight an enemy that Jesus seemed determined to face alone.
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  Speaker 1: James and John, the sons of Zebede, felt it too.
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  Speaker 1: They had always been quick to speak, quick to act. Once,
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  Speaker 1: when a Samaritan village refused to welcome Jesus, they had asked, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: do you want us to call fire down from heaven
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  Speaker 1: to destroy them? But Jesus had rebuked them gently, saying,
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  Speaker 1: you do not know what kind of spirit you are of.
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  Speaker 1: Now they did not know what to say at all.
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  Speaker 1: The fire in their hearts had turned to ash, and
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  Speaker 1: so they walked day after day through valleys and over hills,
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  Speaker 1: past villages where children played and women drew water from wells.
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  Speaker 1: The world around them continued as it always had, unaware
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  Speaker 1: that the hinge of history was turning. But Jesus knew,
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  Speaker 1: he had always known, and he also knew something else,
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  Speaker 1: something the disciples could not yet grasp. That before the
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  Speaker 1: shadow of the cross, there must be light, before the suffering,
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  Speaker 1: there must be glory. Before they could watch him die.
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  Speaker 1: They needed to see him as he truly was. And so,
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  Speaker 1: on the sixth day after his prophecy, as the sun
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  Speaker 1: began to sink low over the hills of Galilee, Jesus
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  Speaker 1: stopped walking. He turned to Peter, James, and John and
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  Speaker 1: said three simple words, Come with me. They did not
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  Speaker 1: know where he was leading them. They did not know
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  Speaker 1: that in a few short hours their understanding of everything
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  Speaker 1: would be shattered and remade. They only knew that their
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  Speaker 1: teacher had called them, and so they followed. The air
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  Speaker 1: was cool, the shadows were growing long, and ahead of
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  Speaker 1: them rose a mountain, dark against the fading sky. They
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  Speaker 1: began to climb. The path was steep and rocky. Loose
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  Speaker 1: stones shifted under their feet, the trees grew thinner, as
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  Speaker 1: they ascended, and the wind picked up, carrying with it
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  Speaker 1: the scent of wild herbs and distant rain. Peter's legs burned,
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  Speaker 1: his breath came in short, heavy bursts, but he did
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  Speaker 1: not complain. None of them did. Jesus moved steadily ahead,
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  Speaker 1: his steps sure and unhurried, as if he walked this
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  Speaker 1: path a thousand times before. Every now and then he
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  Speaker 1: would glance back at them, his eyes gentle, patient, waiting.
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  Speaker 1: They climbed for hours. The sun disappeared behind the western hills,
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  Speaker 1: leaving only a band of deep orange along the horizon.
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  Speaker 1: The first stars began to appear, faint and trembling, and
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  Speaker 1: still they climbed. Peter wiped the sweat from his brow
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  Speaker 1: and looked up. The summit was close, now just a
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  Speaker 1: little farther, but something felt different. The air had changed.
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  Speaker 1: It was thicker, somehow, heavier with expectation, the kind of
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  Speaker 1: stillness that comes just before lightning strikes. James felt it too.
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  Speaker 1: He glanced at his brother, and John nodded slowly, his
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  Speaker 1: eyes wide. They reached the top just as the last
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  Speaker 1: light faded from the sky. The summit was a flat,
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  Speaker 1: open space, surrounded by low rocks and scattered bushes. The
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  Speaker 1: wind was stronger here, pulling at their robes, whispering through
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  Speaker 1: the stones. Jesus walked to the center of the clearing
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  Speaker 1: and stopped. He stood facing east toward Jerusalem, toward the temple,
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  Speaker 1: toward the city where he would one day be crucified,
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  Speaker 1: And then, without a word, he knelt. Peter, James, and
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  Speaker 1: John sank down on to the cold ground. Exhausted, their
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  Speaker 1: muscles ached, their eyelids were heavy. They leaned back against
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  Speaker 1: the rocks, pulling their cloaks around them for warmth. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: began to pray. His voice was low, almost a whisper,
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  Speaker 1: carried away by the wind before they could hear the words,
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  Speaker 1: but they could see his face, illuminated faintly by the starlight.
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  Speaker 1: It was a face marked by sorrow, yes, but also
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  Speaker 1: by something else, something deeper, a kind of resolve that
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  Speaker 1: burned like a quiet fire. Peter's eyes began to close.
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  Speaker 1: He tried to fight it, tried to stay awake, but
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  Speaker 1: the exhaustion was too much. His head drooped, his breathing slowed.
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  Speaker 1: James and John were already asleep, their heads resting on
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  Speaker 1: their folded arms, and so they did not see at first,
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  Speaker 1: when the change began, it started slowly, so slowly that
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  Speaker 1: if you had been watching, you might have thought it
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  Speaker 1: was only a trick of the moonlight, a faint glow,
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  Speaker 1: barely visible, flickering around the edges of Jesus's form, like
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  Speaker 1: the first pale light of dawn. But it grew. The
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  Speaker 1: glow became brighter, warmer. It spread across his face, his hands,
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  Speaker 1: his robes, and then all at once it blazed. Light
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  Speaker 1: poured from him, not reflected light like the sun on water,
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  Speaker 1: but light that came from within, from his very being,
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  Speaker 1: as if every cell of his body had been set
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  Speaker 1: aflame with the glory of God. His face shone like
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  Speaker 1: the sun at midday. His clothes became white, whiter than
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  Speaker 1: any bleach on earth could make them, whiter than fresh
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  Speaker 1: snow on the mountain tops, whiter than the wings of angels,
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  Speaker 1: a radiance so pure, so blinding, that it seemed to
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  Speaker 1: push back the darkness for miles in every direction. And
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  Speaker 1: Peter woke up. He gasped, his heart lurched in his chest.
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  Speaker 1: For a moment, he could not breathe could not think,
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  Speaker 1: could only stare. James and John jerked awake, beside him,
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  Speaker 1: and they too froze, their mouths, open, their eyes wide
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  Speaker 1: with terror and wonder. This was not their teacher, This
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  Speaker 1: was not the man they had walked beside for three years.
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  Speaker 1: This was something else, some one else. This was the
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  Speaker 1: Sun of God unveiled. And they fell to their knees, trembling,
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  Speaker 1: unable to look away. Chapter two, The Climb to Mount Tabor.
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  Speaker 1: Let us go back, just for a moment, to the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of that climb, because what happened on the summit
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  Speaker 1: cannot be understood without first walking the path that led there.
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  Speaker 1: Christian tradition passed down through the centuries holds that the
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  Speaker 1: mountain was Mount Tabor, a rounded dome of earth and stone,
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  Speaker 1: rising from the Valley of Galilee, standing nearly two thousand
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  Speaker 1: feet above the plains below. Some scholars suggest it may
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  Speaker 1: have been Mount Hermon farther north, or another summit now
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  Speaker 1: lost to history. The Gospels do not name it, they
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  Speaker 1: only call it a high mountain, but the silence around
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  Speaker 1: its name seems fitting because this was not about geography.
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  Speaker 1: It was about ascent, about leaving the world below and
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  Speaker 1: stepping into a place where Heaven could break through. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: had chosen the time carefully. Six days after his prophecy
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  Speaker 1: of death, six days of walking in silence of heavy
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  Speaker 1: hearts and unspoken fears. And now, as the sun began
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  Speaker 1: its slow descent toward the western hills, he stopped and
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  Speaker 1: turned to three of his disciples, Peter, James, John, the
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  Speaker 1: same three who had been with him in the house
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  Speaker 1: of Jyrus when he raised the little girl from the dead,
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  Speaker 1: The same three who would one day watch him pray
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  Speaker 1: in gathsemone sweating drops of blood before his arrest. These
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  Speaker 1: were the ones he called, Not all twelve, just three,
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  Speaker 1: Come with me, he said, And so they followed him
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  Speaker 1: away from the others, away from the road, toward the
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  Speaker 1: base of the mountain. The other disciples watched them go, confused,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps a little hurt, but they did not ask questions.
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  Speaker 1: They had learned by now that Jesus moved according to
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  Speaker 1: a rhythm they could not always hear. The path up
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  Speaker 1: the mountain was narrow and steep. It wound between boulders
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  Speaker 1: and twisted roots, through patches of dry grass that rustled
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  Speaker 1: in the evening breeze. The air smelled of dust and
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  Speaker 1: wild thyme. Crickets began their slow pulsing song. As the
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  Speaker 1: shadows lengthened, Peter led the way behind Jesus, his sandals
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  Speaker 1: slipping now and then on loose gravel. He was a fisherman,
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  Speaker 1: not a climber. His legs were strong from years of
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  Speaker 1: hauling nets, but this was different. Each step required focus, balance, trust.
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  Speaker 1: Behind him, James wiped the sweat from his face with
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  Speaker 1: the edge of his sleeve. His breath came harder now,
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  Speaker 1: the air was thinner up here, cooler. He glanced back
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  Speaker 1: at his brother John, who gave him a small, tired smile.
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  Speaker 1: They did not speak. There was nothing to say, only
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  Speaker 1: the sound of their footsteps, the wind in the trees,
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  Speaker 1: and the occasional cry of a bird circling overhead. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: moved steadily, head, never hurrying, never slowing. His stride was calm, purposeful,
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  Speaker 1: as if he had walked this mountain a hundred times before,
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  Speaker 1: as if every stone beneath his feet had been placed
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  Speaker 1: there just for him. The sun slipped lower, the sky
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  Speaker 1: turned from blue to gold to deep amber. Long shadows
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  Speaker 1: stretched across the valley below, swallowing the villages and the roads,
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  Speaker 1: and the shimmering line of the Sea of Galilee. In
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  Speaker 1: the distance. Peter paused for a moment to catch his breath.
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  Speaker 1: He turned and looked back the way they had come from. Here,
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  Speaker 1: the world seemed so small, the houses like toys, the
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  Speaker 1: people like ants. Everything that had felt so urgent, so overwhelming,
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  Speaker 1: just hours ago now seemed distant, quiet, as if they
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  Speaker 1: had stepped out of time itself. Peter, Jesus's voice pulled
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  Speaker 1: him back, gentle patience, waiting. Peter nodded and kept climbing.
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  Speaker 1: The trees began to thin, the path grew rockier. They
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  Speaker 1: were close now. He could feel it, not just the summit,
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  Speaker 1: but something else, something in the air, a heaviness, a presence.
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  Speaker 1: It reminded him of the time they had been caught
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  Speaker 1: in a storm on the sea, and the sky had
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  Speaker 1: turned black and the waves had risen like mountains. There
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  Speaker 1: had been a moment just before Jesus stood and spoke
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  Speaker 1: to the wind, when everything had gone still, when the
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  Speaker 1: air itself seemed to hold its breath. He felt that now.
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  Speaker 1: James felt it too. His steps slowed. He looked around,
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  Speaker 1: his eyes scanning the rocks, the sky, the trees. There
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  Speaker 1: was nothing unusual, no lightning, no thunder, but the silence
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  Speaker 1: was almost too loud, as if the mountain itself were listening. John,
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  Speaker 1: the youngest of the three, kept his eyes on Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: He had always been the quieter one, the one who
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  Speaker 1: watched more than he spoke, and he noticed things like
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  Speaker 1: the way Jesus's shoulders had straightened as they climbed, the
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  Speaker 1: way his gaze had lifted toward the summit, focussed and unshakable,
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  Speaker 1: The way his lips moved silently forming words no one
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  Speaker 1: else could hear. He was praying. They reached the top
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  Speaker 1: just as the last sliver of sun disappeared behind the hills.
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  Speaker 1: The summit was a flat, open space ringed by low
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  Speaker 1: stones and scattered shrubs. The wind was stronger here, whipping
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: at their robes, carrying with it the scent of coming rain.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus walked to the center of the clearing and stopped.
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  Speaker 1: He stood there for a long moment, facing east toward
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  Speaker 1: the darkening horizon, toward Jerusalem. Peter, James, and John lowered
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  Speaker 1: themselves to the ground, grateful for the rest. Their legs
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  Speaker 1: trembled with exhaustion, their backs ached. They pulled their cloaks
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  Speaker 1: around their shoulders and leaned against the rocks. Trying to
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  Speaker 1: catch their breath. Jesus remained standing. He lifted his face
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  Speaker 1: toward the sky, now scattered with the first faint stars,
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  Speaker 1: and he began to pray. His voice was soft, too
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  Speaker 1: soft to hear over the wind, but they could see
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  Speaker 1: his lips moving, see the way his hands lifted, palms open,
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  Speaker 1: as if offering something unseen. Peter watched him for a while,
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  Speaker 1: then let his head fall back against the stone. His
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  Speaker 1: eyelids grew heavy. The climb had taken everything out of him,
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  Speaker 1: and the night was so quiet, now so still. He
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  Speaker 1: tried to stay awake, tried to focus on Jesus's words,
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  Speaker 1: but the exhaustion pulled at him like a tide. Beside him,
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  Speaker 1: James's breathing had already slowed. His head drooped to one side.
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  Speaker 1: John fought it a little longer, but even he eventually
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  Speaker 1: let his eyes close, And so they slept there on
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  Speaker 1: the summit under the stars while Jesus prayed. They did
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  Speaker 1: not know that in a few moments everything would change.
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  Speaker 1: They did not know that the veil between Heaven and
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  Speaker 1: Earth was about to tear open. They did not know
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  Speaker 1: that the glory Jesus had laid aside when he became
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  Speaker 1: a man, was about to blaze forth in a way
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  Speaker 1: no human had ever seen. All they knew was the
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  Speaker 1: cold wind on their faces, the ache in their muscles,
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  Speaker 1: and the sound of their teacher's voice, rising and falling
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  Speaker 1: like a song too beautiful to hold. And then softly,
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  Speaker 1: at first, the light began Chapter three, The moment Heaven opened.
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  Speaker 1: It started so gently that if you had been watching
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  Speaker 1: from the valley below, you might have thought it was
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  Speaker 1: only the moon rising early, a pale glow, oh faint
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  Speaker 1: and silver, gathering around the figure of a man kneeling
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  Speaker 1: on the mountain top. But this was not moonlight. This
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  Speaker 1: was something older, something that had existed before the moon,
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  Speaker 1: before the stars, before the first morning of creation, when
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  Speaker 1: God spoke and said, let there be light. This was
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  Speaker 1: the light of Heaven itself, the radiance of the eternal,
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  Speaker 1: the glory that had filled the temple in the days
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  Speaker 1: of Solomon, so bright that the priests could not stand
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  Speaker 1: to minister. The same fire that had led the Israelites
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  Speaker 1: through the wilderness as a pillar of cloud by day
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  Speaker 1: and flame by night. And now it was pouring from
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  Speaker 1: the body of Jesus Christ. It grew slowly, at first,
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  Speaker 1: a glow that outlined his form, soft and warm, like
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  Speaker 1: the first pale edge of dawn breaking over the hills,
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  Speaker 1: Then brighter, warmer, spreading across his face, his hands, his robes.
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  Speaker 1: And then it blazed. Light erupted from him, not reflected,
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  Speaker 1: not borrowed, but shining from within, as if every part
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  Speaker 1: of him had been set ablaze with the fire of God.
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  Speaker 1: His face became radiant, brighter than the sun at noon,
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  Speaker 1: so luminous that to look directly at him was like
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  Speaker 1: staring into the heart of a star. His clothes transformed,
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  Speaker 1: The rough, dusty garments he had worn up the mountain
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  Speaker 1: were no longer brown or gray. They were white, pure white,
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  Speaker 1: whiter than snow on the highest peaks, whiter than lightning,
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  Speaker 1: whiter than anything the human eye had ever seen. The
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  Speaker 1: Gospel of Mark says his clothes became dazzling white, such
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  Speaker 1: as no launderer on earth could bleach them. Because this
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: was not the work of human hands. This was the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: unveiling of divinity. For three years, Jesus had walked among
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  Speaker 1: men clothed in flesh. He had felt hunger, thirst, exhaustion.
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  Speaker 1: He had wept at the grave of Lazarus. He had
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  Speaker 1: bled when thorns scratched his hands. He had been fully
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  Speaker 1: human in every way, but he had also been fully God,
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  Speaker 1: and that glory, that infinite radiance, had been hidden beneath
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  Speaker 1: the veil of his humanity, concealed, restrained, like the sun,
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  Speaker 1: covered by a thick curtain. Until now. Now, for just
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  Speaker 1: a brief moment outside of time, the curtain was pulled back.
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  Speaker 1: The glory he had known before the foundation of the world,
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  Speaker 1: the glory he had shared with the Father in the beginning,
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  Speaker 1: was allowed to shine through. This was not a miracle
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  Speaker 1: performed for the disciples. This was Jesus as he truly was,
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  Speaker 1: as he had always been, as Heaven had always seen him.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: The apostle John would later write, we beheld his glory,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: full of grace and truth. Peter, still half asleep, felt
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the light before he saw it, a warmth on his face,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: a brightness pressing against his closed eyelids. He stirred, confused,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: thinking perhaps the sun had risen early. But when he
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: opened his eyes, he gasped, his breath caught in his throat,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: his heart slammed against his ribs. For a moment he
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: could not move, could not speak, could only stare. Jesus
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: was standing in the center of the clearing, but he
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: was no longer the man Peter had walked beside. He
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: was transfigured, changed, glowing with a light so pure, so overwhelming,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: that it seemed to fill the entire mountain. The rocks
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: around him reflected the brilliance. The ground beneath his feet
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: seemed to shimmer. Even the air itself looked different, as
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: if the atoms of creation were bending in worship. Peter
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: tried to speak, but no words came. His hands trembled,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: his legs felt weak. Beside him, James jerked awake with
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: a startled cry. His eyes went wide. He grabbed John's arm,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: shaking him John, John, wake up. John's eyes flew open,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: and he too froze, his mouth falling open in silent awe.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: For a long moment, none of them moved. They knelt
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: there on the cold ground, their faces turned toward the light,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: unable to look away, unable to comprehend what they were seeing.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: This was their teacher, their friend, the man who had
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: laughed with them, eaten with them, walked dusty roads beside them,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: the man who had called them from their boats and
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: said follow me. But now they saw him as he
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: truly was not just a prophet, not just a teacher,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: not even just the Messiah. This was the Son of God,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: the radiance of the Father's glory, the exact imprint of
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: his nature, the Word made flesh, and the Word shining
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: with the light of eternity. Peter's mind raced, trying to
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: find something, anything, to compare this to. He thought of
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: the stories his father had told him as a child,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: stories of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai, his face
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: shining because he had spoken with God. But Moses's glory
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: had been reflected, borrowed from the presence of the Lord.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: This was different. This light did not come from outside.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: It came from within. This was not a man who
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: had been near the glory of God. This was a
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: man who was the glory of God. And it was terrifying,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: not because it was harsh or violent, but because it
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: was holy. Because it was utterly, completely, infinitely beyond anything
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: they had ever known. It was the kind of light
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: that makes you realize how small you are, how fragile,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: how unworthy. Peter wanted to run, He wanted to hide
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: his face, He wanted to fall on his knees and
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: beg for mercy. But he could not move, because even
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: in the terror, there was something else, something deeper. There
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: was love. The light was not cold, it was warm.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: It did not push them away, It held them. It
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: surrounded them, like the embrace of a father welcoming his
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: children home. And in that moment, Peter understood something he
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: had never been able to put into words. Before Jesus
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: had come down, he had laid aside this glory. He
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: had stepped out of heaven and into the dust of
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: the earth, into the limitation of flesh and blood, into
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the weakness of human life, not because he had to,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: but because he loved them. And now, for just a
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: few sacred moments, they were being allowed to see what
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: he had given us up, to see the price of
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: his humility, to see the greatness of the one who
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: had called them his friends. Tears stung Peter's eyes. He
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: did not know if they were tears of fear, or joy,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: or worship, perhaps all three. And then, as if the
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: moment could not possibly become more overwhelming, something else happened.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Two figures appeared. They stepped out of the light, one
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: on either side of Jesus, as if they had been
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: there all along waiting. They were not shadows. They were solid, real,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: clothed in robes that shone with their own radiance. And somehow,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: though Peter had never seen them before, he knew exactly
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: who they were. Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: the two pillars of Israel's faith, the two men who
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: had stood on mountains before, speaking with God face to face. Moses,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: who had led the people out of Egypt, who had
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: received the Ten Commandments on Sinai, whose body the Lord
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: himself had buried in a secret valley in the land
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: of Moab, in a place no man has ever found.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: And Elijah, the prophet of Fire, who had called down
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: flame from Heaven on Mount Carmel, who had never tasted
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: death at all, but had been carried up to God
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: in a whirlwind of flame and wind, his earthly body
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: left behind. They stood beside Jesus now speaking with him,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: their voices low, solemn, filled with reverence. Peter strained to hear.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: He caught only fragments, words like departure, Jerusalem, fulfill, and
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: then he understood they were talking about the cross. Moses
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: and Elijah the greatest figures of the Old Covenant had
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: come to encourage Jesus, to remind him that everything, all
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: of the law, all of the prophecies, had been pointing
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: to ward this moment, toward his sacrifice, toward the exodus
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: he would accomplish at Jerusalem, not from slavery in Egypt,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: but from slavery to sin and death. This was not
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: just a vision. This was Heaven itself reaching down, surrounding
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Jesus with witnesses telling him, you are not alone. This
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: is the plan, this is the purpose, and we stand
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: with you. Peter's heart pounded. He wanted to say something,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: to do something, to prove that he understood the magnitude
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: of what he was seeing. But all he could do
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: was kneel and watch and tremble. Because Heaven had opened,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: and for the first time in his life, Peter knew
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: what it meant to stand in the presence of the
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Holy Chapter four, Moses and Elijah appear. There are moments
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: in history when time itself seems to bend, when the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: boundary between Heaven and Earth grows thin, and eternity breaks
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: through into the present like light through a crack in
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: a door. This was one of those moments, Moses and
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Elijah stood on either side of Jesus, their forms radiant,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: their faces filled with a kind of joy and sorrow
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: blended together. They did not look like ghosts or visions.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: They were real, solid, present, as real as the stones
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: beneath Peter's knees, and yet they had come from another world.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Moses had been dead for nearly fifteen hundred years. His
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: body had been laid to rest in a valley in
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: the land of Moab, across from Beth Piore. The Book
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: of Deuteronomy tells us that the Lord himself buried him,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: and to this day no one has ever found his grave.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Even the archangel Michael, according to the Letter of Jude,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: had contended with Satan over Moses's body, refusing to let
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: the accuser claim it Moses had died. He had tasted death,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: just as every other human must. But now here he
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: stood alive, whole, speaking with the one whom all the
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: law had pointed toward. Elijah's story was altogether different. He
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: had never died at all. In the days of King
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Ahab and Queen Jezebel, when Israel had turned to worship
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Ba'al and asherer, Elijah had stood alone as the prophet
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: of the Living God. He had called down fire from heaven.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: He had shut up the sky so that no rain
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: fell for three and a half years. And when his
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: work was done, when the time came for him to
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: leave the earth, God sent a chariot of fire and
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: a whirlwind, and Elijah was taken up into heaven without
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: ever tasting death. His cloak fell to his disciple Elijah below,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: but Elijah himself was gone, caught up. Translated the prophet
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Malachi had written centuries later, Behold, I will send you Elijah,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: day of the Lord. And the people of Israel had
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: been waiting ever since, waiting for Elijah to return, waiting
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: for the sign that the Messiah was near. And now
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: he was here, not as a forerunner this time, but
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: as a witness. Together, Moses and Elijah represented everything that
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: had come before Jesus. Moses stood for the law, the
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: commandments given on Sinai, the Covenant written in stone. Elijah
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: stood for the prophets, the voices that had called Israel
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: back to God again and again, generation after generation, and
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: both of them had known what it meant to stand
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: on a mountain and meet with God. Moses had climbed
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Mount Sinai and disappeared into the cloud for forty days
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: and forty nights. When he came down, his face shone
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: so brightly that the people could not look at him,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: and he had to cover himself with a veil. Elijah
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: had fled to Mount Horeb, exhausted and afraid after Jezebel
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: threatened his life, And there in a cave the Lord
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: had passed by, not in the wind, not in the earthquake,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: not in the fire, but in a gentle whisper. And
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Elijah had wrapped his face in his cloak and stood
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: at the mouth of the cave, trembling in the presence
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: of the Holy One. Now they stood together on another mountain.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Whether it was Tabor or Herman, we cannot say for certain,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: but it was a mountain just as sacred, just as
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: chosen by God for this moment, and they were speaking
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: with Jesus. Peter leaned forward, straining to hear their words.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: The wind had died down, the air was still almost heavy,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: and in that stillness, fragments of their conversation drifted across
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: the clearing scripture does not record their exact words, only
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: the holy subject of their conversation. But standing there in
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: the stillness of that mountain, Peter could feel the weight
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: of what was being spoken, as if Heaven itself were
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: pressing meaning into the air. Moses spoke first, his voice
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: deep and steady, the voice of a man who had
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: spent a lifetime leading a stubborn people through the wilderness.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: The time is near, he said. All that was written
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: must be fulfilled. Elijah nodded, his eyes fixed on Jesus.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: The prophets spoke of this day. We saw it from
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Afar through shadows and symbols, but you, you will accomplish
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: it in truth. Jesus listened, his face calm, filled with
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: a quiet resolve. He knew what they were talking about.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: He had always known they were speaking of his exodus,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: his departure. The word used in the Gospel of Luke
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: is the same word used for the Israelites leaving Egypt,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: an exodus, a journey from bondage to freedom. But this
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: exodus would not be from slavery in Egypt. It would
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: be from slavery to sin, from the power of death,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: from the curse that had fallen on all humanity when
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden. And
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: the path of this exodus would not lead through the
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Red Sea. It would lead through the hill of Golgatha,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: through the nails and the thorns, and the spear through
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: the grave. Moses said quietly. I led the people out
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: of Egypt with signs and wonders, with the blood of
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: the passover Lamb on their doorposts. But that Lamb was
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: only a shadow. Jesus met his gaze, Yes, he said,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: and now the true Lamb will be slain. Elijah's voice
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: was softer, now almost trembling. You will bear what no
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: man could bear. You will stand where we could not stand,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: and when it is finished, the way will be open.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: There was a silence, the kind of silence that comes
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: when something too great for words settles over the heart.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: And then Moses did something Peter would never forget. He knelt.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: This man who had spoken with God face to face,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: who had stretched out his staff and parted the sea,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: who had brought water from a rock and manner from
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: the sky, knelt before Jesus. Elijah knelt beside him, and
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: together they said, we bless the name of the one
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: who was, and is and is to come, the Alpha
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Peter's throat tightened,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: tears blurred his vision. He did not fully understand what
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: he was witnessing, but he knew it was holy. He
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: knew it was the hinge of all history turning in
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: that moment on the mountain top. Heaven was testifying the law,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: and the prophets were testifying everything that had been written,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: everything that had been spoken, was gathering like dreams into
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: a river, flowing toward one destination, Jerusalem, the Cross, the
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: empty tomb, and Jesus stood at the center of it,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: all radiant and unshaken. The fulfillment of every promise, the
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: answer to every prayer, the hope of every weary soul
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: who had ever cried out to God in the darkness.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: But here's something remarkable, something Peter didn't fully grasp in
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: that moment, but would understand later when he wrote about it.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: In his old age, Moses had once asked God, show
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: me your glory, and God had said, you cannot see
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: my face, for no one may see me and live.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: So God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: and only allowed him to see his back as he
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: passed by. But now on this mountain, Moses was standing
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: face to face with the Glory of God in human form.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: The request he had made fifteen hundred years ago was
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: finally being answered, not on but here, And this time
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: the glory did not pass by, It stood still, and
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: Moses could finally see what he had always longed to see,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: the face of God, ragant, present, full of grace and truth.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: And Peter, watching all of this unfold, wanted to speak.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: He wanted to say something, anything to honor what he
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: was seeing. But what could he say, What words could
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: possibly be enough? And yet, being Peter, he tried Chapter
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: five Peter's tent proposal. Peter was not a man who
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: stayed silent for long. His heart was too full, his
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: thoughts too loud, and in moments of overwhelming emotion, his
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: first instinct was always to do something, to act, to fix,
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: to build. And so, as Moses and Elijah stood besore
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: side Jesus, still glowing with the light of heaven, Peter
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: scrambled to his feet. His legs shook, his hands trembled,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: but he stepped forward, his voice breaking the sacred stillness. Rabbi,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: he said his words tumbling out too fast, too eager.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: It is good for us to be here. If you wish,
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: I will put up three shelters, one for you, one
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: for Moses, and one for Elijah. He gestured wildly as
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: he spoke, his mind racing. Yes, that was it. They
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: could stay here, They could build something, make this moment last.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Why go back down the mountain, Why return to the
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: dust and noise and danger of the world below, when
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: Heaven itself was standing right in front of them. If
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: they built shelters, perhaps Moses and Elijah would remain, Perhaps
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: the glory would not fade. Perhaps they could live in
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: this light forever, safe and untouched by the darkness waiting
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: for them in Jerusalem. But even as the words left
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: his mouth, Peter knew something was wrong. He could feel it,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: a strange heaviness in the air, as if the mountain
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: itself were holding its breath. The Gospel of Mark records
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: this moment with a kind of gentle honesty. It says
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Peter did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: He did not know what to say, and yet he
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: said it anyway, because silence in that moment felt unbearable,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: because his heart was bursting with fear and wonder and love,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: and he had to give it some kind of shape,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: some kind of voice. But the truth was Peter had misunderstood.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: He thought this moment was the destination, the goal, the
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: reward for following Jesus, a glimpse of glory that could
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: somehow be captured, frozen, kept safe, like a treasure locked
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: away in a box. It's a deeply human impulse, isn't it.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: When we experience something beautiful, something transcendent, we want to
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: hold on to it. We want to build a monument
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: around it, We want to stay on the mountaintop forever.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: We feel it when worship moves our hearts to tears
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: and we think, I never want to leave this room.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: We feel it in moments of answered prayer, when God
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: feels close and we think, if only it could always
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: be like this. We feel it when grief finally lifts
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: for a moment and we catch our breath and we think,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: please let this peace stay. Peter wanted to build shelters
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: because he wanted to protect the glory, to preserve it,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: to make sure it didn't slip away. But this was
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: not the destination. This was the preparation, Jesus had not
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: brought them up the mountain to stay. He had brought
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: them up to sea to remember, to carry something back
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: down with them, into the valley, into the shadows, into
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: the days ahead, when everything would seem lost, because in
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: just a few weeks, Peter would stand in a courtyard
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, warming his hands by a fire, and a
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: servant girl would point at him and say, you were
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: with Jesus of Nazareth, and Peter would deny it three times,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: with curses and oaths. He would swear he never knew him,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: And in that moment of betrayal, when the rooster crowed
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: and Jesus turned and looked at him across the courtyard,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Peter's heart would shatter. He would run out into the night, weeping, bitterly,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: convinced he had lost everything. But then he would remember
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: this mountain, this light, this moment when Heaven itself had declared,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: this is my beloved son, and he would know that
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: no matter how far he had fallen, no matter how
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: deeply he had failed, the glory of Jesus had not
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: changed the truth of who he was remained. That was
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: the gift of the transfiguration, not a place to hide,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: but a light to carry, not an escape from suffering,
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: but the strength to endure it. But Peter did not
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: understand that yet. He only knew that he wanted to stay,
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: to build, to hold on to this moment as tightly
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: as he could. James and John stood beside him now,
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: their faces pale, their eyes wide. They did not speak.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: They let Peter speak for them as he so often did,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: and deep down they felt the same thing, the same
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: desperate hope that maybe, just maybe, they could make this last.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Jesus did not answer Peter's proposal. He only looked at
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: him with eyes full of compassion, as if to say,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: you will understand one day, but not yet. Moses and
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: Elijah said nothing either. They simply stood in the light,
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: their faces serene, waiting. And then, before Peter could say
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: anything else, before anyone could move or breathe or think,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: the air changed, a shadow fell across the mountain, not
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the shadow of night, but something else, something vast and
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: luminous and holy. A cloud descended, not a dark storm cloud,
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: but a cloud of radiant white light, brighter even than
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: the glow surrounding Jesus. It moved slowly, deliberately, like a
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: living thing rolling down from the heavens and settling over
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: the summit. Peter gasped, his heart seized in his chest.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: He knew what this was. Every Jewish child knew what
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: this was. The Shaquina, the cloud of God's presence. The
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: same cloud that had filled the Tabernacle in the wilderness,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: so heavy with glory that Moses could not enter. The
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: same cloud that had rested on the ark of the
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: Covenant leading the Israelites through the desert. The same cloud
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: that had filled Solomon's temple the day of its dedication,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: so thick that the priests could not stand to minister.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: This was not a symbol. This was the presence of
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: the Living God, and it was covering them. Peter dropped
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: to his knees. James and John fell beside him, their
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: faces pressed to the ground. Terror gripped them, raw and absolute.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Not the fear of danger, but the fear of the Holy,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: the fear that comes when you suddenly realize you are
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: standing on ground too sacred for human feet. The cloud
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: enveloped them, surrounding them in light so bright they could
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: not see, They could not move, could barely breathe. All
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: they could do was kneel and tremble and wait, and
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: then out of the cloud a voice spoke Chapter six.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: The cloud and the voice. It was not loud, It
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: did not shout or thunder, but it filled everything, the air,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: the rocks, the ground, the very atoms of creation. A
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: voice so deep, so eternal, that it felt like the
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: foundation of the universe itself was speaking. This is my
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Listened to him.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: The words settled over them like a weight too great
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: to bear. This was the voice of the Father, the
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: creator of all things, the one who had spoken the
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: stars into existence, who had breathed life into Adam, who
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: had carved the commandments into stone with his own finger.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: And he was speaking about Jesus, not to introduce him,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: not to explain him, but to declare him, to confirm him,
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: to testify before all of heaven and earth, that this man,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: this carpenter from Nazareth, this teacher with dusty feet and
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: calloused hands, was his son, the beloved, the one in
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: whom all his pleasure rested. And then came the command,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: the instruction, the reason this moment had been ordained from
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: before the foundation of the world. Listen to him, not
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: to Moses, not to Eliar, not to the law or
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: the prophets, as sacred as they were, Listen to him.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Because everything that had come before, all the covenants and
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: sacrifices and symbols, had been pointing toward this moment, toward
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: this person. And now that he was here, now that
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: the Word had become flesh, there was only one voice
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: that mattered his Throughout the Gospels, the Father's voices heard
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: directly only a few times. At Jesus's baptism in the Jordan,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: when the heavens opened and the spirit descended like a dove,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: the Father said, this is my beloved son, in whom
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: I am well pleased. And now here on the mountain
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: he said it again, but this time he added something more.
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: Listen to him. It was a passing of the torch,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: a declaration that the old Covenant had fulfilled its purpose
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: and was now giving way to the new. Moses himself
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: had prophesied this centuries ago when he told the people,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: the Lord your God will raise up for you a
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: You must listen to him. And now that prophet had come,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: the fulfillment of everything Moses and Elijah had spoken of,
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: and the Father was making it clear. From this moment forward,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: Jesus was the voice that mattered, not because the law
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: and the prophets were wrong, but because they were complete.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Their job was done, and now the one they had
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: pointed to was standing right there. Peter's whole body shook.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: He could not lift his head, could not open his eyes.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: The glory was too much, the holiness too overwhelming. He
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: felt as though he were being crushed beneath the weight
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: of it. Dissolved into nothing. For a long moment, Peter
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: could not move. The hand on his shoulder was real, warm, human,
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: but the voice that had just spoken from the cloud
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: still echoed in his chest, in his bones, in the
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: deepest part of his soul. This is my beloved son,
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Those
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: words would stay with him for the rest of his life.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: Decades later, when he was an old man, when his
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: hair had turned white and his hands were gnarled with age,
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: he would write them down in a letter to the
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: churches scattered across the Roman world. He would say, we
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: But we were eye witnesses of his majesty, for he
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: received honor and glory from God the Father, when the
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: voice came to him from the majestic glory, saying, this
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: is my son, whom I love with him, I am
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice that came from
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: An eye witness, that is what Peter would call himself.
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: Not a dreamer, not a man who had imagined things
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: or seen visions in the night, but a witness, some
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: one who had been there, who had heard the voice
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: of God with his own ears. But in this moment
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: on the mountain, he was not thinking about the future.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: He was not thinking about letters or churches or testimonies.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: He was only thinking one thing. It felt like I
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: could not survive the weight of holiness, not because God
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: was angry, not because he had done something wrong, but
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: because no one can stand in the presence of the
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: Holy and live. But then came the hand, Jesus hand,
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: and the voice, gentle, steady, familiar, rise, do not be afraid.
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: Slowly trembling, Peter lifted his head. His eyes were still closed,
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: his face still pressed toward the ground. He did not
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: dare look, not yet, Peter, Jesus said again, softly, kindly. Rise.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: Peter drew a shaky breath. He opened his eyes. The
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: light was fading. The brilliant, blinding radiance that had filled
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: the mountain was softening, pulling back, like the tide retreating
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: from the shore. The cloud was lifting, dissolving into the
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: night sky, leaving only stars and silence in its wake.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: And Jesus was kneeling beside him, no longer glowing, no
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: longer transfigured. His face was calm, his eyes warm, His
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: clothes were the same dusty brown they had been before.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: His hand still rested on Peter's shoulder. Peter blinked. His
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: vision was blurred with tears. He wiped his eyes with
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: the back of his hand and looked around. James and
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: John were still on the ground, their faces pale, their
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: bodies shaking. Jesus moved to them, placing a hand on
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: each of their heads. Rise, he said, gently, do not
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: be afraid. Slowly they sat up. Their eyes darted around
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: the clearing, searching. Moses was gone, Eliegia was gone. The
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: radiant figures who had stood beside Jesus just moments ago
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: had vanished, as if they had never been there at all.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: Only Jesus remained, calm, solid, real. Peter's throat tightened. He
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: wanted to speak, to ask a thousand questions, but the
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: words would not come. His mind was still spinning, still
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: trying to hold on to what he had seen, what
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: he had heard, The voice, the Father's voice. He had
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: heard stories all his life about the voice of God,
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: how it had thundered from Mount Sinai, shaking the earth,
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: filling the people with such terror that they begged Moses
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: to speak to God on their behalf. Let God not
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: speak to us, or we will die, they had cried.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: But this voice had not been like that. It had
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: not been harsh or terrifying in the way he expected.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: It had been majestic, weighty, full of authority, yes, but
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: also full of love, the kind of love that a
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: father has for a son, deep, unshakable, eternal. And the
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: Father had called Jesus his beloved, not his servant, not
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: his messenger, but his son, the one in whom all
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: his pleasure rested. Peter had heard Jesus pray before he
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: had heard him call God Father in the quiet hours
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: of the morning, when the world was still asleep. But
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: until this moment, he had not fully understood what that meant.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: This was not just a title, This was not just
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: a metaphor. This was truth. Jesus was the Son of God,
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: not in the way kings or prophets were sometimes called
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: sons of God, but in a way that was unique, eternal,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: beyond anything Peter could fully grasp. And the command that
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: followed was just as important. Listened to him because the
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: law had been good, it had been holy, it had
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: pointed the way, but it had never been the destination.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: And the prophets had spoken truly, faithfully, calling the people
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: back to God again and again. But they too had
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: been pointing beyond themselves. And now the one they had
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: pointed to was here, standing on the mountain, glowing with
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: the glory of Heaven. Affirmed by the voice of the
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: Father himself, the old Covenant was not being rejected. It
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: was being fulfilled, completed, brought to its perfect conclusion in
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: the person of Jesus Christ. Peter understood in that moment
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: that everything was about to change, not just for him,
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: but for the whole world. The old covenant was giving
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: way to the new. The shadow was giving way to
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: the substance, and the voice of God, which had once
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: come through burning bushes and pillars of cloud, was now
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: speaking through a carpenter from Nazareth. He looked at Jesus,
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: still kneeling beside him, and he felt something break open
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: in his heart, not fear this time, not confusion, but
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: something deeper, something like worship. He wanted to say, Lord,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: I will listen, I will follow, I will never leave you,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: but he did not trust his voice, so he only nodded,
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: and Jesus, seeing the look in his eyes, smiled. It
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: was a small smile, sad, almost as if he knew
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: what was coming, as if he knew that in just
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: a few weeks Peter would fail, would deny, would run away,
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: But also as if he knew that Peter would come back,
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: that the light seen on this mountain would not be forgotten,
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: that when the darkness came, this moment would be the
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: anchor that held him. Jesus stood and offered his hand.
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: Peter took it, and Jesus pulled him to his feet.
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: James and John stood as well, their legs still unsteady.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: For a long moment. The four of them stood there
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: in silence, surrounded by the cool night air and the
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: distant stars. The mountain was quiet now, the wind had
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: died down. The only sound was their breathing, slow and steady,
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: returning to normal. And then Jesus spoke. His voice was calm,
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: matter of fact, as if what had just happened was
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: the most natural thing in the world. Come, he said,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: it is time to go down. Chapter seven, Terror and Awe.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: Going down a mountain is always harder than going up.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: The descent requires a different kind of strength, not the
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: strength to push forward, but the strength to hold back,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: to trust your footing, to move carefully, deliberately, even when
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: every part of you wants to run. Peter, James, and
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: John followed Jesus down the narrow path, their legs still shaking,
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: their hearts still pounding. None of them spoke. The silence
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: was thick, heavy, not with fear, but with something they
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: could not name, a kind of owe that had settled
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: over them, like a cloak, wrapping them in stillness. Every
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: now and then, Peter would glance at Jesus walking ahead
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: of them. He looked so ordinary, His shoulders were slightly hunched.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: The way they always were. After a long day, his
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: sandals scraped softly against the stones, His breathing was steady, unhurried.
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: And yet just minutes ago, Peter had seen him shining
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: like the sun, had watched Moses and Elijah kneel before him,
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: had heard the voice of the Father declare him beloved.
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: How could both be true? How could this man, this teacher,
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: who ate with sinners and slept on fishing boats, also
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: be the radiant son of God clothed in the glory
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: of heaven. Peter did not understand, but he no longer
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: needed to, because the Father had given him one clear instruction.
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: Listened to him, and so Peter would, even when it
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: made no sense, even when the road led towards suffering
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: and death, even when every instinct told him to run
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: the other way, he would listen. Behind him, James stumbled
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: slightly on a loose stone. John caught his arm, steadying him.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: The two brothers exchanged a look, their eyes wide, still
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: processing what they had seen. James wanted to ask a question,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: wanted to say something, but every time he opened his mouth,
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: the words dissolved before they could form, because what could
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: he possibly say? What words could contain what they had
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: just experienced, so he stayed silent and kept walking. They
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: were half way down the mountain when Jesus stopped. He
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: turned to face them, his expressions serious, his eyes searching
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: their faces. Tell no one what you have seen, he said, quietly,
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: Until the son of Man has risen from the dead.
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: Peter's brow furrowed. Risen from the dead. The phrase felt
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: strange in his mouth, heavy. He had heard Jesus speak
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: of dying before, back in Caesarea Philippi, but this, this
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: was different, This was specific certain. Jesus did not explain.
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: He only held Peter's gaze for a moment, as if
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: willing him to remember to hold on to this command,
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: even when he did not understand it. Tell no one,
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: Jesus repeated, and then he turned and continued down the path. Peter, James,
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: and John stood there for a moment, confused. Why would
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: Jesus want them to keep this secret. This was the
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: most incredible thing that had ever happened to them. This
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: was proof, undeniable, overwhelming proof that Jesus was who he
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: claimed to be. Shouldn't they tell every one? Shouldn't they
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: shout it from the roof tops, run down the mountain
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: and proclaim to the other disciples, to the crowds, to
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: all of Israel, we have seen his glory. He is
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: the Son of God. But Jesus had said no, and
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: so they obeyed, even though they did not understand. They
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: would learn in time that some truths cannot be received
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: until the heart is ready, that the glory of the
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: transfiguration could not be understood apart from the darkness of
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: the cross, that resurrection only makes sense to those who
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: have first walked through death. The people were not ready yet,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: and if Peter, James and John were honest, neither were they.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: As they descended, the air grew warmer, the trees grew thicker.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: The sounds of the night returned, the chirping of crickets,
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: the rustle of leaves, the distant howl of a jackal
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: in the valley below. Slowly, the world came back into focus,
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: the ordinary world, the world of dust and hunger and weariness,
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: the world they had left behind when they climbed the mountain.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: But they were not the same men who had climbed it.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: Something had shifted inside them, something had been planted deep
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: in their hearts that would take root and grow in
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: the days and years to come. They had seen the glory,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: and even though they would soon see the suffering, even
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: though they would watch Jesus arrested, beaten, mocked, and crucified,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: they would never forget what they had seen on the mountain.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: That Jesus was not a victim. He was not overpowered
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: by evil or defeated by death. He was the son
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: of God, who had laid aside his glory willingly, who
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: had walked into the darkness by choice, who had the
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: power to call down legions of angels, but chose instead
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: to stretch out his arms on a cross. And when
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: he rose from the dead three days later, when Mary
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: Magdalen found the tomb empty and the stone rolled away,
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: Peter would remember the light, the voice, the moment when
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: Heaven itself had testified, and he would know that it
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: had all been leading here to this, to the empty grave,
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: to the risen king. But he did not know that yet,
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: not fully. So he walked in silence, his heart full
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: of wonder and confusion, his mind racing with uestions he
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: could not yet ask. When they finally reached the base
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: of the mountain, the other disciples were waiting. They looked
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: up as Jesus approached, their faces tired, worried master one
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: of them called out, where have you been. Jesus did
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: not answer. He simply walked past them, his eyes fixed
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: on the road ahead, the road that led to Jerusalem,
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: to the Temple, to the Cross. Peter glanced back at
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: the mountain one last time. In the moonlight. It looked quiet, peaceful,
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: just another hill rising from the valley floor. But he
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: knew better. He knew that something eternal had happened there,
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: something that would echo through all of history, through every
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: generation until the end of time. And deep in his heart,
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: beneath the fear and the confusion and the grief that
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: was coming, he felt a spark of something else, hope.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: Because if Jesus could s hine like the sun, if
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: Moses and Elijah could appear from beyond the grave, if
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: the voice of the Father could break through the heavens
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: and declare his love for his son, then maybe, just
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: maybe death was not the end. Maybe the darkness would
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: not win. Maybe the light was stronger than they had
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: ever imagined, and maybe, when all was said and done,
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: that light would rise again. Peter did not know how,
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: He did not know when but he had seen the glory,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: and that was enough. For now, It was enough. Chapter eight,
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: The Descent tell no One. The silence on the way
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: down was different from the silence on the way up
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: when they had climbed the mountain. The silence had been
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: filled with anticipation, with the quiet tension of not knowing
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: what was about to happen. But now descending in the
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: cool darkness, the silence was heavy with memory, with the
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: weight of what they had seen, what they had heard,
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: what they could never unsee or unhear. Peter's mind kept
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: returning to the moment the cloud had descended, the moment
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: the father's voice had spoken. He replayed it over and over,
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: trying to hold on to every detail, afraid that if
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: he let go, even for a second, the memory would
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: slip away like water through his fingers. This is my
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: Those words had changed everything, And yet as they walked
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: back down into the ordinary world, nothing looked different. The
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: stones were still stones, the trees were still trees. The
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: night sky was still scattered with stars, just as it
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: had been every night of Peter's life. But Peter was
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: not the same, None of them were. James walked in
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: front of him, his steps careful, deliberate. Every now and
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: then he would glance over his shoulder at John, as
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: if to confirm that his brother was still there, that
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: this was real, that they had both seen the same thing.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: John walked last, his eyes fixed on the back of
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: Jesus's head. He was the youngest of the twelve, the
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: one they called the beloved, and to night he had
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: heard the Father call his own son beloved. The word
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: echoed in his heart, beloved, chosen, treasured. One day, decades
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: from now, John would sit down with a quill and
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: parchment and begin to write. In the beginning was the Word,
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: He would write about the light shining in the darkness,
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: about the glory of the only begotten Sun, full of
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: grace and truth, and he would never forget this night,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: the night he saw that glory with his own eyes.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: But for now he said nothing. He only walked and
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: listened to the sound of his own breathing, and fell
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: the cool wind on his face. They were almost to
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: the bottom when Jesus stopped again. He turned to face
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: the three disciples, his expression serious, his voice low. Tell
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: no one what you have seen, he said again, until
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: the son of Man has risen from the dead. Peter
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again. The
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: command was clear, but the reason behind it was not.
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: Why keep this secret, Why hide the very thing that
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: could prove to everyone once and for all that Jesus
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: was the Messiah. James shifted his weight from one foot
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: to the other. He wanted to ask, wanted to understand,
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: but something in Jesus's eyes stopped him, a kind of sadness,
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: a knowing, as if Jesus could see the future, as
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: if he knew that even if they told the world
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: what they had seen tonight, the world would not believe,
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: not yet, not until something thing else happened first, something
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: that would make the transfiguration make sense. Resurrection. The word
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: hung in the air between them, strange and unfamiliar. Peter
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: had heard of people being raised from the dead. He
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: had been there when Jesus brought Jyrus's daughter back to life.
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: He had heard the stories of Elijah raising the widow's son,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: and Elisha breathing life back into a dead child. But
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: those were people who had been brought back restored, given
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: a second chance at the life they had lost. This
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: was different. Jesus was not talking about being brought back.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: He was talking about rising, as if he would do
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: it himself, as if death would not be an ending
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: but a doorway he would walk through and then step
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: out of on the other side. Peter did not understand,
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: but he nodded, Yes, Lord, he said, quietly, we will
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: not speak of it. Jesus held his gay for a
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: moment longer, then turned and continued down the path. The
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: three disciples followed, their hearts full of questions they did
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: not know how to ask. As they walked, Peter's mind
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: drifted back to something Jesus had said weeks ago, back
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: in Caesaria Philippi. He had asked them, who do you
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: say that I am? And Peter had answered boldly, confidently,
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: you are the Messiah, the son of the Living God.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: Jesus had blessed him for that answer, had said that
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: flesh and blood had not revealed it to him, but
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: the Father in heaven. But then, just moments later, when
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: Jesus began to speak of suffering and death, Peter had
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: rebuked him, had said, this will never happen to you. Lord,
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: and Jesus had turned and said, get behind me, Satan,
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: you are a stumbling block to me. The memory still stung.
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: Peter had not understood then. He still did not fully
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: understand now, But he was beginning to see something, something faint,
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: like the first pale light of dawn breaking over the horizon.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: That the Messiah was not who they thought he was.
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: That the kingdom he came to establish was not the
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: kind of kingdom they had imagined. That glory and suffering
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: were not opposites, but two sides of the same coin.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: On the mountain, they had seen the glory, the radiance,
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: the voice of the Father affirming his son. But Jesus
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: kept talking about the cross, about dying, about rising again,
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: and somehow, in a way Peter could not yet explain,
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: both were true, both were necessary, The glory was real,
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: but it was not the end of the story. It
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: was the beginning. They reached the base of the mountain
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: just as the first hints of dawn began to touch
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: the eastern sky. The other nine disciples were huddled together,
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: some of them asleep, others awake and talking in low voices.
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: When they saw Jesus approaching, they stood quickly relief flooding
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: their faces. Master one of them called out, we have
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: been waiting. There was a man who brought his son
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: to us, a boy tormented by an evil spirit. We
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: tried to cast it out, but we could not. Jesus listened,
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: his expression calm. He did not seem surprised, he did
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: not seem disappointed. He only nodded and said, bring the
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: boy to me. And just like that, the moment on
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: the mountain was over. They were back in the world,
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: back to the needs and the noise and the brokenness
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: that followed them wherever they went. But Peter, James, and
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: John carried something with them now, something the others did
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: not have. A memory, a secret, a light that burned
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: quietly in their hearts even as the world pressed in
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: around them. They had seen Jesus as he truly was.
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: And though they could not speak of it yet, though
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: they had to carry it in silence, they knew one
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: thing for certain that when the darkness came, when the
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: soldiers arrived in the garden and the nails pierced his hands,
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: when the sky turned black and the earth shook, and
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: Jesus cried out and breathed his last, they would remember
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: the light, and they would wait, just as he had
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: told them to wait for the Son of Man to
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: rise from the dead. Chapter nine. The meaning why this
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: moment matters? But let's pause here because there's something we
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: need to talk about, something that happens. When we hear
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: a story like this. We listen, We imagine the mountain,
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: the light, the voices. We picture Peter stumbling over his words,
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: trying to build shelters. We feel the weight of the cloud,
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: the terror, and the wonder, and then we think, that's
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: a beautiful story. But what does it have to do
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: with me? Because you and I we weren't on that mountain.
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: We didn't see Moses and Elijah. We didn't hear the
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: Father's voice breaking through the heavens. So what does the
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: transfiguration mean for us here and now, in our ordinary lives.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: The answer is everything. Let me tell you why. Imagine
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: Peter a few weeks after the mountain, he's standing in
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: a court yard in Jerusalem. The night is cold, A
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: fire crackles in the center, and he edges closer, trying
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: to warm his hands around him. Soldiers and servants mill about,
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: talking in low voices about the man they've just arrested
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: the one called Jesus of Nazareth. A servant girl walks
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: past Peter. She stops, looks at him, points you were
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: with him, she says, with Jesus, I've seen you. Peter's
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: heart races. Everyone is looking at him now, the soldiers,
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: the servants, the ones who arrested Jesus just hours ago.
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: And Peter opens his mouth and he says, I don't
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: know what you're talking about. I've never met the man.
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: She presses him. I'm sure it was you. I swear
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: to you. Peter says, his voice rising, I don't know him.
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: A third time someone accuses him, and this time Peter curses.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: He swears an oath, I do not know this man
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: you're talking about. And then across the courtyard Jesus turns.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: Their eyes meet, and in that moment, Peter remembers the
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: roaster crows. Peter stumbles backward. His world collapses. He runs
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: out into the night, weeping so hard he can barely breathe,
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: weeping not just because he's failed, but because he's lost,
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: because he's betrayed the one person who believed in him,
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: because he's proven that he was never strong enough, never faithful, enough,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: never worthy enough to follow the Son of God. And
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: in that moment of absolute despair, when Peter is convinced
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: that everything is over, that he's thrown away his one
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: chance at redemption, he remembers the mountain. He remembers the light,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: the voice, the moment when the Father himself declared, this
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: is my beloved son, and Peter realizes something. The glory
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: he saw on the mountain didn't depend on him. It
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: didn't come from him. It wasn't earned by his faithfulness
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: or his strength. The glory was Jesus, always Jesus, and
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: nothing Peter could do, no failure, no betrayal, no amount
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: of weakness, could change who Jesus was. That realization didn't
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: erase Peter's grief, but it gave him something to hold
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: on to a thread of hope in the darkness. And
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: three days later, when the tomb was found empty and
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: Jesus appeared to the disciples, Peter was there, and Jesus
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: didn't reject him, didn't turn him away. Instead, he restored him,
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: called him again, gave him a mission. Because the transfiguration
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: wasn't just about showing the disciples who Jesus was. It
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: was about anchoring them to a truth that would hold
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: when everything else fell apart. And that's the first reason
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: the transfiguration matters. It reminds us that our faith is
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: not built on our strength. It's built on the unchanging
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: glory of Jesus Christ. When we fail, when we fall,
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: when we deny and doubt and run away, he remains.
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: The light doesn't go out, the truth doesn't change. Here's
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: the second reason. The transfiguration was a preview gli Limps,
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: not just of who Jesus is, but of what we
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: will become. The Apostle Paul wrote, our citizenship is in heaven,
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: so that they will be like his glorious body, Like
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: his glorious body. What Peter, James and John saw on
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: the mountain wasn't just a vision or a miracle. It
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: was a revelation of what Jesus truly is, and it
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: was also a promise of what we will become. Right now,
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: we live in bodies that are weak, that get tired,
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: that ache and break and wear out. We live in
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: a world marked by sickness and sorrow and death. But
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: one day, when the work of redemption is complete, when
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: sin and death have been defeated once and for all,
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: we too will be transformed. Our bodies will be made new, glorious, incorruptible.
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: The transfiguration is a window into that future, a moment
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: when the veil between now and then grew thin, and
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: the disciples were allowed to see what awaits those who
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: trust in Christ. And here's the third reason. The transfiguration
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: confirmed that Jesus is the fulfillment of everything God had
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: ever spoken. Moses represented the Law, the commandments given on Sinai,
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: the covenant written in stone. Elijah represented the prophets, the
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: voices that had called Israel back to God generation after generation.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: Together they stood for the entirety of the Hebrew scriptures,
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: everything God had spoken before Jesus came. And now on
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: the mountain they appeared beside Jesus, not to replace him,
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: not to compete with him, but to testify about him,
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: to say, this is what we were pointing to all along,
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: this is the one the Law and the prophets spoke of.
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: And then when the Father spoke, he made it even clearer.
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: Listened to him, not to Moses, not to Eliah, not
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: to the traditions of men or the interpretations of scholars,
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: but to Jesus. Because he is the final word, the
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: ultimate revelation, the fullness of God in human form. The
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: old Covenant wasn't being rejected, it was being fulfilled, completed,
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: brought to its perfect conclusion in the person of Jesus Christ.
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: And finally, he is perhaps the most important reason the
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: transfiguration matters. It was an act of love. Jesus knew
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: what was coming. He knew the cross was waiting. He
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: knew the pain, the betrayal, the loneliness, the weight of
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: the world's sin pressing down on his shoulders. But he
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: also knew that Peter, James, and John were going to
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: walk through their own valley of shadow, that they would
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: be shaken, that they would stumble, that they would need
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: something to hold on to when the night grew dark.
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: And so he gave them this a moment of light,
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: a glimpse of glory, a memory that would burn in
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: their hearts for the rest of their lives. It was
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: not for his sake, it was for theirs, because that
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: is who Jesus is, the one who sees our need
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: before we even know it ourselves, the one who strengthens
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: us before the trial comes, the one who gives us
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: just enough light to take the next step, even when
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: we cannot see the end of the road. The transfiguration
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: matters because it tells us that Jesus is not just
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: a teacher or a prophet, or a good man who
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: lived a long time ago. He is the Son of God,
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: the radiance of the Father's glory, the exact imprint of
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: his nature, the one in whom all the fullness of
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: deity dwells in bodily form. And if that is true,
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: then everything changes. Our suffering has meaning, our hope has
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: a foundation, Our faith is not in vain because the
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: one who shone like the sun on the mountain is
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: the same one who hung on the cross and the
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: same one who walked out of the tomb three days later.
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: And he is still shining, still speaking, still calling us
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: to listen even now. Chapter ten echoes in history witnesses
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: through the ages. Now, before we go any further, I
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: need to tell you something important. What you are about
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: to hear are not accounts from scripture. They are not
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: part of the Bible. They are stories from Church history
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: and tradition, testimonies pass down through the centuries by believers
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: who claim to have encountered the glory of God in
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: their own lives. We cannot verify every detail of these accounts.
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: We don't know for certain if every word is exactly
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: as it happened, But we share them here because they
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: echo the same truth we saw on Mount Tabor, that
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: the God who revealed his glory to Peter, James and
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: John is still at work, still present, still touching lives
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: in ways that are sometimes beautiful, sometimes mysterious, and always
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: beyond our full understanding. So listen, not as if these
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: are facts we're asking you to believe without question, but
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: as testimonies witnesses across time who point us back to
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: the same truth, that the Light of Christ is real
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: and it has never stopped shining. The Church has never
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: forgotten the Transfiguration. From the earliest days when believers gathered
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: in secret to worship to the great cathedrals that rose
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: across Europe in the Middle Ages, this moment has been honored, remembered,
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: celebrated every year on the sixth of August. The Feast
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: of the Transfiguration is observed. It is a day set
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: apart to remember the mountain, the light, the voice, a
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: day to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God,
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: radiant and glorious, even when the world around us seems dark.
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: Christian tradition holds that a church was built on the
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: summit of Mount Tabor as early as the fourth century.
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: Pilgrims from across the known world would climb that mountain,
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: seeking to stand on the ground where Heaven had touched earth.
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: The church was destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries,
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: but always it was rebuilt because the memory of what
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: happened there was too sacred to let fade. But the
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: echoes of the Transfiguration have not been limited to one
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: mountain or one church. Across the centuries, believers have testified
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: to encounters with a similar light, a similar presence. Let
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: me tell you about one of them. According to Orthodox tradition,
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: in the forests of Russia, around the year thirteen twenty four,
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: there lived a monk named Seraphim of Sarov. He spent
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: much of his life in solitude, praying in a small
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: wooden cell, seeking the face of God with a hunger
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: that consumed him. One winter day, a man named Nicholas
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: Motorvilov came to visit him. Nicholas was struggling with doubt,
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: plagued by questions about the reality of the Holy Spirit.
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: He asked Seraphim, how can I know that the Spirit
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: of God is truly with me? According to Nicholas's own
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: written account, which has been preserved in the Orthodox Church
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: for centuries, Seraphim looked at him with gentle eyes and said,
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: my friend, we are both in the Spirit of God
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: right now. Look at me. Nicholas lifted his eyes, and
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: he later testified that what he saw he would never forget.
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: He wrote that Seraphim's face appeared to glow, that a light,
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: warm and bright, seemed to radiate from him, so intense
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: that Nicholas said he could barely look directly at him.
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: Whether this was a physical phenomenon, a spiritual vision, or
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: something beyond our understanding, we cannot say with certainty. But
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: Nicholas recorded his experience, and he testified to it for
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: the rest of his life. When Nicholas asked what was happening,
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: Seraphim reportedly said, this is the grace of the Holy Spirit.
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: This is what the apostles saw on Mount Tabor, and
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: it is available to all who seek God with a
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: pure heart. The account goes on to say that the
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: light faded after a few moments, but Nicholas never forgot,
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: and his testimony has been treasured in the Orthodox tradition
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: as a reminder that the glory of the Transfiguration is
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: not locked in the past, but alive and present for
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: those who draw near to God. Another story comes from
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: the Hills of Italy. Church tradition tells us that in
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: the year twelve twenty four, a young man named Francis
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: of Assisi knelt alone on a mountain side, praying through
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: the night. He had given up everything to follow Christ,
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: his wealth, his family, his comfort. According to accounts recorded
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: by his followers, as Francis prayed, asking the Lord to
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: let him share in the suffering of the Cross, a
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: light appeared in the sky. They describe it as a seraph,
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: a six winged angel descending toward him, glowing with radiant fire,
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: and from the center of the light, Francis reportedly saw
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: the form of a man crucified. The tradition holds that
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: in that moment, wounds appeared on Francis's hands, feet, and
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: side the stigmata, the marks of Christ's passion. Those who
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: knew Francis testified that he bore these wounds for the
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: rest of his life, and some of his companions claimed
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: that after this encounter, to Francis's face carried a different quality.
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: They said it seemed to glow softly, especially when he prayed.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: Whether this was a literal glow or simply the reflection
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: of a heart transformed, we cannot say, but the testimony
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: was recorded, and it has been passed down with reverence.
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: These are not the only accounts. Across the centuries, in
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: different lands, in different ways, believers have testified to encounters
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: with what they described as the uncreated light of God.
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: In the deserts of Egypt, the early monks wrote of
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: a light that would sometimes fill their cells when they prayed.
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: Not a physical light, they said, but a spiritual radiance
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: that brought peace and joy beyond words. In the mountains
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: of Greece, on the peninsula of Mount Athos, monks have
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: practiced a form of prayer for over a thousand years,
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: seeking what they call the light of Tabor. They do
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: not claim to earn it or conjure it, they only
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: seek it, And some, after years of prayer and fasting
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: and silence, have testified that they were blessed to experience it,
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: a soft, warm presence that filled their hearts and drew
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: them deeper into the knowledge of God. Again, we share
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: these not as proof, but as testimony, as echoes across
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: time of the same truth revealed on the mountain, that
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: You may never see a physical light, you may never
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: have a vision or hear an audible voice, and that's okay,
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: because the truth of the transfiguration doesn't depend on mystical experiences.
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: But if you have ever felt, even for a moment,
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: the warmth of God's presence in your heart, if you
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: have ever known deep in your soul that you are
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: loved beyond measure, if you have ever stood in worship
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: and felt as though Heaven itself had drawn near, then
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: you have touched the edge of that light. You have
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: heard the echo of that voice. You have stood in
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: your own way on the mountain, and the same Jesus
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: who shone like the sun two thousand years ago, can
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: be shining still in you, through you, and around you,
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: calling you to listen, to follow, to trust, even when
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: the road is dark, even when the cross looms ahead,
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: because the light is stronger than the darkness, and it
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: always will be. Chapter eleven. The mountain within your own transfiguration.
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: You may never climb Mount Tabor. You may never stand
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: on the exact stones where Peter James and John knelt
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: in Awe. You may never hear the audible voice of
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: the Father breaking through the clouds. But here's the thing.
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: Jesus invites you even now to climb a different kind
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: of mane mountain, a mountain not made of rock and soil,
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: but of surrender, of trust, of the quiet, steady journey
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: toward the heart of God. This mountain has no name,
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: it cannot be found on any map, but it is real,
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: and the path that leads to its summit begins in
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: the most ordinary of places, in the stillness of the morning,
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: when you open your eyes and whisper a prayer before
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: the noise of the day rushes in. In the moment
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: you choose forgiveness over bitterness, even when the wound is
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: still fresh, in the decision to keep going when everything
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: in you wants to give up, In the choice to
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: trust God's goodness even when his plan makes no sense.
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: These are the steps, small, unnoticed by the world, but
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: seen by Heaven. And as you climb, as you press
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: forward in faith, something begins to change, not all at once,
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: not in a flash of blinding light, but slowly, gently,
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: like the sun rising over the hills. You begin to
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: see Jesus more clearly, not just as a historical figure
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: or a distant deity, but as the living Son of God,
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: walking beside you, speaking to you, holding you. You begin
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: to hear his voice, not in thunder, but in the
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: quiet whisper of your heart, in the words of scripture
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: that suddenly come alive, in the comfort that settles over
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: you when you pray, in the peace that passes understanding,
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: even in the middle of the storm. And you begin
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: to be transformed, not into something you were never meant
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: to be, but into who you were created to be
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: all along, into the image of the one who made you,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: into a reflection of his light, the apostle Paul wrote,
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: And we, all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: one degree of glory to another, from one degree of
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: glory to another. This is the journey, This is the mountain,
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: not a single moment of blinding revelation, but a lifetime
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: of small steps, each one drawing you closer to the
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: heart of God. But here's something crucial, something we need
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: to understand before we go any further. You are not
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: climbing this mountain to earn God's love. You are not
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: working your way up to prove your worthy. You are
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: not trying to become good enough to deserve his attention.
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: Because here's the beautiful, liberating truth. You already have his love.
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: You are already accepted. You are already called beloved. Not
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: because of what you've done, not because of how far
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: you've climbed, but because of what Jesus has done. When
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: he hung on the cross, he took your sin, your shame,
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: your failure, and he carried it to the grave. And
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: when he walked out of that tomb three days later,
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: he declared once and for all that nothing can separate
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: you from the love of God. You are already righteous
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: in Christ, already clean, already whole. The transformation we're talking
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: about is not to become worthy, it's to live out
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: what you already are in Him. You don't climb to
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: earn the Father's approval. You climb because you already have it,
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: And every step you take is not a desperate scramble
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: to reach him, but a joyful response to the one
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: who has already reached you. So do not despair when
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: the journey is hard, Do not lose heart when the
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: light seems far away. Do not think that your stumbles
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: and falls disqualify you, because Jesus is with you, just
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: as he was with Peter, James and John. He knows
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: the path is steep, he knows you are weary. He
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: knows there are moments when you want to turn back,
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: when the weight feels too heavy, when the summit seems
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: impossibly far away. But he also knows something you do
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: not yet see. That the clime is worth it, that
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: the glory waiting at the top is beyond anything you
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: could ask or imagine, and that every step you take
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: in faith, no matter how small, is bringing you closer
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: to the moment when you will see him face to face,
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: not as a distant king, not as a stern judge,
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: but as the one who has loved you from before
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: the foundation of the world, the one who knows your
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: name the one who calls you beloved. And when that
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: day comes, when the veil is finally lifted and you
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: stand in his presence, you will understand. You will understand
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: why the road was hard, why the valley was dark,
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: why the waiting felt so long, because you will see
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: him as he truly is, ragant, glorious, perfect in every way,
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: and you will be like him because you will see
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: him as he is. But until that day, you live
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: here in the inn between, in the tension between what
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: you have seen and what you have not yet seen,
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: between the light you carry and the darkness that surrounds you.
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: And that is where faith is born. That is where
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: trust is forged. That is where the mountain is climbed.
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: So to night, as you rest, as you let the
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: wait of the day fall away, remember this. You are
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: on the mountain, you have always been on the mountain,
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 1: and Jesus is walking beside you, leading you higher, deeper,
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: closer to the heart of the Father. Listen to his voice,
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: trust his hand, follow his light, and know that the
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: glory you glimpse to night, the glory that shone from
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: him on Mount Tabor, is the same glory that will
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: one day fill you completely. From one degree of glory
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: to another until you are home.
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 2: Chapter twelve, night prayer and blessing, And now beloved, the
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 2: story has been told, the mountain has been climbed, the
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 2: light has been seen, the voice has been heard. But
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 2: before you drift into sleep, before you let go of
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 2: the day and rest in the arms of the one
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 2: who never sleeps, let us pray together, not with many words,
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 2: not with elaborate phrases, but with the simplicity of a
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 2: child speaking to a father who loves them. So close
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 2: your eyes breathe deeply, let your body settle into stillness,
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 2: and let us pray. Lord Jesus, you who shone like
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 2: the sun on the mountain, shine into my heart. Tonight.
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 2: I do not ask for visions or voices or blinding light.
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 2: I only ask for your presence, to know that you
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 2: are near, that you see me, that you love me.
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 2: I have walked through this day carrying burdens I was
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 2: never meant to carry alone, worries that weigh me down,
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 2: fears that whisper in the quiet, regrets that echo in
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 2: my mind. But tonight I lay them all at your feet.
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 2: Every burden, every fear, every failure. I do not have
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 2: the strength to hold them any longer. So I give
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 2: them to you, and I trust that you will carry
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 2: what I cannot. Lord, help me to listen to your voice.
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 2: Not the voice of doubt, not the voice of accusation,
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 2: not the voice of the world that tells me I
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 2: am not enough, but your voice, the voice that calls
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 2: me beloved, the voice that says, come to me, all
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 2: who are weary, and I will give you rest. I
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 2: am weary, Lord, so I come and I rest in ye.
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you that I do not have to earn your love.
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 2: Thank you that I do not have to climb high enough,
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 2: or be good enough or strong enough to deserve your grace.
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 2: Thank you that while I was still a sinner, Christ
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 2: died for me, and because of him I am already accepted,
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 2: already loved, already called your own. As I sleep to night,
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 2: guard my heart, guard my mind. Let no darkness disturb
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 2: my rest, Let no fear steal my peace. Instead, fill
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 2: my dreams with light, with hope, with the quiet assurance
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 2: that no matter what tomorrow brings, you are with me,
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 2: You are for me, and you will never leave me.
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Lord, for the mountain, for the light, for
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 2: the voice of the Father, declaring over you, this is
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 2: my beloved son. And thank you that because I belong
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 2: to you, you the Father looks at me and sees
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 2: me clothed in your righteousness, covered in your light. Called beloved.
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 2: I do not deserve it. I could never earn it,
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 2: but you have given it freely, and I receive it
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 2: with a grateful heart. Now, Lord, I release this day,
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 2: I let go of what was. I trust you with
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 2: what is to come, and I rest in the promise
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 2: that you are the same yesterday to day and forever.
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 2: You are the light of the world, and your light
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 2: will never go out. In your holy name, I pray, Amen,
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 2: And now, beloved, receive this blessing. May the light that
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 2: shone on Mount Tabor shine upon you to night. May
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 2: it fill your heart with warmth, your mind with peace,
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 2: and your soul with the quiet assurance that you are loved.
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 2: May the voice that spoke from the cloud speak over you,
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 2: calling you beloved, chosen treasured by the Father. May the
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 2: presence of Jesus, who walk down the mountain and into
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 2: the valley, walk beside you through every valley you will face,
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 2: and may you never walk alone. May you rest deeply,
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 2: May you sleep peacefully, And may you wake tomorrow with
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 2: renewed strength, renewed hope, and a heart that listens to
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 2: the voice of the one who calls you his own.
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 2: You are not forgotten, you are not alone. You are
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 2: held in the light of the Son of God, who
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 2: was transfigured on the mountain, who died on the cross,
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 2: and who rose from the grave. And that light will
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 2: never fade. So sleep beloved, Sleep in his peace, Sleep
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 2: in his presence, Sleep in the promise that when morning comes,
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 2: his mercies will be new. Good Night, Rest well, and
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 2: may the Lord bless you and keep you now and forevermore.
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: Amen.