{"id":1824,"date":"2023-02-19T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=1824"},"modified":"2023-03-03T16:54:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T00:54:03","slug":"transfiguration-sunday-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/19\/transfiguration-sunday-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Transfiguration Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Transfiguration-Sunday-02-19-23.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Exodus 24:9-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Glory of God\u2019s Covenant With His People!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>9<\/sup>Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up&nbsp;<sup>10<\/sup>and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.&nbsp;<sup>11<\/sup>But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>12<\/sup>The&nbsp;Lord&nbsp;said to Moses, \u201cCome up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>13<\/sup>Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.&nbsp;<sup>14<\/sup>He said to the elders, \u201cWait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>15<\/sup>When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,&nbsp;<sup>16<\/sup>and the glory of the&nbsp;Lord&nbsp;settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the&nbsp;Lord&nbsp;called to Moses from within the cloud.&nbsp;<sup>17<\/sup>To the Israelites the glory of the&nbsp;Lord&nbsp;looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.&nbsp;<sup>18<\/sup>Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (NIV1984)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Were you somewhat surprised when you heard that our sermon text for this Transfiguration Sunday is our Old Testament lesson from Exodus 24?&nbsp; It seems as though the most natural choice would have been our Gospel lesson\u2014 Matthew\u2019s account of the Transfiguration.&nbsp; Even our Epistle lesson for today seems like an obvious choice since it contains Peter\u2019s eyewitness account of the importance of Jesus\u2019 Transfiguration.&nbsp; Why did I choose our Old Testament lesson as our sermon text?&nbsp; Because it highlights the truth that I want all of us to take home with us today!&nbsp; That truth is found in our sermon theme for today:&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong><em>The Glory of God\u2019s Covenant with His People!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This portion of Exodus 24 covers just one small part of a much larger event.&nbsp; In Exodus 19 we find God\u2019s people camped in the desert in front of Mount Sinai.&nbsp; God then called Moses to come up on the mountain where God explained to Moses the Covenant that the Lord was establishing with His people.&nbsp; Moses then went back and&nbsp;<em>\u201csummoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;had commanded him to speak\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(Exodus 19:7).&nbsp; God\u2019s people responded by saying&nbsp;<em>\u201cWe will do everything the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;has said.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; This is when God revealed to Moses that the people were not allowed to go up on the mountain or to even touch the foot of it.&nbsp; If they did\u2014 they would be put to death.&nbsp; This also when the Lord told Moses that Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel were to proceed up the mountain to worship Him\u2014 from afar.&nbsp; Only Moses was allowed to come near the Lord.&nbsp; After once again listening to the Lord Moses then went and told the people&nbsp;<em>\u201call the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>\u2019s words and laws.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; Once again the people responded by saying,&nbsp;<em>\u201cEverything the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;has said we will do.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; Moses recorded everything the Lord had revealed to him in what is known as the Book of the Covenant.&nbsp; After Moses had built an altar to the Lord at the foot of Mount Sinai, and after they had offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar Moses took half of the blood from the offerings and put it into bowls.&nbsp; The other half he sprinkled on the altar.&nbsp; Then Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people.&nbsp; For a third time they responded,&nbsp;<em>\u201cWe will do everything the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;has said; we will obey.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; And then we are told,&nbsp;<em>\u201cMoses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, \u2018This is the blood of the covenant that the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;has made with you in accordance with all these words.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now why is it important for us to understand the context in which we find our sermon text for today?&nbsp; Because that covenant\u2014 a covenant sealed with blood\u2014 is what made the event recorded here in our text possible!&nbsp; Because of that covenant\u2014 a covenant sealed with blood\u2014 we are told,&nbsp;<em>\u201cMoses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel.&nbsp; Under his feet was something like pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.&nbsp; But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites, they saw God, and they ate and drank.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let those words sink in, my friends.&nbsp;&nbsp;<em>\u201cThey saw God, and they ate and drank.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; These men were given the unique privilege of not only seeing the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but they were allowed to enjoy a covenant meal with Him!&nbsp; How was that possible?&nbsp; The only reason it was possible is because God had willingly entered into a&nbsp;<em>\u201ccovenant relationship\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;with His people\u2014 a covenant that was sealed in blood!&nbsp; God wanted His people to know that His covenant with them was deeply personal and how better to emphasize that truth then by allowing the leaders of God\u2019s people to see Him and to enjoy a meal with Him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After God had established that truth, after these men had enjoyed that covenant meal with their God, God had Moses come up even further on the mountain so that God could give him,&nbsp;<em>\u201cthe tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; That then brings us to the portion of our text which makes it unmistakably clear how this portion of Exodus 24 ties in with the Transfiguration of our Lord.&nbsp; We\u2019re told,&nbsp;<em>\u201cWhen Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;settled on Mount Sinai.&nbsp; For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;called to Moses from within the cloud.&nbsp; To the Israelites the glory of the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.&nbsp; Then Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain.&nbsp; And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<em>\u201dglory of the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;gives us a way to at least&nbsp;<strong>try&nbsp;<\/strong>to fathom how awesome our God is!&nbsp; He is preeminent over all things in heaven and on earth!&nbsp; His power is limitless!&nbsp; His grace is infinite!&nbsp; His holiness is even more transcendent than the light of the sun!&nbsp; At the same time, however, we\u2019re told,&nbsp;<em>\u201cTo the Israelites the glory of the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>&nbsp;looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; This reminds us of the power of God\u2019s perfect justice.&nbsp; God does not tolerate any sin nor does He let any sin go unpunished!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The glory of the covenant that God established with His people on Mount Sinai can be seen in the fact that the God of perfect grace and the God of perfect justice graciously provided a way for the sins of His people to be atoned for.&nbsp; Think about it.&nbsp; The glory of God\u2019s covenant with His people was seen in all the animal sacrifices that God\u2019s people offered up to the Lord\u2014 sacrifices that served as a powerful graphic reminder to God\u2019s people that sin is so serious in God\u2019s eyes that forgiveness can only be achieved through the shedding of blood.&nbsp; The glory of God\u2019s covenant with His people was seen in the Passover lamb that God\u2019s people sacrificed every year to remind God\u2019s people that only the Lord their God has the power to save them from slavery and death.&nbsp; The glory of God\u2019s covenant with His people could be seen on the great Day of Atonement\u2014 the one day the High Priest was allowed to enter into God\u2019s presence in the Most Holy Place of the Temple and sprinkle blood on the&nbsp;<em>\u201catonement cover\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;on the Ark of the Lord.&nbsp; All of these sacrifices and all of this blood served to keep God\u2019s people focused on the glory of the covenant that the Lord had willingly established with His people\u2014 a covenant that kept God\u2019s people focused on the Messiah whom God&nbsp;<strong>promised&nbsp;<\/strong>to send into this world, the&nbsp;<em>\u201cLamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(John 1:29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The glory of the covenant that God established with His people on Mount Sinai\u2014 a covenant that was sealed with blood\u2014 gives us a clear connection to the Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.&nbsp; It\u2019s very easy for us to connect the dots between the&nbsp;<em>\u201cglory of the L<\/em><em>ORD<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;on Mount Sinai and the&nbsp;<em>\u201cbright cloud\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;that enveloped Jesus\u2019 disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration\u2014 the cloud from which the heavenly Father proclaimed to the disciples,&nbsp;<em>\u201cThis is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.&nbsp; Listen to him\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(Matthew 17:5).&nbsp; And while Matthew does not include this detail in his account of the Transfiguration, Luke tell us that&nbsp;<em>\u201cMoses and Elijah appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.&nbsp; They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(Luke 9:30, 31).&nbsp; Here we see two critically important aspects of the glory of the covenant that God has established with His people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, on the basis of that covenant Moses, who died some 1,400 years before the Transfiguration of our Lord, enjoyed a&nbsp;<em>\u201cglorious splendor\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;that only the Lord God can give to His people.&nbsp; Second, Luke very clearly reminds us that the Transfiguration of our Lord is our last stepping stone before we enter into the season of Lent.&nbsp; Once Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration He&nbsp;<em>\u201cresolutely set out for Jerusalem\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(Luke 9:51).&nbsp; The entire season of Lent is our opportunity to prepare ourselves for what God\u2019s Son is going to do&nbsp;<strong>for&nbsp;<\/strong>us\u2014 offer up Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.&nbsp; His holy, precious, innocent blood seals a covenant between God and us that is even greater and more glorious than the covenant God established with His people on Mount Sinai!&nbsp; Every time we lift up our eyes to the cross (Pointing to the cross) and see the depth of the Lord\u2019s love for us we see the very heart and core of the glory of the covenant that our God has established with us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we have the privilege of experiencing what Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel experienced on Mount Sinai where they not only&nbsp;<em>\u201csaw\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;God, but they enjoyed a special covenant meal with Him!&nbsp; In the&nbsp;<em>\u201cnew covenant\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;that Jesus has established with us\u2014 a covenant that was sealed with blood\u2014 in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we not only&nbsp;<em>\u201csee\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;Jesus in a miraculous sacramental way, but we also listen so our Savior as He speaks directly to us!&nbsp; Concerning the bread He says,&nbsp;<em>\u201cThis is my body given for you.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; Concerning the wine He says,&nbsp;<em>\u201cThis cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(Luke 22:17-20).&nbsp; This holy sacramental meal not only emphasizes our personal fellowship with the one and only true God, but it also strengthens our faith and trust in Him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The glory of God\u2019s covenant with Moses guaranteed that the instant Moses\u2019 body died his soul enjoyed the&nbsp;<em>\u201cglorious splendor\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;he experienced on the Mount of Transfiguration, the&nbsp;<em>\u201cglorious splendor\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;Moses will continue to experience into all of eternity!&nbsp; In the exact same way the glory of God\u2019s covenant with us guarantees that when our physical body dies our soul will immediately experience and enjoy that very same&nbsp;<em>\u201cglorious splendor\u201d<\/em>\u2014 for all of eternity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the seventy elders of Israel the glory of God\u2019s covenant with His people is found in the words,&nbsp;<em>\u201cGod did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; For Peter, James and John the glory of God\u2019s covenant with His people can be seen in the fact that while they were&nbsp;<em>\u201cterrified\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;when the heavenly Father spoke to them from the&nbsp;<em>\u201cbright cloud\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;that enveloped them, Jesus came to them, put His reassuring hand on them and said,&nbsp;<em>\u201cGet up.&nbsp; Don\u2019t be afraid.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; And for us?&nbsp; For us the glory of the covenant that God has established with us is found in the reassuring words we hear every time the Lord\u2019s Supper is celebrated here in God\u2019s house, the reassuring words that bring us peace as we prepare to leave this life and enter into eternity, namely, \u201cDepart in the peace of knowing that your sins are forgiven!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To God be the glory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exodus 24:9-18 The Glory of God\u2019s Covenant With His People! 9Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up&nbsp;10and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.&nbsp;11But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worship-service-podcast"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1826,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions\/1826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}