Luke 9:28-36 | Revealing Jesus, Part 9: God
The Transfiguration of Our Lord | March 2, 2025
Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.
When I was young, I never understood why this story was so important. Jesus brings three disciples all the way up the mountain, and then he shines. What’s the point? It’s such a high feast day for the church, but it’s not like Jesus heals anybody or does some great miracle. The disciples aren’t even allowed to tell anyone. I always used to wonder: why is this transfiguration of Jesus such a big deal?
I think I understand it now – at least a lot better than I did back then. And it’s why I made this sermon series the way I did. If you’ve been here over the past few months, you’ll remember that we’ve been celebrating a season in the church year called “Epiphany,” which is all about Jesus revealing himself to the world. If you didn’t know any better, Jesus would have just looked like an ordinary baby grown up into an average guy. But in many different ways throughout his life, Jesus revealed himself to be more than that.
Remember with me over the past eight weeks. We saw Jesus revealed as the king when the Magi brought their gifts. We saw Jesus revealed as the baptizer when he promised to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. We saw him as the creator who cared about the little things, and turned water into wine. We saw him as the Messiah rejected by his hometown who only wanted miracles. We saw him as the Holy One of God, who teaches us recognize holiness. We saw him as the Word of God, who gives us confidence because we have the Word working among us here today. We saw him as the teacher, who teaches us what it really means to be blessed. We saw him as the judge, who can judge us for judging others because his judgment is above all.
And now we see him as God. Everything has been building up to this moment. This is the climax. The Transfiguration is the clearest revelation of who Jesus really is before the resurrection. This is exactly what the season of Epiphany is all about: revealing who Jesus is.
And that’s what makes the transfiguration so much more special than what we’ve seen in the past eight weeks. The past eight weeks we looked at things Jesus did, and these things showed who he was. But is this so much clearer, because it isn’t about anything Jesus did. It’s about who he was. Moses and Elijah didn’t shine like Jesus that day.1 Peter and James and John could clearly see the difference – not from what they did, but from whom the Father glorified. The Transfiguration is the fullest and most complete revealing of Jesus before his resurrection precisely because it’s not about what he does. It’s about who he is. This man is not just a man. He is God.
Of course, a lot of people would object. How is that possible? How is it possible for God to become a man? How is it possible for a man to be God?
It’s a fair question. After all, aren’t all human beings sinful? We feel the weight of our sin every day. It limits us. It defines us. It’s something we can’t get past on our own. How can God become a human if humans are sinful?
Besides this, isn’t part of being human being limited? We know that we can’t do everything we want to do here in this life. God is infinite and holy, all-powerful and all-knowing. We’re none of those things. We are God’s creation. Maybe we want to be more than we are – but aren’t we limited by our nature? There are just some things humans can’t do. How can God become a human if humans are limited?
When these thoughts arise in our minds, we shouldn’t dismiss the glory of the transfiguration. We shouldn’t rethink what it means for Jesus to be God and man. We should instead rethink what it means to be man. Instead of figuring out what a human is by looking at all of us, we need to start with the image of… God himself – Jesus Christ [Colossians 1:15].
When we do this, we see that being sinful is not part of what it means to be human. It’s true that everyone conceived naturally from Adam inherits Adam’s sin, but Jesus was not conceived the natural way. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was born of a virgin. Just as Adam was a human without sin, so Jesus could be a human without sin.
And at first, Jesus did limit himself. To be born of Mary he laid aside some of his divine powers to experience our limitations. That’s why Jesus could say that he didn’t know when the last day was – that only the Father knew [Matthew 24:36]. Jesus experienced our limitations. He never sinned – but he felt our temptations. He felt what it was like to be hungry. He can sympathize with your weaknesses in these areas, because he had to go through them himself.
He used his weakness in these areas for your good. He used his weakness to die in your place – something God couldn’t do on his own. But in the person of Jesus, God died on the cross.
Jesus didn’t just die to forgive your sins. He died to make you more than you could ever be on your own. When Jesus rose from the dead, he took up full use of his divine powers, and the Father glorified his human nature. The Father gave him all things [John 13:3], all authority in heaven and on earth [Matthew 28:18], the name that is above every name [Philippians 2:9]. The Bible says that He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things [Ephesians 4:10]. Jesus already filled all things as God – this can only be talking about who he is as man. Jesus fills all things – not just as God, but as man. This man is more than what he appeared to be on earth. Because he has been given all power and authority and dominion. He has taken up the full use of his divine powers through his humanity.2
And so you see that being limited is not part of what it means to be human. Jesus is not limited by his human nature. To the contrary – he fills it with his divinity. Now Jesus can be wherever two or three are gathered – not just his divine nature, but his human nature too. The whole person who felt your weaknesses. Now, Jesus’ body and blood can be present under bread and wine, and given to you. No ordinary human body could do that. But Jesus is not limited by his humanity. He has filled it with his divinity.
It’s a lot like grilling hamburgers. Imagine that you’re having a nice summer cookout with a charcoal grill, and you’ve got some charcoal burning underneath the food. If you take your tongs and pick up one of those burning coals, what do you see? The charcoal is red hot, with a fire that seems to be glowing from inside the charcoal. Can you separate the charcoal from the fire? Not really. It’s one piece. In the same way, you can’t separate Jesus into his man side and his God side. He is one person, God and man. Wherever you find Jesus, you find both God and man.
And so we can’t just say that the God part of Jesus saves us. We can’t just say that the human part of Jesus died for us. The Bible doesn’t say that. It says that Jesus saves us. Jesus died for us. The God-man. In Jesus, God died. In Jesus, a man sits on God’s throne.
Is that really possible? Even though our humanity is so limited? Well, think about grilling hamburgers again. What is cooking your food? Is it the charcoal itself? Yes, but not just because it’s charcoal. It’s because it’s joined to and participating with the fire. The fire fills the charcoal, allowing it to do things it couldn’t before, just as Jesus’ divine nature fills his humanity, allowing him to do things you wouldn’t expect – like glow on the mount of transfiguration.
This is what God is showing us in the transfiguration – that he can fill our human nature and make it more than you could ever imagine.
Jesus is not limited by his flesh. He fills it with his divinity. He has drawn it into the Godhead. It is possible for Jesus’ humanity to be more than it appears. The finite can participate in the divine. The divine can give/communicate attributes like holiness and righteousness to the creation. Make it more than it was.
And that is why this all matters for you. If Jesus became more than you would ever think he could be, you can too.
It is possible for you to become more than who you are. It is possible for you to not just be the recipient of the divine, but to participate in the divine yourself. You don’t become God. But you can commune with the Godhead.
In some sense, everything what Jesus was given, he gives to you. Jesus makes you kings and queens reigning with him because he is the king. Jesus gives you the Holy Spirit because he was baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus gives you what you need even in the small things. He does miracles when you need them. He lets you participate in his holiness and shows you how to recognize it. He gives us his word and lets us participate in proclaiming it. He teaches us God’s ways so we might walk in his righteousness. He has promised to make us judges of the world [1 Corinthians 6:2].
You can’t see any of these things right now, but you are not limited to what you see. It’s not that your created body is bad or that God is going to bring you out of it, it’s that he’s going to make it more than you can ever imagine.
God wants us to grow. And our growth is always into the humanity of the Son of God,3 which you receive in the Lord’s Supper. You receive a transfigured body as food to transform your own.
Someday we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality [1 Corinthians 15:51-53].
On this last day, you are going to be a human. You are going to be without sin. And you are going to be more than you ever could be here on earth. God probably won’t make you all-knowing and all-present like Jesus. But just as God is able to give these things to Jesus’ humanity, so he is able to give you his holiness and righteousness. He is able to communicate his very being to you, because Jesus is your brother. You are able to participate with the divine.
The transfiguration does not just show you who Jesus is. It shows you your own glory, because you are in him. When we reveal Jesus, we do not just reveal our Savior. We reveal our brother. We reveal the image we are being conformed to day after day [Romans 8:29].
Let us praise him for this incredible gift. We rise to sing the offertory.
Matthew’s account says that his face shone like the sun [Matthew 17:2].
“There is a deification/exaltation of the human nature of Christ in which there are things that are divine that are imparted to the human nature so that Jesus’ human nature has things our human nature does not.” Some of the arguments in this sermon are taken from my interaction with Cooper’s recent response to Ortlund in this and other videos:
This line is taken from Dr. James Bushur, from his Church History I class.