Exodus 34:29-35/2 Peter 1:16-21/St Matthew 17:1-9
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The ministry of the Law is not without divine glory. Moses’ shining face reflects this glory and splendor. For the Law is the Word and the will of God. It is good and right. And it is eternal; remaining forever. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Word of the Lord will never pass away. As such the Law is impressive and powerful so as to shake mountains and cause sinners to tremble.
But the righteousness of the Law cannot save you. It does not make you righteous, but condemns you. It does not bring you to God in peace, nor does it glorify you. The Law will either terrify you, as it did Aaron and the Israelites; or mislead you into selfish pride, as it did the Lamech or King David before the prophet Nathan was sent to be a pastor unto him. Now neither of these is because the Law is bad or dishonest. The Law of God is good and wise. The problem lies within; the hardness of your sinful heart.
The Law never was intended to give you life, but it points you to the life and the love of God, which are in Christ Jesus your Lord.
Because the Law is God’s good Word and His will, and because it points, yea, even drives you to the Lord Jesus Christ, to contradict or deny the Law, to disregard or disobey it, is all the more deadly and damnable than trying to save yourself by it. It is better to live according to the Law than to break it. For if you reject the Law of God, you will surely die in your wickedness. Yet if you endeavor to save yourself and live by the works of the Law, then you are under its curse and condemnation.
When God comes down with commandments engraved in stone and confronts your stony heart with them, then there is wrath and fear, terror and dread. That glory of the Law brings death, not life. It kills. It does not raise.
But when God comes down from the Mountain in the flesh and blood of Christ, then His greater glory is manifested in mercy and compassion. Thus does the Father say of Him, This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him. Hear Him. For only by and through and with the Word of Jesus the Christ does the Holy Spirit work to create and sustain saving faith.
That which the Law commands, but cannot give - faith and love toward God and love for the neighbor - is fulfilled and accomplished in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Specifically in His Body, crucified and risen. This is not simply an unraveling of your disobedience and failure. It is the true keeping of God’s good and gracious will for you. The life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son in the flesh is the full realization of His divine glory. What Moses borrow on Mt Sinai by way of the reflection of his face is fully seen in the face of the Son of God, but not here upon the Mountain. When Jesus comes down from the mountain and instructs the three, Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead, He is not leaving His glory behind. Rather He proceeds to the greater glory of His Cross and Passion. Everything else, before and after, hinges on that.
The glory of the Law gives way to the glory of the Cross by which Christ, the Word made flesh, establishes His righteousness for you. All the miracles of Christ Jesus, as well as those of His Prophets and Apostles, are gathered up into and fulfilled and completed in the Resurrection of His Body from the dead.
The Law, which this side of the resurrection, always accuses, was established by God. It is His holy and perfect will and Word. No flesh shall stand before God or boast in His presence. The Law accuses all. Everyone. It condemns all. Equally. You feel guilty because you are guilty. In thought, word, and deed. For sin is not merely a flesh wound. It is a deep seeded corruption of your very nature. To sin is not human. Sin makes you less than human. No one can keep the Law. It cannot give life.
No one, that is, except the One who gave the Law. The One who is the Lord of the Law and Life Himself in His very person and essence. He must take up your frail and fallen flesh in order to submit Himself to the Law for you. To lift you up and out from its curse and condemnation. It is in the flesh of Christ, crucified and risen, that you behold the glory of God and come to Him in peace. He is the Word made flesh, the Torah Instantiated, the Glory of the Father. And it is by His Word, His Gospel of forgiveness, that you hear and know, believe and trust the good and gracious will of God who is your Father in Him.
The highest Mountain of God is not Mt Sinai, nor ever the Mountain of Transfiguration. It is Mt Calvary, upon which Christ Jesus is lifted up in death upon the Cross. There is the manner in which the Father loves you and the very reason His Son is beloved: He dies for the sins of the whole world in order that you may be reconciled to the Father.
And the true Mt Zion, where the glory of the Lord resides, and where His holy Name abides, is not the Temple in Jerusalem, which has long since been destroyed, but the Altar of the Holy Communion, whence comes He who is the Tabernacle in which the full glory of the Godhead dwells bodily. It is to His Altar that the Word of Christ brings you in love; to the very center His life and love for you in His Body and His Blood.
Here you also are transfigured by the glory of God in the flesh of Christ, in your body and life, to live in holy faith toward God and in perfect love toward your neighbor. Not by impressive deeds of worldly grandeur, but in self-sacrifice and humble service. For the gracious Word of Christ has clothed you in the glorious garments of His righteousness and holiness. You are not condemned, but forgiven and set free. Free from the condemnation of the Law for the wonderful purpose of freely loving your neighbor according to the Law, in both body and soul.
For your flesh, too, which is glorified by the flesh of Christ who took up your humanity into His divinity, is given to live in love, both here in time and hereafter in the resurrection of your body forever. By His Cross and in His Resurrection, you are saved, you are given life, not death. For He has made His tabernacle here with you. Not on the exceedingly high mountain that you could never climb, but in your own flesh and blood. Rise and have no fear. Lift up your eyes and your hearts and your minds, to see no one, but Jesus only.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The ministry of the Law is not without divine glory. Moses’ shining face reflects this glory and splendor. For the Law is the Word and the will of God. It is good and right. And it is eternal; remaining forever. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Word of the Lord will never pass away. As such the Law is impressive and powerful so as to shake mountains and cause sinners to tremble.
But the righteousness of the Law cannot save you. It does not make you righteous, but condemns you. It does not bring you to God in peace, nor does it glorify you. The Law will either terrify you, as it did Aaron and the Israelites; or mislead you into selfish pride, as it did the Lamech or King David before the prophet Nathan was sent to be a pastor unto him. Now neither of these is because the Law is bad or dishonest. The Law of God is good and wise. The problem lies within; the hardness of your sinful heart.
The Law never was intended to give you life, but it points you to the life and the love of God, which are in Christ Jesus your Lord.
Because the Law is God’s good Word and His will, and because it points, yea, even drives you to the Lord Jesus Christ, to contradict or deny the Law, to disregard or disobey it, is all the more deadly and damnable than trying to save yourself by it. It is better to live according to the Law than to break it. For if you reject the Law of God, you will surely die in your wickedness. Yet if you endeavor to save yourself and live by the works of the Law, then you are under its curse and condemnation.
When God comes down with commandments engraved in stone and confronts your stony heart with them, then there is wrath and fear, terror and dread. That glory of the Law brings death, not life. It kills. It does not raise.
But when God comes down from the Mountain in the flesh and blood of Christ, then His greater glory is manifested in mercy and compassion. Thus does the Father say of Him, This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him. Hear Him. For only by and through and with the Word of Jesus the Christ does the Holy Spirit work to create and sustain saving faith.
That which the Law commands, but cannot give - faith and love toward God and love for the neighbor - is fulfilled and accomplished in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Specifically in His Body, crucified and risen. This is not simply an unraveling of your disobedience and failure. It is the true keeping of God’s good and gracious will for you. The life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son in the flesh is the full realization of His divine glory. What Moses borrow on Mt Sinai by way of the reflection of his face is fully seen in the face of the Son of God, but not here upon the Mountain. When Jesus comes down from the mountain and instructs the three, Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead, He is not leaving His glory behind. Rather He proceeds to the greater glory of His Cross and Passion. Everything else, before and after, hinges on that.
The glory of the Law gives way to the glory of the Cross by which Christ, the Word made flesh, establishes His righteousness for you. All the miracles of Christ Jesus, as well as those of His Prophets and Apostles, are gathered up into and fulfilled and completed in the Resurrection of His Body from the dead.
The Law, which this side of the resurrection, always accuses, was established by God. It is His holy and perfect will and Word. No flesh shall stand before God or boast in His presence. The Law accuses all. Everyone. It condemns all. Equally. You feel guilty because you are guilty. In thought, word, and deed. For sin is not merely a flesh wound. It is a deep seeded corruption of your very nature. To sin is not human. Sin makes you less than human. No one can keep the Law. It cannot give life.
No one, that is, except the One who gave the Law. The One who is the Lord of the Law and Life Himself in His very person and essence. He must take up your frail and fallen flesh in order to submit Himself to the Law for you. To lift you up and out from its curse and condemnation. It is in the flesh of Christ, crucified and risen, that you behold the glory of God and come to Him in peace. He is the Word made flesh, the Torah Instantiated, the Glory of the Father. And it is by His Word, His Gospel of forgiveness, that you hear and know, believe and trust the good and gracious will of God who is your Father in Him.
The highest Mountain of God is not Mt Sinai, nor ever the Mountain of Transfiguration. It is Mt Calvary, upon which Christ Jesus is lifted up in death upon the Cross. There is the manner in which the Father loves you and the very reason His Son is beloved: He dies for the sins of the whole world in order that you may be reconciled to the Father.
And the true Mt Zion, where the glory of the Lord resides, and where His holy Name abides, is not the Temple in Jerusalem, which has long since been destroyed, but the Altar of the Holy Communion, whence comes He who is the Tabernacle in which the full glory of the Godhead dwells bodily. It is to His Altar that the Word of Christ brings you in love; to the very center His life and love for you in His Body and His Blood.
Here you also are transfigured by the glory of God in the flesh of Christ, in your body and life, to live in holy faith toward God and in perfect love toward your neighbor. Not by impressive deeds of worldly grandeur, but in self-sacrifice and humble service. For the gracious Word of Christ has clothed you in the glorious garments of His righteousness and holiness. You are not condemned, but forgiven and set free. Free from the condemnation of the Law for the wonderful purpose of freely loving your neighbor according to the Law, in both body and soul.
For your flesh, too, which is glorified by the flesh of Christ who took up your humanity into His divinity, is given to live in love, both here in time and hereafter in the resurrection of your body forever. By His Cross and in His Resurrection, you are saved, you are given life, not death. For He has made His tabernacle here with you. Not on the exceedingly high mountain that you could never climb, but in your own flesh and blood. Rise and have no fear. Lift up your eyes and your hearts and your minds, to see no one, but Jesus only.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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