For one brief moment, three of the disciples caught a glimpse of the glory of Jesus - His face and clothes exploding with light! Jesus wanted them to learn a lesson they would never forget.

Mountaintop Experiences – The Transfiguration

When the mountain started rocking the farmer didn't wait to hear what the experts had to say. He packed a few belongings, grabbed his wife and four young children, and ran -- because he remembered what most of the world has forgotten.

1815 was the year the world had no summer. In April of that year Mount Tambora erupted in Indonesia. It left a crater 7 miles wide and half a mile deep. It spewed about 400 million tons of sulfuric gases into the atmosphere. It was the most powerful volcanic blast in historic memory. And the deadliest. 90,000 people died. A cloud covered the globe for months. There was snow in New England in July. Crops failed and there was massive worldwide starvation.

And in the last few months Mount Tambora has started acting up again. Hundreds of earthquakes, plumes of ash spewing up hundreds of feet.

We think of mountaintop experiences as something wonderful, a retreat from the pressures of the everyday life, an escape from the heat and fumes of the city. But for the farmers who live on the slopes of Mount Tambora the mountaintop is terrifying. One of them told reporters "A dragon was sleeping inside the crater, that's what we were taught. If we made him angry — if we were disrespectful to nature, say — he'd wake up spitting flames, destroying all of mankind."

Mountaintop experiences can be terrifying. The two most significant mountaintop experiences in the Bible were both terrifying – not because there was a dragon on the mountain but because the Lord was on the mountain.

• The first one was when Moses had led the people out of Egypt into the wilderness. They camped at the foot of Mount Sinai and God’s presence came down on the mountain like a cloud full of thunder and lightning. Then fire came down, smoke billowed up like a furnace and the whole mountain shook. And then the voice of God came like a trumpet that got louder and louder and louder. The Israelites were terrified and God himself warned them to stay away. Only Moses could go up and enter the cloud and meet with the living God. And even Moses said, “I am full of fear and trembling.”

• The second one was when the disciples went up onto an unnamed mountaintop with Jesus. He chose three – Peter, James and John -- and took them away from the crowds, so they could pray with him. I’m sure they thought it was going to be one of those pleasant mountaintop experiences – a prayer retreat with Jesus. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Here’s what happened:
Matthew 17.1-8 “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.”

There it is again – terror. When God’s presence descended on the mountain they were terrified. Just like he did at Mount Sinai, God came in a cloud. And his voice somehow invoked this great fear. All three disciples fell facedown on the ground when they heard it.

Mountaintop experiences are not always relaxing. Both of these two key mountaintop experiences were terrifying for the same reason -- the presence of God and the voice of God. The effect of his unveiled presence was overwhelming. His voice was overpowering. Which tells us something about God.

Generally people ignore God. They go about their business as if he doesn’t exist but one day he will be un-ignorable. For every person on earth, God will one day be the great all-consuming unavoidable reality. Unless we’re in safe the refuge that God himself has provided for us, meeting him is going to undo us. That’s what Isaiah said when he was confronted by the glory of the Lord in the temple, “Woe to me! I am undone!” And why was he undone? Because in the presence of God’s glory he saw that he was “a man of unclean lips.” He was a sinner. He was utterly alien to this overwhelming Holy God.

On the Day of Judgment there will be a massive change in perspective – people will see themselves in light of reality – the reality of the holy God. According to Jesus in Luke 23:30, on that day they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”

But Peter, James and John lived to tell the story. They survived their encounter with the living God on the mountaintop. They’ve been able to tell the rest of the world the message they heard that day.
I think God orchestrated this appearance in a cloud on a mountaintop down to the last detail. I think it was meant to bring Mount Sinai to mind. I think he wanted us to see both the similarity and the contrast. On Mount Sinai God came in a dark cloud, but here he comes in a bright cloud. Mount Sinai brought judgment but this mountain brings hope. There’s nothing more important in the world than hearing the message of hope that God gave us that day: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
This is my Son – look at him.
This is my Son – listen to him.
God the Father is speaking to us with all his grace and mercy and he’s directing our eyes and our ears exclusively to his Son, to Jesus and saying, “Look! Listen!”
I think he set up this entire event on the mountaintop just to get this message across to us
First -- Jesus was transfigured.
“There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.”
God was letting us see who Jesus really is. Climbing up the mountain with his disciples he looked like any other man. And he was a man – fully a man. But he was also fully divine, fully God. It was this glory – the glory of God -- that suddenly came shining through in his face and in the whiteness of his clothes.
In John 17 Jesus said that he had glory together with the Father before the world began. He existed before he was born, eternally existed, as the Son of God and he shared with the Father and with the Spirit all the glory of God.
God was showing us that glory – the glory Jesus has always had for all eternity.
AND he was also giving us a preview of coming attractions. He was giving us a glimpse of the day when Jesus will come again – when his glory will be on display for the entire world to see.
Just before this mountaintop experience, Jesus had told his disciples, “Some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” I think he was talking about his transfiguration on the mountain. He knew these three disciples were going to get to see a preview of his coming.
Years later Peter wrote about that day on the mountain and it’s clear he understood it to be a preview of the day Jesus will come again because he calls it “the power and coming”:
2Peter 1.16-18 “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.”
I was talking earlier about the Day of Judgment when people to cry out for the mountains to fall on them. Isaiah talks about this, Jesus talks about it, but listen to what Revelation has to say:
Revelation 6.16 “They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!”

The wrath of the Lamb! That’s Jesus! Jesus will judge the earth when he comes again. His glory will make people cry out for the mountains to fall on them. His face will terrify them. God wants us to know that all the majesty and glory of God is in Jesus.
And all the hope of God. The hope of God is the Lamb of God. Who died to take away the sins of the world. Everyone who trusts in him will be saved on that day.
The most important thing in the world for us right now is to “Look at him. Listen to him.”
Second question - Elijah and Moses were there with Jesus
“Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.”
Moses and Elijah both had mountaintop experiences of their own. I think God wanted to make it clear that all the previous mountaintop experiences were being fulfilled in this one.
Moses and Elijah also represented the Law and the Prophets – the Old Testament. I think God wanted to make it clear that all the Law and all the Prophets were pointing towards Jesus.
Jesus isn’t just one among three – although that’s what Peter thought when he offered to build each of them a tent. He was putting them all three on the same level. And the world does the same thing with Jesus. It puts him in the good guy category, the great teacher category – along with Buddha or Mohammed or Abraham.
But God is saying “No, don’t do that!”
“This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to HIM.”
He’s in a class by himself. Look at Him, Listen to Him!
Hebrews 1:1-3 sums it up:
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
This is my Son. My unique Son. My One and Only begotten Son. My precious Son. He knows me and I know him. I am well pleased with Him. He has delighted me. He has satisfied me.
Isn’t it awesome that God spoke to us on this mountain and gave us this testimony about his Son.
Jesus testified to the Father. But here the Father was testifying to Jesus. God the Father was directing our eyes and our ears exclusively to his Son.
And I love what happened next.
“When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.”

No one except Jesus. When we have Jesus we have Elijah and Moses and all and the prophets rolled into One. When we’ve seen Jesus we’ve seen the Father.

God had just told Peter, James and John to listen to Jesus. I think he meant that to be a sweeping statement. Listen to what my Son has been teaching you in the Sermon on the Mount. Listen to what he’s been telling you about why he has to die. Hang on his every word.

But I also don’t think it’s no accident that the first words the disciples actually heard Jesus say after this great commandment from God were those sweet gentle words: “Get up and don’t be afraid.”

In Greek what Jesus actually said was, “Don’t be afraid and keep on not being afraid.” In other words, you never have to be afraid again.

Mountaintop experiences can be terrifying. The presence of God can be crushing. But Jesus can say this because he’s taken all the terror out of our encounter with God. He’s taken all the fear away from being in the presence of God. By his death for our sins he’s made it possible for us to draw near to God. To stand in his presence. To look forward to the day of his coming with joy not dread.

He’s the only one who can touch us and say, “Stand up and don’t be afraid.”
Look at him. Listen to Him.