Welcome all of you. Great to see you here tonight. You made it even though the rain has been coming down and I know the sickness is going around, but I've already met some people here for their first time. Can we give them a warm welcome? Thank you for joining us. You've come on an excellent night to be here at church. I kind of think of tonight like a holiday. I wish we could celebrate this day at least once a year. We have Christmas, or we remember that Jesus is born. We have Easter, where we celebrate that he is risen from the dead. But when is the day that we think about Jesus as he is now, ready to return, when he will be unveiled in all of his glory. I always feel like there should be a day every year where we just think about the fact that Jesus is coming back, and every eye is going to see him in his glorious splendor. And I understand why it's not a holiday, but some of you who know me preaching for many years, you know I always think we should have a holiday, but you don't usually have holidays for the future, and we don't know what day he's coming back, so it'd be hard to put it on the calendar. But I want you to see the glory of Jesus, and so I invite you to open your Bible to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verses 1 to 13. And this is going to show you, in two very powerful and profound ways, the glory of Jesus. If you don't have a Bible, there is a handout there in your bulletin where you can see these 13 verses that I'm going to read of Mark 9. This is an amazing experience that Peter, James, and John have with Jesus, and then there's also a very interesting conversation that they have with him. So please follow along. I'm going to read this passage. And out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture, and I encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention, because you're going to see it in this text here tonight, and someday you're going to see him with your own eyes. So please follow along as I read Mark 9, starting in verse 1 to verse 13.
And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead, have your seat. There is a handout where you can take some notes, if you want to. And I just want to go through these verses with you, starting in verse 1, this account of the Transfiguration of Jesus, where they see him in his glory. This is also in Matthew, chapter 17, and it's also in Luke, chapter 9. And there's this line that Jesus says, and this is really connected with what he was saying before. So, all three of these synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, they all have this kind of three part series that we've been doing, and this is part three. First is when Peter says that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, and Jesus begins to teach his disciples that he's going to suffer, he's going to be killed, and on the third day, he will rise, and they don't understand. They know who Jesus is, but they don't understand what he came to do. And then Jesus, he calls to not just his disciples but the crowd, and he says, if anyone wants to come after me, you must deny yourself. You must take up your cross. You must follow me. In fact, if you're ashamed of me and my words in this generation, we'll all be ashamed of you when the Son of Man comes in his glory on the clouds in his Father's glory, he says, with the holy angels. And then verse 1 is really Jesus continuing that conversation, when he said to them, “Truly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” Now, a lot of people, they have questions about what that might mean, or maybe better, people have different ideas of what it might mean, and they've put that out there. So, you might have heard of this verse before, and you might have read different theories about it. And really, a lot of these questions that people have about, what does Jesus mean?
If you skip ahead to Mark 13, Mark 13 is really where the confusion exists. Jesus is going to give a whole chapter about the future and about the things that are going to come at the end of the world as we know it, in this time of tribulation, the day of the Lord, and when he's going to return. So eventually, when we get to chapter 13 of the Gospel of Mark, we'll get into all of it. And he says towards the end, in verse 30, “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” And so, that's a part of the question that people have. How can you say that this is all going to happen in this generation? And so, when you go back now to chapter 9, verse 1, this verse often gets brought into all those questions. But this verse is not really that confusing. Notice what Jesus is saying here in Mark, chapter 9, verse 1, he's saying something true. He front-loads it with hey, it might be hard to believe, but some standing here. Okay, so notice not everybody's standing there, but definitely some standing there. They will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. So, some even here, before you even die, you're going to see the kingdom of God with coming with power. Now notice what it says in verse 2 “after six days.” So, you can see how the way Mark is particularly written, it's like he says that some of those who are there listening to him, they're going to get to see the power of the kingdom coming before they even die. Now, six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and he led them up to a high mountain by themselves. And then what do they see there? In verse 2, he was transfigured. Metamorpho. He was transformed right in front of them. So, they do see his glory, his power that's going to be revealed in his kingdom. Some of them who were there, they see it six days later. So, I think here in Mark, what does he mean by “some of you,” before you die, you'll see the kingdom coming in power. Well, I think he means that Peter, James, and John, we're going to get a glimpse of his glory on the mountain here, when he's transformed before them.
Okay, so here in Mark, it seems pretty clear what he meant. He meant, hey, some of you are going to know what this is about. You could even take it further, if you want. How about the vision that John has in the book of Revelation, where he learns all kinds of things about the kingdom and writes them down there for us, all kinds of things about the unveiled, revealed glory of Jesus and how he will return. And so, this is Jesus setting up that some of them are going to get a glimpse of the future, a glimpse of the Kingdom of God and how it comes with power.
Now go back to Mark 13, because that's the highlight, that's the centerpiece of the chapter. There may be confusing things in figuring out eschatology, the study of the last days, the study of the end times, but one thing is very certain, and if you look at Mark 13, verse 26, “they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” Okay, that is the thing that's going to be the centerpiece of the coming of the kingdom, is you're going to see him. And you're going to see him, not like he was on Christmas, not like he was even when he when he was here as a man dying on the cross for our sins. No, you're going to see him coming, it says here in this verse 26 of Mark 13, “with great power and glory.” And that's what Peter, James, and John see. They get a glimpse of Jesus in his power and glory of the kingdom here on this mountain.
Okay, so, with that kind of context, now let's get into the details. Go back to Mark, chapter 9, and let's just try to think this through. And when it's just these three men and Jesus and after six days… Now, I think that “after six days” is significant for two reasons. One, because I think it connects verse 1 and verse 2. Notice even the word end clearly connecting thoughts. Sometimes they get separated in how they outline it there in your Bible, but it's clearly like some of you are going to see the power and the glory of the kingdom. And six days later, these three men go with Jesus up the mountain. So, six days is very important phrase because it connects the thought of verse 1 with the reality of verse 2. But then also, six days is an interesting number that Mark puts here, because if you're thinking about appearances of God on mountains, six days might remind you of something that has already happened back in the book of Exodus 24:16.
So, if everybody can grab your Bible, let's go back. So, they're getting a glimpse of the future. But the glimpse of the future has memories or reminders of the past, and there have been other appearances of God on mountains to some of his people. In fact, the two people that saw appearances of God very vividly, the two people that God passed by on a mountain. One of them is here in Exodus 24, you can start with me in verse 15. It says about Moses. “Then Moses went up on the mountain and the cloud.” Notice we're going to have the cloud in Mark 9, as well. The cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of Yahweh dwelt on Mount Sinai. And the cloud covered it for how long, everybody? Six days. What an interesting coinky dink we have here right now. Mark would highlight six days, just as it's highlighted here in Exodus 24:16 and on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now, the appearance of the glory of Yahweh was like a devouring fire on top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel, and Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
So, we have previous accounts where a man went up on a mountain, and he got to see and interact with a revelation of the glory of God. Moses does it here in Exodus 24. He has another encounter where God passes by, and he sees his glory in Exodus 34:3. Then also, who's the other man that God revealed himself or passed by on a mountain? Elijah in 1 Kings 19. So here Jesus is going to take three guys up on a mountain, and then two people are going to appear to talk with Jesus. And who are those two people? Well, they're Moses and they're Elijah, the two other people that God has passed by or appeared to on mountains before. So even though we're getting a glimpse of the power of the kingdom to come, the revelation of glory on the mountain is similar to Revelations previously in the Law with Moses and in the Prophets with Elijah.
And so, this is really powerful. What's going on here? We have glimpses of the future and yet memories of the past, and the consistent theme is the glory of God. See, this needs to become real to you. This is not just some spiritual thing we're talking about. I'm trying to get you tonight to think about the day that is surely coming when you will see the glory of God with your eyes. You've seen glimpses of it in the sunrise and the sunset and the heavens. I'll tell you what, I was driving over here today, and I saw possibly the thickest rainbow I've ever seen in my life. Did anybody else see that rainbow? Earlier this afternoon, he set his bow in the clouds as a reminder that he would not flood the earth again when he made a covenant with Noah in Genesis 9. So, we've seen glimpses of the glory of God with our eyes, but someday you're actually going to see Jesus in all of his glory. And Moses had a glimpse. What happened to Moses' face after he had a glimpse of the glory of God? It was shining. It was radiating. Elijah, he had a glimpse. Well, now Peter and James and John get a glimpse, and while they're getting a glimpse on the mountain of the glory, Moses and Elijah.
Go back to Mark, chapter 9. So, this six-days phrase, I think, is very critical, because it answers all the questions about verse 1. It also highlights, I think, other appearances of the glory of God on mountains, going back to Exodus 24. And so, though they get up there, that he leads them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured. Now this word here, you might be familiar with the idea of metamorphosis. Well, this is the Greek verb that is that same idea, and it's translated “transformed” in Romans 12:2. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 3:18, it says, If we behold his glory, we will be transformed into his image. So, Romans 12:2 talks about how we can be transformed by the renewal of our minds. 2 Corinthians 3:18 talks about, when you really see who God is, and you really start looking and gazing at the glory of God, you will be transformed to be like him.
And so, that's what happens, is Jesus is transformed, the glory of the Father put on flesh. Well now it's like he's transformed into his glory once again. And a physical description in verse 3 is “his clothes became radiant, intensely white as no one on earth could bleach them.” We often hear about this level of whiteness when we talk about angels or other holy appearances in the Scripture. I like the phrase dazzling white. Other worldly white. This is not a kind of white you can find at Home Depot, my friends, this is glory. That's what they see. He's transformed into glory. And then there appeared to them, Elijah with Moses, and they're talking with Jesus. Now, it's really interesting, because if you go over to Luke 9, it says they're talking with Jesus about when he's going to die. So, he's saying, I'm going to die. And everybody's not sure what he means by that, but here come Moses and Elijah talking about his death with him. And one of the things that's interesting is in Deuteronomy, everything is established on the evidence of two or three witnesses, and it's almost like Jesus has said that he's going to die, even though he's revealed in his glory. Here they have a conversation about his death, and like Moses and Elijah, are appearing as the witnesses who have also beheld the glory, and they know that Jesus is going to die. Can you even imagine seeing something like this? Can you imagine if you're just walking along with Jesus going up a high mountain, it's just a few of you and Jesus, and you're just, you know, getting tired after a long hike up the mountain. Maybe you're sleeping, and then, all of a sudden, Jesus is transformed, and Moses and Elijah show up, and there's like a radiance all around, unlike anything you've ever seen with your eyes before. And Peter always has something to say. Everybody knows that about Peter, right? And not always for the best, right? “And Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it's good that we are here. Let's make three tents.” I mean, how about three tabernacles, right? I mean, that's what he's saying, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Like, hey, I’ve got an idea. How about three tabernacles for all three of you, right? And Mark, he kind of has to bail Peter out here in verse 6, he did not know what to say. Yeah, everybody, that doesn't really make sense. He did not know what to say, for they were what everyone? Terrified.
I don't know what comes to your mind when you think about seeing Jesus. I don't even know how much you think about seeing Jesus. A lot of people, I can tell they haven't even considered a passage of Scripture like this. The people who want to say Jesus is a good teacher or a religious figure, what do you do with a passage like this, where he's transformed into the glory of God in front of your eyes? And even I find that many Christians, who will believe that Jesus is the Christ, he is the Son of God, they'll even tell you, oh, I think he's coming back. But do they ever expect to really see him? Does the thought ever really come into their mind? What is that white going to look like? What is his glory going to really be like? Do they wonder when it's going to happen? Do I see this is my concern? I'm not sure how much people have really considered this. And then sometimes you hear somebody say, oh, I can't wait to just give Jesus a big hug when I see him, and I'm just thinking, oh, you think you're going to be giving him hugs? I mean, do we know what he's like right now? Do we know what he's like when he's riding on the clouds? See, when you get a glimpse of who Jesus is, what does it say about him there at the end of verse 6? Peter doesn't know what to say for they were what, everybody? They're terrified.
We’ve got to make sure we have an accurate understanding of who Jesus is today, because if you're still thinking of the baby in the manger or the man on the cross, that's not who is revealed here in Mark chapter 9. That's not who you're going to see. Jesus the way he is today, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, the way he's going to come riding on the clouds. Jesus is terrifying, and Christians today are not afraid enough of the Lord Jesus. And we have been learning over and over again in the Gospel of Mark that when Jesus did something that showed that he is God, when Jesus did something that revealed a glimpse of his glory, people were afraid when they were in the presence of Jesus. We've seen this now so many times that we would have to come to the conclusion it's one of the points that Mark wants to make to us about who Jesus really is.
Go back to chapter four. Let's just review how Mark has repeatedly emphasized this in the way he's written his gospel. At the end of Mark 4, Jesus calmed a storm, the first of three episodes when he's in the boat on the Sea of Galilee with his disciples, and there's a strong wind, and the waves are coming over the side, and the disciples are like, we're going to perish. And in verse 39 of mark 4, “And he awoke, he rebuked the wind, and he said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still.” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Why are you afraid of the storm? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with” what does it say there everybody? “Great fear.” They're not having a great fear at the storm. They're having a great fear at who Jesus is? Because he just calmed the storm. He just told the wind to stop. He just put the sea and made it still. And they say, “Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” You've maybe heard the phrase, you don't need to be afraid if Jesus is in the boat with you. What we found out is you should be afraid if Jesus is in the boat with you, that's the thing that gave them the greatest fear. It wasn't the storm, it was the revelation of his power over creation. How about when Jesus cast out this man who had a legion of demons in the next chapter, Mark 5. “And when all the people came,” verse 15. This is Mark 5:15, when they came “from the surrounding region, after they heard there was this man who had thousands of demons, and Jesus cast them out into the pigs. And when they came to Jesus, and they saw the demon possessed man, the one who had the legion, sitting there,” and they see this man, he's now clothed, he's in his right mind. And they were what, everybody? Afraid. They might have been afraid of the guy when he had thousands of demons. They were more afraid when they saw that Jesus had the power to cast out all those demons. Who is this, that even the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly places tremble at his name and flee from him? Whoa, you’ve got to get out of here. They tell Jesus they're afraid of him. Well, you keep going. And there's this woman who has the faith that if she touches Jesus, she'll be healed of this bleeding she's had for so many years. And she does have the faith, and she does touch him, and she is healed. And what happens after she's healed? Jesus wants to talk to her, and look at what it says in verse 33 of Mark 5. “But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, she felt the healing power of God, and when she felt that, she came in what fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.” This woman had an idea of who Jesus was. She trusted it, that he could heal her. She went boldly through a crowd and touched him, and she was healed. And when she experienced the power of God healing her physical body, she was terrified.
Now, when you see Jesus, when you see him in all of his glory, it will be an overwhelming physical experience. It will be more than you have anything that you could compare it to. I think of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, at the Last Supper. What is he doing? Leaning up against Jesus, just laying next to him there, really, actually touching him as they have that last meal together. What is he doing in Revelation 1? When he sees Jesus unveiled in all of his glory, he's falling at his feet as though he were dead. Do you understand that clearly? Do you understand that that seeing Jesus will be the climax? It will be the thing that everything has been building towards. And so many things will immediately make sense. They will immediately become clear when you see the glory of Jesus revealed. That's what it's all leading up to. And we're going to be falling down. We're going to be in awe and fear. These guys, they don't… even Peter doesn't even know exactly what to say about this, because they are terrified in the presence of glory and power. That's the idea.
Remember when Jesus came to them a little bit further in Mark, chapter 6, verse 50? Remember when he passed by them, walking on the sea, in the middle of the night, and they thought he was a ghost, and they all saw him and were terrified when they see Jesus. Remember he passes by them, he's like doing God Mode things here, where he's walking on water to show them who he really is, because they didn't understand when he fed the thousands of people with his miraculous multiplication of the bread. And so, now, he's going full let me show you who I am on the water. And they're terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid.” And he got in the boat with them, and the wind ceased, and they were utterly what? Astounded, they are out of their minds is the word in the Greek. They can't believe. They can't process. They can't take everything in, what they just witnessed with Jesus walking to them on the sea. And so, Mark, he's been pointing this out regularly. And I wonder if you're seeing what it's saying here. I wonder if you do, you fear Jesus.
Man, I had somebody at in at this church that usually comes to this service, and they said, you know what I've learned so far this fall, this season, through the Psalms, through the Gospel of Mark is I've learned what it means to fear God. Have you learned about this? Do you know about this? Are you uncomfortable with saying that you fear God? Because let me tell you, when you see Jesus in all of his glory, it will blow you away. And fear, awe, terrified, astounded. We're trying to use these kinds of words to describe the overwhelming experience it will be to see his glory. And so, this moment is coming.
Let's get this down for number one: You will see his glory “When he comes in his Kingdom.” When he comes in his kingdom, that's what he said. He said in chapter 9, verse 1, it will be his kingdom. Well, now they're getting a glimpse of it ahead of time, a preview. Well, then in chapter 13, we saw no, it's coming sometime in the future. We don't know exactly when, we can't put it on the calendar, but it's coming, and you're going to see the glory of Jesus, just like Peter, James, and John do here. And it will be terrifying. It will be awe inspiring. And then notice it's not just Jesus in his radiance, in this brilliant whiteness here, but then it says in verse 7 of Mark 9, “a cloud overshadowed them,” just like we saw that Moses went into the cloud on the mountain back in Exodus 24. Well, we know who the cloud is. Who does the cloud represent? Here “it overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son.’” And what does the voice from the cloud in the heavens, what does the voice tell you to do with Jesus, everybody? It says, listen to him. Hear him. You’ve got to pay attention to what he says. He has the words of life, and if you reject his words, it will be required of you, and it will lead to your death. The words of Jesus are how you will live. Listen to him. Peter, James, John, listen to him. These guys, they're ready to follow Jesus. They still have a hard time listening to him. And so, he says. Peter, less talking, more listening. Wow. And then all of a sudden, it's just Jesus again. Wow. What a moment! Just a glimpse of the glory of the kingdom.
Do you ever think that this is going to happen? Do you ever like spending time thinking about it? I really want to encourage you to do that this weekend, this week. I want you to think. Think about what if he's coming back? When is he coming back? What is it going to be like to see him? And I wonder if you could even go on your calendar and on some random days and times, put he's coming just so when you get some notification, it makes you think about it. I get really concerned about how many people are living at the end of the age like we are, and they act like they're not really thinking Jesus is coming. They're not really thinking they're going to see this. This needs to be something that we are expecting is going to happen.
And I have a trip coming up, and I'm going to talk about it at nations night. So, everyone here, you're invited. We thought on a stormy day like this, we would offer chili dinner to everybody here. So, there's chili with all the fixins being prepared for dinner right after this. And then we're going to talk about the nations. And I have a trip coming up where, Lord willing, I'm going to some of the nations of the churches that we're supporting, and I'm going to preach there at these churches, and I'm excited to tell you about this trip, and I leave for this trip soon. And when you know you're going on a trip, do you ever find yourself thinking about it? Has anybody ever gone on a trip that you were really looking forward to? There's a really big deal in your mind, and you're going there with somebody, and like, hey, we should plan to do this. You just start thinking about, oh, I should pack this. Hey, I should be ready for this. Because you think, even though it's in the future, and even though you can't see it, you think that day is going to come, and you start thinking what it's going to be like, and you start preparing yourself. And it’s like you have something to look forward to. It changes your approach to today when you know your trip is coming soon, that's how we should all be thinking about Jesus coming back. It's coming soon, but I want to be like this. I wonder if it'll be like. Hey, are you going to be ready when he comes back? I can't wait for him to come, because I'm going to see his glory when he comes riding on the clouds and every eye is going to see him. What's that going to be like? Man, I hope that is a real and present motivation in your life today is the fact that Jesus is coming back. And I hope that this fact that Jesus is coming back. You all know somebody who's not ready for Jesus to come back. And in fact, what is Jesus even going to be like when he comes back into all this glory? Wow, let's think about that. See, there's so much. It's not like, oh yeah, he's coming back. No big deal. No, it's going to change everything when he returns. So how much is this driving us in our thoughts?
And I want to ask you this question, do you have a healthy fear of Jesus? What is Jesus going to do when he comes back? He's going to reign as king. He will take complete control. I mean, he's going to be like an authoritarian form of government, like a monarchy, where he has all the power and it’s all the dominion, and it's all him. And there's nobody else I would want to be the Lord of heaven and earth, but he's going to do whatever he wants to do, and he's going to do whatever he wants to do with you. He's going to judge you. He's going to judge you according to what you have done. Now, if you've put your faith in him, he's not going to judge you according to the sins that you've done, praise God, all your sins. He paid for them on the cross, but he still is going to judge you for how you lived for him, and he's going to give you some kind of reward. Even if you're one of his people, you're going to have a personal accountability with Jesus, and he has the authority to decide what kind of response he will have to your life. Is there a fear of Jesus?
I heard a great thing in a fellowship group I was at this week. This guy, he was talking about the end of Mark 8. Can you go back to Mark 8:38, because this is where Jesus kind of started this whole idea of coming in his glory. It was at the end of Mark 8, when he said, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Wow, we haven't even got to the angels yet. What are they going to be like? Right? Every time when somebody sees an angel, what's the first thing out of the angel's mouth? Do not be what? Afraid. Because when people see angels, what do they do? They get afraid. Angels aren't from around Huntington Beach, and so Jesus, he brings up this idea, like, you shouldn't be ashamed of me now in this generation, because you don't want me to be ashamed of you when I really come back in my Father's glory. Do you see how that's like, Whoa. That's a thought-provoking thing that Jesus says that could make us feel uncomfortable. Am I ashamed of Jesus? Now, I definitely wouldn't want Jesus to be ashamed of me in the way I represented him. And so, this guy in my fellowship group, he was saying, you know, when I got saved, I'm running around. I loved what he said. He's like, I'm carrying this Christian club banner that talks about Jesus and me. And this other guy, we're carrying a banner around our college, inviting people to our Christian club. And then I see one of my old friends that I grew up with, one of my old friends that I used to sin with, and I feel this like cringe of fear, wondering what he thinks about me because I'm with Jesus. And now when I look back on that moment, I think I didn't really know Jesus, because I should have been afraid of what Jesus thinks about me, not that guy.
Do you have that fear of Jesus, that you are more concerned with what he's going to think about your life and he's going to say to you when he comes back than you are about what anybody else thinks? See, it's coming. He's bringing justice, righteousness, he's bringing accountability with him. And we need to think about it. We need to be like, whoa. That's the biggest thing in my life is yet to come when I see the glory of Jesus and interact with him as he establishes his kingdom. We can't plan the exact day and time, but it needs to be on our mind.
Now, go back to Mark, chapter 9 and look at verse 9, because you would think, wow, that's a powerful passage right there, but then this conversation afterwards is so interesting to me because it says, “As they were coming down the mountain, he charged them.” Listen to this. He “charged them to tell no one what they had seen.” Well, wait a minute, if he's just like doing this flex of glory in front of these three men, the three closest disciples, and we know Peter and John are two of the apostles who are going to go say the most about him. Well, why would he tell them to tell no one until the Son of Man had risen from the dead? And look at verse 10. “They kept the matter to themselves.” They actually do what Jesus says. But they're like, what's this rising from the dead mean? What's this all about? They don't even understand. They think the rising of the Dead has something to do with the end of the world, with the resurrection in the future, with some kind of future day of judgment. They're not thinking about like Jesus dying and Jesus rising from the dead on the third day. They're thinking, oh, you're talking about something in the future. This was a preview of the future. That's where their mind goes. So, do you realize that when this happens to three people, and the three people are told to tell no one until after Jesus dies and rises again, the point of this story is not just for the people who were alive at this place in time. The point of this story is for everybody who would read it and for us studying it here tonight. This is not just, oh well, that happened a long time ago for them; it doesn't mean anything to me. No, this preview of the glory of Jesus was meant to be written down and studied like we're doing right now. In fact, look at where their conversation goes, because in verse 11, they have a question about this whole resurrection thing. “Why did the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” Okay, so if we're talking about the future, and what do we think about the future? Well, the scribes are always saying Elijah comes first. So, let's ask Jesus. Jesus, what about how the scribes are saying, Elijah must come, and then Jesus ends up in verses 12 and 13, saying to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things.” And underline this right here, “Is it written of the Son of man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt. But I tell you, Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased.” Then underline this, as it is written of him. I find this to be very fascinating. Not only is it awesome to consider seeing the actual glory of Jesus in the future, but look at how the glory of Jesus being seen leads to a conversation about what is written of him and how is the future all going to work out. Well, notice they ask a question, and Jesus brings them back to well, don't you know what is written? In fact, not only is it written about this Elijah who already has come, but it's also written about the Son of man who's going to suffer and be treated with contempt. Now, there's a connection between not just the desire to see his glory, but the desire to see who he is in what is written.
Go with me to 2 Peter, and look what Peter's commentary is on this. And when he writes 2 Peter, much later on, when you read the gospels, and you see all the things Peter says, and then you go read 1 and 2 Peter, and you see what he wrote, you can just see the maturity that has happened in Peter's life. After Jesus died, after Jesus rose, after he was filled with the Spirit, and he started preaching in the streets of Jerusalem. Let me tell you the number who say he doesn't know what he's saying. Things went way down in Peter's life. And the number of like, wise, profound things that Peter said went way up. 1 Peter and 2 Peter have so many encouraging words of truth. But in 2 Peter, chapter 1, he takes us back to the holy mountain, and he says, in 2 Peter 1:16, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths.” This isn't made up stories when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus. Hey, I told you about the power Jesus has. I told you how he's coming. Well, I didn't make up some stories about it, for when he received honor and glory from God, the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” We heard God speak about Jesus when he got baptized in Mark 1:11, now we heard the Father speak about the son on this mountain. And Peter brings up, I was there on the mountain. I saw the cloud come in. I heard the voice from the Majesty on high, “This is my son.” I didn't make this up. I was there. I'm a witness. And look at what he says in verse 18, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And you would think the mountain would be powerful enough, proof enough, but that's not how the conversation goes. And he says, we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. Not only is it, am I sure of what I saw on the mountain, I'm just as sure some people might even read this. I'm even more sure about what the prophets have written. “We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this, first of all that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Hey, I didn't make it up when I told you about the power and the coming of Jesus that you're going to see his glory. I wasn't following made up stories. I'm telling you what I saw and heard on the mountain myself, and I'm telling you something very sure, very certain, something fully confirmed what the prophets spoke by the word of God. See, it's not only Peter's testimony that he saw it, it's in what is written.
Okay, so let's go back to Mark 9 now that we have Peter's commentary. Peter is pointing out that it wasn't just what they saw. It's this conversation they had after. It's Jesus beginning to teach his disciples the prophecies that were written. So let's get that down for point number two, if you are taking notes: You will see his glory “When you read what is written.” Okay, yes, you'll see his glory revealed in the future, but you will also see his glory when you read the prophecies that are about him in the pages of Scripture. And this is just as reliable, and it's a way you can see Jesus right here, right now tonight. You can see Jesus if you search the Scriptures to try to study him on a daily basis. You can find Jesus in the prophetic writings. That's what is being said here, and they're like, well, what about Elijah? Now, there is a scripture that they're referring to that the scribes would talk about. Now this word written here that's mentioned in verses 12 and 13, we've already seen this word, if you want to take notes under point number two, we've already seen it in chapter 1, verse 2, and we've already seen it in chapter 7, verse 6, and those are two clear times that Mark quoted the prophet Isaiah. He quoted Isaiah 40 to begin the gospel of Mark. And then in chapter 7, he quoted Isaiah 6, about people who can't hear. They have eyes, but they can't see, they have ears, but they can't hear they don't really understand who Jesus is and what he came to do. So, that's Isaiah 6. So, he's already referred to what is written multiple times, but now it's like we're getting a glimpse into Jesus teaching his disciples how to think about what has been written about him. And they bring up Elijah, and they are bringing up Malachi 3:1, and Malachi 4:5. Okay, so everybody turn back to the to the last book of what we call the Old Testament. It's right before Matthew, and let me show you what they're thinking when the scribes are talking about. So remember Peter, James, and John, do they have their own leather bound Bible that they can go and read? Have they downloaded the Bible app? Right? No, they don't have their own copy of the Scriptures. So, when they want to refer to something from the Scriptures, what do they refer to? The scribes who read them the Scriptures in the synagogue on the Sabbath? Do you realize that most people throughout human history, if they wanted to hear what was in the Scriptures, they had to go to a social gathering where someone would read the scriptures out loud? Because, one, maybe they didn't know how to read themselves. Or two, they didn't have a copy of it themselves. And so, they're like, well, the scribes, they talk about how Elijah must come. Well, that's from Malachi, chapter 3, verse 1, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. There's going to be a messenger who comes to prepare the way of the Lord. And that's how the gospel of Mark began. It began with a quote from Isaiah 40 of “a voice crying in the wilderness. Make your paths immediate.” Make your paths straight away. Get ready now, because the Lord is coming. That's the message of the messenger. And who was that voice crying in the wilderness, everybody? John the Baptist.
Now go over to Malachi 4:5. This is why this is a great insight that they ask him about Elijah coming, because this is the verse, perhaps, that they're referring to in Malachi 4:5. It says, “Behold, I will send you, Elijah, the prophet, before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes.” Do you see why they're thinking, oh, you're talking about the great and awesome day that is coming in your power and your Glory. Oh, well, isn't there a prophecy that you're going to be sent Elijah, the prophet before the great and awesome day? Now, Elijah didn't write a book, so he's not maybe as famous as Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel, because we can go read their books, but Elijah was definitely the most famous of the prophets. Elijah had, as the kids would say these days, aura, if you know what that is, okay? Because when you ride out of here on a chariot of fire, never to die, if that's your exit, people are pretty sure you're going to show up again in the story, somewhere in the future, right? We've all watched the TV show. We've all seen the movie where something happens, and you're like, that person didn't really die, that person's coming back later. I know. I'll tell you guys right now, and you spoil it for everybody else. Have you ever done that before? Right? Or maybe it's been spoiled for you, right? They're like, there's something with this Elijah guy. You don't just ride out of here like that, right? And so Elijah is coming back. So, there's just this legend around Elijah, and this great and awesome day is coming, but Elijah is going to come first. So, do you see how it's very interesting when they see Jesus' glory, they start asking real Bible questions in response. It reminds me of the road to Emmaus, where when Jesus appears to two of the disciples on the road, and he shows them so many prophecies about how the Christ must suffer and die, how he has to rise from the dead, and then they see it's Jesus and he disappears. They're like, wow. Wasn't that an amazing Bible study we just had? Because it's like, wow.
You can see the glory of Jesus in the Scriptures and the disciples, their minds are fiery. What about Elijah? Isn't he going to come? And then look at what Jesus says. Go back to Mark, chapter 9, and look at what he says. Elijah does come to restore all things. In fact, he says in verse 13, “I tell you Elijah has come.” And it says in Matthew chapter 17, at this same account, that when he tells them Elijah has come, they understand who he's talking about, who is who, everybody? John the Baptist. In fact, it says they did whatever they pleased to him. Well, we already know in the Gospel of Mark, that King Herod had John the Baptist beheaded. And how does that connect with Elijah? Well, if you go back to 1 Kings 19, verse 1, where Elijah has his appearance with God, he's on the run because Jezebel wants to kill him. And when God starts speaking with Elijah, what does he say? Well, they want me dead. And so, they wanted Elijah dead, but he never died. Well. Now the Elijah who came, he got killed, and they did whatever they pleased. And the disciples realize that John the Baptist is the Elijah who's been prophesied about. But notice what Jesus says in the midst of this John the Baptist conversation, in the middle of verse 12? He says, and “how is it written of the Son of man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?” So yes, they bring up a question about Elijah, and he answers their question about it being John the Baptist. But see, that wasn't maybe the way they were expecting the story to go where John the Baptist got beheaded by King Herod. And so, Jesus is helping them here. Realize you have a son of man. He's going to suffer and he's going to be treated with contempt. So, notice how he's redirecting their expectations of their eschatology. They're expecting a king coming to reign and restore Israel and put them on top of the world again. And Jesus is like no, Elijah already came, and they already did whatever they wanted with him. And the son of man is going to suffer and be treated with contempt, as it is written.
Now the most famous prophecy of the suffering servant is probably Isaiah 53, and there are other servant songs about the suffering of Jesus in the book of Isaiah. But this word for “contempt” here is very interesting. “It is written that he will suffer and be treated with contempt.” In fact, this is the only time that this word “contempt” is used in the Greek New Testament. But if you go to the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, this word “contempt” is used quite a lot. In fact, it's used in two psalms that you might be familiar with, Psalm 22 you could write down with this word “contempt,” and Psalm 69 which we just happen to be reading on Tuesday, uses this word contempt. And so, there are many different places it is written about the suffering and the mistreatment of the Son of Man, of the Christ. Let's just go to Psalm 69 because we're going to be reading it this week. If you are reading the Psalms with us, and if you're not reading the Psalms with us, I would encourage you stick around. We're going to read Psalm 67 later on tonight, after dinner. Psalm 68 we'll be picking it up on Monday. Psalm 69 is Tuesday. It is so encouraging to read through these psalms and to share it together, here at the church. People who are doing this are just sharing with me reports that they're learning more about God than ever before. It's very encouraging to see. And here in Psalm 69 verse 33 is where it talks about this contempt. Psalm 69 verse 33, “For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise.” So, God doesn't have contempt on his own people, even when they're prisoners, even when other people are mistreating them. God doesn't have contempt for them, even though they're being treated with contempt. And one of the great prophecies, there are multiple prophecies here about Jesus in Psalm 69 but look at verses 19,20, and 21 where it talks about “my reproach,” right? This idea that that people are giving these accusations against Jesus, people are mocking him. And even though this is a psalm here, Psalm 69 of David, who is the king of Israel, well, as David writes this, it also speaks of the future king who is coming in Jesus. And so, it says, “You know my reproach, you know my shame, my dishonor, my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none. I looked for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food and for my thirst, they gave me” what, everybody? Have you ever read John, 19 before, where, right before he's going to die, Jesus announces to fulfill prophecy? I what? Thirst and what do they bring him to drink? Sour wine. And what is it saying here? “Everybody is looking down on me.” Everybody has despised or has contempt for me. I'm looking for pity. I'm looking for somebody who cares. I'm not seeing it. I'm looking for comfort. I'm not seeing it. Look at all my enemies. You see all my enemies? Look at how they're treating him with contempt. Don't you know how it was written? David wrote this a thousand years and now here's Jesus saying, well, you guys should know about the suffering. You guys should know how they're going to treat him with contempt, as it is written. And that's great. You guys know about Elijah, who's going to come, but I'll tell you, Elijah did come, and they already did what they wanted with him, and they're going to do what they want with the Son of Man as well. He’s going to suffer. They're going to treat him with contempt. He's using the Scriptures to try to teach them and to change their expectations. They just wanted to read some of the prophecies. They didn't know all of them and how it was going to play out in his death.
And so, here's this amazing conversation that Jesus is having with these men. And what is the key line they say? Well, the scribes say, and Jesus, he takes it even further back than the teacher himself. He takes it back to the word it is written. See, what this book is saying is that you're going to see God's glory someday. It's going to burst through the sky, and the whole world's going to see it. But you can see it even now. If you search the Scriptures, you can really see who Jesus is. And so, so many people, they're living their lives in the dark. So many people, they're waiting for some experience. Have you seen Jesus in the Scriptures? And then, are you ready to share Jesus in the Scriptures with other people? Like, are you like, well, I know some prophecies that I could tell people about what God wrote hundreds or thousands of years, and then Jesus did it. Do you know that Jesus said he was thirsty and they gave him sour wine to drink? And David wrote that a thousand years before it happened. How do you do stuff like that? Peter's saying, this wasn't made-up stories. I was on the mountain and I saw God's glory, and I read what the prophets wrote. And what the prophets wrote is sure, because they didn't just write what they thought. They wrote inspired by the Spirit of God. And so, the glory of Jesus is your inevitable future. You will see it with your eyes, but you can believe it now through the Scriptures. So, what does that look like for you? What is searching the Scriptures to see Jesus look like? Do you take our study of the gospel of Mark? We've gone through twenty-nine sermons in the Gospel of Mark in 2025. Do you take that seriously? Do you go to your fellowship group and really have something to say about it? Do you read the Bible? Like, for example, we're reading the Psalms. Do you read it like, I want to keep seeing Jesus as I go through the Bible? I want to learn the prophecies that are about him. See, there's more to Jesus than what we have seen. There's more that we can hear and study. You can grow in your knowledge of Jesus. Or are you like, yeah, I'm kind of doing fine right now. It's amazing to me how many people who call themselves Christians are so disinterested in finding out more about Jesus. What's your level of interest in finding out about him? Is there a day coming that you can't wait for? You're so excited for to see his glory, and every day until he comes, do you look for him in the book to see him revealed in the Scriptures? See, I'm telling you, when he comes riding on the clouds, you want to be ready. You want to already know who he is. The world is going to mourn, the world is going to cry. The world is going to realize that's their judgment writing in, I hope you don't find the day Jesus comes back to be your judgment day. I hope it's the day you've been waiting for, the day of your deliverance, the day of your victory, the day that we'll be there with him in the kingdom. So, I want to pray for you about this right now.
Father, I just thank you for this amazing passage that we could all look at it together tonight. What an awesome experience for Peter, James, and John, to go up on that mountain. And I just love the way Peter writes about it, your Honor, your glory, how he heard your voice, how you spoke about your Son. And God, I just pray for everybody here that they would be able to hear your voice saying, “This is my Son.” Listen to him. I pray that everybody here would be able to understand that their life will be defined by what they believe and listen to about Jesus and God. It's amazing to me that after they have that experience, they talk about what is written, what you inspired the prophets to write, that we can listen to the Word about Christ. We can study what Jesus says in the Scriptures. And so, God, I pray for us. I pray for this church. I pray for my brothers and sisters. I pray for myself. God, I pray that we would all be people who understand that it is going to be awesome when Jesus comes. In fact, it's something that makes me feel like I'm in awe of it, like I'm afraid of it, like, what is it even going to be like? It's going to be so overwhelming when Jesus comes, when his glory appears. God, I just want to confess that we've spent too many days in our life not thinking about that day, and that many days in our life, they're not going to compare to that day when Jesus comes; that will be the defining day. And so, we confess that there's been so many days we don't think about his glory. We don't think about seeing him, we don't think about the dazzling radiance and what it must look like to fill the dark sky. And so, God, we pray that this day, this time, right here, that everybody would take a moment right now and they would think about the fact that Jesus is going to come back and they're going to see him. And I pray that if they don't believe in it, God, that you would change their mind even now, so that they could believe now, because they will see him later. And I just pray that this could be a moment where we're not doing anything else, we're not going on to what's next, but we just sit here right now and we think about his glory appearing like a light from the sun. And what's that going to be like? And am I ready for that today? Am I really living today like that day is coming? So let us have this moment right now to consider when Jesus will return. We pray this in his name. Amen.