Descent from the Mount of Transfiguration

Introduction: The Descent from Glory and the Call to Practical Truth

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, August 17th, 1986, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:16 Will you follow, please, as I read verses 2 through 13. Mark chapter 9, beginning with verse 2.

0:27 And after six days, Jesus takes with him Peter and James and John, and brings them up into a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistering white, glistering exceeding white, so as no fuller or bleacher of wool on earth can whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.

1:10 And let us make three tabernacles or booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. For he knew not what to answer, for they became sore afraid. And there came a cloud overshadowing them, and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son, hear him. And suddenly, looking round about, they saw no one any more.

1:40 Except Jesus. Except Jesus only with themselves. And as they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, except when the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead. And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean.

2:06 And they asked him, saying, How is it that the scribes say that? that Elijah must first come. And he said unto them, Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things, and beset it not? But I say unto you, that Elijah is, or better rendered, has come. And

2:39 they have also done unto him whatsoever they would, even as it is written of him. Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, that God by the Spirit, the Spirit who delights to take the things of Christ, would come and open to us this portion of the Word. Let us pray. Our Father, we confess with the hymn writer that all of our faculties of understanding and understanding of the Word of God are in the hands of the Father, and that all of our faculties of understanding and understanding of the Word of God are in the hands of the Father, and of intellect lie shrouded in deepest darkness, unless you are pleased

3:21 to send rays of light into our hearts. We acknowledge that your Word is clear, that your Word is truth, but we confess that our minds are dull and dark, and that we have in our hearts remaining sin that has an affinity for error. And we therefore pray that by the mighty operation of the Spirit, you would penetrate our darkness and overcome and conquer our remaining love of error, that we may see and embrace the

4:02 truth with our whole inner being, and that our lives may be cast into its mold. Send your Spirit to this end, we plead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

4:21 Now, in the course of our consecutive expositions of the Gospel of Mark, we were privileged to spend two Lord's Day mornings contemplating the majesty and the glory of Christ as it burst through the veil of His humanity in that unique event commonly described as the Transfiguration. No doubt those of you who were with us for those two expositions would, with me, like to remain in that mountain near to the scene of the manifested glory of Christ with

4:59 its amazing intimations of nothing less than inner trinitarian communion and fellowship with respect to your salvation and to mine. However, the desire to build booths then and to capture the circumstances of that glory was unquestionably un mysteries, and to obtain them, and not to go without calling them, was a gravity of that which dared to come upon and to be re-attached to the throne of God. And I would be well-said and well-groomed if I could have the sacrament of the Holy Spirit for the glory of Christ. And that was in fact, in this scene, I developed an intense geraion of worship, and to me, I was therefore not in awe of the refused by the Lord, and so we must accept that refusal this morning, and following the track of Scripture, we with the disciples, as verse 9 intimates, must come down out of the mount of glory and into that track back to the foot of the mountain in which there

5:42 are pressing, perplexing, unanswerable questions, so it seemed, to the disciples. Now, this journey that we take down the mountain with them is one that will in many ways be disappointing compared with the magnetic fascination of what happened up in the secret place of the mount. There we had the brilliant face in the shining garments of Jesus. There we had the mystery of the cloud and the conversation of Elijah and Moses with Jesus. There

6:21 we heard the voice, you are my son, listen to him. And as we come down from the mountain, there's no manifested glory. There are no visitors from heaven. There is no Shekinah cloud. There is no voice. We are allowed to draw near to some very perplexed and confused

6:44 disciples, all inwardly torn up in distress because they can't fit together the things that are now the focal point in the emphasis of the teaching of Jesus. But though it is nowhere near as exhilarating and exciting and in some ways nowhere near as devotional on the surface, if we are to have that kind of spiritual maturity which Pastor Nichols has been expounding to us Sunday evenings, we must come down the mount and come to grips

7:22 with as much carefulness with what is given to us in verses 9 to 13 as we with delight looked upon the details of verses 2 through 8. So then, let us attack this paragraph with the loins of our mind girded up, and as we work our way through it this morning, we shall do so. So, following the headings that are very clearly suggested by the text itself. First of all, we have in verse 9 the strict orders of Jesus to the three witnesses. The strict orders

Jesus' Strict Orders to the Three Witnesses

8:00 of Jesus to the three witnesses. And as they were coming down from the mountain, He charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of God had come. And He said to them, He said to them, He said to them, He said to them, He said to them, He said to them, All men should have risen again from the dead. Now, verse 9 begins with a very precise description of the situation following that amazing event transfiguration. We are told by the Holy Spirit through the pen of Mark that it is precisely

8:36 the same people who were in the mount and only those people that are involved in the discussion of verses 9. through 13. And as they were coming down from the mountain, and the they refers exclusively to those who went up into the mountain, and they are described for us in verse 2, and this is why I read the preceding paragraph, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them into a

9:12 high mountain apart by themselves. And as surely as the transfiguration was witnessed exclusively by Jesus and the three witnesses, Peter, James, and John, so the discussion and the interaction with Jesus making the trip down from the mount involved that group exclusively. That's underscored in verse 14 again, and when they, Jesus and the three, came to the disciples, that is the other nine, they saw a great multitude about them, and scribes questioning with them. Now as Jesus and the three witnesses of this

9:57 amazing outbursting of divine glory were making their journey down from the mountain, Jesus strictly charged them, for that's what that verb means. It's a very intense, strong verb. We found it in the first reading of the book of Psalms. We found it in the second reading of the book of Psalms. We found it in the second reading of the book of Psalms. We found it in the second reading of the

10:12 several other times in Mark, in the course of our expositions, we could translate it, He sternly commanded them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead. So His command to them was very clear. They were not to speak to anyone outside of that inner circle concerning anything that they had seen in the mountain until Jesus, Son of Man, should be risen from the dead. Now imagine what this sounded like when it came to their ears. You have been in a

10:56 situation where with your physical eyes you have actually beheld something that was never displayed on earth before. The incarnate God, whose glory as God was revealed to them, God was voluntarily veiled, has that veil parted for a few moments, and His face and His garments glow with the very brightness of the glory of God. You have seen that with your own eyes. You have actually seen these great, towering figures of the Old Testament

11:35 revelation standing before you in physical form, Elijah and Moses, and you have actually heard a conversation between them and Jesus about His coming departure and death at Jerusalem. And added to all of that, you have seen what you thought you would only read about in your Old Testament scriptures. You have seen what only from the time of God's special dwelling in the temple only the high priest saw once a year, the very Shekinah cloud of God's glory. You have seen that cloud of God's glory. You have seen that cloud of God's glory. You have

12:13 seen that cloud of God's glory. You have seen that cloud of God's glory. You have seen that cloud of God's glory. And more than that, you have heard the very voice that's thundered from Sinai. You heard the voice of Jehovah speak out of that cloud. Now can you imagine

12:25 if you had seen and heard all of that what would be in your mind if you knew you were returning to your friends? Your heart would be like a bursting wineskin. Your lips could not wait to say to your fellow disciples, Philip and Andrew, Let me tell you what they saw on the очень eleventh day of Yephra, there, they witnessed the very sacrament beingędziepined with salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that 우와 e cosmicär progros服 toavirus for, three rebellions, and theyなた의 grovere eparilex ye gesprochen, ceioce, Viduaust Teilch in teraerum i commentatio, holy mount and i wasn't crazy why john can confirm it and peter can confirm it why we why we and you can just imagine them stuttering in the intensity of their eagerness and while they're coming down from the mount with hearts about to burst like wineskins lips just waiting to break forth in

13:07 the report what does jesus do jesus puts a bridle upon their lips and a regal sentinel at the door of the mouth and says that bridle is to be held tight and the sentinel is to stand guard until i have been raised from the dead that's heavy stuff that's heavy stuff because remember when just previously he had begun for the first time to tell them in no uncertain terms at the end of chapter eight that he was going to die and that as messiah and son of god he had to accomplish his messianic mission by death and resurrection

13:51 they didn't have a clue about what he was talking about and in terms of something we shall subsequently see they did have a conviction about the resurrection at the last day so at best they could just figure this is gonna be an awful long time if we don't speak until this raising of the dead but the command was clear they should tell not a soul and not a soul until he has risen again from the dead but implied in that and whether faith caught hold of that little glimmer i do not know

14:28 was the implicit directive that after i am risen from the dead you may yes you must speak what you have seen so the passage begins then with this strict prohibition of the lord jesus to the three witnesses then secondly we notice in verse ten the islands and the perplexity of the three witnesses person iron records the very strict prohibition given to the three witnesses naal burst m records the obedience and the perplexity of the three witnesses

The Obedience and Perplexity of the Disciples

15:12 and the cappesean questioning among themselves the rising again from the dead she would meanuts help me died Esto now the initial impression she is preached inescapable itself she gauge against its enUSTINE From the version I have read in your hearing, the 1901 American Standard, is clear, and the sense would be this, that this saying of prohibition, they kept, that is, they deliberately, willfully, carefully obeyed that saying,

15:43 and as they were being obedient, keeping a bridle on their lips, and determined to have the sentinel over the door of their mouths, they were discussing one element of the saying that was attached to that prohibition, namely, what this phrase, rising again from the dead, should mean. However, as some commentators have noted, the verb can be understood.

16:13 In this way, they kept the saying, that is, they obeyed it, but it's not the normal verb that would be used for careful obedience, and they would render the verse this way, and they fastened on the saying, disputing with one another, what the rising from the dead is. You see, here the emphasis is not so much on the strictness of their obedience, but on their preoccupation with the limitations. The limitation placed upon that commandment. The limitation was, don't speak of this until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead.

16:54 It's as though a mother were to say to three children, you are not to go out into the yard, out of the yard, until the full moon. And the kids look at one another and say, what's the full moon? We want to get out of the yard, but we can't go out until the full moon. What's the full moon?

17:12 Now, while they're staying in the yard, they're obeying. Obeying mom's command, they're discussing among one another when the commandment will come to an end. Now, it could well be, grammatically, syntax and everything could point very definitely in that direction, but in either case, you had both obedience and perplexity, so that's the heading I put over the verse. You have the obedience and the perplexity of the three witnesses.

17:39 They are going to be silent about this matter of what they saw. But they are particularly concerned to penetrate the precise meaning of Jesus' words until the Son of Man should have risen from the dead. Now, their problem was not with the doctrine of the resurrection in general. We just came through in our reading of John several weeks ago, that account of the resurrection of Lazarus.

18:07 And you remember Martha said, I know he shall rise again in the last day. The Jews had affirmed. They had no conviction, all but the Sadducees, of the general resurrection at the end of the age. But their perplexity had to do with what this rising from the dead should mean in conjunction with the Son of Man.

18:29 The one whom seven days before they had confessed to be Son of God and Messiah. Now, he tells them again, a resurrection awaits him. And they know you don't get raised. You don't get raised out of the dead unless you join the dead.

18:47 And they are perplexed about this. So while they obey his command and are determined that they will not speak of this to others, the emphasis falls more upon their perplexity. And this is why I personally prefer that second rendering. They fastened on the saying, the Logos, the word of Jesus, disputing with one another what this rising from the dead should mean.

19:14 What this rising from the dead is. You see what their problem was? It was a problem of how to put together the death of Jesus into their own scheme of how Messiah would accomplish his mission. Everything in this area takes its clue from verse 2 of chapter 9.

19:38 After six days, everything takes its reference point from the clear, the instruction at the end of chapter 8. First, the first time Jesus gives it, he must suffer. He must be rejected. He must be killed.

19:55 He must be raised from the dead. And the glorious experience of transfiguration is given to comfort the Son of God in the face of his ordeal, to strengthen the faith of the disciples, as we saw in our study of the passage earlier. And now, as they come down from the mountain, they stand. They still have no place in their scheme of Messiah's work for death, let alone for resurrection.

20:23 Later on in this chapter, this is affirmed again. Chapter 9, verses 31 and 32. For he taught his disciples and said unto them, The Son of Man is delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again.

20:43 We say that's so simple. So stupid. Straightforward. So plain.

20:46 Anybody can grasp it. Well, they didn't, it says. But they understood not the saying, and they were afraid to ask it. They are still utterly dull and insensitive and stupid with respect to the whole issue of how any death can attach itself to the mission of Messiah.

21:08 So while they comply with his strict command, there is perplexity. About this aspect of the command, what does rising from the dead mean? Then we have in verse 11, the question of the three witnesses. Their perplexity gives birth to a question.

The Disciples' Question: Elijah's Coming

21:29 And so verse 11 records the question of the three witnesses. Here it is. And they asked him, saying, How is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first come? And if you have an authorized version or a 1901, you'll notice that the words, how is it, are in italics.

21:48 They are supplied to give flow. They may or may not be necessary. The substance is not changed. Whether we read it.

21:57 And they asked him, saying, The scribes say that Elijah must first come. Explain that to us, being implied. Or, in terms of another approach to the grammar and the structure, one can render it, how is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come? How is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first come?

22:16 But this, again, is clear. They've mustered up enough courage now to approach Jesus with a question, which they think may help them sort out their confusion and resolve their perplexity. And it was a question that had to do with reconciling the current messianic expectations, as articulated by the official teachers, the scribes. How is it that the scribes say, How is it that the scribes say, How is it that the scribes say, And reconciling that with the words of Jesus and the events of the transfiguration.

22:52 Coming down the mountain, and this is strange, isn't it? What they are discussing is, what does rising from the dead mean? I would expect to read in verse 11, and they asked him, saying, What does rising from the dead mean? If you're discussing one burning issue, and someone who may have the answers near, wouldn't you think they'd say, Hey, Peter, be our spokesman.

23:13 Or maybe Peter would just take upon himself and say, Hey, guys, I'm going, I'm asking, I'm going to find out. And as I pondered the text, it confused me. I found that it kind of shocked me when I first read it. I would expect to see, and they asked him, saying, What does rising again from the dead mean?

23:31 We've gone round and round all the way down the mountain, Lord. Please get us off the treadmill. But they didn't ask that. What they asked is, How is it that the scribes say that Elijah must first come?

23:46 Now, without wearying you with an extensive array of proof, suffice it to say that the current teaching of the scribes was rooted in Malachi 3.1 and in Malachi 4.1-6, especially verses 5-6. And I do want you to turn and see those two passages with your own eyes.

24:07 The last book of the Old Testament, for some of you new to flipping through your Bibles,

24:15 go back to Matthew. And keep turning a little bit back, and you'll be in the book of Malachi. And in that last book of the Old Testament, we read in chapter 3 and verse 1, Jehovah speaking, Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. Jehovah says that he will not come in the redemption of his people until his messenger is sent before me.

24:44 And the Lord whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. The Lord himself does not come in his ministry of mercy and judgment until the forerunner first comes. Chapter 4.

25:01 It begins with announcing that the day of the Lord is coming. A day that will be consummated in judgment. But a day marked by blessing and healing, verse 2. A day marked by judgment, verse 3.

25:17 Now, verse 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

25:40 Now, what had the scribes done? Well, basically this. Taking their clue from these two passages, the scribes, the official doctors and teachers, of the law, the great religious instructors in Israel, they had built upon this building block of Scripture out of Malachi, a whole theology of Elijah, who was to come and precede the advent of Messiah. Now, just as they had done with their views of who Messiah would be and how he would come and what he would do, they may have started with certain building blocks of Scripture, but upon it was built the wood, hay, and stubble

26:22 of human fancy, carnal, political, nationalistic dreams and ambitions. But insofar that they took their starting point with these passages from Malachi, they had this expectation before Messiah comes and ushers in the day of the Lord, the day of mercy, the day of judgment, Elijah must come. And so they come to Jesus. And they say,

26:54 how do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Now, what provoked them to ask that question rather than, Lord, tell us, what does this rising from the dead mean? Well, I think the answer is obviously one or two, or maybe these two things. They saw an apparent inversion of the events in God's prophetic scheme.

27:18 You see, they had seven days before when asked, who do you say that I am? They had confessed, you are Christ. You are Messiah. You are the messenger of the covenant.

27:31 You are Christ, son of the living God. Messiah has come. Seven days later, who do they see on the mountain? They see Elijah.

27:42 And as they're coming down from the mountain, they're reflecting and say, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. We were brought up in Sunday school to think that Elijah comes, then Messiah comes. Seven days ago, we acknowledged Jesus to be Messiah. Messiah has been among us.

28:00 And just now, toward the end of these several years of being with him, now Elijah appears. Something's wrong. The prophetic scheme has been stood on its head. Lord, how come the scribes told us Elijah first must come before Messiah would be manifested?

28:20 Messiah is manifested. The Holy Spirit has taught us that. As you acknowledge flesh and blood has not revealed it unto us. Lord, sort this out for us.

28:29 Something in our prophetic chart's all mixed up. The wires are crossed. Some of the lines and loops and circles don't fit. Lord, sort out our prophetic chart for us.

28:39 That could be their question. Or, it could be that they saw an apparent contradiction in the prophecy of Elijah's coming and Jesus' words about death and resurrection. You see, if Messiah is here, if Messiah is to die, where's Elijah? If Messiah doesn't come until Elijah comes, and now Messiah is here and he says he's going to die, where does Elijah fit?

29:10 It looks like God has failed to fulfill one of his words. You see, the bottom line was some pieces in the prophetic puzzle didn't fit. And you know how frustrating that is? You've got all the pieces laid out and you come down to the last seven or eight and you pick one up, there it is, and you say, maybe the machine didn't quite cut it right.

29:32 And you force it in and then you say, no, that isn't right. And then you turn it around and you turn it this way and you look at it, it just doesn't fit. Well, you see, all the way down the mountain they were trying to fit the pieces in and finally in frustration they said, the pieces don't fit. Lord, will you please put the puzzle together?

Jesus' Three-Part Answer: Affirmation, Interrogation, Explanation

29:48 All right? That's the question of the three witnesses. Now we move in the fourth place. To the answer of Jesus to the question of the three witnesses.

29:57 The answer of Jesus to the question of the three witnesses. Verses 12 and 13. The answer has three parts. There's an affirmation, then there's an interrogation, and then there's an explanation.

30:09 Very simple. I wish all text broke down so nice and easy as this one did. Preaching would be more like sheer delight rather than agony at the preparation level. Notice the answer of Jesus.

30:21 And he said unto them, first part of the answer, affirmation. Elijah indeed comes first and restores all things. Now the verb tenses used here by Mark are what we might call an indefinite present. He doesn't say Elijah shall come or Elijah has come.

30:51 He says, he simply says, Elijah comes and restores all things. In other words, he said what you've been taught by the scribes is true. That before the advent of Messiah, Elijah must come. Malachi had prophesied before the day of the Lord is ushered in by Messiah, a day of mercy culminating in judgment, a day in which mercy and judgment will be mingled until the consummation.

31:26 Elijah must come. It is an affirmation.

31:32 Now isn't it interesting that whereas the Lord so often had to expose and condemn and castigate the scribes along with the Pharisees, their principles, their teaching, their practices here, he says insofar as the scribes teach that the Old Testament prophecy must be fulfilled, they are right. Elijah, comes and Elijah restores. Then he follows his affirmation with an interrogation. Now here again, I'm aware of the problems of punctuation.

32:03 Look at your Bibles. Some would punctuate it this way.

32:08 Elijah indeed comes and restores all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man, question mark, that he should suffer many things and be set at naught? You see how some would punctuate it? And there are men who are no mean students, of the Greek language and of syntax, who support that punctuation and that rendering and that perspective on the text.

32:35 Others, equally competent, take another position. So, what do we say? Well, we say what's the big deal? No matter how you read it, the essence of the text is unaltered.

32:48 Jesus raises a question. After making an affirmation, he says, How is it written of the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be set at naught? What is Jesus doing? Simply this.

33:06 He's bringing them back to the central burning issue at this point in his ministry to them. Jesus has at this point what we may reverently call a fixation with his coming ordeal at Jerusalem. And he will not allow the disciples to move him away from his determination to get through their spiritually thick skin, this truth. The Son of Man must suffer.

33:38 Messiah must accomplish his mission by rejection and death and resurrection. The glories follow the suffering and the shame and the rejection. So what he does in his interrogation, he says, You ask me a question? How do the scribes say that he loves me?

33:57 Elijah must first come and restore all things? I answer, I affirm, he does come. But now I ask you, how is it that it is written of the Son of Man that he must suffer many things and the word for rejected used only here in the New Testament means utterly despised and discarded as something worthless and unworthy of serious consideration? It could well be that Isaiah 53.3

34:26 was in the very mind of Jesus. He was despised and we esteemed him not. You see what he's saying? He's saying, now look, the scribes are very selective in the scriptures they quoted to you in Sunday school.

34:41 The scribes were very selective in their teaching about Messiah. Oh yes, they taught you before Messiah comes and ushers you in the day of the Lord, Elijah must come. And they taught you many other things about Elijah and Messiah that weren't rooted in the scriptures but only in their rabbinic traditions. But they never taught you.

34:58 They never taught you, did they? That Messiah who comes will be the suffering servant who is rejected. He will be the Lamb who is led to the slaughter, spat upon, killed amidst common criminals. They never taught you Isaiah 53, did they?

35:17 Oh, they taught you the great psalms of his glorious kingship. Psalm 2, Psalm 110. They taught you that the great restorer of the theocracy must come ahead of time. Elijah who brought back a nation from apostasy.

35:34 They've taught you that Elijah will come and he will restore all things, bring back the former glory, pave the way for Messiah who will come and in a political and carnal way make the Jews the glory of the earth again. That's what they taught you. But I ask you, how is it written of him that he must suffer many things and be utterly set at naught? That's what they taught you. But I ask you, how is it written of him that he must suffer many things and be utterly set at naught?

35:58 That's what they taught you. But I ask you, how is it written of him that he must suffer many things and be utterly set at naught? Jesus says, you want to bring Bible to me? I'll bring Bible to you.

36:05 You're concerned about where Elijah fits in the scheme of things. He fits where he belongs. But I ask you, where do the suffering servant passages fit in your scheme of things? He interrogates them.

36:19 He presses them. And then having done so, he then gives his explanation or his resolution of the problem. Look at it. Verse 13.

36:32 He makes an affirmation. Then gives an interrogation. And then an explanation or resolution. Verse 13.

36:40 But I say unto you, as the infallible interpreter of my own word, I, God's final prophet, with the emphasis upon I, there is that additional word whenever the Lord wants to bring forward his unique position and authority. But I, even I, say unto you, that Elijah has come. A perfect tense. Elijah has come at a point in time.

37:10 And the influence and effects and implications of that coming abide indefinitely. Elijah has come. And they have done unto him whatsoever they would, even as it is written of him. Now with this peculiar note of authority as God's final prophet, Elijah has come. And they have done unto him whatsoever they would, even as it is written of him. Now with this peculiar note of authority as God's final prophet,

37:33 and the infallible interpreter of Scripture, Jesus says three things. Elijah has come. The scribes were right when they said Elijah must come before the day of the Lord. Elijah has come. Secondly,

37:53 Elijah has been rejected. They have done unto him whatsoever they would. Elijah has come. And the masses have rejected him.

38:04 And the masses have rejected him. They have acted according to the caprice of their own horrible, sin-loving, externalistic, religious inclinations. They have done to him whatsoever they would. And thirdly, he said, this fulfilled the prophecies written about him.

The Disciples' Understanding: John the Baptist as Elijah

38:28 Now you say, who in the world is he referring to? Well, turn back to Matthew seventeen. The disciples did understand that the Word was given to them. Matthew 17 says, Matthew 17 says, Matthew 17 says, Understand this.

38:35 It's amazing. They grasped this veiled language.

38:42 And we read in verse 13 of Matthew 17, the parallel passage, Then understood the disciples that he spoke unto them of John the Baptist. Then they understood that Jesus was identifying John the Baptist with the Elijah to come of the prophecy of Malachi. Now he sorts out the puzzle. Do you see it?

39:13 They're scratching their heads coming down from the mountain. The Messiah is already here. We've been with him for several years. Now Elijah appears after that.

39:25 Can't figure it out. It doesn't seem. If Messiah is going to die, and yet Elijah has not yet come, then prophecy lies unfulfilled. Jesus said, no, I'll sort it out for you.

39:39 The prophecy of Malachi 4 and 3 has been fulfilled. Elijah has come. Secondly, when he came, men treated him as they treat all of God's messengers. And here again, he's back to the cross.

39:56 And you find this in the parallel passage. In Matthew, the intimation that as they treated John, it was, as it were, a pattern of how they treat the one to whom John pointed, even the Lord Jesus. And all of this, as it was written, and in what sense as it was written, it seems to me the only satisfying explanation is that what is written concerning Elijah, in terms of his life history, was a type and a pattern of what would happen with John. What did in the mighty prophet of God at one point?

40:32 It was a wicked woman and an unprincipled king. Remember? Jezebel, who said, I'll get his life by tomorrow. I swear by the gods.

40:44 And an unprincipled king called Ahab. What ended up causing John the Baptist losing his head? A wicked woman, Herodias, and an unprincipled king, Herod. So that in that history of Elijah was a preview.

41:00 Of that one who would be the prophecy of the coming Elijah. And Jesus said it is all fallen out according to the scriptures. Well, that's what the passage teaches as I understand it. Now then, what does all of this say to us?

Application: Disciples' Example in Obedience and Seeking Understanding

41:17 We've sought to enter in, bring our minds to that mountainside, walk down with the disciples, try to eavesdrop on their questionings, their interaction, their frustration. Their approach to the Lord, the Lord's response. Now in all of this, what did God intend to say to suffering saints at Rome when they first received this gospel of Mark? What has he said to his church over the ages?

41:46 What has he said to Trinity Church this morning? Well, let me lay before you first of all the message that comes to us by way of the example of the disciples. There are many times when the disciples are negative examples. But here, they set a positive example of how true disciples ought to conduct themselves in two areas.

42:06 First of all, notice this. Our obedience to the clear commands of Christ is to be strict and unquestioned even when our understanding about those commands is limited. Do you see that in the passage? Jesus gave them a clear command.

42:25 Keep your mouths shut. Don't tell anyone what you've seen. Until the Son of Man be raised again from the dead. There was much in that command they didn't understand.

42:36 All the way down the mountain, they're perplexed and discussing among themselves, what does this rise to? But even though they lacked light about certain implications and certain aspects of the command, they rendered obedience clear and strict to what was unquestioned in the command itself. And dear people, it's one of the most vital lessons we need to learn as disciples of Christ. You and I have no right whatsoever to suspect the full or opposite of the word until we can figure out all the reasons for that mandate.

43:18 Commands are addressed to your will, not to your perfect comprehension of the wisdom and reasons of God in giving them. If we are to be men and women of faith, we must be children of Abraham. And the scripture tells us when Abraham was called to go out he went out, not knowing whither, not knowing why, but because of him. But there's more to life.

43:35 If we follow the law and God, we can fulfill our roles. Abba. Abram. And Abram.

43:37 Abraham. Abraham. Kyriakos. Hallelujah.

43:37 Kyriakos. Levitos. Elijah Abram. Abraham.

43:38 Levitos. Jeremiah. Isaiah. Abraham.

43:39 Elijah. Abraham. not knowing whether he was going, and he did it by faith. And when he was called upon to offer up Isaac, he didn't know how the promise could be fulfilled.

43:49 In Isaac shall I seed be called. The Scripture says in his heart, he said, Well, if God must raise him from the dead, he can do it, because in a sense it was my dead wife's womb that gave birth to him. And if God can give life to a dead womb, he can give life to the dead body that came out of that womb if I'm to kill it. And so he raised the knife in unquestioned and strict obedience.

44:15 And, oh, dear people of God, blessed is the day when you stop demanding that God be brought to the bar of your puny little head and give a full account of all of the reasons for his commands before you'll do him the favor by obeying him. If you love me, keep my commandments, even when you do not fully perceive their wisdom or the goodness that frames them. Do you think God's command appeared good and loving when he said to Abraham, Kill Isaac?

44:58 God looked like a cruel, sadistic, heathen deity when he says, Kill Isaac. But Abraham knew him to be the loving, gracious, sovereign, merciful God, who in sovereign grace had called him out of Ur of the Chaldees and revealed himself. And he said, I can trust that God, even when he wears an apparently frowning and ugly face.

45:26 Oh, may God help us to learn that lesson and learn it well. But there's a second area in which the disciples are a good example to us. And it's this. Perplexities concerning the words of Jesus should be dealt with, as did, these disciples of Jesus.

45:46 They had perplexities about the word of Jesus. So what did they do? Did they say, Ah, that saying, rising from the dead, it makes no sense. I'm getting sick and tired of hearing Jesus tell me things that I don't understand.

46:00 I'm going to quit this whole religion business. Ever hear people like that? They come to Trinity once, and they say, You come to that church, and you've got to sit there, and you've got to think, and I hear all these words, and I can't, ah, they throw the whole thing over. They don't care enough, for their souls to consider that maybe their ignorance of all these things is an indication of their spiritual lostness and blindness.

46:24 And there are lazy disciples who've heard enough of the words of Jesus to come to rest and faith and the knowledge of sins forgiven. But mental laziness gives them a kind of internal paralysis, and they'll only feed on mush and on Gerber's baby food. And it's all been strained for them. They're like a person who's had all his teeth pulled and hadn't got his uppers, and lowers yet, and can only gum it.

46:50 And he's going to gum it. If you can't gum the mush, you don't want it. If it's a piece of meat that you've got to sink your molars and your incisors into and get the saliva working, you're too lazy. My friend, the price for spiritual laziness is spiritual instability.

47:08 Be like these disciples. What did they do when the words of Jesus perplexed them? They got together with other disciples who were perplexed, and they discussed them. Brother, I've been reading in my devotions, and I can't make...

47:20 Have you ever read... Can you help me?

47:22 Disgusted with one another. They that feared the Lord spake often one to another. What a precious thing it is to go into a company of believers in an informal situation and find them spontaneously discussing their problems with certain passages and wrestling with the Word of God. I confess with shame that one of the biggest disappointments I have found with gatherings of ministers is that they're not You'd think when ministers get together, one of their greatest delights would be to wrestle with passages that have confused them and say, Brother, have you preached through Hebrews?

47:59 Yes. Well, how did you handle such and such a passage? I'm not sure what...

48:03 But instead, they're talking about their golf game or the latest jokes or some other banal, silly things. Dear people, let's be like the disciples. There are many things in the Word of God that perplex me as they perplex you. And when we get together, let's discuss.

48:21 Enter into that. The interaction is they did, but then the best thing they did is they came to Jesus. And they said, Lord, you sort this out for us. Lord, we can't get the peace in there.

48:33 And when we try to, it doesn't quite fit. We've got to push it. It's unnatural. Lord, sort it out for us.

48:40 Dear people of God, the Bible is not open to the brilliant of intellect. It's open to the humble mind that cries out with David, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things, things out of thy law. Jesus himself drew near. And what did he do?

49:00 He expounded the Scriptures and they said, Did not our hearts burn within us? Oh, child of God, if you would have a burning heart, be much with Jesus in the way, having Him by the Holy Spirit in the context of prayerful, reflective meditation, in the context of serious study. Proverbs 2, You must search for God's truth as for His treasure. You must hunt for it.

49:28 You must pant after it. Thirst after it. As a miser seeks his coins.

49:37 The disciples are a good example to us. Both of obedience carried on in a context where there is yet much light to be received and in terms of how they dealt with their perplexity. But then, we notice three very precious lessons from our Lord Himself.

Application: Christ's View and Principles of Interpreting Scripture

49:59 And I put them on a rising scale of importance. First of all, as we look at this passage, remembering that the Scriptures tell us, He that saith He abideth in Him ought to walk as He walked. And as we understand that God's redemptive purpose is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, that means that more and more as the Spirit renews us into the likeness of Christ, we think as Christ thinks about all reality, about God and the world, and life, but also about Scripture. And in this passage, we have, first of all, a wonderful example of the fact that our view of Scripture must be Christ's view of Scripture.

50:43 Twice in this passage, you find this cryptic little phrase, it has been written.

50:53 How it is written of the Son of Man. What is written, is what must be. And in the whole response of our Lord, there is not the slightest indication that He could allow for a moment any notion that any passage, no matter how difficult its interpretation may be, could fail of its fulfillment. The whole passage breathes of our Lord's view of Scripture, which is what?

51:27 John 10. The Scriptures cannot be broken. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. Our Lord Jesus Christ held to the highest view of the Old Testament Scriptures.

51:43 To say it is written was the end of discussion for our Lord in regulating His personal life in the midst of temptation, in setting the perspectives of His career, if we may use that terminology, wherever our Lord turned in whatever relationship He was in, He sustained to others Scripture dominated, regulated, pressured and determined every impulse of His heart, His mind, His will, His hands, His spirit. Dear people of God, we are more and more like Christ in direct proportion to the assimilation of His view of Scripture, not merely holding in our minds

52:26 a doctrinal similarity, a high biblical view of the place, a preliminary verbal inspiration and full authority and sufficiency of Scripture, but living as though we really believed that.

52:44 Would you be like Christ? Then you must be very near to your Bible and your Bible must be very dear to you. Speak not of being like Christ if there is distance between you and your Bible, either in your confidence in its contents or your frequent exposure. And conformity to its contents.

53:09 But then secondly, our principles of interpreting Scripture must be Christ's principles of interpreting Scripture. Not only must our view of Scripture be Christ's view, but our principles of interpreting Scripture must be Christ's principles. You say, Pastor, where do you get that in the passage? Well, simply here.

53:33 You see, the scribes had taken Malachi, Elijah must, first come. And you know what they said? If God meant anything other than that that hairy prophet who lived in the time of Jezebel and Ahab was going to be sent back to us, He would never have said, Elijah, God doesn't lie. We take the literal interpretation.

53:55 Nothing else is worthy of God. We expect Elijah to be sent back from heaven before the day of Messiah. That was their interpretation. But it was not Jesus.

54:08 Do you see that in the text? It wasn't Jesus' interpretation. He said, Elijah has come. He didn't say, one who in some preliminary and limited way reflects a partial fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi 4.

54:27 No! Elijah has come! If I see anything in my Bible, dear people, that's there. I didn't write it.

54:38 An anti-dispensationalist didn't write it. Jesus said it has come. And it was for the firm that the scribes had a wooden lism that didn't recognize John any more than they didn't recognize Jesus.

55:04 So when John came, what did they say? He's a weird anarchist of an animal or up into a tree and eats honey, dresses in that funny garment,

55:25 and poked fun at John. Son of man comes along and says, can't listen to him. Look at him. He goes in there and eats all five courses, eats and drinks like the cardinal.

55:36 Merry Palestinian. Nothing special about him. No halos. No big war horse chargers.

55:42 Nothing special about him. He can't be the real Messiah. John isn't the real Elijah. Let's reject them both.

55:49 That's exactly what they did. And one of the reasons they did was they were locked into a view of interpreting Scripture that wouldn't let them see the forerunner or the Messiah when they were right in front of their eyes.

56:06 Dear people, don't you come to the Bible saying, I will force this framework of interpretation upon the Bible. You get your principles of interpreting the Bible out of the Bible. And Malachi's prophecy has been fulfilled. And that guy who calls himself Elijah, God's prophet, is a liar and a false prophet that will burn in hell unless he repents.

56:30 And every other person who says he's Elijah. And anyone who tries to tell you we look for a literal resurrection of Elijah. My friend, there's no basis or I shouldn't say resurrection, revisitation from heaven. No basis in the Word of God.

56:45 Get your principles of interpreting Scripture out of Scripture.

56:50 Jesus said, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it again. What did he mean? The Jews said he means one thing. He's going to tear down that beautiful temple Herod made and big shop.

57:00 Took Herod 38 years to build it. Three days he's going to build it. He's crazy. But the Scripture says this is fate concerning the temple of his body.

57:09 He used figurative language and God's God speaks of the coming epochs of redemption under figures and images and personalities that would graphically set forth those great truths and when he designed to say that for before the day of the Lord is ushered in by Messiah Elijah will come he is saying one like Elijah who will seek to call the covenant people back to their covenant engagements and responsibilities and that's exactly what John did. He shall go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons and what did he do? He called the nation to repentance. He was Elijah.

Application: The Centrality of Christ's Death in Scripture

57:53 It's a great principle and then finally and this is the apex and may God help us to feel its weight until we see the death of Christ as central to the voice of Scripture little else will ever be clear to us until we see the death of Christ as central to the voice of Scripture little else will be clear to us. You see all of this confusion of the disciples had one common root they could not yet swallow a rejected crucified immolated Messiah. They couldn't get that thing down into their spiritual system it's stuck right here

58:38 and because it's stuck nothing else went down smoothly everything else got piled up behind them it's a horrible case of spiritual indigestion you read on as we'll see in the subsequent chapters Jesus is facing the agony and the ordeal of the cross and they're fussing about who's going to be the hot shot and prime minister in the kingdom and the others are getting mad because I mean it's a mess and the great lessons of humility and forbearance and servanthood they were blind on many accounts why? Because this central truth had not yet broken in upon them now I know that in the progress of redemption there's a sense in which

59:22 they couldn't help it the events had not yet occurred the Holy Spirit had not yet been given in his fullness the post-resurrection ministry had not yet occurred dear people I know those things I'm fully aware of them but in the midst of them there is this great principle Jesus said you've seen glorious things up here on the mount haven't you? You have seen the bearing of my inherent glory you've seen my glowing shining face my glistering garments you've heard Moses Elijah you've seen the Shekinah glory you've heard the voice out of heaven but keep your eyes shut because the heart of my mission oh people get it the heart of my mission

60:06 is not my glowing face it's not my heavenly friends it's not the Shekinah glory the heart of my mission is rejection suffering agony blood across the wrath of God now my glowing face gives worth to what I do I do it as God it thrills and fills the believing soul with amazement that he who is God the son should die should be immolated rejected die under the wrath of God but friends this is the issue they were not free to speak of the glory for they could not

60:51 rightly apply its significance until they were prepared to look at the glory and the shame and the agony that's the great principle that it's the heart of this passage until we see the death of Christ as central to the voice of scripture little else will be clear and on that note I want to press home the question to your conscience is the voice of the cross the central voice that comes to you in terms of your dealings with the bible in all of your contact with what you think to be the biblical religion is it a religion that is flanked on the one hand with the pressing

61:36 haunting almost oppressive awareness that I'm a sinner lost the sinner part my friend is that the center of your religion extracted from the bible if it isn't hear me if it isn't hear me you do not understand

62:14 your religion is spurious there are some who see in the bible the central message of social justice that bishop tutu's in their ilk and they will take them some the central message of the bible is not social justice it is not racial equality or equity it is not anything other than that God loves and sent his son to die for sinners and all who embrace him will die and embrace an immolated but now exalted savior have life in him and then out of gratitude to him

62:58 they will be concerned about social justice and racial equality and a host of other things but central to all of those things will be the enshrinement in the heart of Christ crucified God forbid that I should glory save in the name the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ there are some in our day who don't glory in his cross his cross is overshadowed by his crown they want to see Christ Christ imposed upon the nations my friend the center of the bible's message is not his crown

63:42 but his cross he who died is crowned yes but crowned to be a savior a savior who saves not by his crown but by his cross and when I came among you I came not with excellency of speech proclaiming the testimony of God and what was that testimony I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ in him is crucified that's bible my friends in the day that ceases to be central in your experience you've moved from the bible could it be that's why some of you found your religion though it professes to be Christian is empty

64:26 and lacking in reality you've never stood in that place of a helpless condemned oppressed downtrodden naked sinner looking up and finding mercy and forgiveness through a crucified savior I say that's the central message of the passage thank God one day these people understood it I wonder what some of them must have done when they got together in after years and reflected back on how thick they were I'm sure they must have shed many a tear and laughed many a holy laughter how could we have been so stupid

65:07 anyone sit here today who says how could I have read my bible for so long and missed its central message oh friend may God help you to hear the message and run to Jesus run to Jesus and when you've run to him cleave to him and never leave him let us pray oh our father what thanks can we give to you for your precious word

65:52 we thank you for the presence and help of your spirit in seeking to understand the message of this passage oh may the spirit who originally wrote it through the pen of Mark now come with power and inscribe it upon our hearts and may Christ crucified become the pearl of great price to all within the sound of this pulpit today seal your word to our hearts and be glorified as the remainder of this day we spend in fellowship with you with your people may we like the disciples find it natural to speak together

66:37 of your word and of its truth and find our joy in contemplation of the Lord Jesus hear us and dismiss us with your blessing we pray in the name of the Father and the Son in his name Amen