SERMON XXX

SERMON XXX.

Christ’s Transfiguration.

Luke ix. 28‒36.

And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his rayment was white and glistering. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him, were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said. While he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him. And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone; and they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.

WHEN the angel was sent to the Redeemer’s beloved disciple John, we are told that the angel said unto him, “Come up hither:” He was to be exalted, to be brought nearer heaven, that his mind might be better prepared for those great manifestations, which an infinitely great and condescending God intended to vouchsafe him. And on reading the verses that you have just now heard, when I also see such a great and serious assembly convened in the presence of God, I think I must address you, as the angel addressed John, and say unto you, “Come up hither;” leave your worldly thoughts, for a time forget the earth. And as it is the Lord’s-day, a time in which we ought more particularly to think of heaven, I must desire you to pray to God, that ye may get up on Pisgah’s mount, and take a view of the promised land. It is true, indeed, eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of any man to conceive the great and good things, which God hath prepared for his people here; much less, those infinitely greater and more glorious things, that he hath laid up for them that fear him, in the eternal world: but, blessed be God! though we are not yet in heaven, unless to be in Christ may properly be termed heaven, and then all real christians are there already; yet, the blessed Jesus has been pleased to leave upon record some account of himself, of what happened to him in the days of his flesh, and of some manifestations he was pleased to grant to a few of his disciples; that from what happened to them here below, we may form some faint, though but a faint idea of that happiness that awaits his people in his kingdom above. If any of you enquire, in what part of our Lord’s life those instances are recorded, I have an answer ready: One of these instances, and that a very remarkable one, is recorded in the verses that I have now chosen for the subject of your meditation.

The verses give us an account of what is generally called our Lord’s Transfiguration; his being wonderfully changed, and his being wonderfully owned by his Father upon the mount. Some think that this was done upon a sabbath-day; and the particular occasion of our blessed Lord’s condescending to let his servants have such a sight as this, we may gather from the 27th verse. It seems our blessed Lord had been promising a great reward to those who should not be ashamed of him: “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and of his Father, and of the holy angels.” In this threatening is implied, a reward to those who should not be ashamed of him: “But, (adds he) I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, who shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God:” As much as to say, There will be a day, when I will come in the glory of my Father and of his holy angels; but I tell you there are some of my favourites; I tell you of a truth, though you may think it too good news, there are some of you that shall not taste of death, till ye shall see the kingdom of God. Some divines think, that this promise has reference to our Lord’s erecting a gospel church; and if we take it in this sense, it means that the Apostles, who were then present, some of them at least, should not die, till they saw Satan’s kingdom in a great measure pulled down, and the Redeemer’s gospel-kingdom erected. Some think it has a peculiar reference to John, who it seems survived all the other Apostles, and lived till Christ came; that is, till he came to destroy Jerusalem. But it is the opinion of Mr. Henry, of Bishop Hall, of Burkit, and others, who have written upon this passage, that our blessed Lord has a peculiar reference to the transfiguration upon the mount: “There be some of you here, that shall not taste of death, till ye see my transfiguration upon the mount; till ye see some glorified saint come down from heaven and pay me a visit, and consequently see a little of that kingdom of God, which ye shall have a full sight of, when ye come to glory.” This seems to be the right interpretation. If you will look to the margin of your Bibles, you will see the parallel place in Matthew, where the account of our Lord’s transfiguration is given, and there you will find it immediately follows upon this promise of our Lord.

Well, as Christ had told them, that they should not taste of death, till they had seen the kingdom of God, why the Evangelist, at the 28th verse, tells us, “It came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter, and John, and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.” About an eight days; that is, as Bishop Hall thinks, upon the sabbath-day; or, according to some, the first day of the week, which was hereafter to be the christian sabbath; our blessed Lord takes Peter, John, and James: Why did not the Lord Jesus Christ take more of his disciples? Why three, and these three? And why three only? Our blessed Lord was pleased to take three and no more, to show us that he is a sovereign agent; to show us, that though he loved all his disciples, yet there are some to whom he is pleased to allow peculiar visits. He loved Peter, and all the other disciples; yet John was the disciple that he peculiarly loved. And he took three rather than one, because three were sufficient to testify the truth of his being transfigured: “Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” And he took no more than three, because these three were enough. And he took these three, Peter, John, and James, in particular, because these very persons that were now to see Christ transfigured, were hereafter to see him agonizing in the garden, sweating great drops of blood falling unto the ground. And had not these three disciples seen Christ upon the mount, the seeing him afterwards in the garden, might have staggered them exceedingly: they might have doubted whether it was possible for the Son of God to be in such doleful circumstances. Well, our Lord takes these three “up into a mountain.” Why so? Because Christ Jesus was to be like Moses, who was taken up into a mountain, when God intended to deliver unto him the moral law: And our blessed Lord went up into a mountain, because a mountain befriended devotion. When he had a mind to retire to pray to his Father, he went to such places where he could be most secret, and give the greatest vent to his heart. Thus we are told, that once when Peter prayed, it was upon the house-top. And if we have a mind to be near God, we should choose such places as are freest from ostentation, and that most befriend our communion with God. ♦And what doth Christ, when he got up into a mountain? We are told, he went up into a mountain “to pray.” Christ had no corruption to confess, and he had but few wants of his own to be relieved; yet we hear of Christ being much in prayer; we hear of his going up to a mountain to pray; of his rising up a great while before it was day to pray; and of his spending a whole night in prayer to God.

In the 29th verse, you have an account of the effect of our Lord’s praying; “As he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.” I would have you take notice, that our Lord was not changed in respect of his body, while he was going up to the mount, but when he got upon the mount, and while engaged in prayer. It is sufficient that way for our souls to be transformed: the time we are more particularly to expect the influences of God’s Spirit, is, when we are engaged in prayer. There seems to be a very great propriety in our Lord’s being transfigured or changed upon the mount. I hope I need inform none of you, that when Moses went up to the mount of God, God was pleased to speak to him face to face; and when he came down from the mount, the people of Israel observed that Moses’s face shone so, that he was obliged to have a veil put upon his face. Now the shining of Moses’s face, was a proof to the people, that Moses had been conversing with God. And Moses told the people, “That the Lord would raise up unto them a prophet like unto him, whom the people were to hear.” God the Father, in order to give his Son (considering him as man) a testimony that he was a prophet, was pleased not only to let his face glitter or shine; but to show that he was a prophet far superior to Moses, he was pleased to let his garment be white and glistering, and “his countenance (as we are told by another Evangelist) did shine as the sun.” What a change was here! What a sight! Methinks I see Peter, James, and John surprized: and, indeed, well might the Evangelist, considering what happened, usher in the following part of the story with the word Behold; “Behold, there talked with him two men, Moses and Elias:” And in the 31st verse, you have an account of their dress, “They appeared in glory;” and of their discourse, “They spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.”

“Behold, two men, which were Moses and Elias;” these were two very proper persons to come upon this embassy to the Son of God. Moses was the great lawgiver, Elias was the great restorer of the law: The body of Moses was hidden and never found, Elias’s body was translated immediately, and carried up in a fiery chariot to heaven: And it may be that this was done particularly, because these two were hereafter to have the honour of waiting upon the Son of God. “They appeared in glory;” that is, their bodies were now in that glorious habit, in which the bodies of believers are to be at the morning of the resurrection. Christ was, as it were, now sitting in his royal robes; and as it is usual for ambassadors, when they are to be admitted into the king’s presence, on bringing a message from one king to another, to appear in all their grandeur, to make the message more solemn; so here, these heavenly messengers being to wait upon the Lord Jesus Christ, are invested as with royal dignity, they appeared in glory, and “they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem,” they came to tell the Redeemer of his sufferings, and of the place of his sufferings, and to acquaint him, that his sufferings, however great, however bitter, were to be accomplished; that there was to be an end put to them, as our Lord himself speaks, “The things concerning me are to have an end.” What other particulars they spoke to our Lord, we are not told. But what effect this had upon the disciples, you may learn from the 32d verse, “Peter, and they that were with him, were heavy with sleep.”