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All right, so go ahead and open up to Matthew chapter number 16. We're just going to be here for one verse, and then we're going to move on to chapter number 17, and this morning we're going to be talking about the transfiguration, what that means, what that teaches, what that pictures, and by the end of the sermon you're going to see that it's very important for us to understand the meaning of the transfiguration, so don't, you know, people hear that word and they're like, aw man, I want to talk about something else. Trust me, this is good stuff, and I think it's going to be a huge blessing to you. So if you would, Matthew chapter number 16, we're going to look at the last verse there, we're going to look at verse number 28. It says, and this is Jesus speaking here, it says, verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Alright, now go over to Matthew chapter number 17, and we're going to go ahead and get started. So Jesus says in Matthew 16 that there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. This has been a source of a lot of controversy for people over the centuries, and people have debated what these things mean, and when was this fulfilled, and I think what you're going to see is it's pretty obvious that it's fulfilled in the very next verse, okay? Because he says there are some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom, and that's exactly what you're going to see with the transfiguration. I mean, look at the beginning of verse number one. It says, and, okay, so that's a continuation of thought. Remember when, you know, you're reading the Bible, the chapter breaks aren't always a new thought, okay? I'm not, again, I'm not against the verses, I read the Bible with verses, I preach the Bible with verses. I also read it without verses. I think that's also helpful. That's just an extra tool, okay, just something to think about, though, when you're reading, you know? Don't let the numbers just, well, this is a new thought here, so the Preterists are right. Does anybody know what a Preterist is? Yeah, a Preterist basically looks at the book of Revelation as a history book. It says, well, all that stuff's already happened, okay? And that's not what this is teaching. Okay, so the word and, okay, and after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, okay? So again, verse one connected to verse 28 of chapter number 16, very important for us to see that and to understand. Now when you read the parallel passage in Luke, it says after, or it says something like about eight days, okay? And people will say, well, see, there's another Bible contradiction, okay? And that's not a contradiction. Because remember, they didn't count days the same way that we do. And so what Luke is saying is basically, you know, the time period before and after would be about eight days, and we've broken that down in the past, I don't wanna spend a lot of time on it. It's not a contradiction, okay? Verse number two says this, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, okay? Now again, when you read this parallel passage in Mark, it makes the point that there's no fuller on earth, no launderer. In other words, there's not enough bleach in the world, okay, not enough chemicals in the world to make his clothes as bright as they were. This is supernatural, okay? This is not something that could be replicated by man. This is not something that they did for show. This is a supernatural thing that is going on here, okay? But basically, what this sermon is about is that word there at the beginning of verse two, where it says and was, referring to Jesus, was transfigured before them. So what does that mean? It means that his glory, he was somehow transformed before the three, okay? Now if you remember, Jesus had 70 disciples, and it whittled down to 12. Many of them got offended and things of that nature. But when you study through the gospels, you'll see that Peter, James, and John are what we call the inner circle of Christ, okay? A lot of times, they get selected for special details, if you will. They get to see things like this, and of course, they were with him also in his last moments in the Garden of Gethsemane. They were with him in his highs, with him in his lows, and obviously, very trustworthy people. Now, did they always get everything right? No, okay? I mean, Peter, numerous times, has stuck his foot in his mouth, but which one of us hasn't, okay? So let's remember who we are as just mere men, okay? So it says, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and its raiment was white as the light. So again here, this is a supernatural thing, and these three are privy to be able to witness this and to see this. Look at verse three. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias, whom is Elijah, the prophet, talking with him. Now, keep your place here in Matthew chapter 17, and go to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter number 33. So today's sermon, obviously, is going to be more like a Bible study. It's going to be more like a Sunday night. We're going to have a little bit of flipping back and forth this morning, but I think, you know, I think we'll be able to get through it. Now what's interesting here about Moses and Elijah is that they both had unique experiences on a mount with God, okay? And what did we just read in verse number two? Well, we just read that Jesus' face did shine as the sun. Who do we see here? Well, we see Moses and Elijah. Now if you remember, if you haven't read, we're going to read it here, but in Exodus chapter 33, Moses had desired to want to see God, okay? And so God makes a little bit of a deal with him here and says, well, you're not going to see my face, but you're going to see a part of me. And let's take a look at this here and see what this means. Look at verse 18, Exodus 33, look at verse number 18. So it says, and he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. So this is Moses here talking with God. Remember, Moses was the friend of God and had this type of relationship where he could just speak directly with him. Verse 19, and he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And there's another sermon right there that we could just divert to, but we won't. And that is that God is not a respecter of persons. God does not love everyone. No one is owed anything. It's by God's mercy that you're saved. We have to be the recipients of eternal life. It's not just handed out to everyone like this clown was trying to insinuate this morning. Verse number 20, and he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. So interesting here, right? We're talking about Moses and God. Moses desires to see the glory of God, and God says, okay, I'll show you something, but it's not going to be my face because you will die. And obviously, that would have definitely been the case. Look at verse number 21, and the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock. Verse 22, and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. So interesting here, he doesn't get to see the face of God. None of us will until we're past all of this, and we have our resurrected bodies in the end of the Bible. You have to go all the way to the end of Revelation to see that event, but Moses does not get to see the face of God, but here through Christ in Matthew chapter 17, he kind of does get to see the face of God because Jesus is fully man and fully God, so he gets to see it through Christ. So what about Elijah? Go to 1 Kings chapter number 19, 1 Kings chapter number 19. Now, that would still be an interesting thing to experience as Moses, to be able to just have God put his hand and block by you, and you get to see his back parts. There's no wonder why his face shone in the mount when he received the law. 1 Kings 19, we're going to start reading here in verse number 11, just going to look at two verses, but basically Elijah goes through a very similar event in the same location as Moses when you study this out. So look at verse 11, it says, and he said, go forth. So obviously, let me give you the background here real quick before I just start reading this. So we went through this somewhat recently, so it's still kind of fresh in my mind, but basically Elijah the prophet had just did a great thing. He basically just wiped out 400 and something, what, 450 prophets of Baal, and basically showed Ahab and a bunch of people in the northern kingdom of Israel that the God of heaven and earth is the God of heaven and earth, and that Baal's a devil, just nothing. And so he has this great victory in that event, you know, turns a lot of people to the Lord, and then Jezebel hears about it, and she's like, you're a dead man. So he's like, well, I see who runs the show here. So obviously it's not Ahab, you know, he's probably thinking, well, you know, Ahab just saw this great event from God and maybe, you know, I have a chance to, you know, keep preaching and no, no, you know, Ahab goes back and you'll never guess what Elijah showed us. And she's like, oh, he's a dead man. And Ahab's like, well, I'm going to go look at a vineyard. So, you know, that whole thing. So Elijah's on the run and he's fleeing and God is trying to reason with him. And so here you arrive at verse 11 and look what it says, and he said, this is God speaking to Elijah. He said, go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord and behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces of the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Verse 12 and after the earthquake of fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. So you can leave your place there. Go to Exodus chapter 34, Exodus chapter 34. So interesting there that both Moses and Elijah experienced a very similar event where they have an encounter with God, but it's not complete. Now during this transfiguration period here, we read that Moses and Elijah are talking with the Lord Jesus Christ as he is transfigured and we'll get to what they're talking about at the end of the sermon. But it's kind of interesting that that gets fulfilled, if you will, like during the transfiguration, they get to see God obviously through Christ. And so I think that's very interesting, a point to observe. So let's move on here and talk about what do Moses and Elijah represent? Okay. Now first of all, I want you to just to keep in your mind real quick, we're going to come back to these. There's also unique experiences with the way that Moses and Elijah left earth. Okay. So you remember when Moses died, who buried him? It was God. Yeah. God buried his body and we'll come back and talk about that. And remember Elijah, okay, what happened to him? How was he taken from the earth? By whirlwind. Okay. And he skipped physical death. And so in the transfiguration, you have these four groups and we're going to talk about what these four groups picture. You have Moses, you have Elijah, obviously you have the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you have the disciples who are conked out. And then when they wake up, they're just kind of like, Peter's like, let's make some Tabernacles. What do you say? You know, what else, what other conclusion do you come to? Now Moses, and this is very easy to prove, Moses throughout the Bible represents or pictures the law. Okay. He pictures the law. You know, the Psalms and the Proverbs and all of that are included, but Moses by and large just pictures the law, straight up pictures the law. Okay. You're in Exodus chapter 34. Let's talk about something here. Let's go back to this issue with the face here. Okay. Because remember the Bible highlights the fact in Matthew that the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was, it was so bright. They described it as being as bright as the sun. It just, just completely unique. What does all of this mean if we put this together? Because Moses has a very similar thing happen to him. Look at verse 35. So Exodus 34 verse 35, it says this, and the children of Israel saw the face of Moses. This is while Moses is receiving the law and then he's coming back down and talking to the people. And the Bible says that the people were afraid because his face did shown. It was shiny. It was reflecting of something. So verse 35 here, it says, and the children of Israel saw the face of Moses that the skin of Moses' face shown and Moses put the veil upon his face again until he went in to speak with him. He's talking about speaking with Aaron. Okay. So remember they're trying to get the kingdom set up. They're trying to get the law established in place, get the priesthood going. Moses is receiving the law and his face, the Bible says shown. It was very bright. It was shiny. And so what they did is they put a veil over Moses' face. But the question is why? Because it's not just because they were afraid. There's another reason. And Paul tells us that reason. Go if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter number three. Second Corinthians chapter number three. And you're going to see here that I'm going somewhere with this. This is very, very important. And this represents something in regards to the preservation of the Bible, the written word of God. And I'm going to connect that for you here in just a second. So we're talking about this veil that was on the face of Moses and we need to know why. What is the point here? Second Corinthians chapter three in verse 13, Paul makes this statement. He says, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. So what that is saying there is the reason why Moses had the veil over his face is so that the children of Israel couldn't see the fading of the shine that was on his face. But the main thing that you want to understand here is that Moses' face, it didn't shine. It wasn't bright because of him. He was a reflection. It was a reflection of what he saw, what he was given. It was a reflection of something and that was fading away. And they didn't want the nation to see that because they didn't want them to think that oh no, that's a symbol, that's a sign that we're all fading away. The children of Israel were very fickle, they're just up and down, up and down, just very difficult to manage and so this is a very wise thing that they did here. And it was actually a two-fold issue here because not only did they not want the nation to see this fading away and just get carried away with that, but also they were afraid and they were like, oh, he's an alien or something like that. It doesn't say that, but you get the point here, okay? His face was reflective of what he had saw. Now go back to Matthew 17 and I want to show you the contrast of this here and what this all means. Matthew 17, look at verse number two again. And was transfigured before them, and here it is, and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light. So here we have Moses in the Old Testament basically having his face reflective of God's glory because he got to see part of it. He got to communicate with God and that caused his face to be bright. But in Matthew 17, we see that Jesus, his face is shining by his own power because he's fully man and he is fully God. So what is that telling us? That he is the source of glory. He is the source of truth. And what that means is, well, we all know who Jesus is. He's the word. Okay? That, I mean, you would be surprised at how many people just don't fully understand this. He is the word of God, all of it. So when Moses' face was shining as he was receiving the law, which would include Leviticus chapter 20, verse 13, okay, understand that that is a result of Jesus Christ. That is a result. That means that Christ is the source obviously of the word of God. He is the power behind the word. And he obviously endorse and still does endorse all of it, okay? Because think about it. You have these four groups here. You have Moses, who is the law, okay? His face did shine when he received it. Here you have him talking with Christ and then you have Elijah, the prophet. Well, who does Elijah represent? The prophets, okay? So do you see what you start to see where I'm going here? You have the law, you have the prophets, you have Jesus who's shining by himself. See he is the fuel. He's the source of truth, the source of glory. And then on the ground asleep in a deep slumber, you have Peter, James and John and they represent the disciples. So what you have here is basically a picture of the written, spoken, preserved word of God. Okay, and this is a basically a picture of, hey, this is where it's at. The word of God has always been around, but it wasn't complete. And here you're getting a preview of basically eternity. You've got the law, you've got the prophets, you've got the New Testament, you've got Christ who's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. You've got a, I mean, Jesus as, you know, obviously he's pointing to the resurrection here in his glorified state. So really you have eternity. You have eternity past, eternity present and eternity future, if you will, okay? And so what I see here is, is so much, I mean, it's just mind blowing here because so many people today want to say, oh, prove to me that the Old Testament is still relevant, that God still feels that way about these people. Well, here you have it. Hey, I mean, why did Moses' face shine when he was receiving the law? Because it's a glorious thing. Because that law transcends physical reality. You know, there's a reason why people today downplay the Bible, okay? Because man wants to elevate man. Whereas God is saying, no, you need to understand your place. You need to understand you're not going to transfigure yourself. You're not the source of glory, but you have the opportunity to be a reflection of that glory. So if you want your face to shine, you want your life to shine, you want your personal ministry to shine, the only way that's going to happen is if you go to the source, the one who shines by himself, which is Jesus Christ, the word of God, who's fully man, fully God. This is why mainstream Christianity today is a joke. It's a serious flop because they are not going to the one that was transfigured. They're not going to the one that can shine by himself. Instead they run to the scholar. Instead they run to the linguist who pretends to know Greek and Hebrew, but really knows absolutely nothing and cannot even tell you the most basic question, which is how to get saved. Absolutely impossible for them. Go to first, I'm sorry, go to second Peter chapter number one. Second Peter chapter number one. You can't preach about the transfiguration and not bring up what Peter says about the event much later in his life. Because remember, Jesus does command these three to not bring this up until after his death. You know, I'd be like, I don't know. This is so cool. I just seen this. I can't say nothing. There's a reason why these three were chosen. Okay. Let's take a look here. Second Peter chapter one. Look at verse number 17. This is going to basically confirm everything that I just said about how this pictures the word of God, the written preserved word of God. Look at verse 17. It says, it says, for he received from God, the father honor and glory. When there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Okay. This is what they heard on the Mount during the time period of the transfiguration. Now look at verse 18 and this voice, which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. Hey, now this is a verse, verse 19 is what a lot of people do not want to look at. They do not want to talk about, but here it is. Look at what Peter says about this event. The one who witnessed it, the eyewitness. This is what he says about that event. We have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto ye do well that ye take heed. Okay. What does that mean? That means we would do well to take heed, to take a diligent interest in the Bible, in the things that are written in the Bible, in the law, in the prophets, in the new Testament and apply them to our lives and get us through whatever situation that we're in. So he says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Verse 20, knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Now most churches when they stand up before their congregations on Sundays, and I bring this up all the time, what do they do? Well really in the Greek it means this, or in the Hebrew it means this, or in this version it says this, okay? That's a private interpretation because it's not open to all of us who have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. I need now that man to point me to which version, which Greek manuscript, which archeological dig that's out there to get my source of truth. How is that not Catholic? That's totally Catholic. Say, well no, I go to a new, I go to a new hope, new life church, you're Catholic. I don't care, you're Catholic. You have the same doctrine, repenting your sins more than likely, you use multiple versions of the Bible, and you don't believe in the preservation. You're Catholic, they're all the same, 100% the same. And I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just telling you the truth. Because Peter here, he says, hey, I was there in the mount, I saw Jesus transfigured. And you know what is more sure than that, than what I saw? The word of prophecy in verse 19. Verse 20, scripture, that's the whole point. And that is the biggest fight of our day, isn't it? I mean, yeah, we got these clowns out here, but the bigger fight is over the source. Is this the word that was shown, that did shine as bright as the sun, or is it not? That's the question, that's the fight, that's the battle. That is what we have to understand, so that we can go forth and prove to people, and exhort the gainsayers, and to try to convince them, right, those that oppose, and say, hey, no, this is truth, God did preserve the word, and guess what? That is the only thing that saves. Because think about it, you have Moses who pictures the law, you have Elijah who pictures the prophets, that's basically summarizing the entire Old Testament, and what are they doing? They're pointing to Jesus. They're pointing to Christ. And so obviously, what does that say? Well, that says something that we already all know. You have to use the word to point to Christ. So if you want to show someone the heart of Jesus, hey, what does Jesus think about these freaks out here that are yelling at women and children? You know what you do? You take them to the law, because they'll point to him. You take them to the prophets, they'll point to him. You say, well, what do you do about somebody who's not saved? Well, you take the word of God, and it points to Christ. So if someone doesn't use the word of God, and I'm not saying you have to use the Old Testament in your gospel presentation, I'm just saying that you have to use the word of God, you have to use the Bible to point someone to Jesus. You're not going to do it by just telling them interesting facts about how science is in the Bible and how trees grow. That's all great information, I understand that. That can be exhorting, you know, the creation stuff, I get it. The only way someone will get saved, the only way you can navigate someone to Christ is to point them to him from the written word of God, from the Bible. The only way you can determine and prove all things and prove what's acceptable to God is through the Bible, through the written word of God. I mean, that is what this story pictures. But yet, you have so many people today that want to just gnaw and gnash their teeth and fight and argue over Bible preservation, and you know why? Because man wants to be elevated. That's the whole reason. Man wants to be in charge. What most religions do today is they put, basically with all religions unless it's the pure religion of the Bible, what they do is they put man up here and God down here. They just don't say it like that. They cloak it in religious terms. Well, in the original manuscripts, in another language, in the future we may dig up something that uncovers more information about what Peter really felt. The Dead Sea Scrolls actually say something different about Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 13. It's not what you think. People tell me that every single week. Now most of them that tell me that, I'm not going to give them any of this information because I just ignore them. I don't care. They can all go to hell. But you get the idea here. Okay? Go to Deuteronomy chapter 34, Deuteronomy chapter number 34. So we've got that picture and that's a lot. That is a lot. But there's also another thing that I see here with Moses and Elijah is remember another unique thing about these two individuals was the way that they departed from the earth. So let's talk about this here. What could that possibly represent? Remember God buried Moses' body. Let's take a look at that. Deuteronomy 34, look at verse number five. It says, so Moses, the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. Verse six, and he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor, but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. Very interesting. Very mysterious. I remember the first time I read that I was like, what does this mean? What in the world is going on? Well, the first thing that's the obvious, I don't want to overlook the obvious here, is that look at how it says in verse five. So Moses, the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab. What happens to a saved person when they die? Well, the body goes into the ground, but you live on. Because in Matthew 17, we see Moses talking with Christ. So he didn't die in the sense that most people would think. The body obviously died, but he went up to heaven, didn't skip a beat. That is it. But what does this mean? Why did God hide Moses' body? And what does this mean in the spiritual realm? Because what this did is this got the spiritual world all stirred up. Go to the book of Jude in the New Testament. Go to the book of Jude, and we're going to look at verse number nine here. We're going to take a look at this. Go to the book of Jude. So right before Revelation, go to the book of Jude real quick. So we see in Deuteronomy 34 that God buried Moses' body in a valley in the land of Moab, but no one knows where a sepulchre is unto this day. And there are some clowns out there who think they found it, but nope, not going to happen. Look at verse nine here of Jude. It says, yet when Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee. Now there's a lot to talk about with this verse. I just don't have time to get into it. The thing I want you to see here is this contention or this battle between the devil and Michael the archangel. So the devil, when God buried Moses' body, was apparently pretty upset and pretty stirred up. And you know, it doesn't say exactly why, but I can tell you what this pictures here, what this represents, okay? So Moses' body gets buried, died. No one knows where it is, just forgotten, just completely gone. No one can find it, okay? Well, what does that represent? That represents the old man that is crucified the moment you accept, the moment you receive the word of God. The moment you're born again, this old man, even though your heart's still beating and you're still able to function, it's gone, it's buried, it's dead. And guess who is the biggest accuser and disputer over that? The devil, okay? It is the devil. It's the same thing. So Moses pictures here that very process, that very event. The moment any person gets saved, that old man is done, gone for. And the devil, the Bible says, is the accuser of the brethren, okay? So that's what I believe that pictures. Now what about Elijah? Go to 2 Kings chapter two, 2 Kings chapter number two. So here you have exactly, I mean, you have forgiveness, you have the remission of sins, all of that packed in to Moses' body basically being buried by God, right? It says that God did it, God took care of it, God buried it, God hid it, and you can't find it, okay? So when people try to dig up things on us and dig up sins and things of that nature, guess what? God's already buried them. God's already paid for it. Your sins are removed as far as the east is from the west. We talk about that all the time, completely gone, infinite. No measuring, no bringing them up, no digging it up. But yet the devil just, oh no, no, look what he said, look what he did, look what he thought. Doesn't matter. Now what about Elijah? Look at verse 11, 2 Kings chapter two, verse 11. And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Now notice he went up, which is this direction, he didn't go up and then arc over and go back down into Abraham's bosom. He went up into heaven, okay, up into heaven. What does that mean? Well, Elijah pictures the fact that if you're saved, you have eternal life, you're the recipient of eternal life, you will never die. You will never die. The Bible, the way this story is written, he did not die. I mean, now Moses really died, you see what I'm saying? So you combine these two things and it's the perfect example of what happens when a person gets saved, out with the old and in with the new. Jesus said in John chapter 11, verse 26, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. And it is that simple. So what happens when a person dies? Well, do they have righteousness? Do they have that divine righteousness? Was that imputed unto them? Did they receive that gift? If so, well, guess what? They just changed locations. That's it. That's all that happens. The body goes into the ground, it's gone, it's forgotten. And all that is left now is the new man. So go back to Matthew chapter number 17. We will move on here, we're getting close to being done. Matthew chapter number 17, and look at verse number four. So Matthew chapter 17, verse number four says, That answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias. Now if you're wondering, like, why did he say this? Okay, well, I can only tell you why I think he said it. And it's when you read the parallel passage in Luke, and it mentions the fact, because Luke gives a little bit different detail, and he basically just says it, it describes it as, okay, well, after Moses and Elijah departed. So what I think may have happened is Moses is seeing them, like, leave, and he's like, don't go. Come back. This is great. Because remember, what did they want? What did Peter, James, what did the disciples, what did most of the people at that time actually want? They wanted that physical kingdom and the here and now. And who wouldn't? Right? You can't blame them. I understand that totally. And so he probably just blurts out, let's make a tabernacle so that you have to stay here. Because this is comfortable. This is great. I mean, think about it. We've never seen anything like this. If you were to see the glorified Christ with your eyes, I mean, you'd probably say all sorts of stuff. Stay here. Don't go anywhere. So we don't want to bash Peter too hard. So that's why I believe he possibly said that. Now I'm just going to read this for you. If you're wondering what was discussed, because it says that Moses and Elijah did talk with Christ. Luke chapter nine, verse 31. I'll just read it for you. It says this. It says, who appeared in glory and spake of his deceased, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. So obviously they're talking about the death, burial, resurrection, all of that sort of sort of thing. What that means. That's what they were talking about. And obviously that is meant to be passed on to the disciples because they are now that third part, which makes up the entire word of God. The Bible. So you have the law, the prophets, and then you have the disciples there, which represent the new Testament. And then obviously you have the source of power given unto all three of those, which is the word of God, the glory of Christ. Look at verse five. It says, while he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Okay. Exactly what he says. Hear ye him. And I like how in second Peter, he actually leaves that part out and actually leaves that hear ye him out instead, what does he do? Take heed to these prophecies, right? And then he says, Hey, understand and don't forsake the scripture in verse number 20. So he's doing the same thing, but he leaves that part out because that was special and unique to them. Okay. You understand what that means? We have a lot of people today that say, Oh, I heard the voice of God. Just like Peter, James and John. God told me, I mean, there's numerous people, right? They're called Pentecostals, apostles, these charismatic type people. There are numerous denominations and sections of Christianity so-called out there that have people that claim to have heard the audible voice of God. But here we have a guy who actually heard that, saw the transfigured Christ and then later in his life says, no, it's about the Bible. That's where the glory, that's where the power is. That's what that whole event meant. It's about the Bible. It is about the word of God. Okay. So that's why that is left out. Look at verse six. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. Verse seven, and Jesus came and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid. Verse eight, and when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And so here you have it. You have this, this passing on here, this, this pointing to Jesus, save Jesus only. Who is Jesus? He is the word of God. That is what is left. That is the mission. That is the focus. That is what is to be placed on to those three, which represent the entire New Testament and Christianity. Our job is to point to Jesus Christ. Okay. Look at verse nine. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them saying, tell the vision to no man until the son of man be risen again from the dead. And again, I'd be like, man, I got to tell somebody. I don't know. I'd have to be like, like shut my mouth, do the John, do, do the, uh, yeah, John the Baptist dad thing. Do the Zacharias thing to me because just take away my voice just, just to be safe. Look at verse 10. And his disciples asked him saying, why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. Now again, he's not saying, you're not teaching reincarnation here, verse 12, but I say unto you that Elias has come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the son of man suffer of them. Verse 13, then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Now we already covered this portion of scripture, uh, several weeks ago and basically proved that John the Baptist was not a reincarnated Elijah, the prophet. In other words, he came in the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet. And so I don't want to rehash that, but we're done right here. So real quickly, what does the transfiguration teaches? Well, it teaches us a lot of things and there's more that I didn't even have time to get into, but it teaches us that Jesus is fully man, fully God, right? It teaches us what else? Well, if you think about how in verse two, it talks about how his face did shine, it was, you know, is shown as the sun. Well, that tells you the difference between that and Moses, which is a good verse to use or a good concept to use if you ever run into a Jewish person or somebody who wants to just maybe elevate the Old Testament over the New Testament, those people are out there. You tell them, Hey, Moses was, his face did shine, but it was a reflection of what he saw. Because Jesus, like it shined by itself because he's fully man, fully God. So that's the source there. Remember, we have these four groups. You have Moses who equals the law, Elijah who equals the prophets. You have the three apostles present who equal the apostles of the New Testament. And then of course you have Jesus Christ, the word of God, all of that encompassing the basically eternity, the entire word of God. And number three, you have Moses in his body and on that whole unique issue and that pictures the death of the old man once a person is saved, Elijah going up to heaven by whirlwind while seeing him here in the story, obviously, you know, that's a picture of the new man, the fact that we will never die. And so hopefully this helps, hopefully this, you know, sinks in and maybe you could use some of this stuff at some point to guide and to help somebody understand the importance of the preservation of the Bible, of the word of God, because it is literally under attack every single day. I mean, you've got this episcopalian church over here, you know, handing out water and flags and providing parking for these vile dogs, these vile sick twisted dogs that are just nasty as can be, you know, and they're out there yelling at us this morning, come talk to a real Christian. I'll come in here if I want to talk to a real Christian. I told that dude, brother George, I was like, real Christians don't go to the library and advocate for pornographic books to be read to children, to anyone. And then what did he do? He walked away. I wonder why he walked away. He must not be a real Christian. But anyways, I don't want to, I'm not going to reason with them, but I'm just saying that that's what's being pushed today. So we're not only being attacked by the sodomites, by these devils, we're also being attacked by people who call themselves Christians, which makes us look twice as bad to those that are hanging in the balances. Those that are out there just wondering like, what's the truth? What's going on with that guy? There's like 80 churches on this street and he's the only one with chalk and what's going on? So yeah, we have all that. Well, we're going to be done right here. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much Lord for your word, for just your constant edification and for helping our church out. We just greatly appreciate it. I just pray that you would bless the food after the service and bring us back again safely tonight. And thank you again, Lord, for all that you do in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.