The last two Sundays, we had the privilege of sitting under the preaching of two of our non-staff lay pastors. It was a precious gift. I hope that our lay pastors’ example of selfless service and sacrifice on behalf of our church inspires you to pour it all out for Jesus as well.

In his sermon last week, Pastor Tom mentioned the show Undercover Boss. If you’re not familiar, Undercover Boss is a show in which the CEO of a company, like a fast-food chain, goes undercover to work in one of their locations. They put on a wig and makeup and work an entry-level job, seeing how the work is done and identifying ways to improve the business. Because they’re disguised, none of the other employees know who they are.

The more seasoned staff at the company often roll their eyes at the CEO’s ultra-diligent work ethic because they have no idea who he really is. The seasoned employees almost never listen to his suggestions about how things should be done because they don’t know who he really is. However, after the big reveal, after the lower-level employees learn that the fry cook they dismissed is actually the CEO, their eye rolls turn into open ears. After the big reveal, when they see who he really is, they listen to him.

A similar dynamic is at work in our passage. The event recorded in our passage is called the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is Jesus’ big reveal. It’s like a peek behind a curtain that reveals Jesus’ true glory—who He always has been and always will be. And like the employees on the show, when we see the glory of Jesus more clearly, we will listen to Him far better.

Luke 9:35 –
And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”

The more we see, the better we listen.

That brings us to the big idea of our passage this morning: The more clearly you see the glory of Jesus, the better you will listen to Him. The more clearly you see the glory of Jesus, the better you will listen to Him.

This morning, we will take that big idea in two parts:

• See His glory (vv. 28–34)

• Listen to Him (vv. 35–36)

SEE HIS GLORY

One of my favorite things in all the world to do is go on hikes or walks with my wife. I love to walk and talk with her in the beauty of God’s creation and take in the wonders and glories along the way.

We are going to approach our passage like one of our walks. We are going to make our way through verses 28–33 and take in the sights of Jesus’ glory along the way. As we walk, try not to lose the thread. We are looking for sights of His glory—“big reveals” of who He always has been and always will be—because the more clearly we see Jesus’ glory, the better we will listen to Him.

Big picture: a review of the glory He has always had as the eternal Son of God, a preview of the eternal glory He will enjoy after His suffering, and a close-up on what His suffering accomplished for us.

Let’s begin our stroll.

Luke 9:28 –
Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

Let’s pause here to take in our first glory sighting. This sighting prepares us for the big reveal.

Notice that Luke says the Transfiguration took place eight days after “these sayings.” What sayings? Just before the Transfiguration, Jesus said that though He is the Christ, He must first suffer many things, be rejected, be killed, and then on the third day rise to glory.

Why does Luke intentionally connect Jesus’ words about His suffering, death, and resurrection to His glory seen in the Transfiguration? Because the Transfiguration is both a review and a preview. It is a review of Jesus’ eternal glory before He humbled Himself to take on flesh, and it is a preview of Jesus’ post-resurrection glory.

Jesus will suffer and die, but then what? He will rise in glory, and the Transfiguration is a preview of that glory. That’s what we see when we read “after these sayings.”

Now notice what Jesus was doing when Peter, James, John, and now we ourselves see this preview of His glory: Jesus was praying.

Jesus often prayed before major turning points in His life. Remember, Jesus prayed at His baptism, and then the Father said, “This is my beloved Son.” This was a major turning point in Jesus’ life. After His baptism, Jesus defeated the devil’s temptations in the wilderness and then began His public ministry.

The Transfiguration is another turning point in Jesus’ life. He prays, and the Father speaks again. Jesus has just predicted His suffering and death, and after the Transfiguration He intentionally moves toward Jerusalem, where He will suffer for us.

However, the Transfiguration shows us that suffering and death will not be the end of our Savior. The Transfiguration is a review of Jesus’ eternal glory and a preview that promises Jesus will rise in dazzling glory.

Here is the point: The first glory sighting shows us that Jesus’ suffering and glory go together. He is both the suffering Savior who laid down His life to save us from our sins, and He is the Son of Man who will rise, be seated at the right hand of the Father, and come again in glory.

Do you see His glory?

The more clearly you see the glory of Jesus, the better you will listen to Him.

But how can His suffering and glory go together? To answer that question, we must walk to the summit and see the big reveal. The big reveal is that suffering and glory go together because Jesus is God Himself.

Luke 9:29–30 –
And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah…

The Lord Jesus went up on a mountain, and Moses and Elijah appeared to Him. And that makes sense because, in the Old Testament, both Moses and Elijah had unique mountaintop meetings with the Lord. Those mountaintop experiences have similarities to this one.

Let’s focus on Moses’ mountaintop experience because there are very close parallels between Moses’ experience on Mount Sinai and Jesus’ experience on the Mount of Transfiguration.

In the Old Testament book of Exodus, Moses would go up Mount Sinai to meet with the Lord and receive the Lord’s instruction for His people. One amazing thing that would happen when Moses met with the Lord was that Moses’ face would shine.

Exodus 34:29 –
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

Do you see the connection between Moses’ face on Mount Sinai and Jesus’ face on the mountain of Transfiguration?

Moses’ face shone when he came down from meeting with the Lord because Moses had seen a glimpse of the Lord’s glory. Jesus’ face also shines, but it is different. Moses’ face shone because it reflected God’s glory, but Jesus’ face shines from within because Jesus is the God of glory.

Jesus is greater than Moses and Elijah.

Jesus is greater than Moses and Elijah.

And it’s not only Jesus’ face that reveals that He is the God of all glory; it’s also His clothes. His face was altered, and His clothes became dazzling white.

One of the apostles present for this vision was John. This same John received a vision of the Lord Jesus after Jesus died, rose, and ascended to glory. Listen to what John saw.

Revelation 1:12–18–
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Jesus’ clothing is both a review and a preview.

It is a review. Jesus is not merely a man who suffered a tragic death on a cross outside Jerusalem two thousand years ago. No, Jesus’ face and clothing reveal His divinity. Jesus is God in the flesh. He is God who took on flesh, suffered, and died to save us from our sins.

And the Transfiguration is a preview, confirming that Jesus will not remain in the grave. He will rise and return in the glory that we see revealed in preview form at the Transfiguration.

See His glory! See that He suffered for you, has risen in glory, and will return in dazzling light.

There is even more that we can learn about Jesus from who He is talking to: Moses and Elijah. This sighting helps connect the dots as to why we should listen to Him.

Why are Moses and Elijah there? Why not Abraham and David, for example?

Because it was common for Moses and Elijah to represent the Law and the Prophets. God’s Law was given through Moses. Elijah was the great Old Testament prophet who did not die but was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets—the Old Testament as a whole. God’s faithful people listened to the Law and the Prophets. The Transfiguration reveals that Jesus fulfills the Law and the Prophets; therefore, He is the One we must listen to.

After Jesus suffered and rose, listen to what He taught His disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Luke 24:25–27
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

The Law and the Prophets all prepared for and pointed us to the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Hebrews 1:1–3 says,
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…*

Jesus is the suffering Savior and glorious Son of Man who fulfills the Law and the Prophets—the whole Old Testament—represented by Moses and Elijah. Jesus is our suffering Savior, our divine King, and the entire Bible is about Him.

The more clearly we see His glory, the better we will listen to Him.

But before we get to listening to Him, let’s take in one more glory sighting.

Luke 9:30–33
And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.

The final glory sighting brings us back to Jesus’ suffering.

Notice what they spoke about. They spoke about His departure. Your Bible may have a footnote after the word “departure” that says, “Greek: exodus.” The Lord Jesus spoke about His exodus with Moses and Elijah, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Clearly, Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were talking about what Jesus would soon accomplish through His death on the cross, but why does Luke call it Jesus’ “exodus”?

Well, what happened in the first Exodus? The Passover lamb was slain so that the angel of death would pass over God’s people. Then the Lord led His people out of Egypt—the land of death—to a promised land.

Jesus’ departure, His death, is a true and better exodus.

The Lord Jesus Christ was going to Jerusalem to die on a cross to free us from slavery to sin, save us from eternal death, and fit us for the eternal Promised Land that will be ours when He returns in glory.

His departure is for us. We must listen to Him.

Unfortunately, instead of listening to what Jesus said, Peter listened to himself.

Peter offers to make three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Peter wants to prolong the Transfiguration. Jesus needs to go to Jerusalem, suffer, and die. The Transfiguration is only a preview of Jesus’ post-cross glory, but Peter wants to set up tents, skip the cross, and make the Transfiguration permanent.

Peter wants the glory without the gory.

Peter didn’t know what he was talking about, and Jesus ignored him.

For our Savior, gory precedes glory.

Do you see the big reveal?

The Transfiguration reveals that Jesus is the eternal God who took on flesh. He is the true and greater Passover Lamb who died to give us a true and greater exodus from hell. The whole Bible is about Him, and the gory of the cross was His path to eternal glory. And He is the glorious Son of Man who will come again.

Do you see His glory?

The more clearly you see His glory, the better you will listen to Him.

Since the more clearly you see His glory, the better you will listen to Him, be a glory hunter.

Since the whole Bible is about Him, read His Book daily and ask the Father to help you see the glory of His Son on every page. Ask someone who seems to love the Lord and see His glory clearly to meet with you and read the Bible together. Go to every event during Missions Emphasis Week so that you can learn more about Jesus’ glory and why He is worthy of worship from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Sign up for one of our Sunday Christian education classes this summer so that you can learn to see His glory in the Bible.

Be a glory hunter because the more clearly you see His glory, the better you will listen to Him.

Let’s turn now to listening to Him.

Part Two:

LISTEN TO HIM

Luke 9:34 –
As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

The cloud on the Mount of Transfiguration recalls the cloud over Mount Sinai when the Lord appeared to Moses.

Exodus 24:15–16a –
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai.

The cloud signals God’s manifest presence, which dwelt on Mount Sinai with Moses and now dwells on the Mount of Transfiguration. God the Father is present.

Let’s hear what He says.

Luke 9:35–36 –
And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Now that we have seen Jesus’ glory clearly, we must listen to Him.

This raises two questions:

Listen to Him about what?

Listen to Him instead of whom?

Listen to Him about what?

On the one hand, listen to Him about everything.

The Law and the Prophets—the whole Bible—is about Him. Therefore, listen to Him about everything by listening to the Bible about everything. When the Bible speaks, Jesus speaks.

Listen to Him about conversion and baptism, money and generosity, church attendance and membership. Listen to Him about the words you say and how you say them. Listen to Him about anger, fear, and lust. Listen to Him about your sexuality, your career, your politics, your beliefs, your parenting, and your emotions.

The Transfiguration reveals that Jesus is the glorious Lord over everything, and He is the glorious Lord everywhere, so listen to Him.

On the other hand, we can be more specific.

Do you remember what the opening verse of our passage says?

Luke 9:28 –
Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

What were “these sayings” that Jesus said? We need to know what “these sayings” were because those were the sayings of Jesus that the Father was specifically telling us to listen to.

Let me read them to you.

Luke 9:22–27
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Listen to Him about the path to glory.

For our Savior, the path to the throne went straight through the cross. He suffered for our sins, rose to the right hand of the Father, and will come again on the clouds of glory. First the cross, then the crown.

And our Savior says, “That’s the path for you as well.”

His path to glory went through the cross. Your path to glory is through a daily cross. That’s what the Transfiguration gives us a preview of: gory, then glory.

So listen to Him.

Take up your cross daily and follow Him, trusting that no matter what you suffer on the narrow path of faith, you will be raised with a glorious body one day, just as the Transfiguration shows you.

Okay, that’s what to listen to Him about.

Final question:

Listen to Him instead of whom?

Look again at the verses we just read.

Luke 9:23–24 –
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Listen to Him over whom?
Simple: over yourself.

To follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves. Listen to Him over yourself.

That’s where Peter got himself into trouble. He listened to himself over Jesus.

Jesus said, “I’m going to Jerusalem to suffer as the final Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world,” and Peter said, “Nope. We’re setting up tents, and we’re going to enjoy the glory without the gory.”

Friends, that is what the self always says.

The self says, “Give me the glory and the comfort without the gory.”

Don’t listen to yourself. Listen to Jesus.

You’ve seen His glory clearly. You’ve seen the big reveal. Now go and listen to Him. Take up your cross, deny yourself, and embrace true life by losing it for His sake.

Like your Savior, you will walk through gory to glory.

In conclusion, let’s return to Undercover Boss.

Which employee will you be: the before employee or the after employee?

Will you be the one who rolls your eyes, dismissing the boss as overly zealous, or will you be the employee who has seen the big reveal and hangs on the CEO’s every word?

See Jesus’ glory and listen to Jesus’ voice.

The more clearly you see Jesus’ glory, the better you will listen to His voice.