"There's Life on the Mountain"

As Epiphany closes, we are brought to the season of Our Lord’s passion. In just a few days, we observe Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and then it is thirty nine days until Palm Sunday. The Transfiguration of our Lord is a high point of the church year, the climax of the Epiphany season. On the mountaintop, Peter, James, and John see Jesus’ glory revealed in its heavenly fullness.

Wouldn’t it be something to have been there, on the Mount of Transfiguration? Imagine what a sight that must have been. Christ in his heavenly beauty and splendor. Moses and Elijah. The voice of God the Father. Wouldn’t it be great to get to see all that without having to die first? Wouldn’t that be a real faith booster? Of course, seeing all that might just scare us to death anyway.

On the mountain, the disciples witness the unfolding glory of God. But Jesus is on his way to a cross. In seeing the transfigured One standing before them, they saw his body, soon to be dishonored and killed, in the brightness of the world of God. On the Mount, they saw the dying Messiah in the triumph, in the victory that had been foretold by Isaiah.

Well, Peter James and John probably thought they were going to die for seeing that. Matthew says in our Gospel that upon seeing the glory of Jesus and hearing the voice of the Father from heaven, "they fell on their faces and were terrified." There is no doubt that it nearly scared them to death. Even Peter, who is almost never at a loss for words, hardly knows what to say.

That’s no big surprise. I imagine that if we saw what they saw and heard what they heard, we would probably react the same way. Seeing the glory of Christ, which was also the very face of God, is a stark contrast to our sinfulness, our un-holiness, our unworthiness. The truth of the matter is, as a sinner, I don’t think I could stand the pressure of being anywhere near the holiness of God.

Once in the Old Testament, when Moses wanted to actually see God in all his glory, God said, "Man shall not see me and live." All the times God and Moses had spoken. All the times Moses had been in God’s presence. Moses and God were on speaking terms, but Moses had obviously not seen God in his glory, otherwise, he would not have made such a request. Obviously, whatever he had seen of God had not killed him. Peter, James and John didn’t die. Neither did the men in our text, our Old Testament reading from Exodus, when they saw God, his glory obviously veiled, on Mount Sinai.

But how could that be? How can the seeming contradiction of the Lord’s own words and actions be resolved? How can it be that for the sinner, there is life, not death, at the face of God?

After leading the Israelites across the Red Sea and out of slavery in Egypt, Moses guided them to the foot of Mt. Sinai where some one to two million refugees spent the next eleven months. The time at Mt. Sinai was no break for Moses. He made numerous trips up the mountain to speak with God and then went back down again to tell the people what God had said. That’s the way the people wanted it because when they first arrived at Mt. Sinai God had spoken directly to them and it just about scared them all to death.

It wasn’t just God’s voice that was frightening; the way God appeared was terrifying too. God descended on the top of Mt. Sinai in fire and billowing smoke. The mountain shook. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed while the sound of a trumpet growing louder and louder could be heard. It would have been scary enough to witness any one of those things but when you put them all together it’s not surprising that Moses himself said: "I am trembling with fear."

Why did God appear in such a frightening way to the Israelites? Isn’t he a God of love? Weren’t the Israelites his chosen people? What kind of game was God playing? Was he frightening the Israelites to get them to do what he wanted them to do - like the coach who thinks that if he screams and yells at his players he will get results? No, God wasn’t playing games. He was simply highlighting a couple of his characteristics. He appeared like He did to impress upon the Israelites his power and his holiness.

If you had been there at Mt. Sinai, how would you have felt if you had been one of the elders that were invited to get closer to God, to eat and drink with Him on the mountain? After you had seen and heard all that stuff when God came to the mountain, would you have done it?

Let’s put it another way. Did you feel scared when you came to church this morning? Did you fear for your life knowing that you were approaching a holy God? Probably not and maybe that’s too bad. The reason we don’t always fear God is because we don’t always fully appreciate our sinfulness and God’s holiness. Had we murdered someone this week, cheated on our spouse, or

But God hates just as much our lack of self-control, our gossiping tongues, and all of the other things we do without even thinking. These sins, any sin, should make us scared of stepping up to the mountain into the presence of God.

The Israelites who saw Moses go up the mountain and then be covered by the cloud, must have feared for his safety. After forty days, they may have begun to think that maybe he wasn’t coming back. Yet Moses survived. How was Moses able to survive so close to God? Was Moses himself without sin, and therefore holy like God? Nope, not even close.

Remember how Moses had murdered an Egyptian? Remember how slow he was to answer God’s call to lead his people? Remember how Moses failed to exactly follow God’s instructions? So why didn’t Moses die in the consuming fire that was God’s glory? Moses didn’t die because God’s call to come closer wasn’t just a holy command; it was a gracious invitation.

By allowing Moses to enter his glory without being destroyed, God revealed another one of his characteristics. He showed that he is a gracious and forgiving God who wants sinners to be able to stand on the mountain in his holy presence. That truth was emphasized on another mountain covered in God’s glory some 1,500 years later. On a mountain somewhere in Palestine Jesus was transfigured before his disciples. His clothes became as white as snow and his face shone like the sun.

Then Moses, together with Elijah, appeared and spoke with Jesus about the work of grace he would accomplish on Calvary. There, on that hill, Jesus would die for the sins of the world and through that death and his subsequent resurrection the whole world would be declared forgiven of their sins.

By grace through faith, Christ’s atoning work protects us from the fire of God’s glory by clothing us in His holiness. Like a firefighter who can walk among flames because he is decked out in his protective fire suit, we can approach the mountain and stand in the presence of God’s holiness and not be harmed because we are covered in Christ.

Without Christ, however, God’s holiness is still fearsome for it continues to burn and will do so into eternity. Therefore all those who would dare expose their sins to God by throwing aside the forgiveness Jesus won for them will get burned. Friends, don’t treat Jesus’ forgiveness like a cheap coat we can afford to toss aside. Wear it all times.

The elders of Israel enjoyed those benefits. After God’s first fearsome appearance, Moses offered animal sacrifices and sprinkled the blood from those animals on the people saying: "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you." Sins covered and forgiven by that blood, God invited Moses and the elders to climb Mt. Sinai where they ate and drank in God’s presence. They knew God was there because they saw him and reported that under God’s feet was "something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself."

Being sprinkled with blood and eating and drinking in God’s presence is something that God still invites believers to do today. Of course, I’m talking about the Lord’s Supper where Jesus said we receive "the blood of the covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sins." Come to this meal with renewed zeal and appreciation - for it clothes us with the forgiveness we need to see the holy God without fear.

Starting this Wednesday (Thursday) evening we have the same kind of opportunity to get closer to God, to approach the mountain of His holiness. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Just as Moses spent forty days with God’s Word on Mt. Sinai, use the forty days of Lent and our special Lenten services to hear more about your sin and what your Savior came to do about it. The sermon series I am doing is titled, "Lamb of God, Pure and Holy."

The blood that cleansed Israel and the elders before they went up on the mountain, also cleanses us. Because the Transfigured Lord was going to Mount Calvary to shed his blood for us, we can now stand in his life. We can rise and have no fear. Through that holy, innocent suffering and death, there is life for us on the Mount.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, The Father says, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him." In the upper room, the Son says, "Drink of this cup, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

May you and I respond to God’s invitation to come up on the mountain? Through faith, we are all justified. Christ’s blood has cleansed us and made us holy. Now it is life, not death, it is confidence, not fear, at the face of God. Let us lift up our eyes to the Mount of Calvary and see only Jesus. Amen.