 What is the purpose of the transfiguration and then also why were Moses and Elijah both there? The transfiguration is a monumental and crucial event. We've got three of his disciples who are going to give an account of what they saw but there's something interesting that's also there that needs to be explained and that is why were Moses and Elijah who were no longer among the living, why were they there? This account is told in Matthew, Mark and Luke but let's go to Mark chapter 9 verse 6 and listen to it. Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. Now there's some questions as to which mountain this is. We won't deal with that at this moment but brought up to a high mountain. Was it Mount Tabor? Was it a different mountain? That's not really an issue at this point but let's continue and he was transfigured before him. This word transfigured this word metamorphophae means to transform to be changed and we get the same idea in our English word metamorphous and so there's something that's happening with Jesus right before their eyes. He says and his garments became radiant exceedingly white as no launder on earth can whiten them. Elijah, you hear these get interesting right here Elijah appeared to them along with Moses and they were talking with Jesus. So the question is what was their conversation about? Well in Luke 9 we find out what it is 931 who appearing in glory were speaking of his departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. So what was the conversation about? They were speaking about Jesus' impending departure. Why is that? Well we'll come to that in just a little bit which is going to explain the reason why both Moses and Elijah was there. And going back to verse 5 Peter said to Jesus Rabbi it is good for us to be here let us make three tabernacles one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah for he did not know what to answer for they became terrified. Then if this is important a cloud formed overshadowing them and a voice came out of the cloud this is my beloved son listen to him this is important all at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus. So therefore after that you know see you don't see Moses nor do you see Elijah. So the question is one why is this happening and then two why is Moses and Elijah there? Well to answer the first question why is it happening it necessarily brings in Moses and Elijah. Now before we go any further remember a couple of things had just happened. One Jesus had just had the conversation with them when he asked them who do men say that they are and then he asked them but who do you say that I am and he says you are the Christ and what was Jesus's response he says that flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you but only by the power of the Holy Spirit. So he's revealing to them making it known to them that who he is he is the Christ that is he is God who's appearing with them. He's letting them know that his identity is in his deity and upon that understanding and that profession of faith that is what he is going to build his church off of. To go along with that he's also just let them know that he is going to die which oh by the way again is what the conversation was with Moses and Elijah as well so he's informed them and made sure they knew of two important things and then also tells them to not to tell anyone what they just saw until after he's gone. Now how does any of this relate? Why is Moses and Elijah there? Why is he speaking about his upcoming death? Why is he definitively revealing who his identity is? What does this have to do with anything? Well let's go back a little bit remember on the mountain he makes a statement or the Lord makes a statement God makes a statement this voice out of the cloud says this is my beloved son listen to him well this is not the first time this has happened Moses encounters the Lord and the Lord says the same thing to him in Exodus 23 20 says behold I'm going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I prepared be on your guard before him and obey his voice do not be rebellious towards him for he will not pardon your transgressions since my name is in him but if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries so what does he say? He says this term here he says obey or listen to him the same word that's used here in the Hebrew is the same understanding of the word that's used in the Greek in Mark listen to him obey what he says also of importance Moses wants to see God's face obviously he can and he wants to see his glory so what does God do in Exodus 24 15 then Moses went up on the mountain again we're not sure which mountain that they were on when Jesus was transfigured but Moses on a mountain and the and the cloud covered the mountain the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it for six days and on the seventh day he called Moses from the midst of the cloud and to and to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain so let's understand this so Moses gets to see a portion a small part a small portion of the glory of God and what does it do to Moses face he has this radiance his face shines too the problem is though with Moses he still never gets a chance to see the face of God similarly with Elijah in first Kings chapter 19 he is on a mountain as well and the presence of the Lord shows up and in this instance Elijah takes his mantle and wraps it around his face covers his face why because he cannot see the glory of the Lord as well the problem is we've got these two men these two important his figures in history Moses and Elijah who may have wanted to see the face of God but did not now it's important to understand that Moses is representative of the law and Elijah is representative of the prophets as a matter of fact you often hear the divisions of the books divided between the law and the prophets and the writings and so we have the law and the prophets why does Jesus need to be transfigured before them well the law requires that atonement must be made what does Jesus come to do he comes to fulfill the law and how does he fulfill the law and put an end to it how does he do so he does so by completing or doing what the law dictates by being the atonement remembering Leviticus 1711 this is during the law and God says that I have given the blood on an altar to make atonement for your souls but how he states this is in the Hebrew that I myself am giving the blood which can be taken and should be taken that I am giving the blood well how can he do so because as Jesus just identified to his disciples and as they've been told he himself is God just like Joseph was told that his name shall be called Emmanuel God with us Jesus is God with us and so to reveal this the glory of the Lord they get a glimpse a preview of God's glory upon Jesus that's why he's shown this rate this white radiance before their face and so what did Moses want to see what did Elijah want to see the face of God the glory of God and they got a chance to view that in the person of Jesus and just like Jesus was fulfilling the law so too what the prophets have been preaching is also being fulfilled that you're going to have this Messiah the son of the living God God himself being the being the king that's also the prophecies that the prophets have also spoke of that this messiah is coming and so here we see Jesus being able to stand before Elijah showing them indicating that their prophecies are also being fulfilled now wasn't just Elijah and Moses who saw Jesus being transfigured it was also the disciples and we have at least two accounts of the disciples also referencing what they saw in John 114 he says and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and what does he say and we saw his glory glory as of the only begotten from the Father full of grace so remember this is written after they've made they've seen what Jesus has done obviously chronologically in the book the writing this hadn't happened even though John didn't speak about it but still John is writing about what he has seen previously Peter makes the same statement for we did not follow clearly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty look what he says for when he received honor and glory from God the Father such as an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain so Peter is also giving a testimony of what they saw they saw this majestic appearance his transfiguration they saw the glory of the Lord shining on him and so now we can kind of see the importance of this this is Jesus making sure that we know that he's just not some prophet he's just not some disciple he's just not some messenger of God he is God and they get a glimpse of that and they can go and testify of that from now on something else that we shouldn't fail to realize is that we literally have the old meeting with the new we have the Old Testament law giver the person that represents the prophets also there meeting at the same time the son of the living God with the apostles those that are establishing the church I think that part is also pretty significant and the beauty of all this is that what was told to Moses what was told to Elijah as well as the rest of the prophets is that they can kind of see it coming to fruition they can see it meeting up in Jesus knowing that he is going to accomplish what he said he's going to do and gives us hope and confidence that it's not just any person that died for our sins it's not just anyone that's guiding us this is the Lord himself this is God Almighty who has come to redeem us and loved us so much that he would come even on this earth to do the job for us why because he loves us so the transfiguration should give us hope should give us security that the one who began a good work in us the one that is faithful the one that's going to see it through is God himself amen