In the second letter of Peter, and chapter
1, at verse 16, For
we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when
we made known unto you the power and
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we
were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For he received from God the Father honor
and glory, when there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.
This voice we ourselves heard come out of
heaven, when we were with him in the
holy mount.
We have the word of prophecy made more
sure, whereunto ye do well that ye take
heed, as unto a lamp shining in a
dark place, until the day dawn, the day
star, arise in your hearts.
Little clause in the hymn that we have
just sung, might well be the title
of our meditation and occupation at this time.
Men whose eyes have seen the King.
Men whose eyes have seen, as we in
our hymn have prayed the Lord to send
such men.
Sure we all feel deeply and strongly that
that is the need of our time.
The world needs such, the church needs such,
and as at old times when the Lord
has had such, and has sent them forth,
the need has been met.
His need, the need of others.
So we might well pray, send men whose
eyes have seen the King.
I think that really sums up this whole
matter of the Transfiguration.
If it worked out that way, that
is why he took the three leaders from
the twelve into the mountain, that presently, that
vision made alive with meaning, power, by the
Holy Spirit.
They would go forth as men who had
seen the King.
And what happened?
We are living today in the ever growing
value of that vision.
If I bring you, dear friends, again back
to the Mount of Transfiguration, in thought and
meditation, believe me it is not a subject,
a theme, that concerns or interests me.
I have been very much before the Lord
that at this time, need should be met.
Situations should be touched and ministered to.
You are here, and I think I should
not be wrong in saying very few of
you here are unaware of the strenuousness of
the times in which we live for the
Lord's people.
You have come from different parts of the
battlefield, from the labor and the travel
and the pressure.
You are here, I presume, on no other
ground and for no other reason than that
you feel the need of renewal, of fresh
strength and fresh enablement to go back to
your scenes of difficulty.
That has been my quest in prayer, the
Lord would meet such need here at this
time.
And I believe that he has led to
this matter because it is here, it is
here, I am sure that we can find
what we need.
So let us give ourselves for this little
while to looking into this matter of the
transfiguration.
Its very setting in both of the places
to which it is referred, as we have
read, is significant and is helpful.
You know that three of the four gospels,
as they are called, record this matter of
the transfiguration, Matthew, Mark and Luke, indicating
surely that with these men the matter was
of some particular importance.
If John did not actually record this incident,
this event, I am not sure that he
passed it over and got it in mind.
We may come on that as we go
on.
Do you know that at this time of
the transfiguration, things were becoming increasingly difficult for
the Lord?
The growing hostility in all directions, pressing
him in, weighing heavily upon both his spirit
and his ministry, making his ministry more
and more difficult and more and more limited.
The shadow of the cross was lengthening on
his path.
It is just in this connection that he
speaks frankly to his disciples for the first
time, frankly about the cross.
The atmosphere was just charged with a sense
of pending crisis.
Something is going to happen.
It was at that time, in those conditions,
that he took three from the twelve into
the mountain apart and was transfigured before them,
had a great relatedness to the situation which
was and which was developing.
In the case of the many years later,
when Peter wrote, spoke about this matter, from
his letters we know something of the situation
begins by addressing himself to the saints scattered,
saints scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and
Bithynia, scattered saints.
Some of you here today know what it
means to be of the scattered people of
the Lord in distant places, in lonely places.
And distance and loneliness creating its own problems
and its own heartaches.
Scattered saints as perhaps differing from the great
days of being together.
How things seem to ease up when we
are together.
Sense of fellowship, sense of life and of
joy.
So much when we are all together.
These saints perhaps had known something of the
great togetherness of Jerusalem or elsewhere.
Now scattered with all that that means.
Peter goes on to speak to them about
the trial of their faith.
Knowing this that the trial of your faith
is more precious than gold that perishes, though
it be tried in the fire.
These scattered saints were knowing something of the
fire of tried faith.
There is much more in his letters indicating
a not too helpful situation for the people
of God.
Indeed the keynote to his letters is grace.
They needed to know there was opposition, there
was persecution, there were false prophets, false teachers,
all that.
And to that situation Peter wrote and in
his writing introduced this matter of the transfiguration.
It's significant.
There is something in this for the people
of God in days of difficulty and adversity.
Indeed what they and we all need in
such times is a new vision of the
King.
That is what the Lord Jesus meant amongst
other things for that little band of men.
The three were commanded not to say anything
about it for the time being until he
was risen from the dead.
Someone has used his imagination.
That connection, how difficult it was for these
three to hold their tongue when they came
down and say nothing about it, even to
the others.
But then when he was risen, how gladly
and eagerly they told the others and everybody
of this wonderful experience.
Goes to the heart of everything.
If this is true, that is if the
transfiguration was true, then anything and everything in
the Bible can be true.
If it was not true, then we can
doubt everything, but it was true.
Now let us look at the significance of
this matter, the significance of the transfiguration.
You are aware that it was a turning
point or it marked the turning point in
the mission of the Lord Jesus on this
earth.
He had gone to the farthest point of
his travels, nor from that outermost rim of
his ministrations, he would immediately turn about with
face to the south and to Jerusalem and
to the cross.
A resolute, purposeful, meaningful decision was reached on
the mount.
It was a crisis, turning point.
We might say that it was the very
heart of his time here on this earth.
The significance of the transfiguration represents the very
heart of everything, if you could see it.
But what did it mean so far as
he was concerned?
I think it meant two things in one.
It certainly did represent and set forth the
absolute perfecting of his humanity.
Here he has reached the point of his
own personal perfecting as a man.
And this glorifying, this transfiguring was heaven's
testimony to his utter and perfect sinlessness as
a man.
That in all respects of hells of sorts
and temptations and subtleties and devils and men's
hatred, malice, trickery and what not, he had
triumphed, completely triumphed in the matter of sin.
If we were to analyze it too closely,
take our time of course, we should have
to look at that word sin.
Sin.
But we can say this, that the sum
of sin from the beginning in the garden
to the end is unfaithfulness to God.
A breach of fellowship with God through mistrust,
through mistrust.
That is the very core of sin.
Everything was concentrated upon him from every realm
to make a breach between him and God.
By some means, in some way, that would
be sin.
It never happened in his case.
He met it all and triumphed.
Here is a man perfected where the first
Adam failed and all his seed have been
involved.
Humanity that God intended to be is here
achieved and realized and expressed and is therefore
glorified.
So far as he was concerned, that was
the first meaning.
Sin, sin with all its horrible following
entailed has been completely defeated in and by
this man.
And therefore death must go, there can be
no death.
For death is the result of sin.
If Adam had never sinned he would never
have died.
This one never sinned.
He could not die.
He could only be glorified.
There is another aspect as to its meaning
to him.
It is quite clear that the Lord Jesus
carried in his heart a great longing and
a prayer for the glory that he once
had.
In John, this is where I think John
touches this matter very closely.
Recording that great prayer of the Lord Jesus
in the 17th chapter.
Begins, and repeats, Father glorify thou me
with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was.
That opens a window and lets us see
that the Lord Jesus had a consciousness of
his eternal glory past.
Carried it with him.
Knew about it.
Marvellous thought.
There it is.
And that consciousness of the glory that he
had before the world was.
Was ever prompting him to pray or long
toward the day when he would return to
it and it would return to him.
Father glorify thou me with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was.
The mount of transfiguration was the answer to
his heart's prayer and cry and longing.
Here it is.
A touch of it.
Fleeting touch.
But for him, it was one of those
things perhaps you know little about in your
Christian life.
The Lord just does something.
It passes, but you know by that that
you've been heard.
You know by that that there is sympathy
in the Father's heart for your need and
situation.
You know.
May only last for a day or a
night, an hour or a little while and
passes because the end of the road is
not yet.
The eternal glory has not yet come, but
the touch by the way is something that
carries us on.
We know the Lord heard.
We know the Lord took account of that
inner cry and longing and gave us a
token.
A token of his sympathy.
Like that with the Lord Jesus.
The answer to his own cry.
It was his own personal glorification and heaven's
attestation of him and the perfection of his
being.
Now, as you notice, it is here that
the Lord Jesus introduces in a direct, frank
way the matter of his cross.
If there had been any hints before, the
apostles and their representative Peter was completely oblivious
to those hints.
But now, here about, at this time, the
Lord Jesus comes to the matter quite positively,
quite definitely, quite deliberately.
Peter rises up as the spokesman of the
other in rebellion.
Won't have it.
But there it is.
There it is.
The transfiguration was the offset to the cross
for these men when they should come to
realize that the cross was not what they
were thinking it would be at that time.
The end of everything.
Shame and failure, reproach, dishonor, despair.
When they should come to see that the
cross was just the opposite of all those
things, then the transfiguration would take a new
place.
And they would see as Peter says in
his letter.
He didn't read it all.
You read further in that chapter, you will
hear Peter saying something like this.
The prophets
sought and searched diligently what manner of time
the spirit which was in them did point
to when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
the Christ and the glory that should follow.
Peter's got it right now.
He's got it round the right way.
First, in the first place, when he would
repudiate the sufferings, he's all for the glory.
He's putting that first.
They were after the glory and not going
to have any of the sufferings.
The cross was something they would not hear
about or accept.
Yes, glory, but not the suffering.
He's got it round the other way now.
At last, the sufferings and the glory that
should follow.
Is that what Moses and Elijah were talking
to the Lord Jesus about on the mountain?
The exodus which he was about to accomplish
at Jerusalem?
The suffering and the glory?
The transfiguration was the great offset to the
suffering.
To the cross.
And it was intended not only for the
Lord himself.
It was intended for these leaders amongst his
servants.
That they should have the ground laid, foundation
put down upon which presently the Holy Spirit
would alight foreseeing that not only the cross
of Calvary but all its outworkings were in
the light of the glory.
Had the glory at the end, these sufferings
were toward the glory.
They came to see that later.
And dear friends, you and I need that
message.
The message of the transfiguration is this.
At this particular point.
It's not all now transfiguration.
There's a lot that is of the plain
and the valley.
There is the cross.
You notice the Lord Jesus in speaking of
the cross told them, He that saveth his
life shall lose it.
There's a lot of that to be gone
through and experienced.
But this is saying all that.
The cross, his cross and the outworking of
his cross in the experience of his own
servants is unto this glorious end.
That they shall be glorified together with him.
As to the issue of the transfiguration, what
was it?
And what is it?
What was it intended to be?
There's the significance of it.
What is the issue of it?
Well, we have to look for the issue
in the incident that immediately followed as they
came down from the mountain.
We read it.
Full of, full of truth.
Too full for exhausting at this time.
So they came down.
This distracted father came to him and to
them.
Distracted over his boy, who in the original
language he calls, my only begotten son.
The one boy.
Many emotional elements bound up with it of
course, which we can read.
But here is this father with his boy,
Distracted over the situation and disappointed over the
nine representatives of the Lord Jesus.
The majority of his disciples, whom he had
left down below.
Comes with this boy, describes what happens to
him.
What's the matter with him?
And tells him what happens
to him.
What's the matter with him?
And tells him that although he brought the
boy to his disciples, they could not help
him or do anything about it.
Here surely in the Holy Spirit's thought in
giving these details, is the suggestion of an
impotent church.
In the presence of this demon-driven humanity
on the plain.
It's representative of a condition in this world
and in humanity.
Perhaps be too imaginative, going too far to
say the description of this boy's trouble and
how it affected him, can be seen in
counterpart in the world today.
World is under the domination of a power
with which it can.
A driving force, driving toward destruction.
Always driving in the direction of self-destruction.
That's the world today, can't help it.
It's mastered by an evil power in this
universe.
Driving, dominating, frustrating every effort.
And in this scene of humanity's helplessness and
need, the church doesn't know what to do
with it.
Unable to cope.
And you can bring that situation down to
ten thousand things.
We are all up against situations with which
we cannot cope.
You are.
In your assemblies.
Perhaps in your own family.
Perhaps in your own self.
Forces that are too much.
Driving.
And it's always in the direction of destruction,
isn't it?
Of evil, of harm, of hurt, of injury.
Toward the fire and the water.
To destroy and to quench.
That's a good description of the evil work,
of the evil one in human life.
We have this small representation of it in
this boy.
And without indulging in unworthy criticism, and taking
account, full account, of all the noble sacrifice,
and service, and labor, toil, of the servants
of the Lord, we have nevertheless to say
that in a very large degree, and in
a great many things, the Lord's people are
impotent in the presence of these things.
They're holding the ground.
They're defeating and defying every effort.
It's quite patent that these nine had made
an effort.
Why could not we cast it out?
They evidently tried.
Failed.
It was effort and labor for naught.
And the enemy laughing at them.
Holding his ground.
And no doubt the critical world around being
very pleased that these disciples were such poor
expressions of their Lord.
Letting him down.
That's what they wanted the disciples to do.
To let him down.
To betray him.
Well, it's not pleasant thought, is it?
But there it is.
Now, what is the issue of the Transfiguration?
Surely, dear friends, it is this.
That there must be an impact of the
exalted and glorified Christ brought upon these situations.
It's a question of impact.
Impact.
When I've used that word, I'm quite sure
that many of you say, Yes, that's what
we need.
That's what I need in my life.
That's what the church needs.
That's what a local company needs.
An impact upon things.
Upon situations.
Upon places.
You see, this is what happened later, isn't
it?
It did.
These men whose eyes had seen the King.
These men who had come to understand the
meaning of the Transfiguration.
Jesus.
Perfected.
Glorified.
Exalted.
Attested by Heaven.
Men who had seen Him thus.
Went everywhere.
And what an impact.
Rarely, if ever, they failed to register on
this earth.
In the Kingdom of Satan.
It was impact.
Do you notice how Peter describes this?
We were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.
His Majesty.
Isn't the impact of the Majesty of the
Lord Jesus upon this earth?
I'm sure it is.
But then He said, When we made known
unto you the power and presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Sorry they hadn't translated that word.
Thus, they put coming.
Well, of course, the word is related to
the coming again of the Lord Jesus very
frequently.
But the word itself cannot be isolated to
that.
It's used of the Apostles.
The same word.
They came into a situation.
Same word.
The coming.
The presence.
Peter describes this as the power and presence
of His Majesty.
Yes, that's the issue.
The power.
Not as abstract and unrelated.
But the power of His presence.
In His Majesty.
That's the Holy Mount.
That's the High Place.
That is what the world needed.
Let me use the word again.
Impact.
Dear friends, if it should be ours to
see the King in His glory.
If it should be ours to catch a
fresh glimpse of the glorified Lord.
That's going to answer the cry and need
for impact.
And I put it the other way.
There will never be an impact until we
have seen Him as the glorified Lord.
He is the answer to every need.
And a vision of Him as exalted and
attested by Heaven.
Will bring new impact into our lives.
Into our ministries.
Into our churches.
Upon situation.
Does not your heart cry as mine does.
Oh, for a recovery of the church's impact
upon this world.
Which is none other than the impact of
the Majesty.
Of the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Now, we know that that is how it
will be.
When this word as it is does actually
connect with His appearance.
At the end.
When He comes.
He will smite the earth with the sword
of His mouth.
But the brightness of His presence will be
devastating to evil.
There's no doubt about it that when that
presence, that parousia takes place.
There will be an impact.
We cry for that.
We pray for that.
But, you see, the word is used not
only of that.
But of different occasions and different connections.
The same word, exactly the same word as
used for the coming again of the Lord
Jesus.
Is used of apostles coming into a situation.
Being present there.
And it is used of the Lord Jesus
in this progressive way.
He came in that sense on the Mount
of Transfiguration.
It was His presencing in glory.
Again and again He presenced Himself.
And every time there was impact.
All pointing to the final great presencing of
the Lord.
It's interesting, isn't it?
Peter speaks of the Mount of Transfiguration in
exactly the same word as he speaks of
the coming again of the Lord.
At the end.
The presencing of the Lord.
We do need an anticipation of the day
of His coming in the church now.
We need something of the meaning of that
final impact.
Now.
His presence in majesty and in power.
Well, these are statements with which I imagine
all of you agree.
Both as to the significance.
And as to the issue.
And as to the need.
Now.
What about it?
We agree.
One of the writers of this event tells
us that Jesus went up into the mountain
to pray.
To pray.
And as He prayed.
The passion of His countenance was deep.
And when He came down.
The key which He used to that desperate
situation was the key of prayer.
This kind goes not out but by prayer
and fasting.
What are we to pray for?
What is to be the burden of our
prayer?
In relation to this matter of impact.
Recovered power.
Dear friends.
If you have any sense of this poor
world's distracted condition.
And desperate need.
You won't control your praying.
You will not regulate your praying.
You will not make prayer a legal system.
Of your must.
Your must.
Your touch.
As the Lord was touched with this situation
and this need.
Be it in an individual.
Or be it in a company.
Or be it in the world.
Or the whole church.
The only thing that you will do but
you will do it.
Is pray.
And what will you pray for?
What is it that will answer the need?
The situation.
Will touch it.
Now here you see is a point of
departure.
With this I close for the moment.
We see the need.
We are aware of the situation.
Here and there.
This one and that.
This place and that.
And of course we do pray to the
Lord and ask him to do something about
it.
We do that.
I trust I am not saying a wrong
thing when I say.
That too often it is like the effort
of the mind.
Nothing happens.
The thing goes on.
Persists.
And defies you.
See the need is not for that kind
of prayer.
It is for the kind of prayer that
brings in the majesty and the power of
Jesus Christ.
Is born out of a mighty apprehension of
his glory.
Of who he is.
What he has done.
Where he is.
And what he is doing now.
That is what we need to recover.
About that we have much more to say.
But the church needs and you and I
need.
Let us recognize it.
Face it.
Acknowledge it.
What is needed is this.
To have the secret of bringing in the
majesty of the Lord into us.
Putting that power upon it.
It is executive.
It is dynamic.
It is something which registers and the thing
is done.
Don't you agree with me that is what
we need?
That secret?
And for that I repeat what we need
is a new mighty mastery in our inner
being of the greatness of the Lord Jesus.
We all agree he is great.
We will sing how great thou art.
We won't reserve or trim our words about
the Lord Jesus in glory.
But there is a gap.
A gap between that and this situation.
That is the tragedy and that is the
problem and the perplexity of it.
He is like that and yet this is
like this.
The two things are not brought together.
They are not brought together.
Why did he take those three up?
Not simply and only because he had a
heart that longed for human fellowship.
No, he knew who they were.
He knew their future.
He knew the position that Peter was going
to take and he knew the ministry that
John was going to fulfill right on beyond
the lifetime of all the others.
And he took them there with him.
With this one object I believe in view
that in those coming days when they would
meet these situations in this world they would
be in possession of the secret of his
majesty and be a link, a link between
him in glory and this situation of shame
and evil.
Is not that the function of the church?
Is not that the vocation of the church?
To be his link between heaven and earth.
To be the instrument of the registration of
his kingdom upon the kingdom of Satan.
Is not that what we are called for?
If that is not it I don't know
what we are for.
And if we fail at that we can
do ten thousand things and still the enemy
will laugh at us.
With all our effort and expenditure he still
holds the ground so terribly.
Oh for men whose eyes have seen the
king.
Because to have done so means a tremendous
thing in the life of such men.
That we shall see.
But here is the preparation of the way.
And dear friends before we begin to pray
over situations let us pray for a new
vision of the majesty and glory of the
Lord Jesus and then nothing will be impossible.
I believe that that is the point in
the thought of the Lord when he said
if you have faith a grain of mustard
seed.
See it is not merely psychological make-believe.
If only you have grasped the smallest meaning
of his majesty anything is possible.
It is so great.