The Way of the Cross

Introduction

We have not made it to the end of the Gospel of Matthew, but the cross does come into focus in this text in Matthew 16 and 17. And it’s a big transition in the text that I want to work through this morning with you. The idea of the cross is already coming into Jesus’ teaching well before he actually goes to the cross, and it is a turning point even in this narrative section in Matthew 14 through 17. We covered the early part of that last week. And then today we’re going to look at the next part in 16 and 17. I appreciate Daniel reading the first few verses there. I want to pick up the reading in verse 5 and read a little bit in this text and then come back and talk through different parts of it.

It says in verse 5, this is Matthew 16 and verse 5, when the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. And Jesus said to them, Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. And they began discussing among themselves, saying, We brought no bread. But Jesus, aware of this, said, Oh, you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you gathered, or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you failed to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now, when Jesus came to the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

But I want to do a little bit of work on the outset of connecting what’s happening in the previous chapters and what’s going on here. We talked last time about the way of discipleship, what it looks like to follow Jesus. And a lot of this had to do with seeing the behavior of Jesus, the things he says, and the things he does, the compassion he showed to people, and he’s feeding people in the wilderness multiple times. They’re in need, and Jesus meets their needs. And so, in many ways, what we’re seeing in chapters 14 and 15 is a very positive picture. Jesus is healing all kinds of people. And when people are hungry, he’s feeding them. And he’s trying to teach the disciples to have that same kind of mentality.

This poor Canaanite woman, she’s unclean, she’s not part of Israel. She comes with a need, and the disciples want to cast her off, and Jesus then heals her daughter, demonstrating his love, even for this Gentile woman. It’s these kinds of lessons that he wants them to learn in chapters 14 through 15. But things begin to change in chapter 16. There’s this repetition of the leaders, the rulers. Now we have this strange combination of Pharisee and Sadducee. This is only mentioned twice in all of Scripture, and it’s only in the Gospel of Matthew. That these two diametrically opposed groups come together mostly because of their hate of Jesus. That seems to be the only thing that actually brings them together, to then come and try to attack him.

And despite the fact that he’s done all sorts of signs and healings and wonders, now they come again demanding a sign from heaven. You’ve done all this, but now show us something from heaven. Show us something greater that we will know that you are the Messiah. And of course, Jesus’ response to them is that it should be obvious. You see the signs around you, and you look at the things happening in the world, and you know what’s coming, and yet you can’t even tell the times of the signs of the time. You can’t even see what’s happening here. And he just kind of dismisses them. They’re to a point now where they clearly don’t want to see. There’s an aspect of blindness that he’s pointing out here.

And there’s sort of a foil for what’s actually coming with the disciples here in this next section that his own disciples are actually still struggling with this, and he’s about to reveal some really major things to them. They need to have their minds open to spiritual realities in a way that they can accept some teachings that are not easy. And at least up to this point, they still look a lot like the rulers. They don’t understand. They’re not picking up the things he’s laying down. He’s telling them things and they just don’t see it. He’s mentioning things to them, and they’re still thinking in a very earthly, physical sort of way. And that’s how these stories come together. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, they refuse, they’re unwilling to see.

They keep demanding, right? They refuse the evidence. There’s all this evidence before them, but they’re not interested in that evidence. And they want to ask for something else. I’ll come back to that thought here in a little bit. But the disciples are not a whole lot better. He references this idea of leaven, and they can only see the bread.

And it’s not bread, it’s spiritual realities that they need to imbibe and they need to take in that are going to help them along the way as they’re trying to become more like him. And this is all leading to what we’ll deal with at a later time, which is how the community of God’s people should live and dwell together. And 14 and 15, we talked about these various stories of John being executed and political tension and Jesus healing people and feeding people. And here we have the identity of Jesus now coming to the surface.

He goes right to Caesarea Philippi, and he’s beginning to ask them, okay, I see where the Pharisees and the Sadducees are, but what about the people? And what about, even more importantly, what about you? You’ve been around me all this time. You’ve seen all the things that are going on, just like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and everybody else. Everybody’s seen this. They’re aware. So what about you? What do you say? He begins to bring it home to the disciples in a very real way. Are you with me? Are you going to walk with me? Are you on my side, or are you going to question and challenge me just like these leaders have been doing? And the message becomes very dark as he begins to predict his own death.

At chapter 16, there’s quite a few shifts that take place in the story. Jesus’ teaching and his instruction begin to focus more privately at this point with the disciples. He’ll still give public teaching. It’s not that he won’t do it anymore, but now most of it is going to be interacting with his inner circle, trying to prepare them for the things that are ahead. He’s going to, at this text, turn his attention from Galilee and now head toward Jerusalem and more importantly, the cross.

Glory through the Messiah and glory through discipleship and following him is going to come through suffering, not through power, not through dominance, not through wealth. But in a very counter-cultural way, particularly in their society. And in all of this, he’s trying to deal with the spiritual blindness of both the leaders around him and his own disciples. In fact, it’s so pervasive that it almost goes unnoticed. And Jesus wants his disciples to turn their attention from the physical things that seem to dominate their thinking to a more spiritual way of seeing the world around them. And so we focus often on these texts in the middle of chapter 16, you know, the confession of Peter and the statement about Jesus and his church that he’s going to form.

And of course, those are vital parts of this whole story, but it’s actually what surrounds all of that makes all of that important. That confession and commitment are not the same. And yet Jesus’ identity demands both from his disciples. And so while Peter can confess that Jesus is the Christ, what is he going to do about it? And what are the other disciples going to do about it? And what are we going to do about it? Because we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the Christ, He’s the Messiah. But what does that mean? And what does that mean for me day to day? What does that mean about what I’m going to do when I wake up tomorrow morning? That’s what Jesus is trying to help them see in this text.

And how far am I willing to go with him? It’s not just about feeding the multitudes and healing sick people. There’s more to this story, and it’s something that is not often enjoyable. The oppression and the persecution that comes from following truth. Which brings us then back to the beginning. I want to cover some points here from these texts as we work through them. And this is kind of the regular refrain that we see.

1. Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees

And one of the rhythms to the gospel stories is the continuing opposition of religious leaders. They keep coming back and they keep opposing. And there’s many things about this text that actually mimic parts of Matthew 12. If you can remember that far back, it’s the Sabbath confrontations, and they’re coming to him and they’re challenging him. And they again later on demand signs from him after he’s done all kinds of signs, and he gives the same response. I’m not going to give you a sign, except for the sign of Jonah. It’s the same exact response here as he gives earlier in the story. And he talks about this evil and adulterous generation. They’re unwilling to see reality. It should be obvious to them, but they refuse to see it.

But now he turns his attention to the disciples.

He’s tried to handle what they’ve done, and he’s tried to be an example in chapter 12, for example, to the disciples, of how to think and how to live in the midst of opposition. But now is the warning that he’s going to give them to watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now, the point here works on multiple levels. The first of those I’ve already referenced, which is he’s purposely pointing out the lack of understanding. He wants the disciples to later on, as they’re going to do at the end of this encounter, realize they didn’t get it.

And you can see it in the way the disciples react at various times within the gospel stories. There’s multiple examples, but I’m just going to go back to the previous chapter and chapter 15 when Jesus is dealing with the traditions of the elders, and he’s condemning them for their vain worship and saying, You teach all these doctrines of men as if they are the commandments of God, and your worship is vain and worthless. He says all of this, and then how do the disciples respond? Do you remember?

They say, Good job, Jesus. Man, that was really bold. I wish I would have said things like that. Do you not know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard these sayings? It’s really hard for us to get over our biases and our assumptions. And they live in a world where the Pharisees, they are religious leaders. They’re held up, they’re honored. They’re seen as those who are righteous. And Jesus, at numerous times, all the way back to the Sermon on the Mount, has tried to kind of break down this facade, saying things like, you need to exceed the righteousness of these religious leaders to be in the kingdom of God. Right? These are the kinds of things Jesus is saying, and they still aren’t quite getting it.

You have others in the story, in the gospel stories, where the disciples are saying, if that person can’t be saved, who can be saved? They’re so attached to the concepts and the ideas and the world around them. And they still seem to uphold the Pharisees to some degree where they’re a little bit worried about Jesus offending them. And so they need this message, this warning. Don’t be so worried about offending people who are hypocrites. Offending people who are teaching things that are wrong. People who are living lives and have an ideology that is completely opposed to what God actually wants. Why are you so worried about offending those people? This is what Jesus is trying to help them understand. And yet, in the midst of this story, they think it’s about bread.

Jesus has to remind them. I mean, don’t you know? Don’t you remember? I mean, I just fed 5,000 plus people, and then I just fed 4,000 after that. If it was a matter of not having bread, I could take care of that pretty easily. There’s something else going on here. And this metaphor of leaven is not something that would have been a new idea to them. Leaven is often used for metaphorical purposes, even within Jewish society, and it’s most often has a negative connotation. Now there’s an exception to that, actually, earlier in Matthew in chapter 13 and verse 33, when he talks about the kingdom of heaven being like this woman who puts leaven in dough, right? It’s talking about the pervasive influence of what the kingdom is going to be like and how it’s going to grow.

But typically, leavened is used in a negative way. And we see Paul do that in 1 Corinthians 5, for example. Leaven is this negative, sinful, impure, corrupting influence. And that’s what he’s worried about with this religious leadership around the disciples. They are leaven. Be aware. Watch out. These people are dangerous, and don’t be like them, which they’ve already struggled with. The whole concept of leaven is that it’s small, it’s little, almost unnoticeable, and yet it seems to be affecting even Jesus’ own disciples. They’re taking on the persona, for example, of the religious leaders when they want to reject that Gentile woman and push her away as if she’s unimportant. She’s unclean. They’re not understanding the things Jesus is saying, like these, because they don’t want to.

This is part of the message in chapter 13. Why he’s speaking in parables, because they have ears but they don’t hear. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They don’t see the signs of the time because they’re unwilling. And he doesn’t want his disciples to be that way, and he doesn’t want us to be that way either. Don’t be like these people. What did Jesus need to do to convince them?

The evidence was all around them. I mean, just think about how many times already, and we haven’t even talked about all of them in the sermons I’ve done. If you went back and read from the beginning all the way to here in Matthew, how many times does it talk about healing people, blind people, deaf people who are paralyzed, even resurrecting people from the dead? These are all the things Jesus is doing, and they’re undeniable, and they’re all around, and yet these leaders come and say, Show us a sign. You know, we need to see a sign to know that you’re really the Messiah. And Jesus has no time for that. What is it going to take? How much evidence do I need to believe the clear and obvious truth that Jesus is the Messiah, that He’s the Christ, He’s the Son of the living God.

What needs to happen for me to see this reality? Is it not enough? All of the evidence throughout the history of the world, including the four gospels and extra biblical documents. What else is it gonna take? How willing am I to be fair and unbiased and question and think? Do I demand more of others than I expect of myself? Am I letting political and traditional and a desire for comfort to dull my spiritual insight? These are all the ways in which we pull this forward and apply to us now. It’s the kinds of things that were happening to them, as no doubt they struggled with this reality that these Pharisees and these Sadducees, they had some level of notoriety and were held up in some way within their world as elites and religious.

They’re supposed to be the leaders, but what Jesus wants them to understand is that these religious leaders are neither truly religious nor leaders worth following. And they needed to see the danger of their ideology, their teaching. And so finally they get it says. This is actually said twice within our general text. Then they understood. They’re having a hard time. Jesus has to break it down for them a little bit more, but then they understood he wasn’t telling them about the leaven of bread. He wasn’t worried about that. Imagine that. He’s not worried about just the physical things and eating. He’s worried about some stuff that’s a little more important than that. What he’s actually talking about, it says, is the teaching, the dadahe, that’s the word in Greek.

It’s the instruction or the fixed way of life. There’s the teaching of the twelve, also called the Hadahe. It’s a document that is supposedly supposed to help people understand the way the apostles would tell people to live to honor Christ. And what the idea of that is, it’s not just some things they see, it’s the content of their teaching and the content of their life. And he says, you watch out and beware. Yeah, they say some things that are good and some things that are right, and so you should do some of that stuff. We’ll get to that later in Matthew 23, but don’t live like them. Don’t follow their lead. Beware of their influence. Leaven in metaphorical ways has to do with corruption. And it is no doubt that these supposed leaders were a corrupting influence on the people around them.

Jesus needed his disciples to see this. Because what he was about to do was call them to a commitment they probably did not comprehend yet. It was going to be a big ask. Something that would be difficult for them. It’s not the way they were going to see the kingdom of the Messiah playing out. And so it was time for them to see the corruption, the hypocrisy of the supposed leadership around them and turn and focus solely on Jesus and what he has to say, which is where the story ends up going as we get to chapter 17. But this is when he takes them aside and he says, What are people saying about me? You know, we know the Pharisees, Sadducees, they’re rejecting me. That’s pretty clear.

2. Confession and Commitment Are Not the Same

They want nothing to do with what I’m saying, despite all the evidence. But what about all the people? And the people realize there’s something special about Jesus. He’s like John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the other prophets. They know he’s special. But do the disciples actually understand? And more importantly, what does this mean for them? So Christ calls them and us ultimately as we become readers of this story. Not just to confession, not just to the simple reality, which the Pharisees should have been able to see, and the Sadducees that he is the Christ, that he’s the Son of the living God. That’s the simple part. That should have been the most obvious thing imaginable in their world as he’s doing the very things the Old Testament say the Messiah would do, giving sight to the blind, giving hearing to the deaf.

All these things are signs of the reality that the Christ had come, and any religious Jewish leader should have been able to see that sign. That’s the easy part. But the difficult part is understanding what that commitment actually looks like, both on the part of Jesus and the part of his people. Peter makes this confession, right? You probably know this confession better than any other given in the Gospels. You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In fact, if I asked you what the confession was, you’d probably quote it from Matthew. It’s just so well known. The reality, he’s the Messiah. And Jesus responds to this, yes, he is the anointed one. He is the king, the one who’s going to reign, and he’s going to have his people, his ecclesia, his congregation or assembly.

He’s going to form his own citizenry. The people who will come behind him and serve him, and there’s going to be this kingdom, and it’s going to be great, and he’s going to suffer and die. Wait a second. Where does that come from?

And you’re going to suffer and die too. It’s going to be great. This is not what they were looking for.

All the other stuff, yes. You know, the rock and the assembly, the congregation, the people of God, right? The gates of hell, or Hades is what it actually is in Greek. They’ll not prevail, right? We’re going to have power and might. That’s all the part they wanted to hear. But notice verse 21. This is where things shift in a very big way. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised up. I’ve always wondered how they heard this. Did they even get that last part at the end? Or were they so confused by what was being said that they don’t even hear the part about resurrection?

They seem confused about that later on, too. But what this sounds like is Jesus is saying, Yeah, I’m gonna have my kingdom, I’m gonna form my people, and the gates of Hades are not going to prevail, but the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, they’re gonna win. They’re gonna kill me. All the things they’ve been trying to do this whole time, and how they plot against me and they oppose me every way possible, and they’re testing me, which is what happens at the beginning of chapter 16. All of it’s gonna work. And so I’m gonna be killed. And Peter’s not having it. It’s pretty interesting in this text, actually, the interactions that we could do this. It’s not my goal this morning, but just looking at the interaction between Peter and Jesus throughout this whole account.

He makes this great confession, right? That Christ is, he is Jesus is the Son of the living God, He’s the Christ. And then after that, he just fails over and over again in his responses. I do want to point out the reality of what I’m trying to get at this second point, though, and that is that confession and commitment are not the same thing. You can confess things that are true and right and then not live them. You can say that you believe that there’s a God and that Jesus is the Son of God. You can say all the good things, all the things that are right and true, but then not live in a way that’s devoted to that reality. And this is the struggle we’re seeing with Peter.

Peter’s highlighted here, but I think maybe even more so with some of the other disciples. Peter’s just more vocal about how he handles this. He can’t even fathom the idea that this king, this anointed one, the Christ who’s going to reign and have this kingdom is going to be killed. He’s going to die. And he rebukes Jesus, it says, saying, Far be it from you, Lord. It’s kind of strange. Like right in the middle of rebuking him, he’s calling him master, Lord. Far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you. I know you, Lord, just said it was going to happen, but it’s never going to happen, because I’m Peter. I’m not going to let it. And Jesus responds, I want you to see it fits exactly with the earlier story about bread.

You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Beware of the leaven. They just think about eating. Oh, we don’t have enough food. Their minds aren’t tuned in to the right signal, the right frequency. They’re not seeing the bigger picture of what Jesus is doing. And here is Jesus is telling them what’s going to happen in the future, and he’s going to Jerusalem, he’s going to suffer and die. And Peter’s saying, No, that could never happen. Again, he’s not tuned in the right frequency. He’s not hearing the message in the right way. But then Jesus doubles down, and this is where it gets really tricky. All the great things you saw in the past and the healings and how you got sent out and you did all that, and you’re feeding people and you’re compassionate, like I’m compassionate.

That’s all great, and you need to do that, but also you need to die with me. I mean, you could see why this wouldn’t be super popular to go around saying these kinds of things. I’m gonna die, I’m gonna suffer at the hands of these evil people who don’t want to see reality. And also, if you’re gonna follow me, you have to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. That’s not just saying you’re going to suffer and it’s gonna be difficult. That is shameful, humiliating, painful, the worst imaginable kind of death that they could probably think of. In every sort of way. And Jesus is saying, this is what it’s gonna be like if you follow me. It’s not a super appealing message.

That’s why so many people in the world around us don’t do it. And they focus on other parts of Scripture and emphasize them in a way that sort of denies these kinds of messages. But Jesus is honest with his disciples and is saying, this is what it’s gonna be like. Just as I’m gonna be rejected, what I’m calling you to is not just to confess my name and who I am and that I am the Son of God, but to try to trust, to trust there’s something better than the comforts of life and the power and the prestige that typically come from an earthly kingdom. My kingdom’s different, and you’ve got to trust me that you’re gonna have to find glory through suffering and death. And in a sense, you can understand it’s a little bit like Abraham with Isaac.

You know, if God had sent Abraham on some epic journey, you know, the stories we like to read, you’re gonna go slay the dragon or whatever it might be, and you’re gonna get all kinds of glory from this great thing you do, and then I’ll know you’re faithful. Okay. You know, a little Beowulf concept there. You can see why there’s danger, but there’s also a whole lot of glory in going and doing this amazing feature. He says, No, take your son and go offer him on an altar. And when Abraham does that and God stays his hand, and he doesn’t ultimately have to sacrifice Isaac, he then knows the faithfulness of Abraham to his cause and to his purpose. The disciples likely don’t know the fullness of the story and how this is all going to work, and that Jesus has to die for the sins of all humanity and how that’s going to disrupt everything about the world they live in.

3. Rise and Have No Fear: Listen to Him

I’m sure they don’t know all the details about that. But this is a call to faith, a call to commitment and trust that whatever Jesus says and wherever Jesus goes, you will go with him. That’s what he’s asking them to do. Even to the point of death. And then it is confirmed through the revelation of his glory. Beware of the corrupting influences that will tell you things that you want to hear, tell you things that are different than what the actual truth is, that are caught up in their own glory and their own desires. Avoid those. Beware of all that. Make sure you know who Jesus is and the commitment that comes from that. But then there’s this statement in the middle of the transfiguration account, where as they are falling on the ground and they are terrified about what’s happening as they witness Jesus’ glory, he says, Rise and have no fear.

When you truly understand, as he’s trying to help his disciples do. And you’re able to conceive of Christ’s glory. It is not something to be fearful of if you’re with him. If you will walk with him through the valley of the shadow of death, then you will rise up and you’ll have no fear in the face of danger. You will know that there is an end that is greater than anything that is here, and that when you stand with Jesus Christ, you stand to have eternal life with him. And everything the world can offer is nothing in comparison to that. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world? Jesus went on to say, where I stopped the reading. But you lose your own soul.

What does it matter? But how much is gained if we’ll take up our cross and we will follow him. Jesus demonstrates that in this next part of the story in chapter 17. 17 and verse 1. And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and his brother, and led him up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He was still speaking, when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved son, with whom I’m well pleased.

Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. So many great things to pull out of that story. One of my favorites, though, at least in the way Matthew tells it here, is you know the Peter type. I struggle with that myself a little bit. We like to talk. You know, we have a lot to say, and we think the things that we say are really important. And I think it’s just really funny. It’s hilarious to me that while he’s speaking, right in the middle of Peter saying what he probably thinks is super important, this voice breaks in and interrupts him and says, Hey, this is what really matters.

Peter, be quiet. This is my beloved son, in whom I’m well pleased. Listen to him. Listen to him. He’s telling you these things that are difficult to hear, that are challenging, but look at his glory. See how he’s coming on this mountain, and he is transferring light. He is the light is coming from him. His glory is being revealed to him to you in a way that you’ve never seen before. And in fact, there’s echoes of the reality that he is the temple itself. He’s overshadowed by this cloud. And Peter, you know, mentions this idea of building tents, building a tent for all three of them. Jesus himself is the tent, he is the tabernacle, he is the temple. When the glory of the Lord comes in Exodus 40 and 1 Kings 8, the glory of the Lord overshadows, it fills the temple.

And that very same thing is happening here. This cloud comes, it interrupts Peter. The cloud and the glory of the Lord overshadows them, and it says, This is my beloved son. It is evidence of the fact that the presence of God, which is what the temple is about, the presence of God is among men, and John 2 backs this up if you want further evidence of this. He is the temple. He is God’s presence on earth. He is God dwelling among them. And all the things that he’s saying, don’t listen to the religious leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees, the scribes, whoever forget them. Listen to Jesus. Listen to what he says. This is what we’re talking about as we’re working through this gospel story, the way of Jesus.

It doesn’t matter what men say and the ideas that other humans come up with. Who cares what they think? It’s what Jesus says that actually matters. In somewhat of an embarrassing way, Peter’s learning this lesson in this moment. Sometimes those of us who like to talk just need to be quiet and let Jesus speak. See what he has to say on the issue. Allow his glory to be what is magnified. Moses and Elijah are crucial figures in the Old Testament story. They both have interesting departures from life. Elijah goes up in a chariot of fire. Moses goes on a mountain, they never find his body. And both of them have the idea, people thought the messianic concepts were that they would come back. There’ll be another prophet that arises, like Moses, Deuteronomy 18.

There’s going to be one who comes in the spirit of Elijah. They also represent the law and the prophets.

And even in this voice that comes from heaven and utters this phrase, this is my beloved son with whom I’m well pleased, that’s coming from Isaiah 42, the first servant section. And the final section is the one you’re most familiar with in Isaiah 52 and 53, and that is the suffering servant who dies for the sins of the people. Which is connected then to Daniel 12, which is one of the few texts that talks about death and resurrection of the wise ones in the Old Testament. And so, in this just little short phrase that the voice from heaven is uttering, and representing the glory of Jesus in the presence of his disciples, it is tying together the record of Old Testament history. That the very things he’s telling you are exactly what the Old Testament is telling you.

Listen to him. And if you will, you also will have glory with him for eternity. Verse 13. Then the disciples understood. He has to tell them a little bit more about Elijah. And they realize that John the Baptist was the Elijah to come to prepare the way. And so they’re starting to put the pieces together. And I want us to understand that’s what God wants from us, too. He doesn’t demand perfect knowledge. That’s impossible. He doesn’t expect you to know everything. But what he does want is us to have the type of minds who are open to truth, who are willing to listen, particularly to the words of Jesus, that are willing to think and begin to put the pieces together and understand what is asked of us.

Conclusion

And so the question ultimately is will I listen to God’s Son? Will I listen to Jesus? Or am I going to allow all the noise, the Pharisees and the Sadducees of our world, whether we’re talking metaphorically in terms of just the life around us and people who deny that Jesus is the Son of God and can be eternal skeptics? These are toxic cynicism. Everything is wrong and everything’s a problem, and they can’t see truth in anything. And I allow that noise to keep me from listening to the Son of God? Am I going to allow other people to tell me what to think? That here’s what the truth is, and this is the way you should live, and this is what true religion looks like. Or am I going to listen to Jesus?

That’s the question. What is it going to be? What am I going to listen to? To the one who is the incarnate Son of God? Who has the fullness of Godhead in human form? Or am I going to listen to the noise from other places? Am I going to listen to the people who have doubts and fears, who are skeptics, who are cynics, who can always find a problem with every good thing? Is that what I’m going to listen to? Or am I going to listen to the one who has done all the things we’ve looked at in here, who heals the sick, who binds up the wounded, who gives life, who promises eternity and then backs it up with all the things he’s able to do?

I’m urging you this morning to believe him, to trust him, to give your life to him, so that you have hope of eternal life with him after this temporary existence here. Can we help you this morning? Why don’t you come as we stand and sing?