Transfiguration
Dear friends in Christ! Today we come to the highlight and climax of the Epiphany season—Jesus’ transfiguration. All during the Epiphany season we have come to see—it has been revealed to us—that that Baby born and lying in the manger in Bethlehem is no ordinary Baby; but the One who is born true man is also the true God.
Besides the various miracles we read/ heard this past Epiphany today we have the account of Jesus’ transfiguration. The word “transfigure”—hardly a word we use in every day conversation—translates the Greek word which English has adopted—“metamorphosis,” that is, a complete and utter change. At Jesus’ transfiguration, His full divine nature and glory shone through His humanity. There we see that beyond any shadow of a doubt Jesus also the true God.
When it comes right down to it, the season of Epiphany, with its brief snapshot of Jesus’ work, life and teaching—showing Him to be the very God Himself—is all about making us sure; making us sure that the object of our faith is correct: Jesus, born of the Virgin that first Christmas is also the true God and our Savior.
People often say that faith is a “leap into the dark.” But this is wrong. Remember the Holy Spirit’s definition of “faith” that He gives us in Scripture [Heb. 11.1]: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Notice, faith is not uncertainty but certainty—the assurance…the conviction. In the Epiphany accounts, Jesus reveals Himself to be the very God and the Savior of the world. By His preaching and by confirming that preaching with His miracles, all throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus was making it crystal clear who He is. And that’s what the Epiphany season picks up on and reinforces in our hearts every year!
Even though it is true that faith is something certain and not a leap in the dark, it does not mean that faith is something we can come to, that we can produce in our own hearts and lives. Luther rightly confesses in the catechism that we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus or come to Him but the Holy Spirit calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His gifts and sanctifies and keeps us in the true faith. To put it a different way: faith is purely the work and gift of God to us; the only reason we believe is because God, in grace, worked faith in our hearts. But He made us rational, thinking human beings; He also knows that our sinful nature is weak, and the devil and the world will lead us to question/doubt our faith. That’s why He wants to make us sure, make a solid foundation for our faith. Faith is not a “leap into the dark” but it rests on a firm, solid foundation—our Lord and His holy word. The Lord has given us faith—faith that recognizes, receives and accepts what He tells us in His word. By His work on our hearts through that word, we, by faith, recognize that firm foundation and put all our trust and confidence in Him, knowing, in faith, that we build on a firm foundation.
1. That’s precisely the point that St. Peter is making in our text this morning. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. The holy Christian faith is not a philosophy but a historical religion, that is, one that is based on history and events that actually happened in the course of human history—especially the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. Without Him, without these actual historical events, there is no Christianity.
The Christians in Peter’s day were taking a lot of grief for believing that Jesus will come again on the Last Day in great power and glory. The scoffers were going about asking [2 Peter 3.4]: Where is His Coming? Things are carrying on as they always have! So what does St. Peter here do? He reminds the people of what the Apostles’ teaching and their knowledge does not rest on: we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and then reminds them on what it does rest: but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. In short, the foundation of their teaching/ the holy Christian faith and thus the people’s own faith is something sure. It’s not something people thought up; it’s not some philosophy which is debunked or abandoned by the next one to come on the scene. Instead, the holy Christian faith has the solid foundation of actual events and the Apostles were the eyewitnesses of them.
When a successor for Judas was chosen, notice what the qualifications for being an apostle were [Acts 1.21]: men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John to the day He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection. Our faith has a sure and certain object: Jesus and His work. Our faith has a sure and solid foundation: the preaching, miracles, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus by eyewitnesses who by the Holy Spirit’s leading and guidance left us in the Scriptures the solid historical account: we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
The great eyewitness event that Peter refers to in our text is what the Church remembers today: Jesus’ transfiguration. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My Son, My Beloved, in whom I am well pleased." And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. There was Jesus of Nazareth on the mountain with Peter, James and John; and there He let His full divine glory and majesty shine forth His human form; there was Jesus, true man, in His glorified state, true God—Jesus the God-man. Not only did Jesus shine in full divine splendor, but so that there could be no mistaking it, the Excellent Glory, that is, God the Father declared Jesus to be His Son, the Son of God, the Second Person of the blessed and holy Trinity. Not only did the Father testify that Jesus is His Son, but He testified and proclaimed that He is well pleased with Him, that is, in His incarnation/ becoming true man and in His saving work. Jesus was faithfully carrying out the work He had come to do and God the Father was placing His approval on Him.
So what does that mean? It means that what Jesus did and what the apostles, like St. Peter testified about Him is true! By the Father’s “stamp of approval” on Jesus and His work—"This is My Son, My Beloved, in whom I am well pleased"—those to whom Peter writes, as well as us today are assured by God that what Peter and the other Apostles preached and wrote is true—that Jesus is the Son of God and the world’s Savior from death, devil and hell. They then and we today can be assured that the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus, is true. Our faith is certain. It has the solid foundation of God’s own testimony recorded by eyewitnesses. While this preaching that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world is true, it will only be received by Spirit-worked faith. But be assured that our faith clings to and has a solid foundation.
When your faith is attacked, when the devil is trying to get you to doubt whether what you believe is true, go to the foundation of your faith—the word of God and the Savior it proclaims. There you will see that the Christian faith is not some “pie in the sky” philosophy or some “blind leap into the dark.” Instead, it is something attested to by reliable witnesses. There you will see that your faith in Jesus as your Savior from sin, death and the devil is in accord with what God the Father Himself said of Jesus: "This is My Son, My Beloved, in whom I am well pleased".
2. What St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles proclaim, what we have recorded in the pages of the NT, the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus, is not only confirmed by the testimony of God from heaven at Jesus’ transfiguration "This is My Son, My Beloved, in whom I am well pleased", but also by the OT prophecies. Our text: And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. The OT Scriptures already centuries before told of the Person and work of Jesus—Who He is and what He would do. They bore witness to the glory of the Son of God—and Jesus showed that glory on the mount of Transfiguration. They testified of the righteousness of Jesus and the righteousness He would bring to people by His holy life and His suffering for the sins of all; they testified of His death and resurrection. St. Paul writes of this [Romans 3.21]: But now God has shown His righteousness apart from the Law. The Law and the Prophets tell about it. This righteousness through faith in Jesus Crist comes from God to all who believe.
It’s not as if the OT teaches one thing, the NT something else. Instead, Jesus and His work is the center of all Scripture. The OT looks ahead to it in promise and prophecy; the NT announces it and proclaims it. That’s why Peter calls the OT, the prophetic word, more sure/ confirmed. Not only do the words of the Apostles confirm that what the OT prophets had written had come true in Jesus, but the Gospel is confirmed by the prophecies: how do we know Jesus is our Savior, the One promised by God? –Because He fulfilled each of the prophecies about the Savior. Again, the prophecies confirm the Gospel.
How can we be certain that our faith is correct? We look to the Scriptures and there see the Savior prophesied and see that Jesus is the fulfillment of all those prophecies. The foundation of our faith is sure because what our faith is built upon is the word of God; and the word of God in both Old and New Testaments proclaims Jesus as our Savior, as our righteousness. That’s why Peter says: you do well to heed [to the Scripture] as a light that shines in a dark place. He basically says: pay attention to the word of God and be content with what it offers and patiently wait for Christ’s return. With the word we have everything we need because that word proclaims Jesus and His righteousness and gives us Jesus and His righteousness!
That word of God serves as the sure foundation of faith because not only is it attested to by reliable witnesses like the holy Apostles who saw and heard Jesus, who heard the Father declaring His approval "This is My Son, My Beloved, in whom I am well pleased"; not only because it proclaims Jesus in both prophecy and fulfillment and each part confirms the other; but also because the Scriptures are a Divine Word, written by God Himself: knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. By the working of the Holy Spirit He led the prophets and apostles in their special calling to write the exact words He wanted them to write. Holy Scripture is the very word of God. That’s why our faith has a solid foundation when we keep looking to and holding to what God tells us in His holy word.
We can be sure we are sure that what we believe about Jesus is correct: that He is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. We have the eyewitness testimony of the Apostles; we have God the Father attesting to that testimony at the Transfiguration; we have the special work of the Holy Spirit by the prophets and apostles in recording that in Scripture. Yes, Epiphany is all about being sure. May you, dear Christian, give heed to the word and so be sure you are sure. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. INJ Amen.