You’re probably familiar with how in recent history one of the things soldiers often carry with them into battle is a picture of their loved ones. They might keep a small photo of their wife or their kids in their breast pocket. And none of us think that to be an unusual thing at all. In fact it actually makes perfect sense. It’s a reminder of the beautiful thing they’re fighting for. It reminds them of what awaits them on the other side of this battle. They’ve experienced the beautiful love of their family and they go through the horrors of war, in hopes that they’ll get back to it. The picture reminds them to keep going.

In today’s passage in Mark, Jesus is going to give his disciples a reason to keep going. He’s going to give them a glimpse of his glory that he wants them to carry with them the rest of their lives. They’re about to step onto an intense battlefield as Jesus approaches his own death and he wants the disciples to remember why they’re enduring it.

Main Point – A vision of Jesus’ glory will serve you in the valley

Prayer

A young girl once wrote a letter to the author C.S. Lewis, perhaps most famous for writing the Chronicles of Narnia, and she asked him for advice on good writing. Lewis listed a number of things in his reply, but one of them was “Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is ‘terrible’ describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was ‘delightful’; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description.”

And so we have in this passage of Mark this morning some good writing. There’s no doubt about it. This entire section is about the glory of Jesus and how glorious that glory is. Yet the word glory never appears here. Instead Mark simply describes it for us. So we’ll stay centered on the glory of Jesus today and we’ll walk through it in a sort of good news/bad news fashion. First a point of good news, second a counter point of bad news, third another of good news, and finally a fourth point of bad news.

Point #1 – Behold Jesus’ glory (vs. 2-4)

READ VS 2-4

The description of the events here is pretty straightforward, but why any of it happens can become rather baffling quickly. Why six days later? Why the three disciples? Why a mountain? Why are his clothes described? Why Moses and Elijah? And I’m sure the longer you look at it the more questions you could come up with.

One of the things we’ve been learning as we walk through the book of Mark is that so much of Jesus’ words and actions are infused with an abundance of references to the Old Testament. He isn’t the first interaction any of these people have had with God and he isn’t the first person to tell them what God commands. They have a rich history and so Jesus’ actions reference that history. With that in mind, there is a specific Old Testament story that closely parallels what takes place here and it involves one of two men mentioned. Let me read to you Exodus 24:15-18 -

“Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain.” -Exodus 24:15-18

I mean there’s a lot of similarities there right? He’s up on a mountain. A cloud covers him. There’s a reference to being there for six days. A voice calls out of the cloud. It’s all very similar. And furthermore we discover this interesting fact about what happens to Moses when he comes down from the mountain.

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” - Exodus 34:29

Now we see a person who is shining because of their being in the presence of God. Jesus was shining on the mountain with his disciples. And not just his face but his clothes are even dazzlingly white. The only people who are described as wearing white in Scripture are glorious heavenly beings.

So what Jesus is doing on this mountain does not take place in a vacuum with no reference points. He’s giving his disciples the same experience that Moses received. They are taken to the mountain top and given a vision of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But why are Moses and Elijah there talking to him? There’s a lot of speculation as to why these two men specifically are there. I think the most convincing argument is that Moses is representative of the books of the Law in the Old Testament and Elijah is representative of all the prophets of the Old Testament. So in a sense their presence signifies that the entirety of the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, have pointed to Jesus. And this fact intensifies his glory. All of history has pointed to the arrival of this man.

But why now? Why does Jesus take this moment to show his glory? You remember that Jesus has begun talking to them about his suffering and his death. It sounds like he’s going to be a defeated man who, like everyone who has come before him, loses the battle against sin and the world. It seems like his life will end with a whimper. But Jesus is showing them now that despite his coming suffering and death, he is not weak. He is not defeatable. He is glorious.

I don’t know if you’ve ever encountered this glorious Jesus. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a time where you recognized that there is nothing more powerful on this earth than Jesus Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than Jesus Christ. A moment where Christ has so filled your vision that you couldn’t see or think of anything else except for how great he is.

If you’ve ever seen a jet fighter fly overhead then you know what I’m talking about. You can hear a jet coming from literally miles away. And it’s so incredibly loud that you think it’s reached its peak volume only for it to get even louder. The glory of the fighter demands your attention regardless of what you are doing or where you are. You will stop and look up at the sky to see it.

And with that same intensity Jesus demands his disciples to look at his glory. Do you see my strength? Nothing can conquer me. Do you see my wisdom? Nothing can out smart me. Do you see my love? Nothing can fall deeper than my compassion can reach. Do you see my sovereignty? Everything in this universe from the mightiest hurricane to the smallest blade of grass is absolutely under my control. He will not be defeated by suffering. He will not be defeated by death. He will certainly not be defeated by the religious leaders. He is the king. He will always be the king. And he wants his disciples and he wants us to get a clear look at that. He wants us to behold his glory and recognize what it means.

This is an important moment for the disciples and they need to soak it up while they can. Because of the next truth we’ll see. The bad news to this good news. First, behold Jesus’ glory, but second…

Point #2 – You can’t always behold Jesus’ glory (vs. 5-6)

Peter is flummoxed here. But he feels compelled to say something anyways. We can sympathize with Peter. He is certainly the most relatable of the disciples. Look at vs. 5-6.

READ VS 5-6

He just starts saying stuff. And he says this odd thing - “Should I set up a tent for everyone?” Now, it seems like this is just completely out of left field and makes no sense whatsoever. But Peter isn’t as crazy as he seems. He actually understands what’s happening here and he also knows his Old Testament. Because if you were to look back in Exodus at where Moses goes up on the mountain, he experiences the glory of God in the cloud, and hears the voice calling to him from heaven, that takes place in chapter 24. Then immediately following it in chapters 25-31, God gives them instructions for building his tabernacle, or for building his tent. It’s the same word. God wanted a place for that incredible glory to dwell so that he could be with his people always.

So Peter is actually saying, “Is it time to build another tabernacle? Should we make something so that this glory can stay with us forever?” Jesus doesn’t respond to his statement at all, but the way Mark phrases it - “Peter didn’t know what to say. He was terrified” - tells us that this was the wrong thing to say. Because they are not supposed to stay here on top of the mountain. The light is going to vanish, the cloud will disappear, and they will walk back down the mountain with nothing being changed at all, except for their memory of the experience.

But man, it would have been nice to stay on the mountaintop. I’ve seen this happen over and over with teenagers who go on church trips. And maybe you remember these experiences yourself. You go on a missions trip to somewhere far away or you got summer camp and you experience God in some incredible ways. You devote yourself for a whole week to reading the Scripture, praying, talking about God with other believers, sharing him with unbelievers, singing to him, and hearing his word taught. And everyone around you makes the same commitment. And God shows up in an overwhelming way. You see his glory. Everything makes sense. You’re going to change your life. You’re going to be devoted solely to him forever. It’s a real mountaintop experience. But then the time comes for everyone to go home. It’s time to go back down the mountain. And nobody wants to leave. Like Peter you think to yourself, I wish we could stay here longer with God’s glory.

However, God has not designed the Christian walk in such a way that we stay on mountaintops. We are on a journey. We are walking towards a destination. The day comes where we will finally sit still with God on the mountain of the Lord, but we have not arrived there yet. Until then we are pilgrims traveling through this world on our way to the celestial city. But because of God’s great mercy, occasionally he brings us to a mountaintop. And at this mountaintop we are able to see clearly where we are going. We get a view of the path ahead of us. We get a beautiful view of the destination and we’re reminded of why we’re taking this perilous trek.

But instead of staying on the mountain, we are to take in the view, thank God for this gracious gift, focus our eyes on the journey’s end, then walk down the mountain and continue on our journey with a heart refreshed by the glory of Jesus.

If you're a Christian walking on the road towards heaven’s gates, then you will constantly be experiencing the alternating terrain of mountains and valleys, mountains and valleys. Some will be incredibly high and some will be small hills. Some valleys will be minor dips, others will be the valley of the shadow of death. You will experience a view of God’s glory when you come to church and you sing and you hear his word, you will experience a view of God’s glory when he blesses you with answered prayers, you experience a view of God’s glory when you spend time in your Bible in the morning and he speaks to your heart.

But don’t expect that the Christian walk will always be like that! You won’t always be on a mountain. Your journey will take you down. Your view of God’s glory will be obscured. The clouds will come in, the forest canopy will thicken, and the path will wind down deep into the canyon. But this isn’t a surprise. This doesn’t mean that God’s glory has failed, that he’s weak, or that he’s stopped being good. Rather, it’s the exact opposite. As Jesus just informed his disciples, the Christian walk is going to be one that involves humbling ourselves repeatedly and descending low in our service to him and to others before he finally exalts us.

But Jesus graciously provides those mountaintops to remind us of his glory. If you’re currently walking through a valley, keep that image in your mind. This is the glorious one you’re headed towards. “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the founder and perfector of our faith.”

On your journey, you will not be without distractions. There will be other false glories that will try to draw your attention.

Point #3 – There is no alternative to Jesus’ glory (vs. 7-8)

READ VS 7-8

God the Father’s voice speaks out of heaven. This is the second time this has happened in Mark’s gospel. The last time was at Jesus’ baptism in chapter 1. In that instance, God says, “You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased” He’s speaking directly to Jesus. This time however, God says, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” He’s speaking to the disciples. A voice from heaven has confirmed for them that this Jesus whom they are following is in fact the right guy and the things he’s teaching them about following him are in fact the right path.

“Listen to him.” Implied in the command is that they will be tempted to not listen to him. They will be tempted to perhaps listen to someone else altogether, but God tells them, “Don’t be distracted. Don’t get caught up in any other alleged glory. Don’t chase anything else. It’s him. He’s the one. He’s the only one.” And to drive this point home, immediately everything else around them disappears, all the lights, all the clouds, both of the old prophets, and no one is with them but Jesus alone. There’s nothing for them to look at except his face.

Peter, James, and John never forgot this experience. That nothing they had seen in their lives which might have been considered glorious could even hold a candle to the glory of Jesus. He’s the only glorious one. Listen to how John remembers this event as he writes the introduction to his gospel -

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

Peter would also write about his experience on the mountaintop at greater length in one of his letters. He writes this in 2 Peter.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. - 2 Peter 1:16-18

Peter says, we’re not making up stories. We’re not just pretending that Jesus has power and majesty and is coming again in honor and glory. We saw it! We were there!

I’ve heard it said that you should never meet your heroes. The sentiment behind that is that we tend to find someone so incredible and impressive and even glorious from a distance. We see the things they do and hear about what they’ve accomplished, but then when you meet them face to face they’re very often a let down. They aren’t quite who you thought they’d be. Maybe they were very rude. Maybe they weren’t quite as beautiful as you thought they’d be. Maybe they just seemed so normal. That’s because when people present themselves as glorious or when other people present them as glorious, it’s just a facade. It’s fake. If you search deep enough, every single time at the bottom you’ll find a sinful soul.

The same is true of any pursuit you have for some sort of glorious thing. Instead of just “never meet your heroes”, I wonder if it could be said “never meet your goals.” Because you’ll find the same disappointment. The greatest dream of your whole life is to have that boat, but you get it and it only satisfies for such a short time. Your hope is to land that dream job or even marry that dream spouse. None of these things satisfy. They’re illusions. They don’t have the glory you’d hope they would. Each of us has experienced this at some point. The thing that at first appeared to have glory didn’t.

If you’ve been maturing as a Christian at all, it’s a lesson you learn early on. Material things won’t satisfy. They have no true glory. But instead of admitting that the only one with true glory is Jesus, we simply turn to another thing, maybe a more refined thing. Now instead of hoping for a big house, I’m hoping that there’s glory in a peaceful house. I want my kids to behave, I want my spouse and I to get along, and I want my in-laws to leave us alone. Or wouldn’t it be glorious if this giant to-do list was finally completed, if I wasn’t running around everywhere all the time, if I finally had some margin in my schedule. Those things are good and fine, but I promise if you get them, your delight in them will be temporary because a new need will arise.

But the glory that Jesus possesses is deep. When Peter, James, and John saw it, they weren’t disillusioned. They didn’t discover, “Oh I guess that’s all there is. It’s nothing special.” Rather, it changed their outlook on the world forever. They beheld Jesus’ glory and all they could think about afterwards was seeing more of it. I pray that each of us would be searching for a glimpse of that glory. Praying for it. Reading our Bibles with an eye for it. Talking to others of Christ so that we can hear about it. He’s the only pursuit whose glory won’t disappoint.

I’ll tell you though that the world is not interested in the type of glory Jesus’ offers. They continue holding out for a different one. Even the disciples here are going to hope Jesus has the sort of glory they’d prefer.

Point #4 – The world wants an alternative to Jesus’ glory (vs. 9-13)

READ VS 9-13

I’ll admit that this is a bit of a baffling passage. What do the disciples mean by their question, and what does Jesus even mean by his answer. It’s somewhat of a head scratcher. But this is God’s Word and we know that it’s the place where we’ll see Jesus’ glory, so we’ll work to understand it.

First, you see Jesus as he often does telling them not to tell anyone about what they had seen. This is the final time in the whole book Jesus will do this. And this time he gives them a timeframe. Don’t say anything now, but after I have risen from the dead, then you can say something. After Jesus has risen from the dead they will understand that he is both the authoritative Messiah and the suffering Messiah. They’ll finally understand his glory and will be able to declare it rightly.

But the disciples can’t fathom a suffering and dying Messiah. They assume when he says he’ll rise from the dead, he can’t possibly mean he’ll rise from the dead. Because they’re convinced of this, they ask Jesus a question about Elijah. This seems for us to be completely unrelated to anything. But the disciples are trying to make sense of the Scriptures. In the last two verses of the book of Malachi, the prophecy is made that before the Messiah arrives, God will send Elijah and he will transform people’s hearts. The disciples recognize that Jesus is glorious, but he doesn’t exactly fit what they had anticipated for a Messiah because Elijah never showed up.

Jesus replies that yes, Elijah has come. That prophecy has been fulfilled. I’m still the right Messiah, but then he follows up by asking them, “Have you forgotten the other things that the Scriptures predicted? That the Messiah will suffer and die?” The disciples were only focused on the glorious aspects of the coming Messiah and those were the parts of the Bible they liked and looked forward to, but Jesus says, “You’ve forgotten the heavier parts. You’ve forgotten where it says, he would be “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief”.

He concludes by saying, Elijah already came. He’s referring to John the Baptist. We saw in Mark 1 how John the Baptist fulfilled the role of Elijah, and what was his reward? They did whatever they pleased to him. He was beheaded. He suffered and died. Jesus is pointing out to his disciples, don’t only focus on the majestic and marvelous aspects of the Messiah. Remember the difficult parts as well, because those are the most important. The disciples wanted a tamed Jesus that fits into their framework. They were hoping for some sort of alternative to who he told them he was. They had an idea in their mind of what Jesus “ought” to look like and how he “ought” to work and it certainly didn’t include dying.

We’re absolutely no different than them. We have in our minds the way that Jesus “ought” to be. We have in our minds what he “ought” to expect from us and from others. Sometimes we think Jesus ought to be endlessly putting up with our sinfulness, always forgiving and never coming to judge or punish. Have you forgotten the parts that tell us he will “break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.” Jesus hates sin and rather than simply tolerating it all the time, he’ll destroy every bit of it. Or maybe we think Jesus “ought” to be a fighter, who battles for superiority in every arena and always puts his opponents in their place. But do we forget the part where he says, “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” Jesus patiently endures mistreatment and though he deserves all respect and honor he doesn’t retaliate in anger.

We often assume that Jesus ought to be someone who rewards those who work harder. He ought to give his saving grace to those who earn it. He should be a Messiah who gives his attention to those who are strong and are worthy. And so we try to make sure we do everything right so that we can please this type of Messiah. But have we forgotten the part where we’re told “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong”.

It isn’t the people who are the most impressive who win God’s favor, rather it’s the weak and humbled person who confesses they have nothing to offer and calls out to Christ in faith. Whether you like it or not, whether you expected it or not, that’s the glorious Jesus we’re presented with in the Bible.

Prayer