Until the Morning Star Dawns
Click here to listen to this sermon.
“And we have something more sure, the prophetic
word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark
place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter
1:19).
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ!
On
this last Sunday after the Epiphany, we celebrate with great joy the Feast of
the Transfiguration of Our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ. The
Transfiguration of Our Lord is the annual feast celebrating Jesus’ stunning
change of appearance while in the presence of Peter, James, and John. In our
Gospel, Matthew writes, “[Jesus] was transfigured before them, and His face
shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light” (17:2). At that
moment, Moses and Elijah appeared and they were talking with Jesus about His imminent
departure, literally His exodus. Peter, misunderstanding the meaning of this
manifestation, said, “Lord, it is good that we are here,” and then he offered
to “make three tents,” one each, for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.
A bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the
cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him”
(Matthew 17:5). When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces in awe,
but Jesus encouraged them to stand and “have no fear.” “And when they lifted up
their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only” (Matthew 17:8).
This event is alluded to in the Epistle for this
day, 2 Peter 1:16-21, in which Peter states, “We were eyewitnesses of His
majesty,” and “We were with Him on the holy mountain.” The Transfiguration
revealed Christ’s glory prior to the Crucifixion. It also anticipated His Resurrection
and Ascension, and so completes the themes of epiphany or revelations into the
person and work of Jesus Christ, prefiguring the glorification of the human
nature in Christ.
When
we think of the Transfiguration, we must above all consider what experiencing
this miracle meant to the three men who were there to witness it. That is the
clue to what it means to us. You see, this miracle didn’t end simply with Jesus
saying, “Don’t tell anyone.” He added, “Tell no one until the Son of Man has been
raised from the dead” (Matthew 17:9).
Peter,
James, and John saw Jesus shine on the mountain not for His own sake, but for
theirs and yours. The glory that lit up the sky that night is a glimpse of the
glory He came to impart to you. The glory that shone from His body is the glory
that He came to give to you, to your very body, at the Resurrection! The glory
of His body that day will be your own when He raises you from death.
In order for that to happen, Jesus came down one mountain and
began to walk toward another, from Tabor to Golgotha. From “this is My beloved
Son, with whom I am well pleased” to “My God, My God, why have You forsaken
Me?” Because this is how Jesus would bring glory to your body, rescuing you
from death and the steely grip of sin—by trading places with you, by owning
your shame, by dying lost and alone. He dies your death to give you His life.
He bears your shame to give you His glory. That’s how much He loves you!
As
Peter writes this Epistle, it is more than thirty years since Jesus was raised
from the dead. He and the other apostles have been preaching Christ crucified for
over three decades. They have been also preparing God’s people for Christ’s
return on the Last Day. Everything the early Christians believed had this as
its future horizon. The time is coming when what had begun with Jesus—His life,
death, resurrection, and ascension—would be completed at His return.
In the Transfiguration is that the “inner circle”
disciples saw the future of Christ’s dwelling with humanity (hence the
request to build tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah) and now in our Epistle, a
confident Peter speaks about the coming future, which is as certain as Christ
before his eyes on Mount Tabor.
Now the time of Peter’s own “departure” is drawing
near. In fact, Jesus had warned him of this very thing before His ascension: “‘Truly,
truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk
wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and
another will dress you and carry you to where you do not want to go.’ This [Jesus]
said to indicate by what kind of death [Peter] was to glorify God” (John 21:18-19).
It
seems that Peter had received a recent update to the timetable, and he wants his
readers to recall what they had been taught, as he writes in the verses
immediately preceding our text: “Therefore I intend always to remind you of
these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you
have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of
reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our
Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after
my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things” (2 Peter 1:12-15).
It
was important to Peter to be sure that his readers would be able to hold on to
the truth which he had taught and to be sure they are certain outcomes. The
death of an apostle must not mean the decline of the apostolic faith. They have
a King, Jesus, and Jesus is in charge of the present, leading it to its assured
future, as certain as Christ is Himself the security of a resurrection to come
and the transformation of all who are united to Him. The Transfiguration means
no one must wait in uncertainty and darkness for the Morning Star to
(re)appear.[i]
Again, Jesus has already been revealed to Peter,
James, and John as they stood with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration. This
story, Peter insists, is not a “cleverly devised myth.” Presumably, by this
stage in the early Church, some of the opponents of the faith were scoffing at
the extraordinary tales going around about Jesus. Peter insists it is the truth
and, like the Crucifixion and Resurrection, the Transfiguration is a fact.[ii]
The
apostles could look back on the entire scope of biblical prophecy and see how,
in retrospect, it all made sense in light of the Messiah, Jesus. Therefore,
what Peter is saying is the stories of Jesus, reaching a climax in the
extraordinary revelation of glory in His Transfiguration, mean one can now read
the entire Scriptures knowing the end from the beginning, and see with
God-given hindsight how everything came rushing together at the point where the
Messiah emerged. Jesus taught this in Luke 24:25-27, 44-47 and John 5:39-40,
among other places.
The
revelation of God’s glory in Him goes closely with the promise that we too will
come to “share in the divine nature.” Paul affirms this in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “And
we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this
comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Here is the apostolic teaching of the
transfiguration of our humanity on the Last Day: “For those whom [God] foreknew
He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He
might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).
As he wrote this Epistle,
Peter was addressing a new situation that had emerged, for which no ancient Jew
possessed a roadmap. Everything had been straining forward to the day when
God’s glory would be revealed, the “Temple” (that is, the Church in which the
Son and Spirit dwell) would be rebuilt, and the Messiah would appear to save
His people. The apostles testified that it had happened: The coming of Jesus
the Son was the fulfillment of all those promises and prophecies, types and
covenants. His Resurrection and, as Peter asserts here, His Transfiguration proved
it.[iii]
The challenge now was no one imagined there would be a further period of time between
the advent of God’s Messiah and the Last Day, but here it was dragging on.
Peter directs confused Christians to the
timeless truths and the righteous rock of written Scripture. At a time when
many people claimed to be speaking for God, it was reassuring to know that
there was a written, unshakable source of spiritual information and authority.
Peter writes: “And we have something more sure, the
prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining
in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts”
(2 Peter 1:19).
Satan is the prince of
darkness and father of lies, and everybody who works for him knowingly or
unknowingly spreads his darkness. In Satan’s darkness some people are proud of
their own goodness, hostile to the idea of needing a Savior, and satisfied that
they can figure out right and wrong by themselves. Some in the darkness feel
despair and fear, knowing that they are evil, but not knowing there is a Savior
for them. And some simply do not care about spiritual things; apathy rules
their hearts. Like animals, their highest concern is in satisfying their
appetites. Satan uses false teachers to push Christians into all kinds of
darkness.
God’s written Scripture
will never lie; it is absolutely dependable; we can lean our lives on it. The
best way for Christians to grow in their certainty of what they believe is to
go back to God’s written Word. The ugly things that fly out of the gates of
hell itself cannot prevail against the Gospel of Christ. Peter says that God’s Word
is a light that shines in a dark place. It illuminates our minds and hearts,
setting us free from the darkness of sin and death. We do well to pay attention
to that Word, for it alone drives back the darkness and confusion of it all.
As the Word does its
work, day dawns and night fades away. Peter’s letter would soon be added to the
body of written Scripture, and through the miracle of the Word of God, all
readers may experience the Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John. The
glory that shone from Christ and the majestic glory of the Father now shine in
us. The long wait of the human race for a Savior is over—the day of grace is
dawning. As Zechariah, ecstatic at this demonstration of God’s faithfulness,
said to his miracle infant, John (the Baptist): “[Jesus
will] give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their
sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit
us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of
death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:77–79).
In popular astronomy, the planet Venus is sometime
called the morning star. It is, of course, not a star at all. But it catches
and reflects the sun’s rays just before dawn, and its light is a sure sign that
night is almost over and the day is at hand. This expression “morning star”
likely arises from Numbers 24:17, where Balaam, under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, speaks about a star that will come forth from Jacob and a scepter that
shall rise out of Israel. Jesus calls Himself the bright Morning Star in
Revelation 22:16. Likewise, Malachi 4:2 speaks of the coming Day of the Lord as
the advent of “the sun of righteousness,” like a sunrise.
Jesus’ coming to our world signals that the power of
the night of sin, sickness, death, and hell have been broken and will soon be
over. His Word reflects His light. His people wait longingly for the full
revelation of the Son of God when He returns to take us home. As we wait, we do
well to pay attention to the prophetic, inspired Word of God. In that Word we
find hope, comfort, and light. Indeed, in Christ, the Morning Star, we have
forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
Go in the peace of the Lord and serve your neighbor
with joy. You are forgiven for all your sins in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[i] 1517 | Craft of
Preaching, https://www.1517.org/craftofpreaching.
[ii] 1517 | Craft of
Preaching, https://www.1517.org/craftofpreaching.
[iii] 1517 | Craft of Preaching, https://www.1517.org/craftofpreaching.
Comments